Today, international businesspeople must think globally about production and sales op- portunities. Many global managers will eventually find themselves living and working in other cultures, and entrepreneurs might find themselves taking flights to places they had never heard about. 1-1. What can companies do now to prepare their managers for international markets? 1-2. How can entrepreneurs and small businesses with limited resources prepare? Quali sodal tusse TALK ABOUT IT 2 In the past, national governments influenced the pace of globalization through agree- ments to lower barriers to international trade and investment. 1-3. Is rapid change now outpacing the capability of governments to manage the global economy? 2120tra SIMPAT 1-4. Will national governments grow more or less important to international business in the future? but OCA ST Ethical Challenge gogodt no gall MARANA AJAUDITA MORT 323 You are the CEO of a major US apparel company that contracts work to garment manufacturers abroad. Employees of one contractor report 20-hour workdays, pay below the minimum wage, overcrowded living conditions, physically abusive supervisors, and confiscation of their passports so they cannot quit. Local officials say labor laws are adhered to and enforced, though abuses appear widespread. You send inspectors to the offending factory abroad, but they uncover no labor violations. A labor-advocacy group claims that supervisors coached workers to lie to your inspectors about conditions and threatened workers with time in make- shift jails without food if they talked. ME CHAPTER 1 GLOBALIZATION 29 -ivolax stepm 1-5. Should you implement a monitoring system to learn the truth about what is happening? 1-6. Do you help the factory improve conditions, withdraw your business from the country, or addrod noillim Obo SHUDH simply do nothing? 1-7. How might your actions affect relations with the factory owner and your ability to do business in the country? Lofondda zi Josi suntuo Joy of sind benismen WB TT babu Imagine that you and several of your classmates own a company that manufactures cheap sunglasses. To lower production costs, you decide to move your factory from your developed country to a more cost-effective location. doly m A aldizzog ir ar Teaming Up deadlwyd VTM dan fair avonul diod $10 aizum sdi Xool v wo tom no skardoram bas ou1-8. Which elements of the national business environment might influence your decision of gnia amepog gir oale oss en l where to move production? Sy 1-9. What aspects of the globalization of production and marketing do you expect will benefit your company after the move? era decorage wasgoon. gm DET VTM yubot sonsulini lumantes obiurow guggol show This exercise corresponds to the MESP online simulation. With several classmates, select a Ethical Challenge Teaming Up Imagine that you and several classmates are the top managers of a company seeking new international markets. Select your company's industry and product line, and then choose a country to enter. 2-2. Is it important for the company to balance the need for global efficiency through large-scale production with the need for cultural responsiveness through local prod- uct adaption? 2-3. Will cultural differences between the home and host countries require alterations in personnel or corporate practices? You are vice president of operations for a US-based software firm that is exploring building a software-design operation in India. Typically when international firms enter the Indian mar ket, they quickly learn how a caste system can affect business activities. Although officially banned, the caste system still dictates everyday life for many people in India. You are confi- dent regarding the likelihood of business success there, but you have strong misgivings about the caste system. Indoly 2-4. Do you think it will be possible to import and uphold a US management style in India despite lingering effects of the caste system? 2-5. How do you think your company's stakeholders would feel about your company simply adjusting to local management practices? Two groups of four students each will debate the benefits and drawbacks of individualist ver- sus collectivist cultures. After the first student from each side has spoken, the second student will question the opponent's arguments, looking for holes and inconsistencies. The third stu- dent will attempt to answer these arguments. The fourth student will present a summary of each side's arguments. Finally, the class will vote on which team has offered the more compel- ling argument. (64 Market Entry g) to This exercise corresponds to the MESP online simulation. For the country your team is -motz researching, integrate your answers to the following questions into your completed MESP Strategy Project report. 3-2. Can you think of ways that technology might change the way democracies function? Explain. TALK ABOUT IT 2 Under a totalitarian government, the Indonesian economy grew strongly for 30 years. Meanwhile, the economy of the largest functioning democracy, India, performed poorly for decades until recently. 3-3. Do you think the Indonesian economy grew despite or because of a totalitarian regime? 3-4. What might explain India's relatively poor performance under a democratic political system? Ethical Challenge You are the proprietor of a fledging computer graphics company in Shanghai, China. The sophisticated business application software you need for your business normally sells for 2,900 renminbi (around $350) at computer stores in Shanghai and online. But with an income of just a little more than $5,000 a year, you cannot afford to buy the original graphics soft- ware for your business. An associate has told you she can get you all the software you need, and more, for only $30. Yet, you have financially strapped friends who code software for the global software companies that make the very programs you need. 3-5. Do your personal circumstances make it ethical for you to purchase the pirated software? 3-6. What would you do if you were told about a new government effort to actively punish users of pirated software? 3-7. Does a software company bear any responsibility for subcontracting work to low-wage markets where its finished product is unaffordable for the same coders who worked on it?