Analysing two primary ways of occurring international business

Analysing two primary ways of occurring international business International business is the core theme in conducting business in current era of globalization. In the competitive environment, businesses are competing at global level. In international business a company can engaged in either of the two ways such as import or export. Import and export are the two basic and primary ways of conducting the business (Dunning, 2007). Whenever a company engages into the international business, there are lot many factors which impact the business. Hence there are advantages and disadvantages of both import and export. Considering this view, this assignment report addresses the critical analysis of two primary ways of occurring international business and respective advantages and disadvantages. In addition to this the assignment report also discusses the international and free trade (Fortanier, 2008). Ways of Occurring International Business: Researcher identifies that there are two primary ways of conducting international business: import and export. In import a company or individual purchase the goods outside the country of origin and sold out in domestic country. On the other hand whenever a company or individual produces the product/goods in the country of origin or domestic country and sold out in foreign company (Gupta and Govindarajan, 2008). In both ways there are several factors which have greater impact and influence on international business practice. In addition there are several advantages and disadvantages of import and export. The term export refers to the shipping of goods and services outside the port of a country (Hennart, 2004). Whenever a seller sells such goods, it is known as exporter and whenever a person purchase the goods or services outside the country then it is known as importer. In the international business, the term export means selling the goods and services outside the home country and vic e a versa. Except some goods or services, any products and goods can be exported to other country. The distribution of exported goods is undertaken by the domestic trader in which the goods are exported (Hennart, 2006). It is required to have the involvement of custom authorities while exporting the commercial quantities of goods in both the country of import and country of export. Due to the low value trades, the small trade over the internet such e-bay and Amazon is usually by-pass through custom. Therefore the export is subject to legal and formal restriction by the country of export to safeguard the interest of domestic producers (Johanson and Wiedersheim-Paul, 2008). The counterpart of export is known as import. The transaction of goods and services from resident to non resident is also known as national account export. National accountant therefore sometimes need to make some adjustments of basic trade data and hence the basic trade data requires the statistical analysis. it is different from the coverage of national accounts as the data for international trade is usually obtained from the custom service in the respective country. In case any country consists of general trade then the goods exported or imported in the country are recorded on respective dates. On the other hand in case a company uses special trade system in which the goods are received in warehouses then the goods are not recorded as external trade till the time goods are sent to the free trade zone (Jones, 2006). In free trade zone developed with in the country, some of the goods move freely without any custom, control or statistics in the trade of goods. This is also true in ca se of goods are transferred between the member states. Banks are responsible for the statistical recording for the trade in services and these data points are then reported to the central bank. It is not only applicable for only export but also for the import. In the globalization, the services are provided outside the country electronically such as via internet, therefore it is difficult to measure the amount earned is such cases (Nelson and Winter, 2007). Some basic information or statistics in international trade is normally avoided such as smuggled goods or international flow of illegal services. In the official trade such of type of goods and services is not accounted. Commercial policy and international trade is one of the oldest and most famous branches of international business and thought of economics. Export and import are the major components of the international business. Economists are generally discusses the macro economic risks and benefits of export and import. In presenting the different perspectives, there the two different views such as determining the benefits of international trade and concerning the possibly that the domestic industries may be influenced through international trade (Jones, 2008). For example if an importer imports the electronic goods from china then it is 3 to 4 times cheaper than the domestic producers products. Then the market for the domestic players can be captured by the importers products and the domestic labor will get crushed by the international player. In order to safeguard the interest of domestic market, the government has imposed some policies and duties on imported goods (Easterly, 2008). The export methods include the good or product which is being hand delivered, shipped via port or mailed through internet. The similar process is followed in importing the goods. Trade Regulations: Some of the natural regulations on import and export of goods are export administration regulation, bureau of industry and security, international tariffs, BIS regulation. In addition to this there are some commodities which need international license for import and export. These commodities includes, liquor, gold, tobacco, drugs etc. These regulations vary country to country. The exported or imported item falls under the specific product category and respectively the company can obtain the license. There are some restricted destinations which restricted for both the import and export such as Cuba, Sudan, North Korea, Pakistan, Syria and Iran since these countries promote the terrorist activity (Hennart, 2007). Trade Barriers: Government laws, regulation, policy and practices are generally known as trade barriers which are developed for safeguard the domestic products, labor and market from the foreign players or particular domestic products from the stimulating of artificial export. in order to restrict the business practices, there have been s similar effect which is not generally regarded as trade barrier. The government policies are imposed to protect the international exchange of goods and services in general common foreign trade barriers (Casson, 2008). Strategic: There are certain type of goods, services and information which is limited in the international trade for example goods which are associated with the weapons caused of mass destruction, arms, ammunition, advanced telecommunication, archaeological artifacts and all those items which are not in favor of the country. Some of the major example of these goods includes the nuclear suppliers group, missile technology and technological development (Dunning, 2006). Trade Tariffs: A trade tariff is the tax also known as economic barrier which is imposed by the local government on the items imported in the country. Whenever in the country the foreign competitors goods demand is rising and fallen the demand of domestic players then this tactic is used to safeguard the interest of domestic player. It is therefore the strategic reason to retain the domestic producers and increase their capability by providing them with subsidies and other support (Bartlett and Ghoshal, 2007). Advantages and Disadvantages of International Trade: There are some advantages and disadvantages of international trade for both the export and import. Advantages of Exporting: One of the major advantages of export is the ownership advantage which is specific to the firms international experience, asset and ability of the exporter to either develop the differentiated product or low cost product with in the values chain (Hertner and Jones, 2007). A combination of investment risk and market potential is k won as the location benefit of the particular market combination. In order to retain the core competencies within the organization and stitching it throughout the country without retaining the license, selling or outsourcing is the international advantage in export (Amatori and Jones, 2003). Some of the organizations having lower level of ownership advantage may do not enter into the foreign markets. In case a companys products and companys ownership equipped with the international advantage and ownership advantage, the entry can be made through low risk model known as exporting under the eclectic paradigm. There is low investment requires in exporting of goods than the other modes of international trade and expansion such foreign direct investment. Some how it is recognized that the lower level of risk result in ,lower level of rate of return than possibly the other modes of international trade (Khanna, 2007). On the other hand the usual return on international trade in export sales might not have greater potential but also there will be no risk. In export of goods the managers are allowed to exercise the various operational control however it does not have the option over the control of marketing activities of the company. The end consumer of exported goods is far away from the exporter though the various intermediaries can mange the risk (Jones, 2008). Disadvantages of Exporting: The exporting of goods is specifically difficult and disadvantageous for the small and medium size firms having employees less than 250. The sale of services and goods into the foreign market is difficult for them rather serving the domestic market. A lack of knowledge of different languages, difference in culture, exchange regulations and trade regulations having the major impact on exporting the goods for SMEs. In addition to this the staff interaction and strain of resources is a major block of exporting the goods. Despite this disadvantage, some of the SMEs are still exporting however two third of them sold out to the foreign markets (Jones, 2008). In addition to this there are some major disadvantages highlighted in the export of goods such as financial management, communication technology improvements, and customer demand and management mistakes. In order to minimize the risk of transaction process of exporting the goods and exchange rate fluctuation, it is essential to have more capacity for managing the financials for coping up the efforts (Nelson and Winter, 2007). Customers can now interact with the suppliers due to the recent development is the communication technology has improved the way of purchasing goods, since the communication is mush cheaper then what is was two decades ago. It leads more transparency in transaction and purchasing of goods and vendors are responsible for following the real time demand for submitting the transaction details (Hennart, 2007). The customers are becoming advance due to the improvement in the technology and they demand more support and services from the vendor such as startup and equip ment installation and startup, delivery service and maintenance which are difficult for the exporter to provide. There might be some pitfalls in the organization occurred by some of the management mistakes such as oversea a distributor, an agent or chaos in the global organization (Johanson and Wiedersheim-Paul, 2008). Advantages of Importing: Importing raw materials and goods is one of the paths of increasing the profit margins. There are number of benefits in importing the goods, such as high quality, low prices, and benefits related to the international trade. An importer can have the comparative advantage which means lower prices (Jones, 2006). Also the importer can have the much cheaper products from the foreign market due to low labor cost, low taxes etc. in terms of quality, the importer can have the higher quality goods and produce the finished goods with high quality and extend the business profit margins. In some countries, government provides the support to the importer for developing the trade relations (Nelson and Winter, 2007). Government provides the information of the manufactures and producers in the foreign country so that the importer can purchase the high quality and low price goods. Also due to the government involvement reduces the transaction risk. An importer can access to the regionally exclusive resources and cheap labor for producing the goods. These resources are required in the manufacturing process that have specialized skills and can be sound in certain countries. For example in electronic items, the Japanese people are highly efficient and manufacturer in UK use the labor from Japanese market for producing goods. The importing of resources includes everything starting from labor to technology (Fortanier, 2008). Disadvantages of Importing: There are many governments and economists who believe that the importing goods have numerous disadvantages. For example importing of goods could lead the erosion of the domestic markets and national economies specifically when there is trade deficit occur i.e. the import is higher than the export. Some of the goods like cars; appliances lead a higher level of domestic automobile and electronic markets and also loss of jobs in the respective markets (Hennart, 2007). Some other problems can also be increased due to import of goods such as conflict in the domestic values due to the acceptance of social values. The domestic industries can also be crippled due to the import of the countries where the wages are low and the domestic industries are unable to compete since they cannot lower down their prices of goods than the cost of goods and also they have the obligation to the worker union (Hertner and Jones, 2007). Free Trade Concept: The concept of free trade was introduced in the system to benefit the country and improving the condition of poor by providing them high quality and cheaper products. However as an economist, in my opinion free trade is erosion the domestic players for example if UK government lower the down the import duty on sugar then the demand for the imported sugar will increase and domestic player will not be able to compete with the foreign player (Johanson and Wiedersheim-Paul, 2008). On the other hand the economic category argues that free trade promote the environmental degradation, supporting the child labor, income inequality and wage labor, slavery, harming the national defense, enforcement of cultural change and accentuating the poverty in the country. The economists also argued that the importing goods under free trade are opposed by the domestic industries due to rise in competition in terms of product quality and cheaper prices (Nelson and Winter, 2007). A maximum exploitation of workers due to the free trade is also opposed by the socialists. Free trade generally do not reduce the poverty or improve the condition of working class in the country but frequently make them more poor. It also supports the colonialism and imperialism in the country. On the other hand I believe that in free trade consumer could gain more than the industrialists and the domestic producers are more likely to mobilize their products without lifting the tariffs (Jones, 2006). Conclusion and Suggestions: The competitive business environment enforces the businesses in both the international and domestic markets to retain their business and remain competitive. However depending on the need and potential of the business, it is essential to understand whether the company should indulge into the export or import activity (Gupta and Govindarajan, 2008). It is recommended to the businesses specially the medium and small companies to extend their business potential at domestic market first and then extend into the international market collaboration, joint venture or business partnership. Prosperity in the country cannot be achieved through protectionism since it increases only the poverty and also do not protect the domestic industries or jobs but harm the export business and industries which has belief on imports (Hennart, 2007).

Eating Disorders: Their Dark Sides :: essays research papers fc

"Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder on an overwhelming dread of becoming fat. The result of this unfounded fear is self-starvation and major weight loss. In addition, the undernourishment may cause hormonal disturbances, anemia, heart problems, brittle bones and many other problems, some of which are life-threatening ("Anorexia Nervosa," 1). Bulimia is an eating disorder that is psychological in origin and can have dire physical consequences. While anorexics starve themselves, bulimics binge on food and then purge by self-induced vomiting. Bulimics also frequently use diet pills, laxatives, and diuretics to reduce their weight. The purging may serve two purposes: preventing weight gain and also temporarily relieving depression and other negative feelings ("Bulimia," 1)." These eating disorders are a major issue in society today due to society’s stereotypical view of women and young teenage girls, in, but many cases’ men are affected too.First, an eating disorder is an illness that affects several of the United States population because society has driven many people to be self-conscience about their appearance. For example, eight million people in the United States suffer from eating disorders ("The Secret Language of Eating Disorders," 1). Furthermore, 3% of all young women suffer from anorexia and 3-4% suffer from bulimia ("The Secret Language of Eating Disorders," 1). This proves that many women and teenage girls are affected because many are afraid of becoming fat and "unacceptable" to society’s view on women in general. In addition, 1% of boys and young men suffer from eating disorders, and their cases are becoming more common ("The Secret Language of Eating Disorders," 1). Also, it is a disorder that crosses racial and economical lines, those who succumb to compulsive starving or binge eating are males (Lang, 1). This shows that today’s society has also affected men’s stereo-typical view of their appearance and weight. Thus, eating disorders not only affect women, they also affect men, in which we are seeing more cases of every day.Second, victims of eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia have many warning signs which help people notice the signs of these eating disorders. For instance, anorexia nervosa has the following symptoms: significant weight loss, excessive dieting and exercising, and constipation ("Anorexia Nervosa", 2). Also, bulimia nervosa has the following symptoms: makes excuses to go to the bathroom after meals, and eats large amounts of food on the spur of the moment ("Bulimia Nervosa", 2).

SAS Institute Case Analysis

1. Basic Business Model The business model of SAS is such that it in general it offers services coupled with software. Unlike typical firms in the industry it follows an annual software subscription model. Rather than sell its software, SAS leases to its customers – a strategy of immense importance in understanding the company’s relationship to its users. The fact that leases must be renewable annually creates a tremendous emphasis on customer satisfaction and quality in addition to stabilising its revenue. Furthermore, its products are made based on what customers require and its developmental process is almost wholly customer driven. There is also a strong focus on employee satisfaction leading to customer retention and loyalty which SAS believes is directly linked to customer satisfaction. As seen by the SAS Institute, the leasing strategy helps keep the company sharp by ensuring that technological advances are driven solely by customer needs. 2. Capabilities and Core Competencies to execute its Business Model SAS possesses many capabilities and competencies to help execute its business model effectively. These include flexibility from being a private company, an effective tacit leadership, unique corporate culture, strong brand, dedicated human capital and a considerable amount of financial resources which they efficiently allocate to certain projects whenever required. Being private, it is able to focus on the long term, continue to implement activities which have a strong focus on employee satisfaction and focus on slower but steady growth, something that would have most likely have not been possible had SAS been a public company. With a strong leadership spearheaded by CEO Jim Goodnight, coupled with a strong brand, SAS is able to recruit and retain the key talent it requires to execute its business model. Having a corporate culture which is egalitarian and based on mutual trust and respect also plays a significant role in retaining talent and keeping employees loyal and happy. With a dedicated human capital striving to continue the company’s growth, SAS does not only come up with innovative products which increase its revenue, it also saves more than $100million due to its low attrition rate. Key Success Factors The key factors are its unconventional management philosophies, customer driven developmental process and it being a private company. Unlike other software companies that focus on monetary benefits, SAS’s management philosophy is mainly employee centred with the provision of many intangible benefits. It also believes in a long term view of all issues and does not actively strive to reac h specified short term financial goals. These have led to a build up of a loyal and talented workforce and sustainable long term growth. Moreover, its products are built on customer needs and customer feedback is taken very seriously. Using the Voice of the Customer (VOC) approach, customer opinions and suggestions are compiled and used to guide the development process. Being a private company with no debt has allowed Goodnight to have a long term view of issues and also implement the abovementioned policies to provide employee satisfaction and consequently customer satisfaction as well. . Building of Capabilities and Core Competencies via People Management Practices With attraction and retention of talent central to the company’s continuing success, it has developed certain principles in its recruitment, compensation, employee benefits and outsourcing policies. It has a stringent recruitment process to ensure the cultural fit of its new hires and thereafter gives its employees as much autonomy as possible. It also actively promotes a work life balance and egalitarian culture with a promotion of non financial incentives, unlike other software firms thus creating a unique corporate culture, â€Å"One of cooperation, teamwork and mutual respect† . Moreover its flat organization structure, open door policy and informal work environment encourages communication at all levels of the organization.. This has also led to the development of a strong brand and increased employee satisfaction which not only enables the company to attract but also retain talent. As shown in the diagram above, this leads to increased customer satisfaction and thus increasing revenues. All in all, these practices have helped promote the building of its capabilities and competencies to a large extent ?Is the SAS Model perfectly in balance? With SAS focussed on long term growth and emphasizing non monetary benefits for its employees, this model has been almost perfect for them. It is not fair to say that the model is perfectly in balance as a firm’s model is largely determined by its capabilities and core competencies. A public company for instance would not enjoy the flexibility that SAS enjoys. It would not be able to provide such extensive employee benefits or focus on long term growth at the expense of short term profitability. No model can fit all organizations and be perfectly in balance and SAS is not different. For example, if its model is in balance, its attrition rate despite being low would be 0 and not 4%. 4. Difficulties in imitating SAS’s approach Being such a differentiated company compared to the rest of the industry in many aspects, it is difficult to duplicate SAS’s approach which is based heavily on intangible assets. â€Å"†¦intangible assets almost never create value by themselves. They need to be combined with other assets. † Hence, not only do these intangible assets such as SAS’s unique corporate culture take years to implement, it is also hard to imitate as the social complexity of a company's culture is so ambiguous that it is almost impossible to find out how it works and combines with each other. ?Why few firms have tried to implement many of its People Management Practices Big companies with strong brands such as IBM could follow its stringent recruitment process but would not be able to imitate its unique culture as easily. With most companies providing incentive compensations and stock options, it would not be easy to eliminate that and emphasize non-monetary incentives. This is especially so when public companies would have to go through its board just to provide employee benefits on a similar scale as SAS. It would also be unfeasible to bring outsourced functions back in-house as it would most certainly drive up labour costs and hence be blocked by a hard-nosed board. 5. Extent to which SAS is dependent on continuation of its CEO With a flat organization structure and having 27 direct reports, Goodnight also appears o be very much on top of all the details of the organization. Conversely, he appears to give his direct reports a clear direction of where SAS Institute is going on the product or technology front, and then let them run their own areas. Even though Goodnight is no longer directly involved with most decisions related to SAS’s work culture, his original vision has spawned a self-perp etuating culture, and â€Å"new† decision makers now share his vision, which governs the variety of philosophies, strategies, and practices adopted by the company since its inception. Even though the culture looks so strong that it would survive a change in leadership, the new CEO would not only have to possess business leadership ability but also shares the same values as Goodnight so that SAS does not deviate from its current approach to its business and management. Hence, with no formal succession planning and still being heavily involved in almost all aspects of the organization, the SAS institute approach to its business and management is heavily dependent on Goodnight’s continuation. . Theory of Human Motivation and Behaviour underlying SAS’s Management Approach Maslow’s Needs Hierarchy seems to underlie SAS’s approach to people management. 7. Barriers in implementing knowledge of how SAS manages its people Firstly, a barrier in trying to implement freedom and autonomy coupled with possessing employees with intrinsic motivation is not only the lack of talent but finding talent with the required characteristics. Secondly, extensive employee benefits such as a gym, day-care and the absence of commission-based pay for its account representatives would most likely not been possible if a company is public. Thirdly, a lack of explicit support and encouragement from top management would be another barrier as this is important for the promotion of an egalitarian culture based on trust and mutual respect on top of a family-friendly atmosphere. 8. Major Challenges SAS may face in the next 5 years and its Impact Due to the changing dynamics of the software industry and increasing global competition, the company has to expand its talent pool which is already in shortage. Hence, there might be a need for the company to come out with new ways to attract talent. Practices such as providing more career advancement opportunities would be important in retaining them. Another challenge would be to develop current staff to meet future needs whilst nurturing its talent to fulfil their potential. SAS might have to change its current unstructured approach where employees are free to come up with and develop their own projects and idea. A more structured approach to its job design could be considered to help nurture and develop staff. In general, SAS’s practices have been working for them and look to be able to continue to help them succeed. However, certain aspects could be improved in the future to overcome potential future people management problems such a new generation of workers demanding a different set of benefits than the one SAS currently offers. . Lessons drawn By paying extraordinary attention to its customers and employees, the company has differentiated itself from other companies in the competitive industry, and subsequently has created this â€Å"wheel of loyalty† which resulted in both employee and customer retention. For various HRM practices such as recruitment and selection, great care must be taken to ensure all practices are designed to fit t he company’s business model and culture and at the same time also highlights its strengths, to promote a competitive advantage. For instance, during recruitment, SAS took great care to hire people to ensure a cultural fit. In addition, its job design was such to fit into its philosophy of trust and autonomy between its employees. There should also be a strong relationship between management and employees to produce competitive advantage, hence SAS’s promotion of an egalitarian culture. ?Future of HRM in firms like SAS The future of HR should be one that is committed to working with line managers to improve SAS’s bottom line, create service value for customers and create workplace value for employees. Leadership and management training should be initiated for senior managers while knowledge sharing within the HR function would be vital for SAS to move forward and expand globally. HR should also become a champion for employees while working to increase employee contributions, specifically commitment and ability to deliver results, be an agent for continuous transformation, and cultivating a culture that will improve SAS’s capacity for change.

Pride And Prejudice By Jane Austen - 1263 Words

Pride and Prejudice’ is concerned with the equality of personhood between characters in the story. For instance, the marriage of Charlotte Lucas marriage to Mr. Collins which can be demonstrate the fact that marriage in the 19 century England, was ultimately seen as being an economic institution, dictated primarily by economic means. Miss Lucas, whom is a woman with small fortune, recognized her requirement for a wealthy husband to ensure that her social and cultural sustainment and thus, she marries Mr. Collins for whom she does not feel any loving emotion, â€Å"it is impossible that every moment should be employed in conversing together†. Within this, Austen presents a more cynical view of marriage, that of happiness not as marital†¦show more content†¦Mr. and Mrs. Bennet’s relationship can be revealed to the reader within the first few paragraphs of chapter one You mistake me, my dear. I have a high respect for your nerves.’’, their relationship is shown as being to be intricate and one-sided. Mr. Bennet and Mrs. Bennet are seen as being very different people as they do not share any similarities as married couples. Mr. Bennet is seen as being a multifarious man, as he has two main hobbies in life which is reading and teasing his wife â€Å"high respect for your nerves†. Conversely, Mrs Bennet is seen as being an artless and injudicious character, as she seen as being unable to tell when she is being teased by her husband. Catherina and Edgar Linton’s marriage is seen as being attraction of status as she is only attracted to him because of his lifestyle, as Edgar can provide Catharine social security whereas Healthcliff cannot. Their marriage is portrayed as in terms of power as Catherine can be seen as desiring Edgar because of the money and the position he offers hers, which she seen as thinking as a way to better the life of Heathcliff, it is suggested that their relationship Is seen as growing from abuse as she has power of him and Edgar willingness to give her everything â€Å"You’ve made me afraid and ashamed of you†, even though with the abuse that he is experiencing, he doesn’t not leave her although with the pain that she is causing him showing his loyalty to their marriage.