Foreign Direct Investment and Myanmar's Food Sector

This assignment explores the influence of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) on Myanmar's food sector. It delves into the economic transformations brought about by FDI and investigates the associated challenges. The analysis considers aspects such as value chain development, nutritional implications, and cultural considerations in the context of global market integration.

Global Business Management Project
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Global Business Management Project Report 1
Executive Summary
The purpose of this report is to understand the business expansion of any company in an overseas
country to have a better growth and development of the business operation. For this following
report, the company and the product selected is the CHIA drinks which is one of the well know
brand of New Zealand in the healthy beverages industry. The report will present the overview of
the organisation, the selection of the country for expansion, various aspects of marketing plan
including, market entry mode, competitive analysis and marketing strategies. The later part of the
report will present the value chain assessment, ethical considerations, social responsibility and
managing human sources and will sum up with a brief conclusion.

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Contents
Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................1
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Overview of the Organisation..........................................................................................................2
Selection of the country...................................................................................................................3
Marketing Plan for successful market entry....................................................................................4
Market entry.................................................................................................................................4
Competitive Analysis...................................................................................................................4
Marketing Strategy......................................................................................................................5
Value Chain Assessment.................................................................................................................6
Social responsibility and ethical considerations relating to the product and market.......................7
Cultural and communication issues of operating in that market of Myanmar and their impact on
the operations...................................................................................................................................8
Managing Human resources in Myanmar........................................................................................9
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................11

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Introduction
Every organisation wants to expand its business in the overseas nations to have continuous
growth and increased brand visibility. Expanding the roots in the foreign nations is one of the
best ways to develop and grow the business. in present time, the demand for nutritional
substances has been increased as both the athletes as well as the people who are health conscious
and fitness freak are consuming increasing number of nutritional juices and liquids that are rich
in nutrients, proteins and omega 3. Because of the increasing demand for such drinks and due to
the changing life style of the people, there are companies who have started producing such
nutrient drinks to gain the market share (Rasane, 2015). The report will present the expansion
and marketing of such product only in some new markets for fetching the attention of the new
customer bases and to have an effective global reach.
Overview of the Organisation
With the efforts of two sisters named Florence Van Dyke and Chloe Van Dyke, there were
established CHIA drinks in the year 2012. The key region of operations of the company is
Helson, New Zealand. The main purpose behind developing these CHIA drinks was to offer the
athletes with some sustainable energy in the form of drinks to build up the level of nutrition.
CHIA started by aiming towards the endurance drinks for the athletes but later on it offered
drinks to the general public to boost their nutritional levels. The company offers the adults as
well as the children with high amount of vegetarian omega 3 with other nutrients including
electrolytes, potassium, iron, calcium and magnesium. The drinks of CHIA are rich in both the

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insoluble as well as the soluble fibers which have been extracted from the juices and helps in
regulating the blood sugar level and digestion. The CHIA drinks are considered as more like a
food rather than a drink. The drinks are available in various flavors including New Zealand
apples, tropical flavor with orange and passion fruit, New Zealand blackcurrants and anti-oxidant
rich blueberries which make the drinks more delicious and tempting. There are also plans to
introduce the Coconut Water & Mango and the Feijoa & Pink Guava flavors too in the coming
time. These drinks are highly refreshing as well as for supplying the human bodies with required
nutrients and proteins (CHIA, 2017).
Selection of the country
The country selected for the expansion of the business and to have a new market for the CHIA
drinks is Myanmar. Myanmar is recognized for its ancient civilization. The economy is primarily
agricultural driven but is developing fast with reduced number of crimes. From the overall
perspective and by analyzing through the lenses of PEST framework, it has been analyzed that
there are favorable and supportive political factors as the relationship between Myanmar and
New Zealand have grown with an increasing rate (Thi, Trang and Latt, 2017). Earlier there was
very .less interaction but in 2011 there was a new military backed civilian government that
passed a reform and the association between the countries developed. There is also a
representative office in Myanmar because do which the political relation have been smoothened.
(Source: MFAT, 2017)

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From the economic point of view, there has been analyzed increasing GDP as well as the trade
between both the nation have also increased which support other companies and business
organisations to have successful business opportunities in the regions of Myanmar. Thus, the
economic factors also support the expansion of CHIA drinks in the regions of Myanmar. From
the social factor analysis, it has been realized that there are increasing health issues and the
people are lacking the required nutrients and proteins in their diet (Abonyi, 2016). The
continuously increasing obesity issues as well as other health related issues support the
marketing and offering of such healthy drinks in the regions of Myanmar. From the
technological factor, it has been analyzed that the use of technology is increasing slowly and
gradually and it is a supportive factor for the fast establishment and development of the business
in the regions of Myanmar (Soe, 2015).
Marketing Plan for successful market entry
Market entry
To enter the market of Myanmar, the best suitable and appropriate strategy for CHIA drinks is
foreign direct investment. It is regarded as one of the best ways to enter any global or overseas
market through acquiring the business assets in the international market or by establishing of the
business operation in the selected overseas nation (Cavusgil, et al., 2014). CHIA drinks can use
joint venture as entry mode as there are vast differences in both the nations i.e. New Zealand and
Myanmar, thus it is benefices to have merger with some domestic company so that there can be
saved from the various legal consequences, cultural issuers and other challenges (Coeurdacier,
De Santis and Aviat, 2009).
Competitive Analysis
In the industry of nutrient and healthy beverages, there is an increasing competition as because fo
the growing demand across the world, there are companies that are producing the drinks that are
rich in omega, proteins and the nutrients. Therefore, it is essential to have high number of
strengths and work over the weak nesses to attract the customers. Following are the strengths and
weaknesses of the CHIA drinks.
Strengths

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There are various strengths of the CHIA drinks as it is a healthy and nutrient drink which has no
kind of side effects on eth hae.th of its consumers. Thus it is its biggest strength. Another
strength of the CHIA drinks is increasing interest of the people in healthy and nutrient substances
for maintain their jaelthy life styled and the other key strengths includes the key target segment is
athletes and thus kit is one for the recognized drinks in the sports and athlete industry (CHIA,
2017).
Weaknesses
There are few weaknesses too which weakens the company and its expansion strategy such as in
Myanmar people are very much dependent upon the use of rice in all their meals and it is
difficult to develop taste for such healthy drinks. Secondly there is also an important fact that
CHIA is not much globally recognized brand thus there will be put more efforts to attract the
people of Myanmar as it is a different nation and to understand the needs and demands of the
people is difficult for the company (CHIA, 2017).
Marketing Strategy
Strategies for Design and Operations
To design the drinks there will be first perform the analysis of the market and understand the
taste and preferences of the customers. There can be offered some new flavors of CHIA drinks
which are appropriate for attracting the masses. There can be have association with some of the
retailers of Myanmar who have an effective and string customer base so that there can be
attained an understanding of the favored flavors liked by the people of Myanmar (Richey and
Klein, 2014).
Strategies for Distribution and Supply
For having effective distribution and supply, there is a need to have appropriate strategy for the
same. The company must take use of the intensive distribution and supply strategy as according
to this strategy, there is covered the maximum possible market. It is considered as one of the best
and suitable strategy of distribution for the FMCG products. With the help of this strategy there
can be effective distribution and supply of the CHIA drinks at various places with easy

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accessibility. The customers can even buy these drinks from the retail stores too as they will be
available on these retail stores as well (Rushton, Croucher and Baker, 2014).
Strategies for Marketing
Marketing of the product is one of the most vital and important t aspect while entering into a new
market as the customers are not aware of the products and to increase the sales it is necessary to
make the potential customers aware about the availability and develop attractiveness for the
products offered by the organisation (Hollensen, 2015). CHIAA drinks are also required to take
use of effective marketing strategies for increasing the sales of the drinks at various places of
Myanmar. The marketing strategies which can be effectively used by the company is advertising
on television, having promotion on various social media platforms, advertisements in eth
newspaper, hoardings as well as by making it available at the local and retail shops. By
marketing the CHIA drinks at all these sources, there can be realized a good sales as the people
will get informed about the availability an attractiveness of the product (Armstrong, et al., 2015).
Strategies for Customer Service
In every organisation and its marketing strategies and plan, the ley objective is to satisfy the
customers with the product and services by focusing upon the customer services. There are few
strategies which can be used by the company in offering adequate services to its customers such
as the customers must be explained the benefits of consuming the CHIA drinks by the suppliers
of the retailers so that people can understand about the product. There can also be asked about
the feedbacks from the customers that are they satisfied with the products or not or there is any
kind of change required (Jahanshani, et al., 2014).
Value Chain Assessment
There is also a need to have effective and efficient value chain assessment at CHIA drinks as the
value chain assessment will help in driving supply chain excellence. If the processes to be
conducted at Myanmar will be analysis through various lenses and multiple angels then it will
help in achieving continuous improvements in the CHIA’s supply chain. There are majorly four
key areas which can impact or influence the success of the supply chain that includes
organisation, supply base and processes, customers and the financials (Gómez and Ricketts,

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2013). By focusing upon all these four afctors, there will be attained an overall efficiency supply
chain. First there will be mapping of the value chain of CHIA drinks and perform identification
of the various risks and challenges, non-value adding processes, scalability and agility of the
supply chain. Once these are identified, the company will take use of effective strategies to
improve the processes and removed eradicate such factors from the value chain. The next step
will be measuring the value chain and a proper identification of the KPIs will be perform for
analyzing the performance of CHIA drinks in Myanmar by comparing it with the already set
benchmarks and then developing appropriate goals and targets. After performing the mapping
and measuring of the value chain, there will be taken use of strategies for having improvements
and designing solution to the issues identified (Hawkes, 2009).
Social responsibility and ethical considerations relating to the product and
market
At the time of entering into the market of Myanmar, it is essential that there must be given
emphasis upon the ethical considerations as well the social responsibility in respect with the
product as well as the market. It must be ensured by CHIA drinks that while entering into
Myanmar it does not laid down pressure upon the local retailers or fetch their businesses as it is
ethically incorrect (Tang-Lee, 2016). Therefore, CHIA drinks smut take use of ethical strategies
for entering and sustaining into the market. Secondly, it is also required that there must be
sustainable business operations which means that the production and manufacturing if these
drinks must not affect the sustainability of the environment or does not cause any harm to the
agricultural lands as it is the primary business of the people and the waste substances or overuse
of water should not hamper the sustainable living of the people and sustainability of the
environment and natural resources. The next point if consideration regarding eth social
responsibility is that the drinks must be offered at affordable prices so that the people do not
restrict themselves from buying due to the price factor. As well as it is essential that like other
companies there must be a percentage of money or capital investments to be made for the
development and improvement of the societies as a part of the corporate social responsibility of
CHIA drinks (Arai, 2015). It is also an ethical responsibility or consideration of the company is
that these are the health based beverages so the manufacturing and production of such drinks
must be ensured and the company must have high quality products as well as a safety assurance

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mark on the drinks so that no kind of risk can impact the health of the masses. It is also one of
the social responsibility of the company that it must give employment opportunities to the people
of Myanmar as it is about to start its venture in that region. Therefore all the people must get
equal wages and chance to take benefit of the employment opportunities. Thus, it is essential that
the CHIA drinks must out high emphasis on the ethicality and social responsibility of the
business and the products while operating in the markets of Myanmar (Brooten and Metro,
2014).
Cultural and communication issues of operating in that market of Myanmar
and their impact on the operations
There are number if challenges and issues take place when any organisation or company expands
in any overseas nation because of the fact that there are differences in the cultural and social
factors of both the countries. While operating in Myanmar, CHIA drinks will also encounter
some of those issues such as cultural challenges, language challenges, etc. These issues not only
act as the barricade in successful business operation but also laid down a number of negative
impacts of the sustainability and growth of the business operations (Lee and Sermcheep, 2017).
While entering and functioning in the markets of Myanmar, there can be a few issues faced by
CHIA such as the religion followed at New Zealand is Christianity whereas the culture followed
at Myanmar is Buddhism. Both the countries have huge differences on the basis of their religion
and culture which results in occurrence of issues while dealing with the customers as many a
time it is not understand what is demanded by the customers or what they actually needs (Gelb,
Calabrese and Tang, 2017). It has also been analyzed that while having business operations in
Myanmar, the company can face a number of language based issues as the main language of
Myanmar is Burmese and the main language of New Zealand is Māori. There takes place issues
when the company has to deal with the newly appointed domestic individuals as the staff of
CHIA. The language barriers not only impact the internal functioning of the coma pony bout
also impacts the relationship with the customers (Moran, Abramson and Moran, 2014). It is
highly essential that to attract and retain a customer, there must be conveyed they message
properly or there must be effective flow of communication. Therefore, without offering adequate
training regarding the language aspects as well as in respect with the cultural differences there
can take place a number of cultural as well as communication issues while functioning in

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Myanmar (Abdullah, 2017). Because of these issues there is harsh and negative impact posed on
the sustainability and growth of the business operations as the communication issue based on
language differences may result in less team work and inadequate flow of communication among
the employees and thus, it will affect the productivity and efficiency of the business operations.
As well as the ineffective communication with the consumers will result in loss of potential
customers which will decline the sales and also hampers the long term sustainability of the
company in Myanmar (Verbiest and Naing, 2017).
Managing Human resources in Myanmar
While entering into business expansions in a diverse region or an overseas nation, the most
severe challenges are posed because of the ineffective management of the human resources. The
human resource are the most significant and important part of any organisation for having
efficient business operations as they carry the business operations and other functions of the
organisations. CHIA drinks are required to take use of effective strategies and initiatives to
manage the human resources (Morschett, Schramm-Klein and Zentes, 2015). The first strategy
used by CJIA drinks must be to appoint both the domestic individuals as well as the expatriate to
undertake the business operations as if the company will only employees either of the two then it
will result in in efficiency of business operations (Brewster, et al., 2016). Secondly, it is essential
that a fair and equable wages must be offered to the employees with adequate level of position
without any unfair practices so that the brand image of CHIA can have a better visibility and
recognition in the regions of Myanmar (Sparrow, Brewster and Chung, 2016). Another important
aspect in managing eth human resources is to give adequate training to the employees to carry on
the business operations such as the expatriates must be given cross cultural training as they have
to deal with the distributors, suppliers, colleagues and the customers in a different language and
at a different place which have diverse cultural afctors and norms. Thus, there is an essential
need of the cross-cultural training (Varma, 2013). Another major step for managing the human
resource is to have an effective flow of communication as the communication channels are
required to be straight and there can be open discussions so that the issues and the grievances do
not take place in the organisation. Thus, to manage the human resource in Myanmar there must
be appropriate strategize, initiatives and steps in respect with developing communication
balance, cultural balance and use of fair practices (Deresky, 2017).

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Conclusion
From this report, it can be concluded that to grow and develop further, it is necessary to have
business expansion or to extend the roots of business operations in the overseas countries. CHIA
drinks is one of the fastest growing company with its unique and healthy drinks. The report
concludes that Myanmar is considered as a potential nation for CHIA to expand its business as
there is less competitive as well as high business opportunities. From the internal analysis, it is
analyzed that the strengths of the company can help it in having a successful business in the
regions of Myanmar. From the overall insights, it is concluded that, with effective marketing
strategies, value chain assessment, proper management of human resources, effective cross-
cultural training and considering the ethical and social responsibility, the company can have
successful business operation in Myanmar.

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