My Six-Week Learning Journey Through International Business Strategy

Contents
MY SIX-WEEK LEARNING JOURNEY THROUGH INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS STRATEGY..................2
REFERENCES...................................................................................................................................6
APPENDIX 1....................................................................................................................................8
“THE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY OF BUSINESS IS TO INCREASE ITS PROFITS”...............................8
APPENDIX 2..................................................................................................................................10
DIFFERENT FORMS OF AGENCY AND INSTITUTIONAL INFLUENCES WITHIN MULTINATIONAL
ENTREPRISES............................................................................................................................10
APPENDIX 3..................................................................................................................................12
HOW INDUSTRIES EVOLVE...........................................................................................................12
1

MY SIX-WEEK LEARNING JOURNEY THROUGH INTERNATIONAL
BUSINESS STRATEGY
I was known to the concept of international business strategy in the initial stage of the
module as I have already gained knowledge about that in my undergraduate program. The
models and techniques such as Uppsala Model, Pestle analysis, SWOT analysis, Porter’s generic
five force model and Ansoff’s matrix were taught to me in my undergraduate program but the
concept of International business strategy is much broader and this 6-week learning journey
made me understand the IBS at a huge level (Kuimov, 2017, pg. no. 356-362). Initially, when the
module was not started, I aimed to develop in this module by concentrating more effectively on
the IBS concepts with gaining proper knowledge of every example and noting it for my future
learning. I aimed to concentrate on the universal understanding of the IBS context. These six
weeks played an initial step in my career development aim of the learning IBS context to
achieve development.
The first week of the module was based on the introduction of IBS (Cavusgil, et. al.
2014). Initially, we were introduced to the concept of Frynas & Mellahi’s strategy adopted by
the multinational enterprises for three levels of needs as shown in following figure (Frynas &
Mellahi, 2015):
[Source: http://strategicmgt15.blogspot.in/2017/06/global-strategic-analysis-
understanding.html]
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I also went through the concept of "How to Win in Emerging Markets" but understood
the relation between this concept and IBS after gaining the knowledge from the lecture
attendance. This made me clear about the famous words said by (Willetts, 2014) that
"Tomorrow’s successful strategies become to those who view the world differently". This also
made me recognize about the situations faced by the Japanese company because of not
applying the changes in the strategies properly. The concept of (Willetts, 2014) can be helpful in
Japanese companies for fulfilling the increased market demand of the evolving markets. I
understand that the constant evolving of the strategies adopted by the multinational
companies is very necessary to cope up with the competitors in the international market.
The second-week learning of the module was focused on the discussion of the macro
level of global strategy model. My undergraduate program had already made me learnt about
the use of the tools like pestle analysis and Porter’s five force analysis at this level. The new
thing that I learned about this level was that these tools were not enough to analyse the macro
environment for the companies. The learning proceeded towards the CAGE Distance
Framework which was new to me. I understood that the use of the analytical model is equally
important for the companies to analyse the macro environment. While comparing between
CAGE and Pestle analysis, the results showed that CAGE model is focused on broader
dimensions of the study by discussing the external factors such as Administrative Distance.
CAGE models play an effective role in the company’s development in the international business
environment.
The second-week learning of the module was focused on the discussion of the industry
level of global strategy model. The companies have always disparaged Porter’s five force model
in case of the competitiveness of the industry and market. The learning module in this week
made me understand the concepts of the use of Porter's Diamond and Yip's globalisation
drivers while analysing the industry and why these are better than Porter’s five force model
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(Fainshmidt, et. al. 2016, pg. no. 81-104). The appendix 2 made me learn the same thing when I
read about the German company’s entry in the UK business market.
The third level firm level of the global strategy model was focused on the 4th week of the
module learning. The companies can base their strategies on the two contrasting approaches
namely inside-out perspective and outside-in perspective (Basham, et. al. 2016). Initially, I have
always considered that the analysis of the external market is enough for the company's market
development but this week made me learn about both the Strategic fit and Strategic stretch
which plays an efficient role in the company's development and making it achieve the global
success.
I was familiar with the entry mode strategies which were discussed in the 5th week. I was
more focused on gaining the knowledge about previous weeks’ learning. I also came to know
about the influence of the environmental factors on the company’s strategy for entering in the
new market. The interesting thing I learned in this week was about the market entry barriers
and their effects on the alignment of the companies. Beamish and Lupton’s (2009, Pages 648-
655) study made me understand about the combine working of the companies and creation of
the joint ventures for generating market value.
The last week of the learning module made me aware of the headquarter strategy. This
made me learns about the strategies and links between adaptation versus standardisation
strategies and between subsidiary level strategies (Dikova, et. al. 2017, pg. no. 405-435). Many
organizations are considered to adopt the global strategy but still, some of them are obligated
to follow a subsidiary's strategy for entering in a particular market for maintaining the
exceptionality of the market.
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