Missguided & Global Competitive Advantage: UK International Strategies

This dissertation explores effective international business strategies for gaining a global competitive advantage within the UK sales industry, focusing on a case study of Missguided. It begins by introducing the topic, providing background on Missguided, and outlining the significance, purpose, problem statement, aim, objectives, and structure of the study. The literature review examines the basic concepts of international business in the UK sales context, analyzes the strategies used by Missguided, identifies challenges faced in the global market, and assesses the impact of these strategies on competitive advantages. The research methodology employs qualitative methods, utilizing secondary data. The dissertation aims to provide insights for researchers, marketing managers, and organizations seeking to understand and implement effective international business strategies for global success. Desklib offers similar resources and study tools for students.

Dissertation
(Effective international business
strategies to gain global competitive
advantage within sales industry in the
U.K)
1

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
Overview of the topic..................................................................................................................4
Background of the organisation (100).........................................................................................4
Significance of the study.............................................................................................................4
Statement of purpose...................................................................................................................5
Statement of the problem.............................................................................................................5
Research aim and objective 150..................................................................................................5
Research question........................................................................................................................6
Dissertation structure...................................................................................................................6
CHAPTER 2- LITERATURE REVIEW.........................................................................................8
Introduction..................................................................................................................................8
Basic concept of international business within the context of UK sale industry.........................8
Effective international business strategies used by Misguided to gain global competitive
advantages..................................................................................................................................11
Challenges faced by the Misguided while implementing the international business strategy in
global market.............................................................................................................................12
Impact of effective international business strategy on gaining competitive advantages for
Misguided..................................................................................................................................14
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................16
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY..................................................................................................17
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................21
Online:.......................................................................................................................................23
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INTRODUCTION
Overview of the topic
International business strategy is defined as the application which focuses on planning to
export product and service in the foreign countries. In the recent time to increase the market
share it become vital for the company to sale goods and service in the foreign market. This assist
them to gain competitive edge from the rivalry within the same industry (Agwu, 2018). With the
increase in globalisation a new door for the company is being opened which provide them the
chance to go internationally and sale their good. There are three international business strategy
that are multi domestic strategy, global strategy and transactional strategy. In the current
investigation a researcher is conducted to know the impact of these strategy on global
competition (Helmold and Samara, 2019).
Background of the organisation (100)
For carrying the current investigation, the chosen business organisation is MGL realisation
which trades their product in the market with the name Missguided. This is the company which
operates their business from UK. It is a multi-channel retailing selling cloths brand which sale
cloth from the age group of 16-35 years (Jain, Jain and Metri, 2018). The company was founded
in the year 2009 by Nitin Passi. The headquarter of the company is in Trafford park. In 2017 the
company also launches menswear in the market. The company is chosen to see the impact on
their competitive edge after implementing the international business strategy over the worldwide
market.
Significance of the study
The present investigation is quite significant as it helps in knowing the importance of
international business strategy. It is crucial for the company to adopt right international business
strategy for their firm as it helps in gaining competitive edge from the rivalry. To gain the
international competition and make a strong brand image it is important for the company to have
right strategy (Zameer, Wang and Yasmeen, 2020). The present investigation is also important
for researcher, marketing manager and organisation. For researcher it is important as it helps
them to carry their investigation ins sound manner by using the present investigation as their
foundation. For marketing manager, it is important as they will get to know about the strategies
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that they can use to expand their business in international market. At last, for organisation it is
vital as they will get to know how they can earn competitive advantage by using international
business strategy (Hannibal and Knight, 2018).
Statement of purpose
The main purpose to carry the current investigation is to acquire an understanding on the
topic international business strategy. The present research also helps in knowing the impact of
international business strategy on gaining competitive edge. In the current investigation different
international strategy would be determine which helps in enhancing the knowledge. The present
investigation also highlights the challenges which firm faces while adopting the concept of
internationally (Aguilera and Grøgaard, 2019). Apart from the existing investigation is of great
interest as it assists in achieving two objectives that are personal and professional. In perspective
of the personal it helps in building various research skills such as data communicating skill, data
presentation skill and many other. With respect to the professional objective, different
international strategy would be learned that helps me in using these when researcher will be
working in an international firm as marketing manager. Thus, it achieves the dual objective in
effective way (Liu and Atuahene-Gima, 2018).
Statement of the problem
The key problem which is identified in the present investigation is that gaining competitive
advantage in the global market is difficult for the company. this is because implementing and
deciding right international business strategy is one of the challenges. Selling the product in the
global market requires a proper market analysis which helps in attracting the customer in
effective way (Nave and Ferreira, 2019). Each and every firm operates to gain competitive edge
from the rivalry. This creates pressure and increase the international competition in large
manner. Thus, going international and gaining advantage is one of the challenging task for the
brands operating globally (Rehman Khan and Yu, 2021).
Research aim and objective 150
Research aim:
To analyse the Effective international business strategies to gain global competitive
advantage within sales industry in the U.K: A study on Missguided
Research objective:
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 To understand the basic concept of international business within the context of UK sale
industry
 To analyse the effective international business strategies used by Misguided to gain
global competitive advantages
 To determine the challenges faced by the Misguided while implementing the
international business strategy in global market
 To examine the impact of effective international business strategy on gaining competitive
advantages for Misguided
Research question
 What is the basic concept of international business within the context of UK sale
industry?
 What are the effective international business strategies used by Misguided to gain global
competitive advantages?
 What are the challenges faced by the Misguided while implementing the international
business strategy in global market?
 What is the impact of effective international business strategy on gaining competitive
advantages for Misguided?
Dissertation structure
There are many chapters involves in order to conduct the research in current topic. These
are described below:
Introduction- It is a first chapter of a dissertation that used to describe about the basic
understanding related to the research topic (Scalfani, 2020). It also describes about the purpose
of doing research, it significance, identified problem, outlined of methodology and overview of
the company.
Literature review- It refers to the second chapter of the dissertation that covers
secondary information about the research topic. It includes opinions, ideas and views of different
authors for the research topic.
Research methodology- It refers to the third chapter of the dissertation that describes
about the what methods, procedure and techniques used by the researcher to conduct research.
The current research is conducted by using qualitative methods by collecting secondary data
(Putri, 2021).
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Data analysis and findings - It is the fourth chapter of dissertation that is used to
analysed and discussed the collected data for outlining the findings of the research.
Conclusion and recommendation- It is the last chapter of dissertation that summarised
whole research as well as conclude the findings. This chapter recommend some ways to the
company that will help them to solve research problem.
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CHAPTER 2- LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
A literature review refers to a set of academic writing content showing the understanding
and knowledge of the academic literature on a certain subject ordered in context. It involves a
critical evaluation of the chosen topic by considering the concepts of different authors, scholars,
authors, journals or sources. For the current research, it will help researcher to write a
dissertation or thesis on the topic. The following literature review will be based on understanding
the basic terminology of international business within sales industry of UK. There are different
ways or strategies that can be used by organisation to go globally which will also be part of this
chapter (Salim, Ab Rahman and Abd Wahab, 2019). Moreover, an international business may
face different challenges and risks while implementing their international business strategy so it
will also be critically analysed. An international business strategy may impact the organisation in
different ways to gain competitive benefits so it will also be discussed by the researcher.
Basic concept of international business within the context of UK sale industry
According to Hartmann, Inkpen, and Ramaswamy, (2021), the concept of international
business involves the business which crosses the national borders of country by involving
importing and exporting, movemen6t of goods, services, employees, technology etc. It is the
study of the internationalization process of multinational enterprises. It also involves investment
in financial and immovable assets in foreign countries. Apart from this, individual firms,
governments and international agencies are also involved in international business transactions in
which assets can be products, knowledge, capital or labour. Within the UK sales industry, the
operations of the organisation are conducted on very huge scale in international business as their
activities of production and marketing are performed. The surplus goods are exported. In context
to the UK sales industry, the reason of emerging international business is due to attaining higher
rate of profits which motivates the business to expand its operations to international countries.
The acceleration of the financial, commercial process and IT innovations in global market
creates the opportunities for organisation to extend their activities beyond their countries borders
through trade & investments. It is required by the organisation to have thorough understanding of
language & culture in order to get international sales right & taking advantage of world-wide
business opportunities (Zapletalová, 2021). The globalisation takes place in terms of market in
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which trade barriers are falling and there is change in buyer preferences. When the firms within
UK sales industry internationalize it improves the profitability by leading enhancement of
development prospects. In the global business different political consideration of countries are
involved which facilitate or hinder the business. in context to the UK sales industry the political
factor must be taken into consideration as trade agreements entered between the governments of
countries which affects political stability, foreign trade regulations, and many more. The
technology factor also puts both positive and negative impact on the UK sales industry sue to
cross border business in countries which may threaten the existence of local business to level of
extinction or increase level to global standards.
As per the view point of Pergelova, Simeonova‐Ganeva, and Yordanova, (2019),
international business defines the trade of goods, services, at global or transnational scale by
including the cross-border transactions of goods & services between two or more countries. The
focus of the international business is on the resources of globe & objectives of the company on
the international business opportunities & threats for producing or exchanging worldwide goods
& services. The economics of many countries are integrated in international business which take
use of finance from one country, labour from other country etc. in which product is design in one
country and sells in several countries. The company internationalize their operations when the
size of home market is limited because of small size of population or due to lower purchasing
power of people. National economies that have achieved the goal of self-sufficiency are now
monitoring a course toward international business (Habani, and Kamaruddin, 2021). The
international business is important is establishing business relationship among the countries as
national economies are dynamically getting borderless. Within the UK sales industry it is
benefiting nation in obtaining foreign exchange which can be utilized to import merchandise
from global market. Apart from this it enhances the development prospects & generates
employment opportunities. Due to increase in environmental awareness the external
environmental factor is become significant issue for international business which involves the
factors of climate change, weather etc. The demand is moving towards the environmentally
friendly products & services of different levels in countries which is essential in the UK sales
industry to consider this factor. The company internationalize to diversify risk by spreading its
operations to different and diverse countries instead of depending on any one market or region. It
provides the great insight to learn new ways for accomplishing things leading to success.
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In the opinion of Bolwijn, Casella and Zhan (2018) international business refers to any situation
in which distribution or production of goods and services crosses boundaries of a country.
Globalisation is considered as the shift towards a more integrated and interdependent global
economy that creates greater opportunities for the international business. It decrease trade
barriers as well as rapidly changed buying behaviours and preferences of customers in global
market. International business involves a full range of cross-border, exchange of goods, services
or resources between two or more countries. These exchange are also be conducted through the
international transfers of several other resources such as people, intellectual property like
copyrights, patents, data and brand trademarks as well as contractual liabilities or assets like
providing some future service to foreign buyers, the right to use of some foreign assets or
executing a complex financial instrument. Successful international businesses recognise the
diversity of market across the world as well as they are able in order to cope with the risks and
uncertainties for operating a business within a rapidly changing global market (Jean, R.J. and
Tan, 2019). It provides an advantage to a country over other countries in respect of access to
resources, affordable land, labour and capital. Participation in international business allows
country to export those goods and services that utilise abundant factors of production. It also
allows countries to take advantages of specialised expertise as well as abundant factors of
production in order to deliver goods and service into the international market. It involves a
benefit of increasing availability of variety of goods and services in the market. International
business helps in increasing the competition in domestic markets as well as introducing the new
opportunities for the foreign markets. Due to increase in global competition, companies are
encouraged in order to become more efficient and innovative within their use of resources.
International business increases the variety of goods and services in the market that change
consumer preferences and buying behaviour of customer. It enhances their living standard as
well as exposure of new devices, ideas, services, products and technologies. It helps in
improving the profits of the companies by selling products in those countries where costs are
high. It assists them in proper utilisation of their surplus resources as well as increasing
profitability of their activities (Luo, 2021). In addition to this, companies can enhance their
development prospects through international businesses.
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Effective international business strategies used by Misguided to gain global competitive
advantages
As per the opinion of Lilien, Petersen, and Wuyts, (2022), globalization influences world
economies which increase capital mobility that allows companies to connect with global
financial market & expanding business internationally. In framework to misguided international
business strategies are adopted are adopted for having successful expansion and achieving
competitive advantage. It is seen that international business comprises dealing with foreign
stakeholder, employees, consumer & governments. There are several types of international
business strategy which used by Misguided as to attain global competitive advantage such as
international strategy helps in putting focus on exporting products & services to foreign
markets or conversely import goods & resources from the other countries for the domestic use.
The follow of this strategy is neither concerned regarding cost nor adopting to local cultural
conditions in which they attempt to sell their products internationally. It yields plenty of new
opportunities for the organisation to have growth (Dzwigol, Dzwigol-Barosz, and Kwilinski,
2020). By adopting international strategy in misguided it offers the benefit of increase in market
size, greater return on investment, global brand recognition and customer satisfaction. The
company is required to invest in staff and facilities overseas. The other effective strategy is
multi-domestic strategy which makes investment in establishing the presence in foreign market
& adapting its products to local market. In context to Misguide, it reposition its marketing
strategies to engage with the foreign audience which involves taking into consideration of
foreign customs, traditions and cultural traits. Its features involve the focusing on establishing
presence and competitive advantage is determined separately for each country. This strategy
emphasises on the local requirements within each of its markets. It benefits the misguided in
meeting the customer needs and marketing mix to meet differing regional preferences. It
increases the global competitiveness by reducing the manufacturing cost leading to competitive
advantage. In framework to Misguided, it benefits to work with local resources while company
establishes operations in new locale which may involve local workforce and natural resources.
In accordance to Rana, (2020), international strategies involve the different approaches
which help the organisation in attaining the global competitive advantage. The globalised world
has made easier to cross national border and doing business abroad which leads to growth of
revenue. The adoption of the global strategy by Misguided leverages the economies of scale in
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order to boost revenue & growth of company. The company headquarter is in their country of
origin while establishing operations in foreign markets. This strategy involves the homogenized
products & services. This strategy emphasizes on lower cost and better efficiency which leads to
attain competitive advantage. The misguided company follow the global strategy in effort to
expand their customer base and selling products in more foreign markets (Cantoni, Rocha,
Galhanone, and Righetti, 2019). The company has unified branding style with few variations in
marketing or products from region to region. The risk for the firm is decreased to achieve
efficient operations it requires the sharing of resources along with coordination and cooperation
across country boundaries. Transactional strategy is another effective international strategy that
seeks to combine the best of multidomestic and global strategy as to get both global efficiency
and local responsiveness in context to Misguided. On the plus side, firms that successfully
implement a transnational strategy frequently outperform competitors who use either
multidomestic or global corporate-level strategies. This strategy allows the company in context
to misguided to expand with full-scale operations in foreign markets along with products &
services are sell in multiple countries across the globe. This also involves the identification of
effective management tactics & large investment costs. This strategy allows misguided to
centralize and streamline operations by getting advantage from the economies of scale.
Challenges faced by the Misguided while implementing the international business strategy in
global market
As per the viewpoint of Acuña-Carvajal and et.al. (2019) international business refers to
the making and selling of products and services all around the world. Many of business
enterprises tend to make goods overseas because of the impact of low labour costs or taxes and
they merchandise products or services in international marketplace due to its high potentiality for
attaining a massive audience, increased volume and new customers. A company can face
different types of challenging while implementing international business strategies in their
business. One of the major challenges is the language barrier in order to engage business globally
(Acuña-Carvajal and et.al., 2019). It is essential to consider the languages spoken in the nations
to which the organisation is seeking to expand their business. For example, in case of Misguided,
in order to sell their fashion items in certain country such as France, they need to hire interpreter
to translate language and to communicate the brand message to the global audience. It is also
hard to consider the languages used by the employees based on global offices. Hence, investing
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in interpreters can assist ensure the organisation peruses to operate smoothly at international
level. Cultural differences, just as each nation has its mix of languages, each global place has its
own culture or mix of cultures. Culture involves traditions, arts, holidays, social beliefs and
many more followed by a certain group of people (Li and et.al., 2019). It is fundamental to
enrich to learn about differences in culture where one can their business. When handling team of
employees in international offices, selling items to a global retail or running an overseas
production facility, displaying that the company have taken to acknowledge their cultures can
project the respect as well as emotional intelligence essential to conduct enterprise successfully.
Reynolds (2017) views foreign laws and regulations as a challenge to implement
international business strategy. It is seen that gaining a deep knowledge of the local laws and
regulations is the key to attain target market globally. From implementing tax through trading
laws, is the primary function for any sort of international business. Qualification to trade is a
vital consideration as are potential tariffs along with lawful expenses related with entering new
markets. For example, Misguided need to take consideration of employment laws of the country
wherever they operate their business. These laws may differ from country to country such as
organisation need to pay salary on time, maternity leaves and so on in accordance with the laws
where they operate their business. International accounting is also a challenge in the international
business strategy. Tax compliance is perhaps the most challenging part of the international
business. Accounting is shown as a challenge to global business who may be accountable for
corporation tax. Hence, different tax rates, systems and compliance needs can make the
accounting function of a global organisation vitally crucial. Accounting tactic is the key to
increasing profits along with the location where the organisation is registered can influence the
obligations regarding to taxes (Álvarez Jaramillo, Zartha Sossa and Orozco Mendoza, 2019).
Thus, decreasing the risk of various layers of taxation makes potential business sense for any
organisation trading abroad. Being conscious of tax between different nations where the
organisation is trading will support to make sure that the company is not paying multiple taxes
unnecessarily. Universal payments method is also a challenge that the organisation may face
while implementing their global business strategy. The increase of global e-commerce websites
has made the shopping of products and services overseas simple and even more affordable for
consumers and organisations. Therefore, payments that are normally accepted in the home
market might be not available globally. Ascertaining acceptable payment strategies as well as
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