IBS210 Portfolio: Analysis of International Business Strategies

This portfolio for IBS210 explores key principles of international business through reflection and analysis of weekly activities. The student examines international marketing, using the failure of Starbucks in Australia as a case study, highlighting the importance of market research and localization. The portfolio then delves into international production, outsourcing, and logistics, focusing on Amazon's global logistics network and the impact of technology on customer service. Finally, it addresses ethical considerations and corporate social responsibility, including the issue of child labor. The student demonstrates an understanding of these concepts and their implications for international business strategy, drawing on lectures, activities, and additional research to support their analysis and conclusions.

Running Head : PORTFOLIO
Portfolio
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Week 1: Entering Foreign Markets
In this week, we were taught about the principles of International marketing. These
marketing principles are used for satisfying the different needs of different types of customers
who reside across the national borders (Mathews et al. 2016). The international marketing is
also known as the global marketing and related to designing the marketing mix such as the
product, price, place , promotion worldwide along with customizing it as per the preferences
of the different people (Chan and Parhankangas 2017). The week lectures taught us about the
increased economies of scale, the high-profit opportunities in the international market, huge
market share, elongated life of the product, Untapped International market found from
marketing internationally.
The second activity of this week was about the failure of Starbucks in gaining the
Australian market. The video revealed the reason of why there is no Starbucks in Australia.
In the year 2008, the company was bound to close almost 70 % of the underperforming
locations having left only 23 stores in the whole continent of Australia. In spite of Australia’s
fascination for coffee, Starbucks could not succeed as it did in other countries (CNBC.com
2019). The company opened its first store in Australia in the year 2000. I completely agree
with the problem of Starbucks as pointed out by Ashley Turner. He suggested that after
launching, Starbucks’ rapid expansion in the continent did not give time and scope to the
Australian consumers for developing an appetite for the brand.
Australia already had a thriving coffee culture which became challenging for the
American brand and it did not fit into the Australian tastes. The company suffered from $
105million loss bit still trying slowly but steadily enter into the parts of the continent. I
believe it is one of the biggest principles of the international marketing to explore the market
demands, the competitors, the substitute, the economic, political, environmental and other

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conditions of the particular country. As per my observations and knowledge gained from the
lecture and activities of this week, had the principles of international marketing been
followed by Starbucks, the scenario would have been better. There are couple of aspects
which went wrong. One of the problems is Starbucks’ failure to localize the business model.
Starbucks did not do its homework (De Mooij 2015). In the rush of avoiding the food spoil, it
repeated one of the biggest strategic mistakes made in America having added cheese
sandwiches to the menu. In a nutshell, Starbucks had the Greek problem as it could not
analyse the tastes of the Australian people.
Week 6- International Production, Outsourcing and Logistics
The major focus of this week was on the international production, outsourcing and
logistics which are essential part of any business marketing locally or globally. The lectures
of this week were helpful in demonstrating that the firms need to identify the production and
the logistics which can be conducted in order to reduce the costs of value creation and add
value to the customer needs (Arvis et al. 2018). In this regard, the production refers to those
activities which are involved in the creation of a product. At the same time, it has also been
taught that the logistics is the procurement of the materials by the supply chain to the
customers from the suppliers. I have learnt that in order to cut down the costs, the firms can
disperse the production only to those particular locations where the activities can be well –
performed. The activity of this week was based on watching the video on the Global
Logistics of Amazon. The Amazon global logistics has brought all the global technologies
together in its supply chain to make the world a better place.
There is an efficient team of software engineers, product managers and other
professionals to make the products move around the globe. The moment the orders are
placed by the consumers, the journey begins and reaches the destination through the logistics

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management software, the transportation system and shipping process. The products are
easily traceable until it reaches the destination. Therefore, it can be said to be the
collaborative effort of the efficient hardware and software systems (YouTube.com 2019). As
evident from the well –structured service delivery system supported by the innovative
technologies, I would like to say that the right type of technology can significantly change
and improve the customer service experience in future. Technology enhances the services and
leaves bigger impact on the way the services are delivered and satisfies the customers.
The searching options and the online platforms have expanded to let the customers
search the product they want instantly. The cloud base applications help in the customer
service management. The mobile technology is probably the best way to reach the customers
and communicate with them about their demands. I have also found from deeper research
that the advanced logistics technologies will initiate a faster, a cheaper and more sustainable
circulation of the goods. The uber-ization of trucking, the robotization of the warehouses, the
augmented reality and the wearables are the three tech trends on the verge of shaping the
future of the global logistics (Fabbe-Costes and Colin 2017). The smartphone apps, the GPS
technologies will remove the boundaries between the roads and the factories.
The sophisticated tracking software is also making the delivery of the shipments
easier, faster, managing the schedules, monitoring the cargo, planning the routes and avoiding
delays too. Since the world has become more technology oriented, the technical skills are the
most required to fulfil the skill gaps. The gaps are at all levels which need to be fulfilled such
as starting from the senior management to the operational level. The specialized knowledge
of the practices, proper handling of technology are the most needed along with the
communication skills, the information technology , warehousing, transportation techniques
and others.

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Week 7: Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility
The topic of this week was the corporate social responsibilities and the ethics
organizations should maintain in the business world. It has provided us with better insight
into the concepts related to ethics and CSR. The business ethics are the moral guidelines for
the conduction of the business founded on the ideas of what is right and what is wrong. The
Corporate social responsibility has been described as a business philosophy which stress on
the need for the firms fulfil all the responsibilities as good corporate citizens. It is also about
the concern of not conducting the marketing which causes harm to the environment or the
society (The World Counts.com 2019). The CSR must be encouraged in every organization
as it pays off in future, involves the short-term sacrifice and long term profit. The activity of
this week guided use to follow the data on the child labour facts and statistics.
As per my observations, the existence f the child labour in the era of technology and
communication is the most striking fact. It can be referred to as the biggest roadblock to the
human rights worldwide. It is extremely shameful that more than 200 million children are
caged under child labour and 120 million of that are engaged in hazardous work. However, I
have found this to be a line of hope that the amount has dropped from 245 million to 168
million between the years 2000- 2012. The social awareness has to be increased in this
regard. I believe it can be only stopped by not buying products sold by a child. The
companies have a crucial role to play here. They can easily contribute to the society by not
employing children in their business. It will enhance their CSR and make them more ethical
in their business practices.

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Bibliography
Arvis, J.F., Ojala, L., Wiederer, C., Shepherd, B., Raj, A., Dairabayeva, K. and Kiiski, T.,
2018. Connecting to Compete 2018: Trade Logistics in the Global Economy. World Bank.
Chan, C.R. and Parhankangas, A., 2017. Crowdfunding innovative ideas: How incremental
and radical innovativeness influence funding outcomes. Entrepreneurship Theory and
Practice, 41(2), pp.237-263.
CNBC.com (2019). Why there are almost no Starbucks in Australia. [online] CNBC.
Available at: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/20/starbucks-australia-coffee-failure.html
[Accessed 22 May 2019].
De Mooij, M., 2015. Cross-cultural research in international marketing: clearing up some of
the confusion. International Marketing Review, 32(6), pp.646-662.
Fabbe-Costes, N. and Colin, J., 2017. Formulating logistics strategy. In Global Logistics And
Distribution Planning (pp. 83-104). Routledge.
Mathews, S., Bianchi, C., Perks, K.J., Healy, M. and Wickramasekera, R., 2016. Internet
marketing capabilities and international market growth. International Business Review, 25(4),
pp.820-830.
The World Counts.com (2019). Child Labor Facts and Statistics. [online] The World Counts.
Available at: http://www.theworldcounts.com/stories/Child-Labor-Facts-and-Statistics
[Accessed 22 May 2019].
YouTube.com (2019). Amazon Global Logistics Technology. [online] YouTube. Available at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PHwq1-f62k [Accessed 22 May 2019].