Implementing a Global Business Strategy
Implementing a Global Business Strategy
Introduction
The advancing technology and explosive innovations have made the business environment to be very competitive, and only those firms that will formulate competitive strategies will remain relevant in the market. The concept of the global strategy involves a company setting up long-term goals necessary to successfully expand its market and other operations in other countries. This is usually occasioned by a gap in the international market (Siegel, 2007). Continued changes and advancement in technology is, however, the key contributor to businesses going global. Before it implements its global business strategy, a business needs to understand the market needs and trends of the country it plans to expand to and the competition in that market (Dennis and Michael, 2015). The company must also decide whether its activities will be centralized in the mother country or whether each branch in the other countries will act independently. This essay is based on a company that is in the electronic industry that designs, manufactures and sells mobile phones and computers based in the UK and wants to open a branch in India. The aim of the essay is; to discuss the conditions necessary for successful implementation of the global strategy the company will undertake, assess the current strategy for the company and propose a realistic strategy to help it expand to India considering the changes in technology and market dynamics.
As Postulated by Li, Guohui & Eppler (2008), a firm intending to go international must consider some conditions to ensure that it formulates a successful global business strategy. For the successful implementation of a global business strategy, the following conditions must be considered; leadership, the organization’s structural design, information and control systems, human resources, technological advancement and implementation tactics (Li, Guohui & Eppler, 2008).
The managers must be flexible and possess good communication skills as the key leadership skills. Flexibility is a key determinant that will help the business leaders to adopt new environments and cultural orientations in the newly explored markets (Li, Guohui & Eppler, 2008). They should be able to influence and persuade the rest of the employees to support the global business strategy. They should understand the factors in the local market that have contributed to their success and assess whether the foreign market will welcome such strategies in their market.
The organization’s structure should be designed in such a way that it does not conflict with the Indian cultures (Li, Y., Guohui, S. & Eppler, 2008). The company’s operations in the mother country must be connected to those in a foreign country through offering uniform products and services.
Under information and control systems, the company's resources must be reallocated to fit the needs of the local market. Should there be changes in duties, position or location, management needs to explain to the employees the reason for the changes (Yang, Sun and Martin, 2008). Employees’ efforts towards the successful implementation of the strategy must be rewarded accordingly. However, the incentives must not conflict with the local culture (Day & Evans, 2015).
Further, consideration of the trends in the changing technology is vital to ensuring that the company succeeds in the new market (Siegel, 2007). In the electronic industry, there are rapid explosions of innovations and the changing technology. The company will consider all the prevailing technological changes in electronics and incorporate them into its products and services. More importantly, the products sold by the company in India should fit the tastes and preferences of the Indian culture Siegel (2007). Therefore, the company will be observant of the acceptable technological trends in India for it to succeed in its global business strategy.
The human resource generally must have the right attitude, the right skills must be experienced and be capable of performing tasks assigned to them in their respective positions (Yang, Sun and Martin, 2008). The management should be conversant with the local labor laws in regards to recruitment, training, promotions and retrenchment so as to implement the global business strategy successfully. The management may consider putting activities that require a lot of manpower in countries whose labor cost is relatively low (Agnihotri & Santhanam, 2016).
Implementation tactic refers to the mode in which the global business strategy is implemented. There are three modes of implementation which are; execution by the intervention of management, by participation or by persuasion (Teece, 2010). For the successful implementation, the management must participate in the process (Yang, Sun and Martin, 2008). Both the management and other employees must be committed towards the success of the implementation the global business strategy.
The Proposed Strategy to entering India
The proposed entry strategy to India is through direct exporting strategy. The firm will set its exporting departments in India to cut costs of intermediaries. The company will expand further after getting a comprehensive, practical knowledge of India's market size, business risks, government regulations, local infrastructure and competition. Additionally, the organization should achieve the following strategic objectives; efficiency in its current operations should measure to global standards, achieve flexibility regarding prices and product designs so that they can merge easily into the foreign market considering the opportunities and threats present. Finally, the company should create room for learning from the new developments coming up in the global and respond accordingly.
Conclusion
The continued innovation, technological advancement, and communication technology has made it easier for firms to venture into the international markets. However, the challenges that the organizations face are inevitable. It is, therefore, necessary for an organization to evaluate the differences in the cultures of the home market and those of foreign market. The organization must also strike a balance between minimizing costs and maximizing revenues as it ventures into the foreign market. The organization must maintain efficiency to gain and sustain competitive advantage in the global market
References
Agnihotri, P. & Santhanam, H. (2016). Global Business Strategies. Retrieved from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.198.6748&rep=rep1&type=pdf on 23/3/2016.
Day, D. & Evans, M. (2015). 10 Key Steps to Expanding Your Business Globally. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/allbusiness/2015/03/04/10-key-steps-to-expanding-your-business-globally/#54e6dbc77149 on 23/3/16
Li, Y., Guohui, S. & Eppler, J. M. (2008). Making Strategy Work: A Literature Review on Factors Influencing Strategy Implementation. Beijing China: the Central University of Finance and Economics.
Siegel, J. (2007). Introduction to Global Strategy. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing.
Strategy Formulation and Implementation. Retrieved from http://www.swlearning.com/ibc/daft6e/pdf/Daft_ch08.pdf on 23/3/2016
Teece, D. J. (2010). Business models, business strategy, and innovation. Long range planning, 43(2), 172-194.
