BUSN601

50 words agree or dis agree to each question 

Q1.There are four Global Business Strategies: Standardization, Transnational, Export, and Multidomestic. Each of these strategies plays a crucial role in companies' capabilities in Global Integration (the degree to which a company is able to use the same products and methods in other countries) and Local Responsiveness (the degree to which the company must customize their products and methods to meet conditions in other countries). Our lesson from this week includes a diagram that shows the extent (Low vs. High) to which each strategy influences the two capabilities. For the question posed in the topic of this week's forum; I think that high influence on Global Integration associates with a low part being played by international culture, and high influence on Local Responsiveness associates with a high part being played by international culture.

Standardization: From the diagram in our lesson, this strategy is associated with High Global Integration. Furthermore, the definition of this strategy states that it contains little or no meaningful variation in the products produced by companies for all target markets. In other words, any given product will look and function almost identically in all nations that it is sold in. Thus, international culture has no influence on products that are made and marketed using the Standardization strategy. 

Transnational: This strategy is a hybrid of two others; Standardization and Multidomestic. These two strategies are opposites with regard to their links with international culture; it has low influence with Standardization, and high influence with Multidomestic. The example from the lesson states that Ford Motor Company tends to use the Transnational strategy for their cars (a complex product made of many smaller, distinct component products). From this example I extrapolate; for a product made and marketed using Multidomestic strategy, international culture has influence on a portion of the component products and no influence on the remaining portion of the component products. Thus, the final product fundamentally interfaces with its target market in a manner regardless of international culture, but it also contains features which are designed and implemented based on international culture.

Export: From the lesson, this strategy has low influence on both Global Integration and Local Responsiveness; products are exported based on international opportunities. Thus, if the conditions of international culture favor the production and marketing of products; then products will be sold in the nations that have favorable international culture conditions. An example of such a product is bottled water. Producers of it tend to maintain uniformity and consistency in the water composition as well as the bottle packaging size, design, materials, etc.

Multidomestic: As this strategy is conceptually opposite to Standardization, international culture plays a significant role in its execution. Thus, each product is made and marketed specifically for the needs and values of the target market. For example, products used in religious practices are marketed using Multidomestic strategy; rosary beads would only be made for and sold to Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Christians, with further design characteristics exclusive to each of these religions. Other religions, such as Shintoists, do not have use for rosary beads in their religious practice; although they may enjoy them as a gift or souvenir.

Have a greet week everyone,

Q2. In this week’s forum posting and discussion, we are talking about business strategy and internet culture. The four strategies we are covering this week are export, transnational, standardization, and multi-domestic strategy. Managers have concerns when deciding on a business strategy because of the trade-off between global integration and local responsiveness (Lumen, n.d.).

            Global integration is the ability for companies to use the same products and methods in different countries that they operate in (Lumen, n.d.). Local responsiveness is how the companies need to customize their products or services to meet conditions or policies in place in other countries (Lumen, n.d.). These two dimensions result in the four strategies we are going more in-depth about this week. 

Export Strategy 

            This strategy is used primarily by companies that are trying to remain focused on their domestic operations (Lumen, n.d.). This strategy is more domestic operation-based. This strategy is for operations that do not intend to expand globally but may export to take advantage of some of the international situations or opportunities (Lumen, n.d.).

Standardization Strategy 

            This strategy is done by companies that are globally expanded but look at it as one big market versus different countries having different markets (Lumen, n.d.). This strategy would be high in global integration but low in local responsiveness as they do not customize their products to fit the conditions in other countries. The article mentions Dominos Pizza but the majority of restaurants or fast-food chains would fall in this category as well. McDonald's, Taco Bell, and many other franchises fit this category as they keep everything standard despite the countries they are in for the most part. Some differences may be there but overall they are pretty standard across the board. 

Multi-Domestic Strategy 

            This strategy focuses on changing or customizing their business to each country that it is operating in (Lumen, n.d.). While I was reading I thought retailers would be a good example of this and then the article went on to even mention how retailers are an ideal example as they change to fit the taste of each country that the business is operational in. These businesses really on the country managers because they are more in tune with local laws, tastes, and even customs of the country (Lumen, n.d.). I believe this is a good strategy in certain business industries as it allows businesses to meet the needs or wants of each country’s local population. 

Transnational Strategy 

            The transnational strategy essentially blends the standardization and multi-domestic strategies. In doing this, companies that are utilizing this strategy have high global integration and local responsiveness. However, this is tricky and a good example would be the automobile industries. These companies need to appease the standard of the company but also change some of their products to fit the needs or want of the local market. While doing this, they need to remain cost-effective so that they can be as affordable as some of their international competitors in their local markets. 

Thank you for reading, 

Ryan McGinley 

References 

Lumen.  (n.d.).  Global Business Strategies for Responding to Cultural Differences.  Lumen.  https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wm-principlesofmanagement/chapter/responding-to-cultural-differences/