Competition Between International Business - An Analysis

Discuss About The Competition Between International Business?

With the advancement in technology and globalisation of the economy, the international business of companies has grown significantly. The modern technology allows companies to easily enhance their business on a global stage. The global competition between international companies is at its peak; therefore, a proper management requirement is needed for the international business. The companies conducting business internationally have to employ international managers, who analyse different aspects of international business.

The international manager is an extensive label for a managerial personal that is in charge of global operations. The international manager is responsible for the company’s foreign business and its various aspects. This report will discuss regarding the environment of an international manager from the perspective of Apple Incorporation. Further, this report will discuss the duties and responsibilities of international manager of Apple Incorporation.

An international manager title is given to the managerial personnel that are responsible for managing the international operation and various aspects of international business. International manager of an organisation is in charge of several duties, such as planning, organising, operating, staffing, directing and controlling, of international operations. The role of the international manager is necessary for efficient international transactions (Terpstra, Foley and Sarathy 2012).

Apple Incorporation is an international American technology organisation, founded in 1976. The company operates in computer hardware, software, electronics and digital distribution industry. Apple is the second largest mobile producer company worldwide, and they generated revenue of US$215.639 billion in 2016 financial year. Apple is world’s most valuable corporation according to Forbes, by being first ever American company to worth over $700 billion. The company has established 495 stores in 17 countries, and the global sale of iPhone has crossed one billion. The key managerial personnel in Apple of international operations includes Angela Ahrendts, Philip W. Schiller, Tor Myhren, Luca Maestri, Cathy Kearney and Gene Daniel Levoff (Alidori 2015).

The international operation of Apple is significantly large with their manufacturing and selling process. The company manufactures its product in factories of China. Apple has to apply with different government regulations implemented by the Chinese government and maintain their operations carefully, to avoid any security or health hazard to their workers. Apple’s international manager is in charge of operating various international transactions.

According to Griffin and Pustay (2012), with the enhancement of global competition, the role of the international manager has raised significantly in an organisation. The manager has to keep up its policies with rapidly changing technologies, high-speed communication and changes in product requirements. The organisational structure of an organisation is required to be flexible enough to change with the marketing conditions. Usually, international manager performs the similar tasks as a domestic manager, but these takes are affected due to international marketing conditions.

Apple Inc.

The first stage for every manager is to prepare proper plan and strategies for the business. the research of Deresky (2017) provided that, the manager takes international decisions such as, whether to export or import, to enter franchise contract or joint ventures, or selecting of the country for its operations. The international manager develops, forecasts, set goals and plan for the worldwide actions. The manager monitors the international activities of different industries to construct its plans and strategies. The major factors that are considered by an international manager while formulating its plans include legal factors, political factors, currency change, competition, government pressure, patent & trademarks, and customers behaviours.

The international manager of Apple has to consider above-mentioned factors as well while formulating their international plans. Apple is known for high quality of its products and services; the international manager has to plan its strategies so the company maintains the same reputation in international markets as well. The manager considers different aspects in the industry to formulate their plans, such as the political pressure of governments, regulations of the smartphone industry, competition from other smartphone manufacturers and legislative factors. For example, in China and India, Apple is not allowed to sell refurbished iPhone’s due to their political environment (Comfort and Frankline 2014). 

It is important for international companies that their strategies comply with the cultures of different countries. It is a responsibility of the international manager to organise their operations, to adopt the culture and environmental factors of different countries. There must be a proper communication channel between all the organisations. The organisations cannot apply same principles in different countries. An international firm has different policies and regulations for its different departments. The international manager is responsible for applying these changes in the organisation (Cantwell, Dunning and Lundan 2010).

There are three important stages consider by the international manager. First, the pre-international stage, in which companies decided to expand its operations globally and the manager has to provide proper planning for export necessitates. In the second stage, various regulations, laws, restrictions, and competition, are evaluated by the international manager. In the third stage, the company’s international operations get established and the management of international branch become centralised (Lee, Son and Lee 2011).

In case of Apple, the company’s international manager have to analyse regulations, retraction, and competition before organising their operations worldwide. While organising their factories in China, the manager analyses different labour and factory regulation which affect the organisation operations. Apple’s international manager maintains an environmentally friendly approach throughout their Chinese factories by using solar power and other environmental resources to run their industrial operations (Nagle, Hogan and Zale 2016).

Functions of International Manager

The difference in culture makes it hard for international managers to direct and control different managerial personals. The managers face various problems such as worker’s attitude towards works, culture problems, and language barriers. The international manager has to maintain a cross-culture management in the organisation by providing training to managers. Apple provides training to their Chinese managers, to maintain a smooth communication chain. This allows the company to efficiently communicate with managers in Chinese factories and implement their policies (Ghazawneh and Henfridsson 2013).

According to CAppellen and Jenssens (2010), talented employees are necessary for the success of an organisation and it is the duty of the international manager to hire talented staff throughout their international organisations. The international manager must be familiar with different labour laws of countries. The appointment and number of managerial staff are considered by the manager, along with the labours in factories. Apple has successfully implemented the Chinese labour laws in their factories in China. The factories are eco-friendly, and they provide a better working environment to their worker.

According to Wild, Wild and Han (2014), the international manager of an organisation is required to monitor different aspects of the international environment to properly manage different branches of the organisation. By expanding business globally, the company receives many benefits such as an increase in sales, global branding and sustainable future growth. But there are different aspects that company has to consider before expanding their business globally. These aspects could affect the earning and reputation of the organisation. The international manager of organisations is required to analyse these market factors and formulate proper strategies to avoid any adverse impact.

According to the research of Holburn and Zelner (2010), the political pressure of different countries could affect the company’s business adversely. The international manager is requiring monitoring the political activities which can impact the business of the organisation. For example, a political leadership or philosophies could change overnight and can adversely affect the company’s business. Like in India, when Apple decided to sell refurbished iPhone, the political parties strongly rejected the proposal. This affected the business of Apple since their most iPhone in India are sold second hand by customers. The international manager is required to form policies according to political regulations. 

According to Kubasek, Brennan and Browne (2016), the legal environment consists of different laws and regulation implemented in different countries. The international manager must be familiar with these regulations before expanding their business globally. Not complying with regulations or breaking regulation could affect the reputation of the company. The legal factors include tax regulations, inflation rates, and changes in exchange rates. These factors affect the earning and economy of an organisation. Before implementing any strategies, Apple’s managers thoroughly analyses different legal regulations of countries which allow them to form policies according to the market conditions.

Planning

According to Dunning (2013), the technology in smartphones market changes rapidly, but there are changes between the technology of different countries. The company products must be compatible with the country’s technology. For example, many of Apple services do not work in different countries such as payment methods, search services, and few applications. While selling their products in China, the company’s managers have to change their NFC enabled payment method “Apple Pay”, because it was not compatible in the Chinese market.

The sociocultural environment of countries is different from one another, which makes it hard for companies to operate. The working environment of employees is also separate in different countries. The international manager is responsible to study different social culture environment and adopt strategies according to them. The company changes its policies according to the culture requirement of different countries. Apple’s managers maintain a flexible approach which allows them to change their international policies according to the requirements of different countries. The managers applied a harmonious strategy while entering in Chinese market due to their harmonious environment (Dikova, Sahib and Van 2010)

Conclusion

For the above report, it can be concluded that the duties of international manager play an important role in organisational international expansion. It is the duty of the international manager to establish proper international policies by monitoring its different aspects. The manager monitors political, legal, technical, social and cultural environment policies, which could affect the performance of an organisation. Apple’s management team has done a successful job in implementing proper international policies in their organisation. The management team monitors a different aspect of countries environment and apply these changes in their organisational policies. These activities provide details regarding the environment of an international manager.

References

Alidori, R., 2015. The 20 people who run Apple - and why you should care. Macworld UK. Retrieved from  < https://www.macworld.co.uk/feature/apple/20-apple-execs-you-need-know-3525573/ >

Cantwell, J., Dunning, J.H. and Lundan, S.M., 2010. An evolutionary approach to understanding international business activity: The co-evolution of MNEs and the institutional environment. Journal of International Business Studies, 41(4), pp.567-586.

Cappellen, T. and Janssens, M., 2010. Characteristics of international work: Narratives of the global manager. Thunderbird International Business Review, 52(4), pp.337-348.

Comfort, J. and Franklin, P., 2014. The mindful international manager: How to work effectively across cultures. Kogan Page Publishers.

Deresky, H., 2017. International management: Managing across borders and cultures. Pearson Education India.

Dikova, D., Sahib, P.R. and Van Witteloostuijn, A., 2010. Cross-border acquisition abandonment and completion: The effect of institutional differences and organizational learning in the international business service industry, 1981–2001. Journal of International Business Studies, 41(2), pp.223-245.

Dunning, J.H., 2013. Multinationals, Technology & Competitiveness (RLE International Business) (Vol. 13). Routledge.

Ghazawneh, A. and Henfridsson, O., 2013. Balancing platform control and external contribution in third party development: the boundary resources model. Information Systems Journal, 23(2), pp.173-192.

Griffin, R.W. and Pustay, M.W., 2012. International business. Pearson Higher Ed.

Holburn, G.L. and Zelner, B.A., 2010. Political capabilities, policy risk, and international investment strategy: evidence from the global electric power generation industry. Strategic Management Journal, 31(12), pp.1290-1315.

Kubasek, N.K., Brennan, B.A. and Browne, M.N., 2016. The legal environment of business: A critical thinking approach. Pearson.

Lee, Y.K., Son, M.H. and Lee, D.J., 2011. Do emotions play a mediating role in the relationship between owner leadership styles and manager customer orientation, and performance in service environment?. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 30(4), pp.942-952.

Nagle, T.T., Hogan, J. and Zale, J., 2016. The Strategy and Tactics of Pricing: New International Edition. Routledge.

Terpstra, V., Foley, J. and Sarathy, R., 2012. International marketing. Naper Press.

Wild, J.J., Wild, K.L. and Han, J.C., 2014. International business. Pearson Education Limited.