INTB604 International Business Management

Should you decide to answer all three questions, only the first two answers presented will be marked. 
Please write your answers in the spaces below the questions that you have attempted

Question B1

You work for a very large American multinational company (headquartered in Delaware) that has subsidiaries in more than 100 countries.  You are based in headquarters.  About ten years ago, the company initiated a ‘Country Manager Program’ (CMP).  The program seeks to take appropriately identified employees (the company calls them high-potential employees or high-pots for short) and to then fast track them through the training process to eventually become country managers of the various subsidiaries.  The program has seen some good results.  Before the CMP it would take about ten to 15 years before someone could gather enough exposure and training to become a country manager but the CMP has seen a number of people attain the positions of country manager within the space of eight years.

One of the components of the CMP is that selected candidates have to be posted to a reasonably senior position in overseas subsidiaries.  These high-potential candidates are selected from various international subsidiaries as well as from headquarters and are subsequently posted to the company’s subsidiaries around the world.  These postings are usually for a period of three years.  It is here that some problems have been noted.  Of late there have been a number of requests from employees posted overseas to be returned home quickly (sometimes as early as within six months of having been posted out).  Some have even threatened to resign from the company if their requests were not met immediately.  These requests have created new problems.  It is costly to send these expatriates to their new postings and the jobs that they vacated when they went for their overseas postings have already been filled by someone else.  

Your company has now gathered a task force to address this situation.  You have been invited to join this task force which has been directed to look for answers for the following areas of concern.  What advice would you give to the following questions?

a.Considering the cost and time that your company has to invest in the CMP, as well as the problems and challenges that have arisen, an important question has emerged.  The company is now asking whether it is strategically necessary to have high-potential employees go for these overseas postings?  What is the rationale for continuing to do so and it it really worth the company’s time and financial investment to maintain the CMP?

b.You have read that the overall success rates of such expats can be improved with better selection processes.  How might the four principles of expat selection espoused by Mendenhall and Oddou help in this area?  Explain the four principles stated by Mendenhall and Oddou and discuss them in some detail explaining the rationale behind each principle.  You will also be expected to discuss how your company might actually go about testing whether the selected candidate has or does not have the required characteristics suggested by Mendenhall and Oddou.

Question B2

It has been suggested that due to rapid and turbulent changes large multinational companies run the risk of becoming obsolete.  As such companies have been encouraged to consider initiating steps to create entrepreneurs at every level of the organization, processes to integrate the outcomes arising from entrepreneur creation as well as to ensure continuous renewal. 

a.To answer this part of the question you will need to recall and use the YouTube clip: ‘Volkswagen factory – Germany’ that was viewed in class as the basis of your answer. Discuss which ONE (1) of the three processes was clearly demonstrated in that particular Volkswagen factory and fully justify your answer.  You will be expected to provide examples from the above mentioned YouTube video to illustrate your answer.

b.During the discussion of the new dynamic competitive environment that companies have to operate in it was stated that industry boundaries are constantly breached or blurred.  What does this mean and why might this be important for the long-term survival of companies? Make sure that you provide appropriate and relevant real-life examples to clearly illustrate that industry boundaries are being constantly breached or blurred.

Question B3

Abbott Laboratories which is based in Chicago, USA has been exporting ready-to-feed infant formula, as well as powdered infant formula to a number of overseas markets.  Sales in Asia has now reached the point where it has become feasible to establish a manufacturing plant in that region.  The company has decided to evaluate the possibility of setting up an offshore manufacturing site in ONE of the following countries, Malaysia, Thailand or Singapore.  There is on-going discussion as to which of these three countries would be the best choice and the company has turned to you for advice in the following areas:

a.The company understands that there are three important factors that need to be considered when deciding where to locate an offshore manufacturing facility.  What are these three important factors?  Make sure that you discuss each of the three in some detail and that you provide examples to illustrate your answer. 

Three important factors that should be considered when deciding the locate an offshore manufacturing as following:
Country factors
Technological factors
Product factors

b.Some members of Abbott’s management are convinced that the manufacturing facility should be sited in Singapore while others have put in a strong pitch for Thailand.  Discuss at least two advantages and two disadvantages of locating the manufacturing plant in each of the two countries.  Make sure that you include country-of-origin effects, as well as any other important information that might be relevant and appropriate in helping the company come to a better decision in this matter.