BUSI2043 International Business Environment BUSI 2043 Case Study Analysis (Individual) VALUE: 15% of...

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BUSI2043 International Business Environment BUSI 2043 Case Study Analysis (Individual) VALUE: 15% of final grade DUE DATE: The Case Study Analysis will be due no later than 11:00 pm Atlantic Time on Day 7 of Unit 4. The Case Study will focus on issues related to the cultural aspect of international business; sustainable business practices including CSR issues; foreign investment; and the benefits of regional integration for the countries within, and companies doing business in, that region. The case study analysis will be completed on an individual basis. THE CASE: Kaizer Consulting Kaizer Consulting is an international management consulting firm that specializes in business strategy and serves as a key advisor to the world’s leading companies. It provides its clients with the unique insight to drive critical decision making and solve their most pressing problems. Every year, the majority of Kaizer’s business comes from clients with whom they have worked in the previous year – an indicator of Kaizer’s ability to achieve lasting results for its clients. Kaizer’s client relationships are enduring, as many clients have remained customers for more than a decade and many have become project partners. The Client has a Problem: The manager of a product category at a Fortune 50 technology company (The Client) approached Kaizer to analyze the complete range of supply chain challenges his company would face when they entered Indonesia - a new market in South-East Asia that was presently dominated by large single competitor. Initially, it was agreed that The Client would benefit most from a set of detailed analyses of the market which would focus on a providing a deep understanding of: - the market’s culture and business practices; and, - the manufacturing, distribution, and retail operations required to execute their market development plans. The Client was aware of some cultural differences in the new market, but was under the impression that it would be able to proceed as it normally did when entering a new market. Further, the Client believed that the competitor’s primary advantage was based on optimized management of the distribution network and aggressive retailing. The Client thought it could proceed on that basis with its usual market entry strategy, but wanted to obtain Kaiser’s opinions on this before proceeding. Kaizer’s Approach: BUSI2043 International Business Environment Based on extensive research about the market generally, but specifically with individuals, focus groups, cultural experts, CSR and legal experts, suppliers, industry experts, vendors, and employees of companies in similar situations, Kaizer realized that: - The Client’s competitor had committed a number of culturally-based mistakes, primarily with respect to age and gender issues and local social taboos. Although these were not disastrous, the mistakes were covered in the media and had created the general impression that the competitor didn’t really care about the target market’s traditional cultural values, beliefs, customs and norms. - The Client’s competitor had selected the target market in part because of lax enforcement of environmental protection laws and government corruption. Social media and the mass media soon discovered how the competitor was conducting business in the target market. Subsequently, the competitor had to perform substantial damage control to protect its international reputation of being socially-responsible. The competitor is currently facing legal action in Canada and the US for its alleged corrupt business practices. - The Client’s competitor’s key business advantage was actually based on long-term production contracts; in effect, the competitor had become partners with its suppliers. By doing so, the competitor’s had leveraged its foreign investment in a number of ways: it had created a supply chain that achieved a number of cost savings on commodities, equipment, machines, and technologies; helped improve the local economy by providing relatively high-paying jobs to local people; and contributed to social and political stability in the country. Kaizer’s Findings: With the new knowledge provided by Kaizer, the Client: - Refocused its market entry and distribution strategies from enhancing warehousing and retail systems to more innovative production plans that incorporated local benefits and added a plan to use Indonesia as a base for expansion into other countries in the region particularly India, Vietnam, the Philippines and China. - Challenged its managers and employees to develop highly ethical Codes of Conduct and CSR strategies that supported its long-term operations in the target market. - Most importantly, was able to develop an overall approach that was culturally sensitive and appropriate, even humorous. This approach was reflected in all the client’s negotiation and partnership development activities and clearly demonstrated its respect for the target market’s culture. Next Steps: Kaizer has recognized that this work could become a model for future work with this client and others in similar situations. They’ve asked you to provide comments and a framework to analyze these situations more efficiently.  BUSI2043 International Business Environment QUESTIONS: Each question is worth 10 marks for a total of 50 marks. The Case, however, is worth 10 course marks overall. Each answer must be based on facts from the case and all of the course materials. Each answer should be 1 - 2 pages long, for a total submission length of 10 pages maximum (double spaced, 12 pt font), and must be prepared in APA style format. 1. Cultural understanding is a key element of this situation. Comment on the importance of this aspect of market entry and development being sure to discuss the key elements of understanding and working effectively in Indonesia 2. Using the Hofstede Framework analyze the Indonesian culture with reference to concepts covered in the course materials. 3. CSR and business practices are another set of critical issues in this case. Describe four CSR issues and explain how these issues can impact a company's international business activities. 4. The Client, in order to develop its Market Entry Strategy fully will be required to make an investment in Indonesia. Explain each of the four means of incorporating risk into market entry strategies if The Client wanted to use an ‘Adaptation Strategy’. 5. The Client will benefit from trading with other countries in the region. Briefly describe the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN); and discuss the benefits and drawbacks of regional integration. The following Grading System for each question in the case: • 9-10 points – Exceeds expectations for all base requirements. Shows exceptional depth of understanding of the question and draws extensively on highly relevant course-related materials to support the argument. Demonstrates extensive level of critical thought through research and analysis. • 7-8 points – Meets all base requirements, plus shows exceptionally strong depth of understanding of the question makes good use of relevant course-related materials to support the argument. • 6 – Meets all base requirements. Shows reasonable understanding of the question and has referred to course related materials in the answer. • 1-5 points - Falls short of some or all base requirements. • 0 points - no submission at all or incidence of academic misconduct. GOOD LUCK!

Robert · Accepted Answer

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
 
INTERNATIONAL 
BUSINESS 
Case Study Analysis
2 
 
Table of Contents
Cultural Understanding ................................................................................................................... 3 
Hofstede Framework ....................................................................................................................... 5 
CSR and Business Practices............................................................................................................ 7 
Adaptation Strategy ........................................................................................................................ 9 
ASEAN ......................................................................................................................................... 11 
Benefits of the ASEAN ............................................................................................................... 12 
Disadvantages of the ASEAN .................................................................................................... 12 
References ..................................................................................................................................... 13
3 
 
Cultural Understanding 
Cultural understanding can be defined as the process of gaining knowledge of the cultural 
differences and values of the local community, where an organization wants to establish itself. 
Operating efficiently in the Indonesian market, the client company requires determination and an 
understanding of the impacts that may affect the regulatory and legal environments, and the 
business culture of an organization (DuPraw & Axner, 2007). The client company needs to 
understand and capitalize on cultural impacts to succeed and to earn high profits. Investing in 
relationships is considered to be highly crucial for succeeding in the Indonesian market, which 
requires time. Demonstrating trustworthiness and loyalty is critical while maintaining or 
retaining a relationship with the general public; however, investing in relationships can prove to 
be significant. 
In Indonesian culture, the welfare of the society or the community is predominated, and thus 
aligning the business activities with the cultural values and traditions of the local community is 
very important for the client company (DuPraw & Axner, 2007). The past clearly demonstrates 
that the ability of an organization to align its business activities with the cultural beliefs of the 
local people highly decides whether the concerned organization will succeed or fail. Thus, the 
client company needs to develop a genuine awareness of the cultural values of the surrounding 
groups or communities and develop a better understanding of the same. For working in the 
global commercial environment, the client company needs to gain an understanding of the 
influence of cultural differences (Schwartz, 2007). Irrespective of the industry, the cultural 
differences directly or indirectly affect the organizational activities, thus, through improving the 
levels of cultural understanding, the client company can efficiently build and develop in the 
Indonesian market. 
4 
 
 Indonesia is a multi religion and culture nation, wherein properly of diverse cultural beliefs and 
values reside. Majorly, Indonesia is a country of Muslim with 86.1 percent. Since, in today’s era 
of globalization, international borders have been relaxed so that the multinational organizations 
can operate their business activities in the market of other countries, the client company needs to 
take advantage of the same, however, cultural differences may impose a challenge for the 
company to grow and develop efficiently. Cultural understanding is a highly complex and 
multidimensional concept as culture is an interrelated, shared, and learned set of values which 
bind the members of a particular society. The rival companies of the client had commited a 
numerous culturally based mistakes, mainly related to the local social taboos and the gender and 
age issues. This mistake of the rival companies need to be taken as an opportunity and a situation 
of learning, the client company need to avoid the mistakes made by the rival companies so that it 
can succeed significantly. 
Thus, the client company can develop and work effectively in the new market of Indonesia 
through developing an approach which is culturally appropriate and sensitive. The cultural 
understanding generally demonstrates the respect towards the cultural values and beliefs of the 
local communities and people, and thus eventually helps an organization to develop a base of 
loyal customers. However, cultural understanding is not just about gaining an insight knowledge 
of the cultural beliefs of the local residents but also involves the act of incorporating the same 
knowledge or understanding within the business activities and strategies of the organization, so 
the organization can ensure that the products and services offered by the organization are not 
violating and exploiting the beliefs of any of the individuals or groups (DuPraw & Axner, 2007). 
The cultural understanding needs to be incorporated in all facets of the business activities and 
5 
 
within the employees so that there is no scope of exploiting the cultural values of the 
Indonesians.
Hofstede Framework 
The Hofstede framework is considered to be one of the most useful tools or methods to analyze 
the cultural beliefs and values of the groups or communities, which can prove to be significant 
for the growth and development of an organization in an international or global market 
(Hofstede, 2001). The Hofstede framework or the cultural dimensions theory is used by 
numerous organizations for cross-cultural communication. It determines the influence of the 
cultural beliefs of a particular society on its members, and how these beliefs are associated with 
their behaviors. The framework introduces five main dimensions through which the cultural 
values of a particular society can be analyzed; these include masculinity-feminity, power 
distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism-collectivism, and long term orientation-short term 
orientation. 
The dimension of Masculinity-Feminity includes the distribution of the emotional roles in 
between males and females. The masculine cultures are incorporated with the values of power, 
ambition, materialism, assertiveness, and competitiveness,

BUSI2043 International Business Environment BUSI 2043 Case Study Analysis (Individual) VALUE: 15% of final grade DUE DATE: The Case Study Analysis will be due no later than 11:00 pm Atlantic Time on...

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