[SOLVED] CS GSBS6481

International Business Strategy GSBS6481
Week 12: Course Review Dr.
Briefingonthefinalexam
Reviewofthecourse:Classdiscussion – Key points of each session

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GSBS6481 Final Exam
When: Friday, 5 Aug 2022, 2:00pm
Duration: 120 minutes
How: Open Book; Online; Invigilated (please refer to my announcement in the course site on 25 June for further information)
Where: In our course Canvas site access through formal examination for viewing and answering questions. Also a zoom link is available in the course site under zoom section for the purpose of invigilation. Please join the zoom at 1:30pm on 5 Aug
Exam structure: Answer ANY FOUR (4) of the five (5) essay questions
Question type: Essay style
Weighting: Each question is worth 10 marks each. The exam is worth 40% of your total course mark.
Further instructions
Write sufficient for each question, so to meaningfully answer the question a short paragraph will not be enough
There is no specific word count for each answer. However, quality is preferred over quantity.
The focus of exam questions is on applications of theories and concepts introduced in this course to real world examples
Be aware that simply copying and pasting text from another source, without proper referencing, is plagiarism and therefore totally unacceptable.
You must express all concepts in your own words and provide information relevant to the specific question
As this is a final exam, no feedback will be available
Each question has approximately 25 minutes to answer so use the time wisely
Please note that once the exam paper has been made available on Canvas, no queries about the questions or the paper can be answered

Course review
Summarizing each module What are the key takeaways?
International Business Strategy GSBS6481
Lecture 2: The Industry-Based View of International Business Strategy

Five Forces Framework
Bargaining power
new entrants
Bargaining power
of suppliers
substitutes
INDUSTRY COMPETITORS
Rivalry among existing firms
POTENTIAL ENTRANTS
SUBSTITUTES
1. Rivalry among competitors
Conditions that can depress industry profitability
A large number of competing firms (e.g. luxury vs mass market cars)
Rivals are similar in size, influence, and product offerings (e.g. airlines)
High-price, low-frequency purchases (e.g. big tickets vs staple goods) Capacity is added in large increments (e.g. semiconductor)
Industry slow growth or decline
High exit costs (e.g. airlines)

2. Threat of potential entry
Conditions that lift up entry barriers
Large scale-based advantages (economies of scale) (e.g. telecommunication) large non-scale-based advantages (e.g. drug firms using patent)
Adequate product proliferation
Sufficient product differentiation
Fear of retaliation
Government policy banning or discouraging entry
3. Bargaining power of suppliers
Bargaining power The ability to raise prices and/or reduce the quality of goods and services.
Conditions that empower suppliers
A small number of suppliers
Suppliers provide unique, differentiated products
Focal firm is not an important customer of suppliers
Suppliers are willing and able to vertically integrate forward

4. Bargaining power of buyers
Conditions that empower buyers A small number of buyers
Products provide little cost savings or quality-of-life enhancement
Buyers purchase standard, undifferentiated products from focal firm Buyers are willing and able to vertically integrate backward
5. Threat of substitutes
Substitute are products or services from outside a given industry that perform similar functions.
Conditions that increase the threat of substitutes
Substitutes are superior to existing products in quality and function Switching costs to use substitutes are low

Additional resources for an industry analysis based on the five forces model
Thewebsitethatprovidesapracticalguidefor Porters Five Forces Research https://libguides.babson.edu/c.php?g=26453&p=16 1511
Some criteria or references you can use to define an industry: 1, official industry classification. E.g. North American Industry Classification System; Australian and Standard Industrial Classification which is provided by Australian Bureau of Statistics
2, Defined by industry itself, and reflected by the composition of industry association 3, by equity analysts according to companies publically listed in stock markets
Industryreports/profilesavailableindatabasee.g. Marketline Advantage or IBISWorld, both available through UoN Library online
International Business Strategy GSBS6481
Lecture 3: The Resource-Based View of International Business Strategy

Tangible vs. intangible resources and capabilities
Tangible
Resources and capabilities that are observable and easily quantified
Broadly organized in three categories:
Financial
Physical
Technological
Intangible
Resources and capabilities not easily observed or difficult (or impossible) to quantify
Examples include: Human
Innovation Reputation
The VRIO Framework: Features of a Resource or Capability

The VRIO Framework: Value
Value = benefits costs
Only value-adding resources can lead to competitive advantage, whereas non-value-adding capabilities may lead to competitive disadvantage.
Valuable in a sense they enable a firm to implement its strategy
The VRIO Framework: Rarity
The Question of Rarity
Valuable common resources and capabilities can lead to competitive parity but no advantage.
Valuable rare resources and capabilities can provide, at best, temporary competitive advantage.
Resources and capabilities that add value in new areas needed to keep up with the competition (benchmarking).
Once competitors develop equal abilities, then no unique and distinctive capability remains on which to build a competitive advantage.

The VRIO Framework: Imitability
The Question of Imitability
Valuable and rare resources and capabilities are a source of sustained competitive advantage only if competitors have a difficult time imitating them
Imitation of tangible resources (such as plants, software, or trucking fleet) is easy.
Imitation of intangible resources (knowledge, managerial talents, and organizational culture) is much more difficult.
CostlytoImitate
Capabilities that other firms cannot develop easily, usually due to:
Unique Historical Conditions Causal Ambiguity
Social Complexity
The VRIO Framework: Organization
The Question of Organization
How is a firm organized to develop and leverage the full potential of its resources and capabilities?
Complementary assets

GSBS6481 International Business Strategy
Week 4: The Institution-Based View of International Business Strategy Dr.
An Institutional Framework
Formalandinformalinstitutionsgovern individual and firm behavior
Formalandinformalinstitutionsaresupported by three pillars (Scott)

Case study and discussion
UsethearticlebyLi&Hendrischke:Chinese Outbound Investment in Australia: From State Control to Entrepreneurship, available through the UoN library link, as a reference and discuss the following questions
What are the main institutional drivers and inhibitors for Chinese investment in Australia?
More specifically, what are the major formal and informal institutional factors, both China and Australia, affecting Chinese investment in Australia?
International Business Strategy GSBS6481
Lecture 5: Foreign Market Entry

How to enter: The choice of entry modes
Source: Adapted from Y. Pan & D. Tse, 2000, The hierarchical model of market entry modes (p. 538), Journal of International Business Studies, 31: 535554.
Often the only available choices for small and new firms wanting to go international
Provide an avenue for larger firms that want to begin their international expansion with a minimum of investment
Exporting and importing can provide easy access to overseas markets
Subject to trade barriers and protectionism
Exporting and Importing

Exporting and Importing
An agreement that allows one party to use an industrial property right in exchange for payment to the other party
By licensing to a firm already there, the licensee may avoid entry costs
Licensor usually may be a small firm that lacks financial and managerial resources
Companies that spend a relatively large share of their revenues on research and development (R&D) are likely to be licensors
Exporting and Importing
Franchising
Business arrangement under which one party (the franchisor) allows another (the franchisee) to operate an enterprise using its trademark, logo, product line, and methods of operation in return for a fee
Widely used in the fast-food and hotel/motel industries
With minor adjustments for the local market, it can result in a highly profitable international business

Exporting and Importing
Licensing Franchising
Alliance
Any type of cooperative relationship among different firms.
Global Strategic Alliance (GSA): Voluntary agreements between two or more firms from different countries who pursue exchange, sharing, or co-developing of products, technologies, or services.
As globalization increases, strategic alliances and networks have proliferated globally.
International joint venture (IJV)
An agreement under which two or more partners from different countries own or control a business
Advantages
Improvement of efficiency
Access to knowledge, Political factors
Alliances & JVs
Exporting and Importing
Licensing Franchising
An overseas operation that is totally owned and controlled by an MNC
MNCs desire for total control and belief that managerial efficiency is better without outside partners
Types: Merger & Acquisition (M&A), Greenfield operation etc.
Alliances & JVs
Wholly owned subsidiary

Key strategic consideration: Control versus Commitment
International Business Strategy GSBS6481
Lecture 6: Competition Dynamics in International Business Strategy

Strategy as actions
Source: C. M. Grimm & K. G. Smith, 1997, Strategy as Action: Industry Rivalry and Coordination (p. 62), Cincinnati:-Western.
Copyright 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.
Competitive interactions
Competitivedynamicsactionsandresponses undertaken by competing firms
Competitivedynamicsinvolvenotonly attack/counter attack, but also cooperation in the among firms
an initial set of actions to gain competitive advantage
Counterattack
a set of actions in response to attack

Competitive Dynamics (contd)
Signaling
Firms may enter new markets, not necessarily to challenge incumbents but to seek mutual forbearance by establishing multimarket contact
Firms can send an open signal for a truce
Firms can send a signal to rivals by enlisting the help of governments Firms can organize strategic alliances with rivals for cost reduction
Collusion collective attempts between competing firms to reduce competition
tacit collusion firms indirectly coordinate actions by signaling their intention to reduce output and maintain pricing above competitive levels
explicit collusion firms directly negotiate output and pricing and divide markets
International Business Strategy
Lecture 7: Diversifying and Restructuring

Product diversification
Product-related diversification
Enter into new product markets and / or business activities that are related to a firms existing markets and /or activities
Common technologies, marketing and manufacturing Product-unrelated diversification
no obvious product-related connections those firms are also called conglomerates
Benefits and costs of product diversification
Benefits?
..of Product-related diversification?
Economies of scale derived from operational synergy ..of the Product-Unrelated diversification?
Economies of scope derived from financial synergy
Diversification premium and diversification discount

International Business Strategy GSBS6481
Lecture 8: Organization of MNCs
The IntegrationResponsiveness Framework: Four Strategic Choices

Student group presentations: Examples of MNCs organization structures
A brief introduction of the company, its main businesses and the international coverage
An introduction of the organizational structure as illustrated by an organizational chart (i.e. how the main businesses of the multinational company are organised internationally)
Any additional remarks, e.g. reasons why the company set up such a structure, any changes in its structure in the past, and whether you think the structure fits its international business strategy
GSBS6481 International Business Strategy
Week 11: Corporate Social Responsibility of MNEs and Governing Global Corporations and

A Stakeholder View of the Firm
A stakeholder is any group or individual who can affect or is affected by the achievement of the organizations objectives
Primary and secondary stakeholder groups
Primary stakeholder groups are those on whom the firm relies for survival and prosperity
Secondary stakeholder groups are defined as those who influence or affect, or are influenced or affected by, the corporation, but they are not engaged in transactions with the corporation and are not essential for its survival
CSR advocates argue that all stakeholders have an equal right to bargain for a fair deal
MNEs CSR activities Student presentations
Everystudentpleasedownloadanddiscussa recent Corporate Social Responsibility report (or sustainability report) of a multinational company
Eachstudentpleasehaveabriefpresentation introducing the report you have examined
Please consider the following in your presentation: What are the main businesses of the company; What are the main areas covered in the report;
What are the main highlights in the report In your view, is the information included in the report credible and does it reflect a genuine effort of the company in CSR?

International Business Strategy
Best of luck in the final exam.

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