INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
This chapter introduces the emergence of the globally integrated business world. Globalization has reduced the traditional barriers to cross-border trade and investment (distance, time zones, language, differences in government regulations, culture, and business systems).
A.What Is Globalization?
Globalization is a shift toward a more integrated and interdependent world economy. Globalization has two components: the globalization of markets and the globalization of production.
The Globalization of Markets
The globalization of markets refers to the merging of historically distinct and separate national markets into one huge global marketplace. In many markets, the emergence of a global marketplace has begun to occur. There are three causes: falling barriers to cross-border trade have made it easier to sell internationally; consumer tastes and preferences are converging on some global norm helping to create a global market; and firms are facilitating the trend by offering standardized products worldwide, thus creating a global market.
The Globalization of Production
The globalization of production refers to the sourcing of goods and services from locations around the globe to take advantage of national differences in the cost and quality of factors of production (such as labor, energy, land, and capital). By doing this, companies hope to lower their overall cost structure and/or improve the quality or functionality of their product offering, thereby allowing them to compete more effectively.
Economist Robert Reich argues that because firms frequently outsource production, products can now often be considered “global products.” However, firms are not always able to produce in the optimal location because of formal and informal barriers to trade between countries, barriers to foreign direct investment, transportation costs, issues associated with economic and political risk, and the sheer managerial challenge of coordinating a globally dispersed supply chain.
B. The Emergence of Global Institutions
Globalization has created the need for institutions to help manage, regulate, and police the global marketplace. Institutions that have been created to help perform these functions are the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the World Trade Organization (WTO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, the United Nations (UN), and the Group of Twenty (G20).
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is primarily responsible for policing the world trading system and making sure nation-states adhere to the rules laid down in trade treaties. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) was created to maintain order in the international monetary system, and the World Bank was set up to promote economic development. The United Nations (UN) was created to preserve peace through international cooperation. The Group of Twenty (G20) is comprised of the finance ministers and central bank governors of the 19 largest economies in the world, plus representatives from the European Union and the European Central Bank. The G20 represents 90 percent of global GDP and 80 percent of international global trade.
C. Drivers of Globalization
These two macro factors underlie the trend toward greater globalization: the decline in the barriers to free flow of goods, services, and capital; and technological change in communications, information processing, and transportation technologies.
Declining Trade and Investment Barriers
International trade occurs when a firm exports goods or services to consumers in another country.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) occurs when a firm invests resources in business activities outside its home country.
The pressure from customers to make available any goods and services anywhere for their needs and wants has been facilitated by country governments removing restrictions on imports to their countries. However, declining barriers to cross-border trade and investment cannot be taken for granted.
Role of Technological Change
While the lowering of trade barriers made globalization of markets and production a theoretical possibility, technological change made it a tangible reality. Managers today operate in an environment that offers more opportunities, yet is also more complex and competitive than that of a generation ago.
D.The Globalization Debate
Firms should be aware that while the more integrated global economy presents new opportunities, it also could result in political and economic disruptions that may throw plans into disarray
Antiglobalization Protests
Is the shift toward a more integrated and interdependent global economy a good thing? Antiglobalization protesters now turn up at almost every major meeting of a global institution. Protesters fear that globalization is forever changing the world in a negative way.
Globalization, Jobs, and Income
Critics of globalization worry that jobs are being lost to low-wage nations.
Supporters of globalization argue that free trade will result in countries specializing in the production of those goods and services that they can produce most efficiently, while importing goods and services that they cannot produce as efficiently.
Globalization, Labor Policies, and the Environment
Critics of globalization argue that free trade encourages firms from advanced nations to move manufacturing facilities offshore to less developed countries with lax environmental and labor regulations.
Supporters of free trade point out that tougher environmental regulation and stricter labor standards go hand in hand with economic progress and that foreign investment often helps a country to raise its standards.
Globalization and National Sovereignty
Critics of globalization worry that economic power is shifting away from national governments and toward supranational organizations such as the World Trade Organization (WTO), the European Union (EU), and the United Nations.
However, supporters of globalization contend that the power of these organizations is limited to what nation-states agree to grant, and that the power of the organizations lies in their ability to get countries to agree to follow certain actions.
Globalization and the World's Poor
Critics of globalization argue that the gap between rich and poor has gotten wider and that the benefits of globalization have not been shared equally.
Supporters of free trade suggest that the actions of governments have made limited economic improvement in many countries.
E. Managing in the Global Marketplace
Managing an international business (any firm that engages in international trade or investment) is different from managing a domestic business because countries differ, managers face a greater and more complex range of problems, international companies must work within the limits imposed by governmental intervention and the global trading system, and international transactions require converting funds and being susceptible to exchange rate changes.
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