Chapter 1, 2, and 3

Chapter 1: Rapid Change of International Business * There is an impact of extensive foreign investments in the United States taking place especially in recent years * Even some of the best known “American” products and brands are now produced by foreign firms * American companies such as Coca-Cola, Starbucks, McDonalds, the Gap and Levi’s are found in Japan, Australia, Singapore and nearly every European nation * One out of six jobs is tied to international trade and investment * All managers need to have a basic knowledge of international trade to be able to meet the challenge of global competition * Consultants and managers often use the word globalization in describing a firm’s strategy for beating their competitors * HOWEVER…globalization and it’s root, global, are overused and misused in international business because of the prestige that managements believe these words bring to their companies * A global company is an organization that:
-Searches the world for market opportunities, threats from competitors, sources of products, raw materials, knowledge, innovation, and financing, and personnel. (It has global vision)
-Maintains a presence in key markets around the world
-Looks for similarities, not differences, among markets
-Standardizes operations worldwide in one or more of the firms functional areas
-integrates its operations worldwide * Multinational company is a company with a number of overseas operations, each of which is left to adapt its products and marketing strategy to what local managers perceive to be unique aspects for their individual markets * International business: business whose activities are carried out across national borders. * Foreign business: the operations of a company outside its home or domestic market-business that takes place within a foreign country * Multidomestic company: (MDC) an organization with multicountry affiliates, each of which formulates its own business