Mnc's Technological Changes

Introduction
When looking at the United States, we see technology applied daily in many different forms. We wake up to our alarms set on our smart phones, make our coffee with a Keurig® machine, and then we take our cars to work. Some may believe that once you get to work, technology goes on the back-burner and human capital takes over. Now in the year 2012 businesses are changing and adapting not only in our nation, but globally. For the hopes that the U.S. will keep up with these global technological changes, there has to be much research to be done. One may be asking when did these changes begin, and why did they begin? That brings us to the history of the retail industry and how it has shaped how MNC’s communicate, trade, and conduct business.
Brief
History of Retail in the USA Multinational Corporations (MNC’s) are extremely dependent on the technological innovations that have occurred and reoccurred over the century. If we take a look back at the Pre-WWII era in America we can see that most stores were just local “mom-and-pop” stores. These stores relied simply on human capital and would succeed based on how hard they, the owners, would work. Until 1859 this was true, but then the idea of a “retail chain” sprang into action with the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company. This was the first of our national retail chains. Confined to the A&P HQ in New York City they still had a footprint that stretched from Virginia to Minnesota. By 1930, A&P had over 15,000 locations nationwide and accounted for almost 40% of all retail industry in the United States. This is just one example of how quickly National Corporations began, but where does technology play its role in all of this? Retail in the U.S. grew substantially after the Great Depression; agricultural jobs decreased drastically, while retail/wholesale stores began to superseded the rest of the small businesses. This can be seen in this graph, taken from a report by Art Carden: As you can see, around 1942 retail and wholesale production began to increase and surpass agricultural production. This shows us that the U.S. economy will soon become dependent on retail and wholesale throughout the country. After seeing this research, it is now apparent that the United States has become reliant on business practices across the nation. The Post-Great Depression era will become even more industrialized than ever before and will have to become more competitive in the global market.
Now that the U.S. is marketing products not only nationally, but globally there has to be a form of communication from one area to the next. This form of globalization is key to the success of many, if not all businesses from after the Great Depression onward. If you jump forward from the Great depression to the present, the demand for quality U.S. products sky-rocketed and therefor needed to be marketed overseas to other businesses around the world. Innovation in retail has lowered the costs of transporting goods and communicating information from one corporation to another. These innovations in travel include the use of aircrafts and cargo ships to transport goods across the vast oceans. Communication has become easier as the decades have passed; the internet has been created and in this sense made it more possible for MNC’s to communicate on a regular basis. Before the internet MNC’s were relying on international postal services, the telephone, and face-to-face interaction. The internet opens up a new line of communication including e-mail, wiki’s, and all forms of social media. Managers not only need to know how to speak to their employee’s, but also how to communicate to international interests. Barriers set by the environment and also by language can be a challenge, but to keep international interest managers need to know how to communicate across borders. Again, technological advances have helped in the communication between MNC’s because now it is as simple as holding up a device while a person speaks and this device will translate the information for you (there are even “apps” for this on smart phones).

L.L. Bean In the year 1912, Leon Leonwood Bean started a business based on the simple fact that he was an outdoorsman and he needed apparel for himself when trucking through the forests of Maine.
It dawned on him that most outdoorsmen have the same problem, cold damp feet. He began to create shoes that would hold during the inclement weather patterns of Maine. He began to print brochures and sending them out to nonresidents of Maine. He ended up with 100 orders for his shoes. Not long after, he received notice that 90 out of 100 of his shoes were falling apart and would not hold well. Bean told these outdoorsmen that if they returned the shoes they would receive a full refund of their purchase. He was a man of his word, and that word spread quickly. By 1934 L.L. Bean has grown to a 13,000 square foot factory and the simple 3 page flyer, turned into a 52 page catalogue. By the year 1937, the company had reached the 1 million dollar mark (equal to 15,700,000 million US dollars today) and would continue to grow. In the year 1951, Mr. L.L. Bean stated that “We have thrown away the keys to the place,” literally meaning that the headquarters in Freeport, Maine would now and forever be a 24 hour, 365 day a year
operation. L.L. Bean was ahead of his time, because he was one of the frontiersmen to use the catalogue to gain most of his capital. This is a big step towards becoming an MNC, because advertising through catalogue has continued throughout the years, catalogues turned into stores around the country, and these stores have become well-known throughout the world as having the continued consistency from 1912 to 2012. This 52 page catalogue that was presented in 1934 turned into the online phenomenon it is today. The first step towards international recognition for L.L. Bean was the presence of a store in Tokyo, Japan. This project was started in 1992 and now L.L. Bean operates and controls 20 different retail stores throughout the cities of Japan. In September 2008, L.L.Bean opened its first store in China and now has a total of 57 stores in China. It is incredible to think that 21 years prior to 2012, L.L. Bean only had 34 retail stores inside the United States and now operates 77 stores internationally.
The online store that began in 1995 was just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak, compared to what would happen in further years. Technology acted as a catalyst to build and improve on the global expansion of this family owned MNC. Without the technological advancements, L.L. Bean would still be confined within the borders of the United States. On average, L.L. Bean has constructed roughly four stores on average internationally per year from 1992-2012. For a family owned and operated business that is incredible to say the least.
From the start, L.L. Bean relied on technology for its business practices. The printing press back in 1912 when the company started with one man and his dream, to the biodiesel trucks that are used to deliver cargo throughout the nation. Technology has made L.L. Bean much more competitive in the global market because without the internet, L.L. Bean would lose roughly 142,000 orders per day. One could state that without technology, L.L. Bean would have never had those 77 international stores. Information and communication travels so fast in today’s world. Without the proper training in technology, many managers of L.L. Bean would not be able to handle the output that is asked of them. Their database, for example, would be a tremendous job for a human to keep. For a computer though, that is its function. It is easier for a manager to plug numbers into a computer, rather than write them free-hand. Shipping orders whether it is across states, or overseas would be difficult to keep track of without the proper programming that is used now.
U.S. Competitiveness
Now the question that is begging to be answered is: has U.S. retail become more competitive overseas? From the facts of the case study done on L.L. Bean, one could say that the U.S. has not only become competitive internationally, but that we are one of the most competitive nations internationally. L.L. Bean opened 20 retail stores in Japan, and 57 in China in a matter of 21 years; this is just one example of one company. L.L. Beans annual sales for the year 2011 would net 1.44 billion dollars in total, but because L.L. Bean is a family owned venture they do not have to legally release any financial information. That being said it is difficult to separate the capital gain in the United States from Japan or China.
Conclusion
Since the Industrial Revolution, America has been the foreground of technology and advancement, especially in the business world. In recent years however, international businesses are beginning to surpass this country and are making strides to keep growing. Market research is becoming one of the most crucial concepts in the business world because managers need to know what is needed to become more competitive internationally. L.L. Bean is an example of how America can take a creative idea, and watch it bloom from the small business it was in Freeport, Maine; to the MNC it has become.

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[ 1 ]. Carden, Art. "Retail Innovation in American Economic History." Independent. The Independent Institute, 17 June 2011. Web. .
[ 2 ]. Ibid.
[ 3 ]. Ibid.
[ 4 ]. Ibid.
[ 5 ]. Ibid.
[ 6 ]. Smith, Michael. "Role of Communication in Managerial Function." EHow. Demand Media, 16 July 2011. Web. .
[ 7 ]. Apple Inc. "Vocre Translate ~ Voice and Text Translator." App Store. N.p., 2012. Web. .
[ 8 ]. L.L. Bean Inc. "Company History." L.L.Bean. N.p., 2012. Web. .
[ 9 ]. "Measuring Worth." Measuring Worth. Measuring Worth, 2011. Web. .
[ 10 ]. L.L. Bean Inc. "Company History." L.L.Bean. N.p., 2012. Web. .
[ 11 ]. Ibid.
[ 12 ]. L.L. Bean Inc. "L.L. Bean 2012 Company Fact Sheet." L.L.Bean. N.p., 2012. Web. .
[ 13 ]. Ibid.
[ 14 ]. Ibid.
[ 15 ]. Ibid.