Both partners decided to proceed with their joint-venture. Give your opinion about this. 1) What options were available to Studds at the end of the February 1995 meeting (Give the pros and cons)? 2) Should Studds really be involved on International Markets (Was Nolan the right partner)? 3) What are the Intercultural issues involved in the relationship between the two partners? 4) What would have been your recommendations to Studds or Nolan? (Give pros and cons)
The authors opinion
Introduction: This case study looks at the problems that Nolan and Studds had in the process of agreeing to a joint-venture and talks the decision of proceeding with the jointventure. In the end the author writes about personal recommendations with which the case study could have worked. Reasons to go International: The first question that arrises is whether Studds should be involved on International Markets in the first place. The second question is why they chose Nolan as a joint venture partner? At the end of 1994 Studds was the company with the biggest market share in motorcycle helmet sales and production in their national market. However their market-share was declining as helmets became mandatory and consumers shifted towards other cheaper helmets. It is uncertain whether the reason the go international was only proactive, or if there were also some minor reactive elements such as an increase in national competition on their lower helmet lines.
More likely it was the growth opportunity or expansion on international markets and the expectancy of total international market growth itself. Studds wanted to expand in developed markets and compete with the world leaders.
One way of getting what they wanted, was to partner with one of the world leaders on the international market. Going on in a joint venture with a big player to increase market-share internationally is undoubtedly a positive aspect for firms. Nolan and Bieffe were the biggest