Doing Business Worldwide
Monday, January 28, 2013
School starts today!
School starts today! I am taking 3 major related classes and one GE class this semester. I will share more insight about doing business internationally along my study this semester! Can't wait to share something new with you all!
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Gray Marketing
What is a gray market? According to Merriam-Webster
online dictionary, “gray market is a market employing irregular but not illegal
methods; especially a market that legally circumvents authorized channels of
distribution to sell goods at prices lower than those intended by the
manufacturer (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gray+market).”
Which means goods will be distributed by
unauthorized channels to meet the market needs.
In such a market, customers may not get the same warranties and product
liabilities as those from the official distribution channels. Manufacturers may cost more because they lost
the adequate profit share to the gray market. In addition, goods that
distributed by the unauthorized channels might actually damaging the
manufacturers’ reputations.
In the new gray market environment today, lower price
still is the main factor that allures retailers and some customers. However, it
is not always the case. In the article “‘Gray Market’ iPad Mini Prices Triple
in Russia”, because of the delay of releasing the iPad mini in Russia made the
gray market price much higher than the official price. I think the same phenomenon happens in Apple’s
Asian market as well. For Apple, they
should have the same releasing day for their new products worldwide and
manufacture enough to satisfy their global market.
In my opinion, governments should get involved in
managing the gray marketing. By
implementing the laws, eliminating smuggling, and adjust their tarries to make
goods distributed smoothly though their official distribution channels.
The Impact of Cultural Difference on Doing Global Business
When thinking about the impact of cultural difference on
doing global business, I automatically think about the different experience of
American fast- food joints in China and in the U.S. The most popular American
fast-food joints in China are McDonald, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Pizza
Hut.
American
fast-food joints in China are differing than those in American in different
aspects. First of all, they all have
different menu to satisfy the Chinese’s taste buds. They also fix their recipes
of the same product to make it more acceptable by Chinese. Personally, I think
McDonald in China taste better than in the U.S.A. My former Manager is an
American born Chinese; he told me that he thought Pizza Hun in China taste
better too. Second of all, American
fast-food joints set themselves to higher scale restaurants. Pizza Hut
restaurants in China are like those upscale French fine dining
restaurants. McDonald and Kentucky Fly
Chicken in China are known as fast-food joints, yet only high income or middle-class
family can afford to have them every day.
In
general, the cultural difference study helps international businesses to target
their markets and make strategies in different countries other than their home
countries. Most Chinese go to those
American fast-food joints are more for special event celebrations and the
exotic experience then to enjoy a good meal.
So, it makes sense to set them up more upscale. The cultural difference study also helps
companies to prevent lost in investment in different countries.
Social Entrepreneurship
I attended one of the Business Ethics Week events -
Social Entrepreneurship Unplugged on Friday, November 9th, 2012 at
San Francisco State University downtown campus. The Social Entrepreneurship
Unplugged event lasted for two hours and three non-profit organizations
presented themselves to us. By telling
us about their history, their mission, and their products and services; and how
they work to help people.
So, what is a Social Entrepreneur? According to the ashoka.org, “Social entrepreneurs are
individuals with innovative solutions to society’s most pressing social
problems. They are ambitious and persistent, tackling major social issues and offering
new ideas for wide – scale change.”
Let’s have a look of the three non-profit organizations
on the Social Entrepreneurship Unplugged event and see what their mission is, and
how they help the society to solve some of the social problems. They are listed
as follow:
One Laptop per Child (OLPC)
The founder and chief organizer of OLPC San Francisco
volunteer community, Sameer Verma presented their product to us. OLPC’s mission
is to empower the world’s poorest children through education by providing each
child with a rugged, low-cost, low – power, connected laptop (One Laptop Per Child). For more information, check out their website
at One Laptop Per Child or
their blog at blog.laptop.org. For
volunteering and internship, contact Sameer Verma at sverma@sfsu.edu.
Kiva
Kiva is a non-profit organization with a mission to
connect people through lending to alleviate poverty. According to their
speaker Betsy McCormick - the portfolio
manager of Kiva’s north and central America, Kiva connects entrepreneurs around
the world and leveraging the internet and a worldwide network of microfinance
institutions, it lets individuals lend
as little as $25 to help create opportunity around the world. For more
information on how to provide loan to people who need help, check out their
website at Kiva.
Whirlwind
Wheelchairs
According to Marc Krizack - the executive director at
Whirlwind Wheelchairs, their mission is to make it possible to help people in
the developing country to have mobility. They accomplish their mission by supplying to charitable
organizations who distribute around the world. For more information about how Whirlwind
Wheelchairs please check out their website at (Whirlwind). Their San
Francisco office offers internship for business major students and design major
students. For more information about the internship program at Whirlwind Wheelchairs
please contact Marc Krizack at marc@whirlwindwheelchair.org.
I am glad that I have spent some time to attend this
event. It really broadened my mind. I have learned a lot from this event. It
was the first time that I heard the concept - “Social Entrepreneurship” and the
concept of non-profit doesn’t mean they don’t make money. As the speaker of
Whirlwind Wheelchairs said, “we make money to help more people in need than put
it into our own pocket!” If you are an entrepreneur,
would you consider becoming one of those social entrepreneurs to help people in
need in your communities?
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Doing Business in Myanmar
When
I was doing my market research for launching a product in Myanmar (also known
as Burma), I found that information about Myanmar is very limited. The U.S. government used to have
restrictions of doing business in Myanmar for about 15 years. However, On July 11th, 2012
President Obama announced to ease sanctions to allow U.S companies to do
business in Myanmar (Whitehouse.gov).
In
his statement, President Obama explains why the US decided to ease restrictions
on doing business in Myanmar – to help Myanmar “to make important economic and
political reforms.” And this will provide “significant benefits to the people
of Myanmar (Whitehouse.gov).”
President Obama indicates that the US
Government would remains concerned about the lack of transparency in Myanmar’s
investment environment and the military’s role in the economy due to Myanmar’s
political and economic reforms remain uncompleted. He emphasized that US
companies need to do business in Myanmar responsibly and follow the US
Government’s guidelines. Lastly, President Obama states that his Administration
will continue to support Myanmar “in its efforts to work toward international
standards for economic growth, responsible governance, and human rights (Whitehouse.gov).
Myanmar
is a resource-rich country that has a big market potential. Since the U.S government
is allowing U.S companies to do business in Myanmar, let’s check out some
political and economic information of doing business over there.
According
to globalEDGE, Myanmar,
also known as Burma, is a country in Southeast Asia bordered by the Bay of
Bengal and the Andaman Sea. Neighboring countries include Bangladesh, China,
India, Laos, and Thailand. Myanmar has a strategic location near major Indian
Ocean shipping lanes. The government system is a Chairman of the State Peace
and Development Council and the head of government is the Prime Minister.
Opium in Myanmar |
Myanmar
has a complex economic system combing both traditional and command economic
systems. Many citizens engage in subsistence agriculture; however, the central
government has a strong influence. Myanmar is a member of the Bay of Bengal
Initiative for Multisectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC). Myanmar
is an agricultural base country. It has vast hardwood timber, natural gas, and
fishery reserves and is a leading source of gems and jade. Myanmar is also the
world’s second largest producer of opium, and a major source of illegal drugs,
including amphetamines. Opium bans implemented since 2002.
According
to Central
Intelligence Agency, the business climate in Myanmar is known as opaque,
corrupt, and highly inefficient. However, since 2011, the Myanmar government
opens up the economy by lowering export taxes, easing restrictions on its
financial sector, and reaching out to international organizations for
assistance.
Doing
business in Myanmar is still not easy by it does have a lot of opportunities
for U.S companies to expand their markets.
As the Myanmar government has “initiated a series of political and
economic reforms landing to a substantial opening of the long-isolated country
(Central
Intelligence Agency).” Furthermore, the U.S. government also has guidelines
and laws to guide and protect U.S. companies that want to do business in
Myanmar. There is no harm to take the
risk and be the first to take over the market in Myanmar.
For
more information, please check out these links that listed below:
Career in International Business
The
U.S. market is a saturated market, more and more companies are seeking to
expand their market in other countries to get bigger share of the global
market. On the other hand, because of
the fierce competition in the U.S., a lot of companies are outsourcing to
developing countries in order to lower their cost and have a better chance to
compete with their competitors. The need
of specialized abilities and experience employees in International Business is
growing.
Students with a degree in International
Business major will be hired by companies doing business internationally. They
could be working for US companies doing business worldwide, or having jobs in
companies that from other countries doing business in the US.
Positions in International Business are familiar to general business.
Most of them are in marketing, finance, sales, trade, management and consulting
area. A lot of international traveling
included in international business career when working for multinational
corporations, joint ventures, financial institutions. Employees in multinational corporations may
be sent to other countries as management of foreign subsidiaries or overseas
operations.
Having a career in International Business requires
knowledge in a very broad area. It is not just about speaking a second language. Knowledge of area culture studies,
accounting, finance, statistics, economy, marketing, foreign trade policy and
other business skills are required. Besides these knowledge requirements, work
experiences are also very important when seeking for a job in the international
business area. Networking is a popular word that recommended from most business
professors. Internship with an international business is a very good way to
start and build your own network. A lot
of times, students will be hired at the end of their internship at the
entry-level of their career.
Where else we can find openings for positions in
International Business career? On those companies websites which are doing
business internationally. Here are some
links for people who want to look for jobs in International Business.
Useful Class for International Business
I had a job in Global Banking when I was still taking my
general education classes and prerequisite classes for business majors at City
College of San Francisco. There were not
many classes that were major related back then.
When I transferred to San Francisco State University, most of my classes
are business related. The core classes
for business major are giving a basic coverage of skills needed in the business
world for students; while the concentration classes are focus on giving
students professional knowledge on doing business internationally. One class that I think it is really prepares
students for doing international business is the International Business
Environment Analysis.
According
to the syllabus for the International Business Environment Analysis class, “this
course is designed to expose students to a variety of issues in the
international business environments that impact country policies as well as
industrial and firm strategies (Professor Yikuan Lee at SFSU).” This course has a lot of presentation opportunities
to let students to apply the knowledge of international business environments
they learn from lectures by presenting case studies, term projects
professionally.
Students in the IBUS590 class have as many as
nine group presentations throughout the semester. Students are working in
groups, so that they can learn how to cooperate in a teamwork environment; such
as how to share the work load of researching and how to share the role when
presenting. By doing case studies and
term projects, students are able to reinforce their international business
concepts they have learned in other international business courses; to expand
upon their existing knowledge of international business operations and introduce
new materials pertinent to business operations in the global market; to develop
their ability to apply international business concepts to practical business
situation; to develop their analytical skills and research abilities for
assessing international business environments and recognizing international
market opportunities; to broaden their understanding of regional
characteristics and international business operations in the various industries
and markets; to provide them with a practical understanding of how to conduct
business in a global economy; to develop their problem solving and decision
making ability; to enhance their written and oral communication skills and to
improve their ability to work in a group environment.
I do learn
a lot from this class myself. I didn’t like this class at the beginning because
I hate presentation. I could not sleep on the nights before my presentation and
when I was presenting, I could not make my speech smooth because I was too
nerves; my legs would be shaking like crazy too. However, after few presentations, I am doing
better and better, especially after getting good feedbacks from the
professor. This is my most favorite
class now. I enjoy learning useful practical business skills from this class so
much! I will recommend this class to any business major students because it is
very useful and almost like working and presenting in the real world. A lot of
research and preparations for the presentation are exactly what I did when I
was working for the Global Banking Department in a bank. The only difference is that, I was not the
presenter for information and data that I collected, my managers were the one
that presenting my stuff because they do not have time to do the data and
information gathering.
Cannot think of any class that is not
helping, the classes for business major in San Francisco State University is
well tailored for business students. Other class might not feel like helping
directly but still good to have in a long run for business major students.
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