International Business Interview - Admission/Application Essay Example

Experiences with international business My experience with international businesses is that managers are facing a crop of challenges when it comes to operation of businesses in the international arena. The first challenge faced is that some of these managers may be employed by a multinational and may be required to go and work overseas, this may be quite hard given most so when they already have established families. Another challenge comes in the scenario where a business is established in the home market, but would like to operate internationally while assisting the home market. The extension of the operations is faced by massive challenges in a turbulent operation environment where the exchange rates ad differential in the inflation values is different. The rules and regulations of the target country may also be a big issue as they may be a hindrance towards the establishment if not towards the expansion of such businesses in the foreign land. There has to be a strong backing from the country of origin for a business to succeed in the foreign lands. This is mainly because of the variability of cultures, which greatly affects consumption of the products produced by the established firm (peng). 2. Recommendations for an American firm which wants to operate overseas As an expert, I would advise an American firm that wants to operate in an overseas country in the following manner. In the establishment of the business, they have to ensure that they know the kind of business they would wish to engage into. This depends on whether it is a green field project or a merger and acquisition. Then they have to study the rules and regulations that guide business operations in the target country. This is majorly to ensure that, immediately they establish the operations of the firm; there would be no conflicts in terms of laws and regulations which impacts negatively towards business operations. The timing of the project is quite significant as this affects on the costs that the firm are likely to incur depending on the corporate taxation policies of the target country and the international monetary tools like exchange rates and inflationary conditions. These factors are also the ones that affect the required capital to establish the firm. The American firm has to therefore develop an effective strategy to bust their operations in the overseas market. This is only possible if the firm ensures the following:- The influence the formation of international business strategy in the company They construct a dynamic market entry strategy for the business Design an organizational and management strategy which highly responds to the changing needs of the consumers and the market environment The managers are also advised to be on the lookout in searching for competitive edge in the foreign market (peng) 3. Recommendations for a student who wants to develop a career in international business A student who wants to develop an international career in business has to ensure the following:- They have to ensure that they undertake relevant courses to ensure that they are well versed with international business. Such students must specify their career goals quite clearly as this would facilitate the choice they make in terms of the professions they intend to engage themselves in in the international arena. In their career choices they have to learn on how to serve customers in the international markets and the strategic developments to take the businesses in the international arena. Concerning this they have to undertake courses like; strategic planning, government relations and policy analysis. A student interested in international business should carefully conduct a research on the potential job market, as well as a school of choice to do the course alongside the schools reputation in the field prior to enrolling for an international business course. This allows one to choose the best career path and the best school to pursue it before they begin their studies. 4. Challenges when communicating tax policies and laws to someone from another country When communicating tax policies and laws to someone from another country there are a variety of challenges that the person explaining the regulations is likely to face most so when they are with respect to cross border trade and they range from:- Taxation through policy formulation is complex for a nonprofessional to understand and therefore the people explaining find it hard to explain to the people and make them understand. Secondly, different countries have different tax systems and therefore quite hard to explain to the bearers the impact which is normally high due to cross border trade. Challenges that result from coordination are also quite hard to make the people understand. 5. The best organizational design for a country engaging in international business For a business, intending to engage in international business any of the following is a good organizational design:- Subsidiary model- the business should for other branches with other considerations in mind. Geographic based design- here the business is organized into business divisions based on the geographic divisions. Here, each geographical region is self-contained with its own functional units such as sales, finance, operations and human resources. Product alignment design- This design would ignore the geographical region or boundaries and directs its focus of the organization towards the product being produced or services offered. The product centers are set to have the responsibility of all their functional units like production, marketing, finance and the overall strategy of the specific product on a global basis. Functional design- this design proclaims that all the functional units right from sales, marketing, finance and operations form the overall organizational structure or design and the employees of the organization would work under any of the mentioned functional units. Matrix design- This is the other form of design that an organization opting to go international would decide to embrace and it is the overlap between functional and divisional structure as it combines the best of both structures. As an expert, I would advice such a business to embrace the last form of design, which is the matrix design, as it would give it the elements of most of the other forms. (peng) 6. How do you manage different risk in International Business? The following are the risk management techniques in international business:- Conduct an assessment before entering a foreign market- this will ensure that you do not enter a foreign market before you are adequately informed of all the risks. This assessment will entail scrutinizing the political and legal environments as well as the business and the competitive environments and then develop strategies to curb risks in case they occur. Collaborating with local firms-, this will ensure that the risk of uncertainty is curbed and that their market specific expertise is t (peng)aken advantage of. Be patient with the unfavorable environmental risk factors and consider pulling out of the market in case the conditions worsen. Spread the risk by spreading business operations in more than one country. This makes sure that if operations in other countries become hostile one can benefit from the operations in the other countries hence not go at a complete loss. The business can also consider purchasing the international business insurance policy, which covers political, terrorism and global poverty damages and liabilities. Also covered are the international credit transactions and other coverable items like employees health and compensation plans. Lastly, the company can consider accepting letters of credit from trusted banks that is; deal with the banks that they have dealt with before. (peng) Works cited Peng, Mike W. Global Business. Canada: South Cenage , 2011. Read More