The Organizational Culture and Business Internationalization - Research Proposal Example

The Organizational Culture and Business Internationalization The development of the globalization concept and industrialization present a need for companies to expand into new markets. Internationalization of companies beyond their present territories is a priority for many companies. Many companies have become internationalized with the basic motive of acquiring a market share large enough to increase their revenue capacities and profit margins. Whereas many organizations have succeeded in this others have failed. Research have attributed the easiness or difficultness of doing international business to organizational structure and hence the planning and implementation of the entry and retaining strategies. This paper is a research proposal on the organization culture of McDonalds that has enabled it to be successful in the emerging market of India. The hypothesis for the research is that McDonalds organization culture and entry strategy into India is the main factor that has contributed to the success of the organization in the market. The proposal will explore the literature on international business and emerging markets and relate them to the success of the organization in India. The final study will use primary inquiry to identify if and how the organization culture relates to success in the international market. Research Context Over the years and especially in the last thirty years, the global business competition has become a very important consideration for entrepreneurs (Knight & Kim 2009)(Griffith et al. 2008). The competition has begun to have a decisive influence on the strategic planning, organisational culture and management both in the large corporations and in other small companies that have previously relied on the local markets (Ghemawat 2003). Corporations are now largely involved in establishing their place in international business environment either directly or indirectly. The increasing need for globalization and exploration of international business has led many companies in the world to allocate more resources to cross-cultural management (Doz 2011) (Kedia & Englis 2011). The nature of culture and its implication on the internationalization of business have been studies for long (Field et al. 2010). Hofstede (2009) defines culture as the programmed state of mind that distinguishes members of one group of people from those of another. In the case of international business, culture can be defined as the way of doing things that differentiate people from one country to another or one organization to another (Hofstede 2009). Culture, be it of a country or organization, is always learned by heritage and strategically passed down from one generation to the next (Ardichvili et al. 2012). Every group, therefore, has its own conception of ideas, preferences of articles and concepts and the reaction towards issues and scenarios. Culture can, therefore, be a barrier to communication, interaction, and even business establishment as a result of the differences (Schwartz & Davis 1981). It is, therefore, decisive to regard culture as a big challenge when it comes to the exploration of new opportunities and access to new markets by a specific organization (Velu & Khanna 2013). As such, it calls for possible alignment of the organizational culture to the culture of the target country (Mohr et al. 2005). The barrier posed by culture in the internationalization of businesses is one factor that rides away most companies’ intentions to explore the international market (Mike W. Peng 2001). Research Problem The main concern in seeking to go international is to overcome differences in national and organizational cultures (Buckley 2009). The international business environment often lead companies into regions and countries where the popular culture is quite different from that of the locals (M. W. Peng 2001). This means that the same formal requirements of starting a new venture including the capital required, employees’ relations, and legal requirements do not necessarily align ( Havila et al. 2004). Internationalization of a business therefore require scrutiny to avoid the challenges posed by the changing cultures. To make establishment possible, many researches and studies have proposed ensuring that there is planned entry and strategized acquisition of market share. However, there is a deficit in knowledge concerning the part that organizational culture play in this entry. This research will focus on filling this knowledge gap. Research Question This research will investigate and strategically analyze the international business model that is employed by companies and how this relate to their success or lack of in the business. The research will be guided by the following questions; 1. What are the common strategies in entering new markets? 2. How does the entry into different markets or cultures differ across companies? 3. How does the culture in the market affect the entry strategy by international companies? 4. What are the main factors within the organization culture of companies that define its success in new markets? Research Aims and Objectives The broad objective of this study is to obtain the relationship between the organization culture and its success in the internationalization strategy. This will be achieved through several specific objectives; 1. Literature review: To undertake a review of 50 most relevant journal articles on international business. 2. Data collection and Analysis: To collect relevant information on international business from the selected respondents and analyze the information. 3. Discussion and Recommendations: To build from the analysis and create a comprehensive review and make recommendations for companies. Research Methodology Based on the earlier studies conducted, organization culture must be aligned to the target country culture for internationalization to be successful. The capability of the managers and the flexibility of the organization culture is necessary for the success. This research will be a longitudinal review of international business cases and how companies have to align their strategies with organizational and market culture. Various case studies on successful and unsuccessful organizations will be used to meet the research objectives and answer the research questions. Credible and peer reviewed sources will be used including companies visits, review of websites and business journals. Research Plan This being a comprehensive review kind of a study, most of the resources will be obtained from reading articles and journals and engaging with scholars and experts. The research will take approximately three months to be complete. On literature review the following tasks are scheduled; Review notes and tutorials on writing literature review. Practice on selecting relevant literatures for the research and on note-making. Identify 50 relevant pieces of literatures to use in the research and make notes on them. Prepare a literature review from the identified sources and present it to study group members for review. Produce the draft literature review compiling all the recommendations from peers and instructor. On data collection and analysis, the tasks will be; Identify from the literature and media successful and unsuccessful international business entrants. Review the cultures and strategies of these entrants from their websites and offices. Compare the success or lack of it to the strategies, borrowing from literature review. Analyze the enablers and disablers in the strategies. On Discussion and Recommendations, the tasks involved will include; Compile the enabling and disabling strategies identified from the case studies. Point out the factors that favored or disfavored success in each case. Make recommendations on the best strategies to use. References Ardichvili, A. et al., 2012. Ethical Cultures in Large Business Organizations in Brazil, Russia, India, and China. Journal of Business Ethics, 105, pp.415–428. Buckley, P.J., 2009. Business history and international business. Business History, 51, pp.307–333. Doz, Y., 2011. Qualitative research for international business. Journal of International Business Studies, 42, pp.582–590. Field, E., Jayachandran, S. & Pande, R., 2010. Do traditional institutions constrain female entrepreneurship? A field experiment on business training in India. In American Economic Review. pp. 125–129. Ghemawat, P., 2003. Semiglobalization and international business strategy. Journal of International Business Studies, 34, pp.138–152. Griffith, D.A., Cavusgil, S.T. & Xu, S., 2008. Emerging themes in international business research. Journal of International Business Studies, 39, pp.1220–1236. Havila , V., Johanson , Jan & Thilenius , Peter , 2004. International business-relationship triads. International Marketing Review, 21, pp.172–186. Hofstede, G., 2009. Geert Hofstede Cultural Dimensions. Itim International, 122, pp.3–5. Available at: http://www.geert-hofstede.com/. Kedia, B.L. & Englis, P.D., 2011. Transforming business education to produce global managers. Business Horizons, 54, pp.325–331. Knight, G.A. & Kim, D., 2009. International business competence and the contemporary firm. Journal of International Business Studies, 40, pp.255–273. Mohr, A.T., Giroud, A. & Wang, C., 2005. International Business. Business, 76, pp.16–18. Available at: http://usir.salford.ac.uk/8512/. Peng, M.W., 2001. The resource-based view and international business. Journal of Management, 27, pp.803–829. Peng, M.W., 2001. The resource-based view and international business. Journal of Management, 27, pp.803–829. Schwartz, H. & Davis, S.M., 1981. Matching corporate culture and business strategy. Organizational Dynamics, 10, pp.30–48. Velu, C. & Khanna, M., 2013. Business model innovation in India. Journal of Indian Business Research, 5, pp.156–170. Read More