International and Domestic Strategy - Report Example

Section/# International and Domestic Strategy Companies that wish to expand to international market necessarily have to engage with an international strategy as a means of accomplishing such a goal. As can reasonably be understood, the differential between engaging an international strategy and engaging in a domestic strategy is quite large. Further prompted this essay, the author is encouraged to consider whether or not international strategy is more complex than domestic strategy. Within such a rubric, it will be the firm determination of this particular discussion to indicate that international strategy is in fact an order of magnitude more complex as compared to its domestic strategy component. One of the first reasons for why domestic strategy is a great deal more common and less complex as compared to international strategy has to do with the fact is that international strategy find it necessary to understand and abiding by a series of laws in order for effective and ethical implementation of such a strategy to take place. Prior to engaging in any market or beginning the production or offering of any good or service to an international clientele, it is necessary for strategy analysts to understand, comprehend, and navigate both domestic and international laws regarding how business can be affected and should be represented; both from the standpoint of a foreign company operating internationally and from the standpoint of a domestic company seeking to provide the same level of goods or services across country borders (Li, 2014). The impediment crafting international strategy is predicated upon the fact that oftentimes requires teams of expert lawyers that have prior experience in understanding international law. As compared to domestic strategy, almost each and every business lawyer is capable of understanding the nuances of how business should be affected (Hirotaka, 2013). Another unique differential between international strategy and domestic strategy has to do with the fact that domestic strategy, by its very nature, does not require multiple economic analyses as a means of understanding differential markets. However, a firm that is interested in engaging upon an international strategy will find it necessary to understand the dynamics, gauge the highs and lows, and represent effective projections with regard to how individual markets might behave in the near future. Bringing this down to a more effective and measurable level of analysis, a firm that is interested in engaging with a domestic market will necessarily require an economic analysis of the domestic market and a further understanding of whether the market is set to expand or contract in the coming years (Strang, 2014). Firstly, with respect to HR considerations, a wide body of research has recently been represented that indicates that universal human resources strategy is not effective in engaging all international stakeholders. The underlying reason for this is not due to the fact that human resources strategy being uniform is an effective; rather, it is based upon the understanding that unique cultural differences impact upon the way in which stakeholders understand their role and engage with certain tasks within the company. The understanding that should be represented from all of this is that the company that seeks to engage in international strategy should be fully aware of the fact that its current or existing human resources strategy should not be understood as something that needs no further attention as it currently might operate quite well. This pitfall has been all too often engaged by companies that understand their existing human resources strategies to be all that is needed to ensure that further success within the human resources realm is affected within the country or region that they are attempting to expand within (Stephen & Mary, 2014). The overall level of “knowledge” that is required to accurately engage a domestic strategy is an order of magnitude less complex as compared to international strategy. As previously discussed, the reason behind this is the fact that there is a great deal of inherent knowledge in terms of the domestic market and the means by which strategy is effected and engaged. Concurrently, it is invariably true that businesses and firms operating within a domestic market understand cultural dynamics, issues, legal issues, and politics to a far greater degree than they can comprehend these within an international market space. From such a standpoint, it is reasonable that such firms need to expend a great deal of time and money to ensure that their international strategy takes the necessary time to consider unique cultural dynamics that might differ from the domestic strategy and/or that the domestic strategy has already taken from granted. At the same time, firms must also be relevantly aware of the need for standardization between a domestic and an international strategy. In the macro sense, this level of standardization is what allows the firm to develop a stance and a product-market approach that resonates with the largest number of potential consumers while at the same time promoting a given good or product in a unique manner. Firms that incorrectly gauge the way in which this should be accomplished find themselves in an extremely difficult situation; one in which a given good or service, although similar at first glance, is inherently too differentiated from its analogous component. This is a direct result of the fact that proper standardization has not been adequately engaged. By seeking to incorporate such levels of standardization in strategy, the ease by which different individuals within far off regions of the world can be engaged is of course an order of magnitude easier. An additional concern has to do with the fact that domestic strategy can create a situation in which a single overarching strategic goal can be adhered to; whereas international strategy might reflect a situation in which competing goals that are not often synonymous in nature could be represented (Helms & Whitesell, 2013). This difficulty creates a situation by which stakeholders that craft international strategy must perennially be aware of whether or not these individual macro strategies are in conflict with one another; and if so in what way. Another unique factor that helps to differentiate domestic strategy as compared to international strategy has to do with market intelligence. Invariably, the domestic market is more well known or understood as compared to the international market. In this way, crafting domestic strategy is oftentimes something that is almost synonymous with elements of common sense. However, at such a point in time in which a company seeks to engage within an international market, it is necessary to understand how these markets work, what stakeholders for companies represent the most direct competition, and what best strategy for market entry is represented (Brown et al., 2014). Naturally, many of these concerns are indicated within domestic strategy; however, the complexity of international market penetration strategy is an order of magnitude different as compared to the same levels of consideration – if they were considered within the domestic context. In tandem with the difficulties and considerations that had been presented above, it is also necessary for the firm that is interested in international expansion to consider logistical challenges as compared to the logistical challenges that might be exhibited within a domestic strategy context. For instance, a firm within the United Kingdom that seeks to expand elsewhere within the United Kingdom does not need to perform a great deal of analysis with respect to the way in which logistics of transportation, personnel, or other issues should be conducted. Whereas a particular good or service might be inherently profitable within one context, within the domestic market, the overall level of profitability can be severely constrained within a situation in which logistical challenges place a necessary part upon the inputs that are responsible for producing the good or the service in question. One element that is not often considered when one analyzes the differentials between international and domestic strategy is that of the media. Likewise, with regard to domestic strategy, the differentials between types of media and the overall representation within the product mix and consumer choice matrix is well understood by stakeholders within the company (Bharadwaj et al., 2013). However, it is oftentimes the case that a firm that seeks to engage with an international market might not only be aware of the way in which media is utilized. From the information that has thus far been engaged, it is clear and apparent that the issue facing a firm that is interested in international strategy formulation as compared to a firm that is interested in effecting domestic strategy is extraordinarily different. This differential does not necessarily mean that a firm should only engage in one or the other; instead, it indicates the fact that the theories and relevant factors that impact upon international strategy formulation are of course extraordinarily more complex as compared to those that impact upon domestic strategy formulation. Bibliography Bharadwaj, A, El Sawy, O, Pavlou, P, & Venkatraman, N 2013, Business Strategy within a Globalized World, MIS Quarterly, 37, 2, pp. 471-482, Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 20 October 2014. Brown, D, Spillman, K, Lee, M, & Lu, Y 2014, Factors Influencing Business Performance’, Journal Of Business & Management, 23, 7, pp. 768-789, Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 20 October 2014. Helms, M, & Whitesell, M 2013, Transitioning to the Embedded Librarian Model and Improving the Senior Capstone Business Strategy Course, Journal Of Academic Librarianship, 39, 5, pp. 401-413, Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 20 October 2014. Hirotaka, T 2013, Knowledge-Based View of Strategy, Universia Business Review, 40, pp. 68-79, Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 20 October 2014. Li, Z 2014, Internal and external evaluation of strategy in enterprise, Journal Of Business Research, 6, 6, pp. 693-697, Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost, view Stephen, I, & Mary, O 2014, Antecedents of Business Strategies, Journal Of Competitiveness, 6, 3, pp. 63-76, Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 20 October 2014. Strang, K 2014, Learning Strategy as from Ongoing Business Development, Journal Of Education For Business, 89, 3, pp. 142-148, Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 20 October 2014. Read More