Management Challenge, Globalization, Competitiveness from a Perspective of New Global Realities - Literature review Example

The new global realities Author’s Name Class Name Professor’s Name School City and State Date The new global realities Introduction Globalization has become a reality that can no longer be ignored by any business. It has increased competition among businesses as they venture into new markets hence making change adherence inevitable. Multicultural and interpersonal relationships with people living in different parts of the world have become a necessary tool for enjoying the opportunities and overcoming the challenges presented by the dynamic and turbulent global business environment. Addressing the issue of new global realities can be adequately covered by looking at different aspects of a business from a global perspective. This essay analyzes the management challenge, globalization, competitiveness, and change, the emerging global landscape as well as the management and multicultural competence from a perspective of new global realities. The first new global reality is a management challenge. It is a reality that different parts or countries of the world have different cultures. However, when it comes to business, these different parts of the world require almost similar goods and services. The demand for almost similar goods and services is the reason businesses are increasingly providing their goods and services across the globe. Businesses rely on proper management to thrive regardless of the regions they operate. With increased globalization, the issue of management challenge has become real because of different cultures, dynamism, and unpredictability of business cycles. Cultures in various parts of the world require different approaches because different actions have conflicting interpretations. As managerial work increases across borders, the list of cultural contradictions grows to making it a challenge for multinational company managers. According to Lewis and Richard Lewis Communications (2014), time is viewed differently by Western and Eastern cultures and even within these groupings; people assume dissimilar positions. The Americans view time as the most expensive element of business. They believe that time is money, precious and a scarce commodity. Germans, Switzerland, Scandinavia, Netherlands, and Austria also hold this position about time. More also they prefer to concentrate on one thing at a time and have a fixed schedule on every activity. On the other hand, this idea is not taken seriously by class-conscious Britain and is viewed as unrealistic in Southern European nations where Privilege, authority, and birthright negate every turn’s theory. Southern Europeans are more fulfilled and happier when they do different things at the same time. When it comes to Italians, Spaniards, and Arabs, they do not care much about time and places value on the business itself. For example, a meeting with an Arab businessperson cannot be adjourned because the time allocated to it is over. Countries in the world are at different levels of development. Some countries are more technologically advanced than others thus requiring multinational companies to use different business approaches in different countries making it a management challenge. In Nigeria, Mba is a name of a person but in other countries, the name is considered as a degree. Currently, it is right to criticize a president in many countries in the world. However, criticizing a king in Thailand is an offense that can land someone behind bars for fifteen years (Richard, Carlos, and Luciara 2010). Dress code is another aspect that is a sensitive business and cultural element in different parts of the world. While some dressing is considered offensive in some cultures, it is appreciated in other cultures. Moreover, workers in Arab countries must be allowed prayer breaks within the course of the day a culture that sees businesses are closed for few minutes severally on a daily basis. Additionally, discrimination of any kind in western countries is viewed from a different perspective in most of the African countries. According to Reeves (2012), Apple was facing Justice Department discrimination accusations for allegedly denying Iranian-Americans and Farsi speakers’ sale of iPads and some other Apple merchandise by Apple store employees. When it comes to global business knowledge is power thus managers must be aware of the realities on the ground in different parts of the world. Global managers must have developing ability and mastering learning skills to be able to work with other leaders from different parts of the world. The second new global reality is globalization, competitiveness, and change. Ritze & Atalay (2010) defines globalization as a process resulting in and fueled by increasing cross-border flows of services, money, goods, information, people, and culture. Fiedman (2012) defines globalization as the inevitable integration of markets, nation-states, technologies, and capital in ways that allow corporations, countries, groups, and individuals to get to around the world, faster, more cheaply and deeply as well as farther than ever before. Globalization is an inevitable concept that dictates the new political and economic systems in international business among other activities. A new global reality signifies a new and a key paradigm shift in global economics, politics, and business that affects managers and their corporations as well as the society. Globalization has changed the way business is done in the world. Change can be celebratedbut from another perspective; it can be viewed as biting. For example, the postal services have declined around the world as online communication increased. The decline of the cost of both communication and transport, combined with a proliferation of bandwidth, personal computers, and common software application has enabled multinational companies to put up a global workflow platforms. According to Elash (2011), the Canadian post has seen experienced and rapid decline of the first-class mail because of advanced technology online communication. In the year 2011, the employees went on strike due the adjustment of wages by the companies. On the other hand, the residents wondered if they needed a mail carrier. Businesses have to adapt to change to remain competitive. As a way of remaining competitive, Canadian Post has been striving to adapt to the online environment (Elash 2011). International businesses are not leaving anything to chances as they try to cut the cost of production, improve on their supply chain and locate new markets in foreign countries. Technology innovation and application determine competition among business, companies influence in emerging markets, and research and development. Increased financial markets interdependence and evolving government policies are other factors that not only propelled globalization but also enhanced competition in different industries. Local companies have nowhere to hide as multinational companies bring competition to their doorstep not only leading to increased quality products but also low prices of goods and services. According to Epstein and Crown (2008), Boeing lost a $35 billion U.S. Air Force contract to a foreign company namely European Aeronautic Defense & Space (EADs).Boeing as exhibited some inefficiency by delivering contracts behind the schedule. Globalization does not spare even the local companies keeping the business people on their toes and the consumer on the winning side. Countries must support globalization through offering incentives as well as lowering the cost of doing business otherwise; they face the wrath of noncompliance. According to the economist (2011), India’s foreign direct investment fell by almost a third in 2010. More also the growth remained slower than China, and this problem are associated with the high expense of starting a business as well as ease of doing business in the region. Companies can choose to produce or market their goods and services in any part of the world that gives them a competitive advantage. We are increasingly witnessing a scenario where a product is made of raw materials from sourced from different countries. Around 60% of components for Boeing commercial models are supplied by foreign contractors (Epstein & crown 2011). More also an article by According to Dwoskin (2011) the food we consume has been touched by a large number of people because the ingredients used to prepare it are sourced from different sources. YUM, which owns KFC, Taco Bell, and Pizza, agrees that it sources foods from across the U.S border. The third new global reality is the emerging global landscape. Globalization is often viewed from the good side living the bad side of the challenges and handles that managers have to undergo to ensure that their corporations are not left behind. Globalization has seen businesses use different modes of entry into foreign markets. All these modes of entries converge to one point that is partnerships. Globalization is characterized by endless conflicts with partners, mutual distrust, ongoing cost overruns, and continual misunderstandings with distributors as well as suppliers. Additionally it is associated with personal stress, economic and political risks, and in some cases, people lose their careers. The principle reasons for these shortcomings are conflicts between partners and cultural differences. The Economist (2011) reveals that Apple’s iPhones components are sourced from different suppliers Samsung Electronics being a key supplier. Despite Samsung being a major supplier of Apple, it is also a major competitor of similar products, and recently they have been embroiled in a court battle. Samsung Electronics allegedly copied design and hardware features from the products made by Apple and produced its Galaxy Tab computer. The conflicts and cultural differences in multinational companies have severe consequences for the organization’s success. According to Ken (2012), Wal-Mart operation in many countries has caused many problems that emerge from different cultures in which it operates. The cultural conflicts threatened to decrease its profitability and productivity in the international markets. It is agreeable that it is difficult to handle all the changes that occur in the global environment. However, three changes that cannot be taken for granted are the evolution from irregular to continual change, from biculturalism to multiculturalism and from isolation to increased interconnectedness. The only constant thing in business is change. Businesses can only benefit from globalization by keeping track of the changing business environment. Everyone from consumer to investors must heed to the scope, nature, and speed of global events both politically and economically. It is crystal clear that globalization rides on technological tides. Technological development has led to the emergence of reliable and affordable computers and communication technologies that have made collaboration and coordination across border possible. More also it has led to increased interconnectedness of businesses across the world. This interconnectedness not only leads to the expansion of business but also leads to a better way of doing business. Evolution of bicultural business environment to a global or multicultural environment is the third major change of globalization. It presents the multinational companies managers with three challenges as they attempt to adapt to the realities on the ground. Sometimes managers are faced with a challenge of the culture to adapt when working on a global project team. More also multicultural encounters may happen on short notice hence giving managers a little time to learn the new culture. Lastly, multicultural meetings have shifted to virtual alternatives instead of face-to-face giving managers a challenge of building relationships. The last new global reality is the management of multicultural competence. The success of a global business is determined by how well they manage different cultural challenges while carrying out their businesses. Globalization does not present opportunities on a silver platter. It comes with a myriad of challenges, which managers must overcome to enjoy these opportunities (Malgady & College 2011). For a company to overcome the challenges presented by globalization, it must have managers equipped with economic groundbreaking, legal, and political skills and cultural awareness to interpret the complexities in the surrounding environment. The principle challenge of globalization that managers face is that different countries and cultures react differently to globalization. According to the economist (2011), despite the criticism of the difficulties in starting a business in India, observers suggest that the future of business lies in the country. The difficulty in starting a new business in India lies in nonsensical permits, procedures, policies, a red tape filled culture. To beat multicultural challenges businesses must invest in training their employees and building valuable strategic alliances with partners in foreign countries. Multinational companies should also not align themselves with one or two currencies, stock markets, political leaders, or economies. More also it is important to use the local employees in businesses located in their localities. Local employees understand their culture better and will not only help ensure that the company associate well with the locals, but will also help in marketing the companies. Moreover, local employees will help the few foreign employees to learn the foreign culture as they co-work in the foreign land. The topic of new global reality as helped me to view globalization from a different perspective than before. Globalization is not all about the positive aspects of it but also the negative aspects that managers should work on to ensure that they do not hinder the organization’s performance. The importance of studying new global realities is to understand the real issues that may hinder the businesses from enjoying the opportunities presented by globalization. After understanding these issues, a manager can come up with ways to apprehend them and enjoy the fruits of globalization. For individuals interested in pursuing a career as a manager across cultures, the new global realities present an opportunity to understand the areas on which to focus. New global realities have enabled me to gain an in-depth knowledge and the importance of a multicultural approach to business and with this knowledge I am better placed to handle businesses in different parts of the world. Conclusion This essay analyzes the management challenge, globalization, competitiveness, and change, the emerging global landscape as well as the management and multicultural competence from a perspective of new global realities. We have learned that managers must view globalization from different perspectives so that they can enjoy the global business opportunities. Additionally, multicultural competence and management has been viewed as the backbone of the global business. New global realities enable business leaders to understand what happens on the ground in the foreign business environment. References Dwoskin, E 2011, Your Food Has Been Touched by Multitudes, Bloomberg Business, viewed 3 Sept 2015, http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/magazine/your-food-has-been-touched-by-multitudes-08252011.html#p2 Epstein, K & Crown, J 2008, Globalization Bites Boeing, Bloomberg Business. 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