Week 4: Crafting Strategies to Compete Domestically and Globally

This week, your focus will shift as you examine what it takes to change a company from a primarily domestic stance to an international or global presence. Certain key bodies of knowledge are critically important to understand before making such a potentially game-changing move.

Assume that you are the CEO of a successful, medium-sized manufacturing firm based in middle America and serving the entire nation. At its regular quarterly meeting, the board reviews the company’s results and determines that while business is a good, it could be much better if the company became global. You are given the task of leading the company into this new chapter.

You have many questions. Amongst the most important is, what does a company need to know prior to entering a foreign venue? You meet with your colleagues and some outside advisors, and use a checklist to gain information, including political economics, availability of educated and trained staff, infrastructure, foreign exchange policies and management, and culture. It becomes evident that among all of these elements, culture is the most critical to understand. The reason for this is that, like economics, culture touches every aspect of a society. Because of that, it also affects all of the other elements, including politics, and most important, the purchase decision process of your customers.

Like economics, culture is foundational to a society and rarely changes over time, whereas most of the other elements on your checklist can and do change regularly. You determine that, before making the decision to enter a foreign market, the company must do a serious, in-depth analysis of the culture and beliefs of the society. This will help determine whether your company and approach will succeed in such an environment. It also becomes apparent that, to be successful, your firm must be diverse.

Later that day, you meet with your team to discuss the activities that must be accomplished prior to entering this foreign market. It is apparent that your workforce will have to undergo major changes to be successful in an international environment. You are fortunate in that your human resource management focus is strategic. This allows you to put an international flavor onto your recruiting, talent management, leadership training, and succession planning. You can see, at this point, you have a lot of work ahead of you, and it is time to get started.

Important Planning Note Much of the work for this course takes place in the Business Strategy Game (BSG) Simulation. Within this online program, time will be automatically calculated for the location of each student (e.g., Pacific Standard Time in California or Eastern Standard Time in New Jersey). However, all work that takes place in Blackboard (e.g., Discussions) is calculated in Mountain Time. Please make note of due dates and times for all assignments to be sure you stay on track.

Learning Objectives

Students will:

• Compare strategies for companies involved with both domestic and international business
• Analyze international and multi-local approaches to market entry
• Explain the benefits of diversity to domestic and international firms
• Analyze concepts related to strategic planning and management implementation
• Apply concepts related to strategic business management
• Develop a strategic business plan

Photo Credit: Hero Images/Hero Images/Getty Images

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Learning Resources

Note: To access this week’s required library resources, please click on the link to the Course Readings List, found in the
Course Materials section of your Syllabus.

Required Readings

Thompson, A. A. (2014–2015).
Strategy: Core concepts and analytical approaches (3rd ed.) [BSG electronic edition]. Burr Ridge, IL: McGraw-Hill Education.

• Chapter 7, “Strategies for Competing Internationally or Globally” (pp. 132–152)
• Chapter 8, “Diversification Strategies” (pp. 154–179)

Document: Week 4 Discussion 1 Template (Word document)

Document: Week 4 Discussion 2 Template (Word document)

Business Strategy Game (BSG) Simulation website:

Thompson, A. A., Jr., Reidenback, M. A., Stappenbeck, G. J., Harms, C. C., & Thrasher, I. F. (2014). The Business Strategy Game: Competing in a global marketplace. Retrieved from
https://www.bsg-online.com/

Visit this website to read Chapters 1 and 2 of the course e-book course and to begin the Business Strategy Game (BSG) SIM. This simulation provides opportunities for you to make some of the difficult decisions often encountered by managers as they seek to execute the strategy that has been established by senior executives who are responsible to the shareholders.

Required Media

Intel (Producer). (n.d.). Diversity at Intel: Global diversity and inclusion [Video file]. Retrieved October 6, 2014, from
http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/company-ove…

Lynch, R. (2010).
McDonald’s global and local strategy [Video file]. Retrieved from

UCLA Anderson School of Management (Producer). (2008).
How Starbucks built a global brand [Video file]. Retrieved from

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Discussion 1: Learning Objectives for Competing Domestically and Globally

Please see the Discussion Guidelines in Week 1, and use them as a guide for Weeks 2–6.

By Day 3

Post to Discussion.

By Day 6

Complete your responses.

For Week 4, Discussion 1, choose one of the following three discussion topics. Your post should be 225–250 wordsand APA formatted.

1. Compare the approaches to strategizing and entering a new domestic market and a new international market.
2. Analyze the differences between an international and a multi-local approach to market entry.
3. Explain the benefits of diversity to a domestic and an international firm.

Please use the Week 4 Discussion 1 Template located in the Week 4 Learning Resources to draft your post.

Discussion and Participation Guidelines Weekly Class Discussion Participation Weekly discussion participation with your colleagues students and the instructor for each question occurs over a minimum of three different days. You are required to engage in discussions with a minimum of three different colleagues. To be sure you are addressing all of the Learning Objectives for the week, respond to colleagues who selected different questions than you did for their initial post. Each response should be 100–125 words. One-line responses will not earn any points.

After your initial post, engage with colleagues and the instructor in clarifying and mastering any concepts not fully understood. Points to explore in the first discussion topic could include:

• How is the concept(s) used in your current or past place of employment and/or career?
• How does the concept(s) relate to other concepts in the Learning Objectives?
• Why is it important for you to know and master these concept(s)?

Submission and Grading Information

Grading Criteria

To access your rubric:

Week 4 Discussion 1 Rubric

Post by Day 3 and Respond by Day 6

To participate in this Discussion:

Week 4 Discussion 1

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Discussion 2: Research Weekly Concepts for Competing Domestically and Globally

By Day 4

Post to Discussion.

By Day 7

Complete your responses.

For Discussion 2, please visit the Walden Library databases or select a recognized business publication such as Forbes, Business Week, Harvard Business Review, Entrepreneur, and so forth. Select an article addressing international market entry; diversity in domestic and international firms; or a similar topic that relates to these ideas and this week’s Learning Objectives. For example, you could explore topics such as strategic approaches to international market development; multicultural strategies; international entrepreneurship; innovation; etc.

Following APA style and formatting guidelines, summarize the article into approximately 300 words (do NOT copy the article), and explain the knowledge you gained from it. Post to Discussion 2 by Day 4. Include a link to the original article so your colleagues can read it.

Please use the Week 4 Discussion 2 Template located in the Week 4 Learning Resources to draft your post.

Engage in class discussions of the article, starting no later than Day 4, and continuing until Day 6. All discussion posts must be complete by Day 7. In addition to your initial post, respond a minimum of three times (100–125 words) over a minimum of 3 days.

To earn full points, full engagement in this discussion requires an initial post and active substantive responses with colleagues over a minimum of 3 days and preferably every day.

Submission and Grading Information

Grading Criteria

To access your rubric:

Week 4 Discussion 2 Rubric

Post by Day 4 and Respond by Day 7

To participate in this Discussion:

Week 4 Discussion 2

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Weekly Quiz, Business Strategy Game (BSG) Simulation and Simulation Procedure Quiz, Three-Year Strategic Plan

Weekly Textbook Tutorial Quiz

This week, you will complete a tutorial quiz for each of the two assigned chapters of the course text. You have up to three attempts per quiz to achieve a perfect score. There are two quizzes each week.

Notes:

• All quizzes and exams (located under Assignments in the SIM) are completed in the SIM and are automatically graded.
• The quizzes are tutorial in nature and are worth 10 points per week.
• At the end of each final quiz attempt, you may open the quiz and see the correct answers.

Business Strategy Game (BSG) SIM: Graded Years Continue

This week, you will meet with your group and decide on the strategy that your company will implement for the third week of the graded activity in the SIM. A total of two Annual Operating Year decisions are required weekly. The first must be posted by midnight on Day 3, while the second must be posted by midnight of Day 6.

A SIM company annual performance grade is posted to every SIM participant in the SIM e-mail, following the end of the SIM Decision Year. The report will indicate the company’s performance against the predetermined goals for the SIM.

Simulation Procedure Quiz

This week, you will take the second of two SIM-based quizzes on Simulation Procedures. This quiz is due by Day 7, 11:59 p.m. The grade is included within the overall 200-point SIM grade.

Three-Year Strategic Business Plan

This week, each group will prepare a Three-Year Strategic Business Plan in the SIM for their company, following the guidelines in the BSG Business SIM. This is due on the day specified in the BSG Decision Schedule.

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Week in Review

In this week, you examined what it takes to change a company from a primarily domestic stance to an international or global presence.

In the next week, you will experience another shift in the focus of this course by examining the impact of diversification on companies and how a focus on diversity can add to a firm’s competitive advantage.

Deadline Reminders
Year 14 — decision entry deadline Jul 26, 2019, 8:00 PM
Chapter 5 Quiz — due Jul 28, 2019, 8:00 PM
Chapter 6 Quiz — due Jul 28, 2019, 8:00 PM
Exam 1 — due Jul 28, 2019, 8:00 PM
Chapter 7 Quiz — due Aug 4, 2019, 8:00 PM
Chapter 8 Quiz — due Aug 4, 2019, 8:00 PM
Chapter 9 Quiz — due Aug 11, 2019, 8:00 PM
Chapter 10 Quiz — due Aug 11, 2019, 8:00 PM
Chapter 11 Quiz — due Aug 18, 2019, 8:00 PM
Chapter 12 Quiz — due Aug 18, 2019, 8:00 PM
Chapter 1 Exercises — Now Available
Chapter 2 Exercises — Now Available
Chapter 5 Exercises — Now Available
Chapter 7 Exercises — Now Available
Chapter 9 Exercises — Now Available

BSG Simulation Quiz 2 — due Aug 4, 2019, 8:00 PM

 

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