international strategic management assignment

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9.4 Types of International Strategies

A firm that has operations in more than one country is known as a multinational corporation (MNC). The largest MNCs are major players within the international arena. Walmart’s annual worldwide sales, for example, are larger than the dollar value of the entire economies of Austria, Norway, and Saudi Arabia. Although Walmart tends to be viewed as an American retailer, the firm earns 35% of its revenues outside the United States. Walmart owns significant numbers of stores in Mexico, Central America, Brazil, Japan, the United Kingdom, Canada, Chile, Botswana, and Argentina. Walmart also participates in joint ventures in China and India. Even more modestly sized MNCs are still very powerful. If Kia were a country, its current sales level of approximately $21 billion would place it in the top 100 among the more than 180 nations in the world.

Multinationals such as Kia and Walmart must choose an international strategy to guide their efforts in various countries. There are four main international strategies available:

• International
• Multi-domestic
• Transnational

(Figure 9.2). Each strategy involves a different approach to trying to be sensitive to (1) costs and efficiencies on one hand and trying to be responsive to (2) variation in customer preferences and market conditions across nations. Responding or not responding to these two pressures of cost and local cultural conditions determines which of the four types of international strategies will be pursued.

International Strategy

Firms pursuing an international strategy are neither concerned about costs nor adapting to the local cultural conditions. They attempt to sell their products internationally with little to no change. When Harley Davidson sells motorcycles abroad, they do not need to lower their prices or adapt the bike to local motorcycle standards. People in other countries buy a Harley particularly because it is different from the local motorcycles. Buyers want the American look and the sound and power of a Harley, and will pay for that differentiation. Belgium chocolate exporters do not lower their price when exporting to the American market to compete with Hershey’s, nor do they adapt their product to American tastes. They use an international strategy. Starbucks and Rolex watches are other examples of firms pursuing the international strategy.

Multi-Domestic  Strategy

A firm using a multi-domestic strategy does not focus on cost or efficiency but emphasizes responsiveness to local requirements within each of its markets. Rather than trying to force all of its American-made shows on viewers around the globe, Netflix customizes the programming that is shown on its channels within dozens of countries, including New Zealand, Portugal, Pakistan, and India. Similarly, food company H. J. Heinz adapts its products to match local preferences. Because some Indians will not eat garlic and onion, for example, Heinz offers them a version of its signature ketchup that does not include these two ingredients. Outback Steakhouse uses the multi-domestic strategy in the multiple countries where it operates, adapting to local eating preferences but not lowering prices significantly.

Global Strategy

A firm using a global strategy sacrifices responsiveness to local requirements within each of its markets in favor of emphasizing lower costs and better efficiency. This strategy is the complete opposite of a multi-domestic strategy. Some minor modifications to products and services may be made in various markets, but a global strategy stresses the need to gain low costs and economies of scale by offering essentially the same products or services in each market.

Microsoft, for example, offers the same software programs around the world but adjusts the programs to match local languages. Similarly, consumer goods maker Procter & Gamble attempts to gain efficiency by creating global brands whenever possible. Global strategies also can be very effective for firms whose product or service is largely hidden from the customer’s view, such as silicon chip maker Intel. Lenovo also uses this strategy. For such firms, variance in local preferences is not very important, but pricing is.

Transnational Strategy

A firm using a transnational strategy seeks a middle ground between a multi-domestic strategy and a global strategy. Such a firm tries to balance the desire for lower costs and efficiency with the need to adjust to local preferences within various countries. For example, large fast-food chains such as McDonald’s and Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) rely on the same brand names and the same core menu items around the world. These firms make some concessions to local tastes too. In France, for example, wine can be purchased at McDonald’s. This approach makes sense for McDonald’s because wine is a central element of French diets. In Saudi Arabia, McDonalds serves a McArabia Chicken sandwich, and its breakfast menu features no pork products like ham, bacon, or sausage.

Section Video

Global Strategies [02:45]

The video for this lesson discusses global strategy options.

You can view this video here: https://youtu.be/83rBbT5Qq_E .

Key Takeaway

• Multinational corporations choose from among four basic international strategies: (1) international (2) multi-domestic, (3) global, and (4) transnational. These strategies vary depending on two pressures; 1) on emphasizing low cost and efficiency and 2) responding to the local culture and needs.
• Which of the four international strategies is Kia using? Is this the best strategy for Kia to be using?
• Identify examples of companies using each of the four international strategies other than those described above. Which company do you think is best positioned to compete in international markets?

Image Credits

Figure 9.9: Kindred Grey (2020). “Cost pressure v. Local responsiveness pressure.” CC BY-SA 4.0 . Retrieved from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cost_pressure_v._Local_responsiveness_pressure.png .

Figure 9.10: AtelierJoly. “Curried Beans.” CC BY-SA 3.0 . Cropped. Retrieved from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Curry_Beanz.jpg .

Video Credits

pb venkat. (2015, May 14). Global strategies [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/83rBbT5Qq_E .

A firm that has operations in more than one country

Strategic Management Copyright © 2020 by Reed Kennedy is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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This summary is written in 2013-2014.

Lecture 1: Introductions on international strategic management

Lecture 2: internationalization theory and practice, lecture 3: agency theory and firm boundaries, lecture 4: firms structure and control, lecture 5: firm competitiveness, lecture 6: non-market strategies, lecture 7: a view to the future.

Additional definitions on some key principals:

Strategy; a set of commitments and actions, which is fully integrated and coordinated. It’s goal is to utilize core competencies and develop competitive advantages.

Strategic management: management process to asses a company and its competitors. Furthermore, it meets all these competitors by setting appropriate goals and strategies. Finally, it evaluates these goals and strategies to see whether or not they have been successful or need to be replaced by new strategy or goals.

International Strategic Management: a management planning process, which determines the strategies and goals, but in an international setting: how to expand abroad or compete internationally.

Globalization , and therefore strategic theory evolves from different types of factors:

• Technological
• Competitive

International perspective gives several benefits on:

Which are influenced by different types of factors:

In this lecture, several theories for trade and other international activities are discussed.

Absolute cost advantage , by Adam Smith in 1776, is the idea of operating internationally based on an advantage, where the same amount of resources lead to greater production of a good or service than another one.

Comparative advantage , an idea by Ricardo in 1817, refers to specialization in one product, and trading that against another product which is specialized in. Heckscher and Ohlin (1952) suggest that the basis for trade lies in relative scarce (rare, not very available) or abundant (voluminous, over available) resources. A country will export goods for which it has abundant resources, and import goods for which it has scarce resources. This means, that a country will produce goods for which the relative cost of production is the lowest.

  Entry mode theories originate in differences in motivation to internationalize: one can move abroad to escape stagnation in their own country, some may need to do so to keep up with competition, some need to follow their customers which move abroad or others do so out of cost-cutting motivations. Several theories are developed around these issues.

The Uppsala Model suggest that companies to through several phases towards internationalization. Firstly, they start by gaining experience in their home markets. Secondly, they internationalize to a nearby market (both in terms in physical distance, so the measurable, concrete distance, and physic distance, so the relative distance, as cultural distance) and then slowly move further to more far away markets. Thirdly, exportation instead of other forms of entry is chosen and developed. Fourthly, after years of experience and appearance in the foreign market, fully owned subsidiaries and other forms of integration are formed.

Key elements are that distance has several, different elements, the commitments to internationalization are developed slowly, and also cannot be rushed, and these are reversible.

The Born Global Concept holds the idea that a firm can (in contrary to the Uppsala Model) enter several foreign markets at the same time. Due to increased information available, for any person or organization, one can start from scratch anywhere without first needing to gather information in a domestic market. The official definition of a Born Global firms says that it should have an percentage of export of 25% within the first three years. So, is a firm “Born global” or just rapidly growing, and the persons behind the organization may have experience already.

The Diamond Model or Cluster Model suggests that a company should internationalize according to a network, where the forces of Porter’s model (found in the book) are already present.

Attractiveness of a market is determined in order to find out where to internationalize to. This can be done based on the risks of a country and the opportunities both the market and the industry offers.

Country risks can be of different kinds:

• Operational

Market opportunities lie in:

• Market size
• Market growth
• Quality of demand (differentiating from price-sensitive, mass production to less price-sensitive, differentiated production)

Industry opportunities lie in:

• The competitive climate of the industry (consider Porter’s five forces)
•  Resource endowments
• Government incentives

Another topic in entry mode theory is corporate social responsibility (CSR). Also see chapter 15 from the book on this topic. CSR policy incorporates a spirit (rather than just law) of  ethical standards and international norm.

From the economic point of view, a manager acts ethical when acting legal and maximizing shareholder value. “The business of business is business” according to Milton Friedman: no further social actions have to be taken, that is the role of the government.

From a responsibility point of view, as firms are global instead of national, firms can and should take global responsibility, as governments are not able to do so. Also, firms are more likely to stay than governments. Furthermore, they are more coordinated that governments and as firms take a lot from society, and therefore should give back too. Also, firms have more power than the individuals and should act upon this.

In this lecture, market presence and activities will be discussed.

First topic is the theory of transaction cost economics.

Transactions can take place in both the market (external) or within the organization (internally). Transaction cost economics (TCE) analyzes the transactions, where the costs made in performing the transaction are the transaction costs. These can be search and information costs, bargaining costs and policing and enforcement costs. Firms exist as the costs of market transactions must be higher than the internal costs of transaction. At first the market costs are lower and transactions take place on the market. However, at a certain price and quantity level, it will be cheaper to take transaction internal, and ‘buy’ them. In conclusion, we may say:

• Activities are internalized when the costs of outsourcing are higher than the (transaction) costs of internalization
• Activities are outsourced when the costs of internalization are higher than the (transaction) cost of out-sourcing

The TCE are influenced by bounded rationality and bounded reliability (found in the book in chapter 1). Together with some environmental factors (complexity and the small number of players) this generates the General Transaction Costs. These are present for all transaction. Additionally, costs can increase by three characteristics of assets: specificity, uncertainty/complexity and frequency. The higher the degree of these characteristics, the higher the market transactions costs (so, higher than the internal costs), and these tend to be externalized.

The second topic is the Agency Theory.

The Agency Theory , also known the principal-agent problem , addresses the issue of agency costs, which is the costs of difference in objectives. These objectives are the objectives of an agent (in a firm the officers or managers) and the principals (the shareholders or owners). These differences lead to losses, when the principal pays the agent to perform in a certain way that is beneficial for the principal, but costly for the agent. The other way around, they also occur when the principal can only observe the actions of the agent in a rather difficult or costly manner. Agency costs also increase when there is information asymmetry, uncertainty or risks.

Two solutions to this problem exist, to either fully specify all contracts or monitor all agents, but this might be very costly and the costs of this may be higher than the agency costs themselves.

The third topic in this lecture is on entry modes, namely Foreign Distributors, Strategic Alliances and Mergers and Acquisitions. This is perfectly described in the book in chapter 11, 12 and 13, and only the additions are given below.

When looking at Foreign Distribution as an entry mode, a vicious circle can be found as commitments is mainly short-term by the home country, which reduces the efforts made by the foreign distributor, which again reduces the probability of success, which then decreases commitment in the first place. Therefore, FD is unlikely to  succeed.

When firms gain from a Strategic Alliance , it often is as both firms in the alliance commit to sharing just enough information, to jointly create new FSAs, also known as Alliance-specific advantages (ASAs). These are only transferable to other locations within the alliance, and the individual firm within the alliance cannot claim the ASA. Additionally, with the creation of ASAs, stability and incentive to commitment is increased.

Two problems with Mergers and Acquisitions are found: the underestimation of the costs of integration, and the overestimation of the benefits.

The first topic in this lecture is Integration responsiveness.

Remember the global firms in lecture 1. The global firm wins in terms of cost, timing, learning and arbitrage benefits. The local firm wins in terms of flexibility, proximity and quick response time à customer-orientated benefits. So, the firm is shaped by both the forces of globalization and localization. The theory of integration-responsiveness is one of understanding industries, where both the pressures for global integration and local responsiveness are evaluated and lead to three types of competitive situations: full globalization, full localization and a mix of both. When combining this with cost pressure, a matrix of strategies arises:

• International Strategy with low pressure of costs and low pressure for local responsiveness.
• Global Strategy with high pressure of costs and low pressure for local responsiveness
• Multidomestic Strategy with low pressure of costs and high pressure for local responsiveness
• Transnational Strategy with high pressure of costs and high pressure for local responsiveness

An implication of this theory, is that there is always an optimal strategy, given the forces from that industry. So, in an industry with equal forces, all firms should have the same structure and strategy.

The next topic is then on accompanying Organizational Structure of the firm.

Transaction Cost Economics (TCE) are a great determinant of the type of organizational structure . Several internal organizational forms exist: partnerships, peer groups, simple hierarchies, U-form firms and M-form firms. When internationalizing, difference can be made between Home and Host country, headquarters and subsidiary respectively. Each type of internal organization can be transformed into an multinational form. M-form and U-form firms can easily be modified by moving parts of the internal operations abroad.

Additionally, organizations can adapt a structure based on the number of business units and the international responsiveness forces:

• The Global Function Model is centralized in decision-making. Subsidiaries are local legal entities of the firm. E.g. Apple.
• The Geographic Model , is decentralized in decision-making. Subsidiaries act as independent units. E.g. ISS
• The Single Matrix Model is in between the previous two, with shared executive power. Subsidiaries should think global, act local. E.g. Citigroup
• The Multi-Business Global Product Division Model , where the firms is divided into business divisions, with a CEO on top, where divisions act independently. E.g. 3M
• The Multi-Business Geographic Model , where each country is responsible for its own divisions and operations. The countries act autonomously. E.g. SAB Miller
• The Multi-Business Matrix Model is between the previous two with dual responsibility, which is shared between divisions and geographical units. E.g. BASF The Chemical Company.

Another topic in this lecture is Top Management Teams.

There are a number of types of managers : global business managers, who are strategists; country managers, who should deal with local opportunities and threats; functional managers, who are specialists and deal with transferring best practices; and corporate managers, who are overall leaders of the organizations . Management specialization can be a cost benefit as it increases efficiencies, but additional management levels may also be very costly: costs of implementation and agency costs. In order to decrease the second, corporate governance is an solution. Corporate governance is the system in which businesses are controlled in rights and responsibilities, by providing rules and procedures. Furthermore, objectives are set and performance is monitored.

In corporate governance, some concrete managerial actions can be found to decrease the principal-agent problem: cash bonuses, share plans, stock options or temporary contracts. Furthermore, agents can be monitored internally by shareholders, non-executive directors or via a two-tier board system, externally by an auditing firm, stock analysts or debt providers, and competition based monitoring in the product, managerial labor or stock market, and in the market for corporate control.

The first topic in this lecture is the theory of competitive advantage (also found in lecture 2). Two theories are found about the creation of competitive advantages: market-based “outside-in” models (Porter’s five forces, found in the book) and resource-based “inside-out” models . The second one is more unique, where resources are VRIN; valuable, rare, in-imitable and non-substitutable. In this order, the more characteristics a resource has, the more it leads to a sustained competitive advantage. Also, all firms in a market have the same stock of resources and everyone has the same access and knowledge to it.

Once a competitive advantage is created, how can it be sustained? Two types of isolating mechanisms, which are economic factors that limit the possibility of duplication: impediments to imitation, and the early mover advantage. Impediments are categorized in legal restrictions, superior access to inputs and customers, market size and economies of scale, and intangible barriers to imitation. Early mover advantages are found in the learning curves, reputation and buyer uncertainty, buyer switching costs and network effects.

The second topic is innovation management

In the resource-based view resources are publicly available. A sustainable, competitive advantage must have resources that are scarce and imperfectly mobile, and an innovation allows a firm to create scarcity: an unique innovation provides an resource only to the creators of the innovation, which means scarcity for competitors. Innovation has several dimensions by which it can be characterized: product vs. process, radical vs. incremental, competence enhancing vs. competence destroying and architectural vs. component.

The third topic is Strategic Human Resource Management.

The resource-based view explains why human resources can lead to a sustainable competitive advantage: they are fully VRIN. TCE also explains the value of human resources, as an internal or external decision making influence, but that only applies to unskilled workers, because addition on them is a matter of transaction cost analysis.

Human Resource Management (HRM) a mean to form policies and practices, that together improve the relationship between firm and employees. Human capital can be a source of competitive advantage and human resource practices directly influence the organization’s human capital. HRM knows several challenges: assignment issues, expatriate issues localization issues and global skills issues. The expatriate issue points at the difficulties that come with expansion abroad and the employees involved oversees. Together, companies and expatriates must determine on strategic vision, select and prepare for this, and agree on compensation, tenure, support and career follow-up. Expatriates will find challenges in the new job, family and local insertion and will react to that by flight (the isolated expat), fight (the militant expat), fit (the cosmopolitan expat) or follow (the assimilated expat). The global skill issue address the need for skills (combination of organizational role of the manager and some individual characteristics) fitted with the requirements of the manager. Bartlett and Ghoshal (1992) divided managers into business, country and functional managers, so an role in the organization. Individual skills can be found in the fields of professional, cultural, negotiating, relational, leaderships, intellectual, courage & determination, and flexibility.

The fourth topic is Cross-Cultural Management.

Cross-cultural management is applied when differences in meanings, concepts, behaviors and attitudes exist, when language differs, etc. Culture is very hard to define, and in management, different levels of culture can be found: corporate, industry, professional and national or ethnic culture. Many research on national culture has been conducted, grouped into four categories: ethnological research (Hall, 1960, on non-verbal means), managerial values and assumptions (Hofstede, 1980, measurements of distance), country clusters (Huntington, 1997, 8 civilizations) and economic clusters (Weber, 19 th century, clusters based on cultural and economic differences).

First topic is the theory of Non-Market Strategy

The market is frame of relationship, in which the firm positions itself. A market strategy is the set of actions taken with the goal of improving performance to create value. Porter’s five forces model forms a great example for this. Also, in the resource-based view, market strategy means investing in VRIN resources.

However, this is not a sufficient view: the non-market must be taken into account, which is external to the firm and its environment. The non-market environment structures the firms from the outside by social, political and legal influences, e.g. governments, NGOs, citizens, regulators, media etc. The environment is characterized by the four I’s which can be applied to both market and non-market:

• issues, which is Porter’s five forces in the market, and regulations in the non-market
• institutions, which is market transactions costs and decision-making in the market, and regulators in the non-market
• interests, which is profit maximization in the market, and fairness and harmony in the non-market
• information, which is market research, reputation and advertising in the market, and prejudices, rumor and media in the non-market

Firms must be able to control its opportunities in order to be able to apply non-market strategy. If it cannot control its opportunities, if for example it is totally controlled by market aspects, a non-market strategy will have no impact. The non-market may include voluntary actions, but also involuntary, which the firm cannot influence. Therefore, both market and non-market strategies should be included in an integrated strategy.

Secondly, the impact of non-market strategy on business is discussed.

The non-market can change to hinder the firm, and other firms can use the non-market to hinder the firm. As the non-market is often not transparent, changes and its sources can be unclear. Responding to changes is often useless, so a more active approach is suitable: corporate political activism (CPA), is often seen as negative but are activities that give advantages in the non-market. This activism can merely be seen as lobbying. CPA is done by providing financial incentives (political contribution, soft money), building constituency (stakeholder coalitions, trade associations) or providing information (lobbying, communication with policymakers).

Some topics regarding the future are discussed in this lecture. To start, business is booming.

Regarding globalization , and its driving forces of political, technological, social and competitive factors, these are increasingly important nowadays. The rise of the WTO, increase in FDI, reduction in traveling costs, cultural convergence indicate a larger force towards globalization. However, calls against globalization are also increasing; globalization has increased the difference between rich and poor, and increasing poverty (more people are relatively poor, though world as a whole is more wealthy: the rich are richer). Some organization benefited heavily: many huge multinationals, e.g. Coca Cola or Apple, earn more money than countries as a whole.

Challenges here to maintain the situation as it is today: threats of free-trade, re-regulation, cultural divergence etc.? Also, countries may interact in the market to support its own organizations, resulting in a mixed market and non-market. Furthermore, now developing countries will become developed at some time: attractiveness and low-cost benefits will disappear. The aging of populations in China, Europe and US are just around the corner.

It has been argued, that there is a progression in the choice of business and strategy models, which depend on the environment. We may question whether this is still true in 20 years.

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Lund University

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International Strategic Management - Master's Programme

MSc in Business and Economics, major in Business Administration | 1 year | 60 credits

The MSc in International Strategic Management is a one-year programme for bachelors in business administration, interested in how to analyse, formulate and implement strategies and in becoming a senior organisational leader.

Description

• International Opportunities

Sustainability

Course content.

• Testimonials  

Career opportunities

Requirements.

Business is increasingly faced with challenges that threaten current business models, but also represent huge opportunities. This programme provides you with the knowledge and skills on how to recognise these challenges and act upon them to ensure long-term success. You will learn how to make decisions that can make or break your company, but also how to implement them.

We offer the latest insights into managerial strategy through a variety of small-scale teaching methods, ensuring an exciting and challenging learning experience. We emphasise both sophisticated scientific insights and linkages with business practice. The MSc in International Strategic Management combines state-of-the-art research with strong links to practice through industry projects in which scientific tools is applied to solve real company issues. The programme also offers the opportunity to combine the Master's thesis with a company assignment.

The courses in the programme provide you with an understanding of the key areas balancing theoretical elements with applied and practical aspects related to the topics of the different courses. Sustainability issues, including issues related to business ethics, are key components of our courses, giving you the opportunity to reflect and discuss on the different roles of companies in society.

Give your career a flying start with the latest thinking in comparative international strategic management and put your learning into practice with our unique action-learning approach. You will graduate with a thorough understanding of strategic thinking and the key skills of international business consulting.

International opportunities

Double degree with Deakin University (Melbourne, Australia)

Students enrolled in this programme will have an opportunity to compete for acceptance to a double degree with Deakin University at their Melbourne campus. After completing the one-year Master's in International Strategic Management (60 credits), you can take an additional trimester (4 units, July-November) within the Master of Commerce. You do not need to write another thesis. You apply in February, during your second semester in Lund.

Master of Commerce – deakin.edu.au

Double degree programmes for LUSEM master students

International Master Class

Students with exceptional study results during the first semester at this programme, may compete for seats at the International Master Class programme. An International Master Class is a highly competitive opportunity to go on an exchange semester after finishing your Master’s studies at LUSEM.

International Master class for LUSEM master students

Interested in getting an individual sustainability profile?

Ethics, responsibility and sustainability dimensions are embedded in all courses at the programme, and specifically addressed in the four elective courses “Innovation management”, “Performance measurement and management”, “Re-imagining capitalism" and “Global business and sustainability”. If you complete your elective courses and your degree project with a sustainabilitypurpose/topic, you have qualified for a diploma-based minor in sustainability.

Extra curricular track: Living the Sustainability Idea

Living the Sustainability Idea is an extra curricular track where you get the opportunity to know more about the concept Inner Development Goals, meet companies, be introduced to the latest research and get individual coaching to start your personal journey. It’s a possibility for you to explore, practice and reflect on your skills and capabilities.

International Strategic Management – Master's Programme (lunduniversity.lu.se)

How to apply

Master coordinator Business Administration master [at] fek [dot] lu [dot] se

Programme documents

International Strategic Management - Master's Programme

• Programme fact sheet (PDF - new window)
• Syllabus (PDF - new window)

International Strategic Management– Master's Programme, requirements (lunduniversity.lu.se)

You must also submit a CV and a statement of purpose when you apply to this programme.

Tuition fees

International Strategic Management– Master's Programme, tuition fees (lunduniversity.lu.se)

Lund is just the starting point. Explore the world during your studies.

Autumn semester (September - October)

Core courses, 15 ECTS in total.

Strategic Management (7.5 ECTS)

This course focuses the challenges you will have to deal with as a decision-maker, analyst or in any capacity where you need to use theory tools and models aimed at helping organisations become more proactive, outwardlooking and fit to change. Contemporary strategy challenges such as technology assimilation, innovation and business development, strategic leadership and change management are central topics.

Course code: BUSN11 | Download syllabus

Corporate Governance in Theory and Practice (7.5 ECTS)

Corporate governance deals with the owners’ and stakeholders’ overall control of the company. The objectives are to promote theoretical perspectives as well as empirical knowledge about the corporate governance system and its parts; capital markets and ownership structures, the managerial labour market, the board of directors, auditors, and legal institutions, and how these parts of the corporate governance system interact through different governance mechanisms and exert the overall control of corporations. An international comparative approach is taken on corporate governance. The objective is also to provide the students with specific empirical case studies.Guest lecturers with experience of corporate governance in the business society will participate.

Course code: BUSN10 | Download syllabus

Autumn semester (November - December)

Electives (select three (3) courses), 15 ECTS in total. 

Innovation Management (5 ECTS)

The purpose of the course is to prepare students for future careers working with sustainable innovation, or managing development of novel processes, methods, ways of thinking or materials for application to practical purposes. In many organisations, innovation is a central driver of change and the management of innovation a central task for managers. This course introduces innovation management as a process towards sustainable change.

In the first part of the course , you will learn to understand the industrial dynamics of innovation. Key questions include: Where do innovations come from? What are the different types of innovation? Why do some innovation become successful, while others vanish?

In the second part of the course , you will learn how to formulate a strategy for innovation. Key questions include: How does innovation fit with the overall strategy of the firm? How can managers select and prioritize among different innovation possibilities? How can managers decide what innovations to do in-house and what to do in collaboration with others? How can innovation be protected?

In the third part of the course , you will learn how to actually implement an innovative project. Key questions include: How can innovation be organized within a firm? How can innovative projects be managed? How can project teams that work with innovation be managed?

Course code: BUSN17 | Download syllabus

Strategic Performance Measurement and Management (5 ECTS)

Performance measurement involves the process of measuring financial and nonfinancial performance of organizations, and performance management involves the process of managing people´s decision-making and people´s behavior based on measured performance. The course is organized in four sections (see illustration below).

The first section includes a course introduction with presentation of key definitions and the relevance of performance measurement and management in today´s society andcontemporary organizations and class-room experiments. Experiments are used to facilitate understanding among students of the topics and key issues covered in the course.

The second section of the course focus on knowledge in the area of financial and non-financial measures, including and methods to establish key performance indicators (KPI) that are linked to overall strategies and objectives of a firm or organization.

The third and fourth section of the course relate to deepened knowledge about the use of measures and KPIs. in decision making, and to motivate and incentivize people and enable change and innovation. In the third section, students are introduced to judgement and choice bias and common mistakes when making decisions based on assessmentsand comparison of datareading statistical data. Techniques that can be used to de-bias decision processes by individuals and groups are presented.

In the fourth section, students are introduced to theories of human motivation and incentives. Techniques that can improve performance are presented. and methods about how performance measurement can be used to support different forms of control and accountability mechanisms are presented.

Course code: BUSO66 | Download syllabus

Re-imagining capitalism (5 ECTS)

Growing inequality, catastrophic environmental damage, and a general mistrust in capitalism as a system currently hampers the legitimacy of companies and puts pressure on political systems worldwide. This course looks at various attempts to “reimagine capitalism.” It explores organizational efforts to address big societal problems and asks in particular how the private and the civil society sectors can contribute to developing more just and equal societies. In the aftermath of one of the worst financial, economic and social crisis in post-war history, the discussion on the form taken by today’s global capitalism has intensified.

As a response to big societal problems, many individuals, communities and organizations around the globe are suggesting new business models and experimenting with novel governance structures. This course aims at exploring past and present efforts to re-imagine capitalism.

This course is designed for students who want to explore the idea that some of the “big” societal problems can be effectively addressed by private firms, entrepreneurs and social activists. Students will be exposed to the business realities that come with “re-imagining capitalism” and will discuss obstacles and context factors for their practical implementation. Based on case study discussions of real organizations, students will learn the values, logics, strategies and practices used in current organizational efforts to ameliorate our economies and societies. As the course takes both the industry and socio-political context into account, students will also learn about the practical challenges met and the organizational possibilities opened by these novel businesses models.

The course combines discussions on theoretical perspectives from various disciplines with practical discussion of real-life cases. In this doing, we will discuss notions such as Conscious Capitalism, Social Entrepreneurship, Gift and Sharing Economies, Community Economies, Universal Basic Income or the Circular economy.

Course code: BUSO18 | Download syllabus

Global Business and Sustainability (5 ECTS)

The objectives of this course are to promote theoretical perspectives as well as empirical knowledge about the challenges of corporate activities in the context of sustainability. The course encompasses managerial perspectives on the integration of business objectives with wider social and in particular environmental well-being as a key function of contemporary management.

The Global business and sustainability management pathway aims to help students to become knowledgeable and socially and environmentally responsible business leaders. With learning drawn from many different disciplines, students will develop the skills to research issues and respond to opportunities in ways that balance business interests with wider social and resource implications. This pathway offers a forward-thinking learning experience which reveals the importance of sustainability to all sectors of global business.

The course outlines how social and environmental sustainability influences the firm. In doing so perspectives and models related to corporate social responsibility, stakeholder and shareholder theory, value creation and setting corporate objectives and performance targets are utilized.

Course code: BUSO14 | Download syllabus

Spring semester (January - March)

Core courses, 15 ECTS credits in total.

Strategic Management and Digitalisation (5 ECTS)

Innovation and the evolution of technology are among the key forces that shape society. In particular, many observers see the current wave of innovation and digitalization as a new industrial revolution that will have a profound effect on all aspects of the global economy, business and society. The course will introduce current topics and theoretical perspectives that shed light on the underpinnings of these developments and discuss some of the strategic challenges of technological change for organizations and industries. 

Course code: BUSO01 | Download syllabus

Strategic Thinking and Acting in a Complex World (5 ECTS)

Managers and organisations are acting in increasingly more complex current environments and navigating towards increasingly more complex and uncertain future environments. This has profound consequences for individual managers as well as for organisations.

The ability to reason under such conditions is one important dimension. Hence an understanding of cognitive theory and cognitive development is valuable. Acting under these conditions is another important dimension. Individual and organisational learning in action and so-called ambidextrous abilities are core aspects.

The content of the course is divided into the following parts:

• Theories of complexity and uncertainty as it applies to management
• Theories and praxis of foresight as it applies to management
• Theories and praxis about cognitive development for individuals and in organisations
• Theories and praxis of strategic thinking and decision-making

Course code: BUSO12 | Download syllabus

Research Methods (5 ECTS)

The course introduces the student to various considerations and approaches involved in planning and executing an academic research project. This involves deciding on a topic, formulating a research problem, and operationalizing it into a research design that is appropriate given various constraints on time and resources. It also involves conducting and presenting a literature review, structuring a methodological approach in relation to suitable empirical materials, and applying appropriate methods for data collection and analysis. Two additional aspects of the course involve how to critically assess research work in terms of quality, and how to discuss the various ethical aspects of social research in general and management research in particular.

• Problem selection and formulation
• Thesis structure
• Literature review and theoretical frameworks
• Research design
• Data collection, analysis and presentation
• Concepts of quality
• Research ethics and philosophical underpinnings of research

Course code: BUSN03 | Download syllabus

Spring semester (April - June)

Degree project in strategic management (15 ects).

The main objective is to develop students’ ability to conduct an independent scientific study that includes developing relevant research questions, and to design and conduct a study that addresses the research questions based upon appropriate methodological considerations and relevant theories within the areas covered by the masters program. The students should also be able to present their study in a written academic report as well as orally. The students work independently and in smaller groups with designing and conducting their own study and on presenting their study in the form of a final written master thesis. This includes to search for and to select relevant literature on the appropriate theoretical area as well as on research methodology, and to collect relevant empirical data through field studies and documentary research. The students are also expected to read and discuss the work of other students that attend the same course.

The result of the project is presented and defended, orally and in writing, at a seminar at the end of the second semester of the master program. Most of the project work is scheduled during the second half of the second semester. However, students are expected to plan and outline the project and collect data parallel to the course work. Different parts of the written project report will be presented and discussed at intermediate seminars.

Course code: BUSN09 | Download syllabus

Testimonials

I chose this programme based on two main motivations. Firstly, it allows for a diversified career into many business domains. Secondly, a career in this field often requires a holistic perspective with communication and consideration of various other stakeholders, which I find very appealing.

– Theresa Looschen (Germany)

Read Theresa's story (Master's in International Strategic Management)

“While originally being from Germany, I studied my Bachelor’s in Business Administration and Management in the Netherlands. Driving factors when applying for Lund University for my Master’s were its high education standards and well-recognized ranking, the international environment, and the opportunity to study an intense one-year Master’s.

Why did you choose this Master’s programme?

I chose the MSc in International Strategic Management based on two main motivations. Firstly, it allows for a diversified career into many business domains and secondly, a career in this field often requires a holistic perspective with communication and consideration of various other stakeholders, which I find very appealing. Personally, aiming for a career in management consultancy, I believe this programme has prepared me very well for such a job, while the obtained knowledge can also be applied in almost any other job.”

How is the programme?

“Our class consists of about 45 people with 13 different nationalities. While I originally have not been a huge fan of group work, I have come to greatly appreciate it here in Sweden for two main reasons. Firstly, students at Lund University are motivated and ambitious so one can trust and depend on one another. Secondly, the background and experience base of my fellow students is very diverse – making it very interesting to learn about different perspectives and approaches to solve problems.

I experienced classes to be taught mostly in an interactive manner but on a voluntary basis. Teachers are very approachable and within a few weeks they know the student’s names. Workload, in my opinion, differs depending on the courses and time of year. I experienced the last few months as less intense as compared to the beginning, which offered students time to apply for jobs. Examinations usually include group work,  as well as an individual contribution, most often ranging between an individual four hour exam to a group paper assignment or a 24h take-home case exam, for instance. Written exams require much learning by heart of concepts and theories while assignments and case exams have practical application at focus, sometimes with companies from Lund or Malmö. Guest lectures are also common and are a nice opportunity to connect theory to practice.”

You are going to Australia to pursue a double degree. What does it entail?

“After my year in Lund, I will add an extra semester to my Master’s programme. Lund University School of Economics and Management has several programmes with double degree opportunities, so I applied – and was accepted – for a double degree with Deakin University, Australia. After the successful completion of the Master's in International Strategic Management at Lund University and successful completion of the courses at Deakin University, I will receive a Master's degree certificate in Business and Economics with a major in Business Administration from Lund University and a Master of Commerce (specializing in marketing) from Deakin University.”

What is your overall Lund student experience?

“Overall, and I believe I can speak for many of my fellow students, Lund as a student city has been treating us very well. There are student activities on a daily basis and plenty of opportunity to connect and enjoy life, whether this includes a quick trip to Malmö or Copenhagen, taking salsa lessons, having drinks with friends or going clubbing.”

Everyone who has been in touch with strategy and innovation knows that there is an abundance of frameworks. However, in the end it is not about the frameworks, but about choosing and applying them to the right scenarios.

– Alexander Losbischler (Austria)

Read Alexander's story (Master's in International Strategic Management)

“After high school, I decided to continue my educational path by doing a Bachelor’s degree in business, with a focus on sales and marketing. During this time, and after several internships, I quickly realised that I am thrilled by the idea of actively shaping the future of companies. And what better way of doing that than to work in strategy? As I truly relished the thought of making a difference, I decided to look for Master’s programmes in Europe in the field of strategy – and that’s why I am in Lund today.”  

What is the programme like?

“We are a very culturally diverse class of students who all share a passion for strategy and innovation. So, on top of building know-how in strategy consulting and strengthening our teamworking skills, group projects offer a unique opportunity to experience first-hand what it means to collaborate cross-culturally.

The programme is filled with advanced courses on numerous strategy-related subjects, ranging from innovation management and performance measurement to the management, financing, and strategy involved with buying, selling, and combining companies. While I definitely enjoy widening my strategy toolkit, I think my greatest learning experience has been strengthening my practical skills. I am challenged to truly reflect on what we read and hear. The same goes for being analytical. Everyone who has been in touch with strategy and innovation knows that there is an abundance of frameworks. However, in the end it is not about the frameworks, but about choosing and applying them to the right scenarios. And I think that’s a truly invaluable lesson.”

What is the teaching and learning style like?

“The teaching style at Lund University School of Economics is very open and interactive. In particular, the approachability of the professors creates a fantastic learning environment. Even though I am coming from a German-speaking country, being on a first-name-basis with all the professors felt uncomfortable in the beginning.

 Before talking more about the lectures, I need to explain the expected learning style a bit. Courses are generally composed of two main elements: theory and case studies. When it comes to theory, there is a wide range of scientific articles that we are expected to read before each lecture. During class, we usually discuss our different viewpoints, with the attempt to arrive at a common gist. What I moreover enjoy in class is the stimulating and enriching environment. I have experienced more than once that I am shown completely diverging solutions to the same problem, when I thought before class that there can, for sure, only be ONE solution. I would say that besides the knowledge I gain, I truly benefit from the stimulating environment to articulate one’s point of view and to be capable of defending it in discussions. This interaction with others has helped me to really build a thorough understanding of tools and concepts.

When working with real business cases, we have come across a wide range of strategy-related challenges, ranging from: giving recommendations to a Swedish architecture firm on sustainability and internalisation; to the evaluation of future innovation avenues of Ford Motors. On top of case studies, we also have the chance to get insights into practical matters by guest lecturers, company visits and consulting cases. Two examples that I am particularly fond of is a very exclusive visit to Space10 in Copenhagen – IKEA’s worldwide fuzzy front-end innovation hub, as well as a consulting case with TetraPak’s finance department on performance measurement issues. Overall, as this description might already imply, the workload is rather high, but definitely rewarding.”

What are you planning to do after your time in Lund? “After graduation, I would like to start in a digitalisation-related business role. Since I was young, I have been intrigued by all sorts of digital technologies. But I have quickly learned that even the latest and greatest technology is useless if it does not generate value for its user. Hence, I think that in today’s world – where digitalisation is pervasive across all industries – the ability to understand how digital technologies might shape a company’s future is imperative. And that’s where I hope that my passion for digital technologies paired with my Master’s degree in international strategic management will come in handy.

If you have read through all of this and are still not sure what to expect from the program, feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn!”

The fact that Lund University is located in Sweden, and has a Scandinavian approach to sustainability, also adds the uniqueness of this programme. A sustainable approach is tailored in each course, and we are challenged to ask ourselves ‘how can we contribute to a sustainable future?

– Shabrina Adani (Indonesia)

Read Shabrina's story (Master's in International Strategic Management)

“I have a Bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from Universitas Indonesia. During my bachelor’s studies, I did an internship at Deloitte Consulting as a consumer business consulting intern, followed by an internship at British Petroleum as a risk engineer apprentice. After obtaining my Bachelor’s degree, I worked at the Development Bank of Singapore as a credit risk and policy officer for 2.5 years. Having worked in diverse industries and in different roles, I realised one essential thing: Strategy is key to stay in the game and to be competitive. Consequently, I began looking for a programme where I could learn more about strategy.”

“In this programme, we learn about the theoretical foundation of strategic management, as well as being challenged with real business cases and simulations. Most of the cases and assignments are solved in groups. This has been beneficial for developing communication and teamworking skills. I also enjoy to listening and participate in the active and dynamic in-class discussions. They have helped me to become more confident in expressing my thoughts.

Guest lecturers from diverse industries come to the programme to share their expertise and experience. This is really helpful to bridge the academic and professional world, and has helped to open up my mind on the my future career possibilities.  

On top of that, the fact that Lund University is located in Sweden, and has a Scandinavian approach to sustainability, also adds the uniqueness of this programme. A sustainable approach is tailored in each course, and we are challenged to ask ourselves ‘how can we contribute to a sustainable future?’. The class is very mixed, with bright students from all over the world. This has allowed me to understand how to work with people from varying backgrounds, and has given me the opportunity to build a worldwide network.”

What do you learn? And why?

“All in all, the programme has helped me to ‘connect the dots’ from everything that I have studied at the undergraduate level, and experienced at work. It has helped me to see and work with strategy in all different kind of organisations. I have learned how a business can understand its position on the market, and how to create a sustainable – but competitive – advantage. Businesses can also be innovative in various ways, but still maintain a robust strategy to tackle business challenges. Besides, I have been challenged to keep up with the high workload by learning how to manage my time effectively.”

Today, I’m well equipped with knowledge on how to drive and grow businesses in a sustainable manner and on dynamic and high-paced technological markets. These markets are global and more often than not, politically unstable.

– Leonie Mentrup (Germany)

Read Leonie's story (Master's in International Strategic Management)

I’m ambitious, and the MSc in International Strategic Management was the perfect match! The programme provided me with a wide range of knowledge on the entire strategic decision-making process. Today, I’m well equipped with knowledge on how to drive and grow businesses in a sustainable manner and on dynamic and high-paced technological markets. These markets are global and more often than not, politically unstable. I can’t wait to start out my career as a strategy consultant at Monitor Deloitte in Amsterdam. I would have not managed to move my career into the direction I had dreamed to pursue without this programme. Now, the case-work studies, state-of-the art theories on strategic management and the multicultural education from the School of Economics and Management will be put to the test – I can’t wait to make a difference!

Graduates from this programme can seek positions in domestic, international and global firms with managerial roles, as well as specialist roles within organizational settings. Knowledge in these areas of specialisation is of increasing demand, and there are very few if any master’s programmes in the Nordic countries with this attractive specialisation.

The next step

Our Career Services support you in building functioning networks, developing your resume and finding and getting a job. In addition, each semester we hold seminars on career related topics and assist you in networking with our alumni.

LUSEM Career Services

Programme requirements, statement of purpose for msc international strategic management (pdf), supporting documents for application.

Instructions for Supporting documents for application to Master's programmes

Selection to this programme

We normally look for undergraduates with excellent results from an internationally-recognised university. When assessing your academic record, we take into account your grade average, position in class, your statement of purpose and the standing of the institution where you studied your qualification.

Undergraduates are recommended to have a minimum average grade equivalent to 3.0 in cumulative grade point average (CGPA) out of 4, C in the ECTS grading scale, and B in the American grading scale.

GMAT and GRE aptitude tests

We do not require a GMAT or GRE score but a well-balanced score may strengthen your application to this particular programme.

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International Strategic Management: Assignment

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International Strategic Management

International strategic management is a comprehensive and ongoing management planning process aimed at formulating and implementing strategies that enable a firm to compete effectively internationally. The process of developing a particular international strategy is often referred to as strategic planning. Here explain international strategic management in International Business perspective.

The Political Economy of International Trade

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Managing International Assignments

International assignment management is one of the hardest areas for HR professionals to master—and one of the most costly. The expense of a three-year international assignment can cost millions, yet many organizations fail to get it right. Despite their significant investments in international assignments, companies still report a 42 percent failure rate in these assignments. 1

With so much at risk, global organizations must invest in upfront and ongoing programs that will make international assignments successful. Selecting the right person, preparing the expatriate (expat) and the family, measuring the employee's performance from afar, and repatriating the individual at the end of an assignment require a well-planned, well-managed program. Knowing what to expect from start to finish as well as having some tools to work with can help minimize the risk.

Business Case

As more companies expand globally, they are also increasing international assignments and relying on expatriates to manage their global operations. According to KPMG's 2021 Global Assignment Policies and Practices Survey, all responding multinational organizations offered long-term assignments (typically one to five years), 88 percent offered short-term assignments (typically defined as less than 12 months), and 69 percent offered permanent transfer/indefinite length.

Managing tax and tax compliance, cost containment and managing exceptions remain the three principal challenges in long-term assignment management according to a 2020 Mercer report. 2

Identifying the Need for International Assignment

Typical reasons for an international assignment include the following:

• Filling a need in an existing operation.
• Transferring technology or knowledge to a worksite (or to a client's worksite).
• Developing an individual's career through challenging tasks in an international setting.
• Analyzing the market to see whether the company's products or services will attract clients and users.
• Launching a new product or service.

The goal of the international assignment will determine the assignment's length and help identify potential candidates. See Structuring Expatriate Assignments and the Value of Secondment and Develop Future Leaders with Rotational Programs .

Selection Process

Determining the purpose and goals for an international assignment will help guide the selection process. A technical person may be best suited for transferring technology, whereas a sales executive may be most effective launching a new product or service.

Traditionally, organizations have relied on technical, job-related skills as the main criteria for selecting candidates for overseas assignments, but assessing global mindset is equally, if not more, important for successful assignments. This is especially true given that international assignments are increasingly key components of leadership and employee development.

To a great extent, the success of every expatriate in achieving the company's goals in the host country hinges on that person's ability to influence individuals, groups and organizations that have a different cultural perspective.

Interviews with senior executives from various industries, sponsored by the Worldwide ERC Foundation, reveal that in the compressed time frame of an international assignment, expatriates have little opportunity to learn as they go, so they must be prepared before they arrive. Therefore, employers must ensure that the screening process for potential expatriates includes an assessment of their global mindset.

The research points to three major attributes of successful expatriates:

• Intellectual capital. Knowledge, skills, understanding and cognitive complexity.
• Psychological capital. The ability to function successfully in the host country through internal acceptance of different cultures and a strong desire to learn from new experiences.
• Social capital. The ability to build trusting relationships with local stakeholders, whether they are employees, supply chain partners or customers.

According to Global HR Consultant Caroline Kersten, it is generally understood that global leadership differs significantly from domestic leadership and that, as a result, expatriates need to be equipped with competencies that will help them succeed in an international environment. Commonly accepted global leadership competencies, for both male and female global leaders, include cultural awareness, open-mindedness and flexibility.

In particular, expatriates need to possess a number of vital characteristics to perform successfully on assignment. Among the necessary traits are the following:

• Confidence and self-reliance: independence; perseverance; work ethic.
• Flexibility and problem-solving skills: resilience; adaptability; ability to deal with ambiguity.
• Tolerance and interpersonal skills: social sensitivity; observational capability; listening skills; communication skills.
• Skill at handling and initiating change: personal drivers and anchors; willingness to take risks.

Trends in international assignment show an increase in the younger generation's interest and placement in global assignments. Experts also call for a need to increase female expatriates due to the expected leadership shortage and the value employers find in mixed gender leadership teams. See Viewpoint: How to Break Through the 'Mobility Ceiling' .

Employers can elicit relevant information on assignment successes and challenges by means of targeted interview questions with career expatriates, such as the following:

• How many expatriate assignments have you completed?
• What are the main reasons why you chose to accept your previous expatriate assignments?
• What difficulties did you experience adjusting to previous international assignments? How did you overcome them?
• On your last assignment, what factors made your adjustment to the new environment easier?
• What experiences made interacting with the locals easier?
• Please describe what success or failure means to you when referring to an expatriate assignment.
• Was the success or failure of your assignments measured by your employers? If so, how did they measure it?
• During your last international assignment, do you recall when you realized your situation was a success or a failure? How did you come to that determination?
• Why do you wish to be assigned an international position?

Securing Visas

Once an individual is chosen for an assignment, the organization needs to move quickly to secure the necessary visas. Requirements and processing times vary by country. Employers should start by contacting the host country's consulate or embassy for information on visa requirements. See Websites of U.S. Embassies, Consulates, and Diplomatic Missions .

Following is a list of generic visa types that may be required depending on the nature of business to be conducted in a particular country:

• A work permit authorizes paid employment in a country.
• A work visa authorizes entry into a country to take up paid employment.
• A dependent visa permits family members to accompany or join employees in the country of assignment.
• A multiple-entry visa permits multiple entries into a country.

Preparing for the Assignment

An international assignment agreement that outlines the specifics of the assignment and documents agreement by the employer and the expatriate is necessary. Topics typically covered include:

• Location of the assignment.
• Length of the assignment, including renewal and trial periods, if offered.
• Costs paid by the company (e.g., assignment preparation costs, moving costs for household goods, airfare, housing, school costs, transportation costs while in country, home country visits and security).
• Base salary and any incentives or allowances offered.
• Employee's responsibilities and goals.
• Employment taxes.
• Steps to take in the event the assignment is not working for either the employee or the employer.
• Repatriation.
• Safety and security measures (e.g., emergency evacuation procedures, hazards).

Expatriates may find the reality of foreign housing very different from expectations, particularly in host locations considered to be hardship assignments. Expats will find—depending on the degree of difficulty, hardship or danger—that housing options can range from spacious accommodations in a luxury apartment building to company compounds with dogs and armed guards. See Workers Deal with Affordable Housing Shortages in Dubai and Cairo .

Expats may also have to contend with more mundane housing challenges, such as shortages of suitable housing, faulty structures and unreliable utility services. Analyses of local conditions are available from a variety of sources. For example, Mercer produces Location Evaluation Reports, available for a fee, that evaluate levels of hardship for 14 factors, including housing, in more than 135 locations.

Although many employers acknowledge the necessity for thorough preparation, they often associate this element solely with the assignee, forgetting the other key parties involved in an assignment such as the employee's family, work team and manager.

The expatriate

Consider these points in relation to the assignee:

• Does the employee have a solid grasp of the job to be done and the goals established for that position?
• Does the employee understand the compensation and benefits package?
• Has the employee had access to cultural training and language instruction, no matter how similar the host culture may be?
• Is the employee receiving relocation assistance in connection with the physical move?
• Is there a contact person to whom the employee can go not only in an emergency but also to avoid becoming "out of sight, out of mind"?
• If necessary to accomplish the assigned job duties, has the employee undergone training to get up to speed?
• Has the assignee undergone an assessment of readiness?

To help the expatriate succeed, organizations are advised to invest in cross-cultural training before the relocation. The benefits of receiving such training are that it: 3

• Prepares the individual/family mentally for the move.
• Removes some of the unknown.
• Increases self-awareness and cross-cultural understanding.
• Provides the opportunity to address questions and anxieties in a supportive environment.
• Motivates and excites.
• Reduces stress and provides coping strategies.
• Eases the settling-in process.
• Reduces the chances of relocation failure.

See Helping Expatriate Employees Deal with Culture Shock .

As society has shifted from single- to dual-income households, the priorities of potential expatriates have evolved, as have the policies organizations use to entice employees to assignment locations. In the past, from the candidate's point of view, compensation was the most significant component of the expatriate package. Today more emphasis is on enabling an expatriate's spouse to work. Partner dissatisfaction is a significant contributor to assignment failure. See UAE: Expat Husbands Get New Work Opportunities .

When it comes to international relocation, most organizations deal with children as an afterthought. Factoring employees' children into the relocation equation is key to a successful assignment. Studies show that transferee children who have a difficult time adjusting to the assignment contribute to early returns and unsuccessful completion of international assignments, just as maladjusted spouses do. From school selection to training to repatriation, HR can do a number of things to smooth the transition for children.

Both partners and children must be prepared for relocation abroad. Employers should consider the following:

• Have they been included in discussions about the host location and what they can expect? Foreign context and culture may be more difficult for accompanying family because they will not be participating in the "more secure" environment of the worksite. Does the family have suitable personal characteristics to successfully address the rigors of an international life?
• In addition to dual-career issues, other common concerns include aging parents left behind in the home country and special needs for a child's education. Has the company allowed a forum for the family to discuss these concerns?

The work team

Whether the new expatriate will supervise the existing work team, be a peer, replace a local national or fill a newly created position, has the existing work team been briefed? Plans for a formal introduction of the new expatriate should reflect local culture and may require more research and planning as well as input from the local work team.

The manager/team leader

Questions organization need to consider include the following: Does the manager have the employee's file on hand (e.g., regarding increases, performance evaluations, promotions and problems)? Have the manager and employee engaged in in-depth conversations about the job, the manager's expectations and the employee's expectations?

Mentors play an important role in enhancing a high-performing employee's productivity and in guiding his or her career. In a traditional mentoring relationship, a junior executive has ongoing face-to-face meetings with a senior executive at the corporation to learn the ropes, set goals and gain advice on how to better perform his or her job.

Before technological advances, mentoring programs were limited to those leaders who had the time and experience within the organization's walls to impart advice to a few select people worth that investment. Technology has eliminated those constraints. Today, maintaining a long-distance mentoring relationship through e-mail, telephone and videoconferencing is much easier. And that technology means an employer is not confined to its corporate halls when considering mentor-mentee matches.

The organization

If the company is starting to send more employees abroad, it has to reassess its administrative capabilities. Can existing systems handle complicated tasks, such as currency exchanges and split payrolls, not to mention the additional financial burden of paying allowances, incentives and so on? Often, international assignment leads to outsourcing for global expertise. Payroll, tax, employment law, contractual obligations, among others, warrant an investment in sound professional advice.

Employment Laws

Four major U.S. employment laws have some application abroad for U.S. citizens working in U.S.-based multinationals:

• Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
• The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA).
• The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
• The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA).

Title VII, the ADEA and the ADA are the more far-reaching among these, covering all U.S. citizens who are either:

• Employed outside the United States by a U.S. firm.
• Employed outside the United States by a company under the control of a U.S. firm.

USERRA's extraterritoriality applies to veterans and reservists working overseas for the federal government or a firm under U.S. control. See Do laws like the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act apply to U.S. citizens working in several other countries?

Employers must also be certain to comply with both local employment law in the countries in which they manage assignments and requirements for corporate presence in those countries. See Where can I find international employment law and culture information?

Compensation

Companies take one of the following approaches to establish base salaries for expatriates:

• The home-country-based approach. The objective of a home-based compensation program is to equalize the employee to a standard of living enjoyed in his or her home country. Under this commonly used approach, the employee's base salary is broken down into four general categories: taxes, housing, goods and services, and discretionary income.
• The host-country-based approach. With this approach, the expatriate employee's compensation is based on local national rates. Many companies continue to cover the employee in its defined contribution or defined benefit pension schemes and provide housing allowances.
• The headquarters-based approach. This approach assumes that all assignees, regardless of location, are in one country (i.e., a U.S. company pays all assignees a U.S.-based salary, regardless of geography).
• Balance sheet approach. In this scenario, the compensation is calculated using the home-country-based approach with all allowances, deductions and reimbursements. After the net salary has been determined, it is then converted to the host country's currency. Since one of the primary goals of an international compensation management program is to maintain the expatriate's current standard of living, developing an equitable and functional compensation plan that combines balance and flexibility is extremely challenging for multinational companies. To this end, many companies adopt a balance sheet approach. This approach guarantees that employees in international assignments maintain the same standard of living they enjoyed in their home country. A worksheet lists the costs of major expenses in the home and host countries, and any differences are used to increase or decrease the compensation to keep it in balance.

Some companies also allow expatriates to split payment of their salaries between the host country's and the home country's currencies. The expatriate receives money in the host country's currency for expenses but keeps a percentage of it in the home country currency to safeguard against wild currency fluctuations in either country.

As for handling expatriates taxes, organizations usually take one of four approaches:

• The employee is responsible for his or her own taxes.
• The employer determines tax reimbursement on a case-by-case basis.
• The employer pays the difference between taxes paid in the United States and the host country.
• The employer withholds U.S. taxes and pays foreign taxes.

To prevent an expatriate employee from suffering excess taxation of income by both the U.S. and host countries, many multinational companies implement either a tax equalization or a tax reduction policy for employees on international assignments. Additionally, the United States has entered into  bilateral international social security agreements  with numerous countries, referred to as "totalization agreements," which allow for an exemption of the social security tax in either the home or host country for defined periods of time.

A more thorough discussion of compensation and tax practices for employees on international assignment can be found in SHRM's Designing Global Compensation Systems toolkit.

How do we handle taxes for expatriates?

Can employers pay employees in other countries on the corporate home-country payroll?

Measuring Expatriates' Performance

Failed international assignments can be extremely costly to an organization. There is no universal approach to measuring an expatriate's performance given that specifics related to the job, country, culture and other variables will need to be considered. Employers must identify and communicate clear job expectations and performance indicators very early on in the assignment. A consistent and detailed assessment of an expatriate employee's performance, as well as appraisal of the operation as a whole, is critical to the success of an international assignment. Issues such as the criteria for and timing of performance reviews, raises and bonuses should be discussed and agreed on before the employees are selected and placed on international assignments.

Employees on foreign assignments face a number of issues that domestic employees do not. According to a 2020 Mercer report 4 , difficulty adjusting to the host country, poor candidate selection and spouse or partner's unhappiness are the top three reasons international assignments fail. Obviously, retention of international assignees poses a significant challenge to employers.

Upon completion of an international assignment, retaining the employee in the home country workplace is also challenging. Unfortunately, many employers fail to track retention data of repatriated employees and could benefit from collecting this information and making adjustments to reduce the turnover of employees returning to their home country.

Safety and Security

When faced with accident, injury, sudden illness, a disease outbreak or politically unstable conditions in which personal safety is at risk, expatriate employees and their dependents may require evacuation to the home country or to a third location. To be prepared, HR should have an evacuation plan in place that the expatriate can share with friends, extended family and colleagues both at home and abroad. See Viewpoint: Optimizing Global Mobility's Emergency Response Plans .

Many companies ban travel outside the country in the following circumstances:

• When a travel advisory is issued by the World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, International SOS or a government agency.
• When a widespread outbreak of a specific disease occurs or if the risk is deemed too high for employees and their well-being is in jeopardy.
• If the country is undergoing civil unrest or war or if an act of terrorism has occurred.
• If local management makes the decision.
• If the employee makes the decision.

Once employees are in place, the decision to evacuate assignees and dependents from a host location is contingent on local conditions and input from either internal sources (local managers, headquarters staff, HR and the assignee) or external sources (an external security or medical firm) or both. In some cases, each host country has its own set of evacuation procedures.

Decision-makers should consider all available and credible advice and initially transport dependents and nonessential personnel out of the host country by the most expeditious form of travel.

Navigating International Crises

How can an organization ensure the safety and security of expatriates and other employees in high-risk areas?

The Disaster Assistance Improvement Program (DAIP)

Repatriation

Ideally, the repatriation process begins before the expatriate leaves his or her home country and continues throughout the international assignment by addressing the following issues.

Career planning. Many managers are responsible for resolving difficult problems abroad and expect that a well-done job will result in promotion on return, regardless of whether the employer had made such a promise. This possibly unfounded assumption can be avoided by straightforward career planning that should occur in advance of the employee's accepting the international assignment. Employees need to know what impact the expatriate assignment will have on their overall advancement in the home office and that the international assignment fits in their career path.

Mentoring. The expatriate should be assigned a home-office mentor. Mentors are responsible for keeping expatriates informed on developments within the company, for keeping the expatriates' names in circulation in the office (to help avoid the out-of-sight, out-of-mind phenomenon) and for seeing to it that expatriates are included in important meetings. Mentors can also assist the expatriate in identifying how the overseas experience can best be used on return. Optimum results are achieved when the mentor role is part of the mentor's formal job duties.

Communication. An effective global communication plan will help expatriates feel connected to the home office and will alert them to changes that occur while they are away. The Internet, e-mail and intranets are inexpensive and easy ways to bring expatriates into the loop and virtual meeting software is readily available for all employers to engage with global employees. In addition, organizations should encourage home-office employees to keep in touch with peers on overseas assignments. Employee newsletters that feature global news and expatriate assignments are also encouraged.

Home visits. Most companies provide expatriates with trips home. Although such trips are intended primarily for personal visits, scheduling time for the expatriate to visit the home office is an effective method of increasing the expatriate's visibility. Having expatriates attend a few important meetings or make a presentation on their international assignment is also a good way to keep them informed and connected.

Preparation to return home. The expatriate should receive plenty of advance notice (some experts recommend up to one year) of when the international assignment will end. This notice will allow the employee time to prepare the family and to prepare for a new position in the home office. Once the employee is notified of the assignment's end, the HR department should begin working with the expatriate to identify suitable positions in the home office. The expatriate should provide the HR department with an updated resume that reflects the duties of the overseas assignment. The employee's overall career plan should be included in discussions with the HR professional.

Interviews. In addition to home leave, organizations may need to provide trips for the employee to interview with prospective managers. The face-to-face interview will allow the expatriate to elaborate on skills and responsibilities obtained while overseas and will help the prospective manager determine if the employee is a good fit. Finding the right position for the expatriate is crucial to retaining the employee. Repatriates who feel that their new skills and knowledge are underutilized may grow frustrated and leave the employer.

Ongoing recognition of contributions. An employer can recognize and appreciate the repatriates' efforts in several ways, including the following:

• Hosting a reception for repatriates to help them reconnect and meet new personnel.
• Soliciting repatriates' help in preparing other employees for expatriation.
• Asking repatriates to deliver a presentation or prepare a report on their overseas assignment.
• Including repatriates on a global task force and asking them for a global perspective on business issues.

Measuring ROI on expatriate assignments can be cumbersome and imprecise. The investment costs of international assignments can vary dramatically and can be difficult to determine. The largest expatriate costs include overall remuneration, housing, cost-of-living allowances (which sometimes include private schooling costs for children) and physical relocation (the movement to the host country of the employee, the employee's possessions and, often, the employee's family).

But wide variations exist in housing expenses. For example, housing costs are sky-high in Tokyo and London, whereas Australia's housing costs are moderate. Another significant cost of expatriate assignments involves smoothing out differences in pay and benefits between one country and another. Such cost differences can be steep and can vary based on factors such as exchange rates (which can be quite volatile) and international tax concerns (which can be extremely complex).

Once an organization has determined the costs of a particular assignment, the second part of the ROI challenge is calculating the return. Although it is relatively straightforward to quantify the value of fixing a production line in Puerto Rico or of implementing an enterprise software application in Asia, the challenge of quantifying the value of providing future executives with cross-cultural perspectives and international leadership experience can be intimidating.

Once an organization determines the key drivers of its expatriate program, HR can begin to define objectives and assess return that can be useful in guiding employees and in making decisions about the costs they incur as expatriates. Different objectives require different levels and lengths of tracking. Leadership development involves a much longer-term value proposition and should include a thorough repatriation plan. By contrast, the ROI of an international assignment that plugs a skills gap is not negatively affected if the expatriate bolts after successfully completing the engagement.

Additional Resources

International Assignment Management: Expatriate Policy and Procedure

Introduction to the Global Human Resources Discipline

1Mulkeen, D. (2017, February 20). How to reduce the risk of international assignment failure. Communicaid. Retrieved from https://www.communicaid.com/cross-cultural-training/blog/reducing-risk-international-assignment-failure/

2Mercer. (2020). Worldwide Survey of International Assignment Policies and Practices. Retrieved from https://mobilityexchange.mercer.com/international-assignments-survey .

3Dickmann, M., & Baruch, Y. (2011). Global careers. New York: Routledge.

4Mercer. (2020). Worldwide Survey of International Assignment Policies and Practices. Retrieved from https://mobilityexchange.mercer.com/international-assignments-survey

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Strategic Management Assignment: Case Analysis Of Marriott International

Task: For a Tourism and Hospitality organisation of your choice, research and analyse the existing strategy of that business.

• A brief history of the organisation and its strategic development.
• The internal and external environments of the organisation.
• The development of strategy at a business, functional and corporate level.
• Competitive advantage and sustainability.
• The impacts of mergers and acquisitions, international strategy and alliances.
• Strategic implementation and the importance of leadership and entrepreneurship.
• Organisational structure, controls and corporate governance.

The Report on strategic management assignment may address other relevant considerations and must include evidence of research to substantiate your conclusions and recommendations.

Executive Summary The strategic management assignment starts with an introduction. The introduction consists the aim of the report. Following this a brief overview of Marriott International has been given which is the selected organization for the report. Then matrix organizational structure has been discussed which is preferably the current organizational structure of Marriott. The strategic goals that has been formulated by Marriott has been discussed details. Following this, PESTEL, Porter’s Five forces and SWOT has been used to create a relationship with the sustainable strategies adopted by Marriott International. Then, two strategic issues have been discussed and recommendations have been provided to reduce the discussed strategic issue. The report ends with a conclusion.

Introduction In this current corporate environment, organizations operating in every sectors are facing tough competition. Managers often find it difficult to keep the company growing among several other competitors in the market. Developing relevant strategies can help these organizations to sustain in the market. To develop relevant strategies, strategic planning has to be done by the strategic managers. The process in which strategies are formed, evaluated and implemented in an organization is known as strategic planning. Strategic planning is considered to be communicative in nature (Spee & Jarzabkowski, 2011). There is no exception in cases of tourism or hospitality industry. A huge number of industry are operating in this sector. The main aim of this research report is to select an organization operating in the tourism or hospitality sector and to critically analyze the strategies that has been adopted by the strategic team of the organization. The organization that has been selected for the report is Marriott International.

Overview of the organization As mentioned earlier, Marriott International has been chosen for conducting the report. Marriott International is an organization i.e. headquartered in America and is currently operating in several parts of the world. The organization is currently considered to be an integral part and leading player of the hospitality sector. The core values of the organization are to put customers or visitors first and give them utmost priority. The management team of the organization also embrace changes and focus on working with integrity (Marriott International, 2020a). The core strategies that are developed by the strategic team of Marriott International is diversity, inclusion and working with excellence. The main purpose of developing these strategies is to include people with capabilities within the organization and to avoid discrimination within the organization. Diversity and inclusion in the culture of an organization is important because it increases employee empowerment and enhances the level of satisfaction of the employees in the organization. Another major strategic decision of this organization is to care the employees working within the organization. The management team of Marriott International believes that if the organization cares its employees then the employees in return will care for the customers.

Current organizational structure When an organization develops a system so that they can achieve the goals with utmost efficiency it is known as organizational structure. Organizational structure is also considered to be a systematic thought of the authorities of an organization (Ahmady, Mehrpour & Nikooravesh, 2016). If the organizational structure of Marriott International is analysed it can be seen that the organization is currently using a matrix structure. Since, there are several levels in the organization therefore, the organization is focusing on using the vertical level as well as the horizontal level. Marriott International focus on maintaining the global uniformity by following the core value of the organization. On the other hand, the organization also focus on following diversification of different countries in which they are operating.

Furthermore, the management team of Marriott adheres to the policies of corporate governance. The shareholders of the organization are focusing on electing the board of directors of the organization (Marriott International, 2020c). It is the responsibility of the shareholders and the Board of Directors to evaluate the strategic plans of the organization and enhance the external and internal stakeholders of the organization.

Current strategy and goals There are several strategies that are generally adopted by the strategic managers of an organization. Currently, the global strategic team of Marriott International is focusing on adopting sustainable strategies. The strategies that help in preventing environmental degradation and create a sustainable workplace is known as sustainable strategies (Stringer, 2010). The strategic team of the organization is following the goals that have been developed by UN Sustainable development department. The leaders of Marriott believe that developing communities and supporting resiliency in the countries in which they are operating is important. The leaders have adopted transformational leadership strategy to work responsibly and in a collaborative manner so that the operational activities of Marriott will have less negative impact on the environment and reduce the risks of climate (Marriott International, 2020b). Finally, the empowerment is another important sustainable strategy that has been adopted by the organization. Unemployment among women, differently abled people and Frictional unemployment, are the major economic and global issues that the world is currently facing. Therefore, the organization is focusing on partnering with several non-profit organizations to bring a solution to this global issue and contribute to the world’s economy.

External environment and the current strategy In the above section of the report, it is already mentioned that adopting sustainable business strategies are currently the major strategic goal of Marriott International. This section of the report on analysing the sustainable strategy of Marriott International in relation to the external environment of the organization. PESTEL tool and porter’s five forces analysis is considered for this section.

PESTEL Tool Political factor is the first element of the PESTEL tool. It is the responsibility of an organization to follow the rules and regulations that are formulated by the government of the host country (Issa, Chang & Issa, 2010). Due to degradation in the environment, government of several developed and developing countries has made environmental rules for the organization. Therefore, sustainable strategies adopted by Marriott International to reduce negative impact and climate-change match the political aspects of the external environment.

Economic factor is the second element. The productivity of the organizations operating in a particular country, or aspects like unemployment or man-power shortage is a major part of the economic factor (Pan, Chen & Zhan, 2019). In the above section it has been discussed that the strategic team of Marriott is partnering with several voluntary organization across the world to reduce the problem of unemployment among women, differently-abled people. This is how the strategy of Marriott International has a relation with the economic aspects.

Social factor is another element of this PESTEL tool. The main aspect of the social factors is culture, values and communities (Song, Sun & Jin, 2017). The strategic team of Marriott has also focused on building backward communities and focus on children welfare. This is how the organization is focusing on creating a relationship with the social factors with its strategic decisions.

Then comes the technological factors. In the current business environment use of technology has become important. Marriott International is focusing on using technology for the purpose of innovation of products or services that can reduce the negative impact on the current environment.

Sustainable business strategy has a solid relationship with the environmental factors. The primary purpose of adopting sustainable business strategies is to reduce environmental degradation which is taking place due to the operational activities of several organizations. Finally, the legal aspects that include environmental laws have also been considered by Marriott International. The organization has focused on reducing the environmental risks by following the legal rules. Therefore, from the analysis it can be said that the current strategy has a relationship with the PESTEL tool.

Porter’s Five Forces Analysis Michael porter has presented a framework that helps the strategic team of an organization to measure its competitive environment (Mathooko & Ogutu, 2015). This five forces focus on influencing industry.

Threats of new entrants is the first element of this analysis. There are several organizations that are starting its operation in the tourism and hospitality industry. The strategic manager of Marriott is focusing on implementing innovative and sustainable business for removing the threat. Satisfaction of external stakeholders is considerably one of the relevant strategy to gain competitive advantage and remove the threats from the existing competitors. Marriott is focusing on diversity and community development to satisfy the customers and suppliers and gain competitive advantage from the existing competitors. Thus, it can be said that Marriott chose the differential strategy in order to gain competitive advantage.

Internal environment and the current strategy The environment which is generally influenced by the management team of an organization is known as Internal environment. The Internal environment deals with strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the organization (Kuratko, Hornsby & Covin, 2014). Currently, Marriott International is focusing on adopting strategies so that it can gain competitive advantage and increase market share in the tourism and hospitality industry. In 2019, Marriott International acquired record breaking organic rooms with the help of 815 agreements. This provides an exciting and life changing lodging opportunities for the travellers across the world. The main objective of acquiring organic rooms is to also decrease degradation of environment significantly (Hotel Business, 2020).

In 2019, the total assets of Marriott were $25.051 billion. The organization witnessed an increase of 5.72% in its assets from previous year. In September 2020, the company reported total assets of $25.680 billion (Macrotrends, 2020). Therefore, it can be said that the financial performance of Marriott International is growing over several years of operation.

SWOT Analysis Implementation of strategy within an organization should be done after analysing the resource and capabilities of the firm. The dynamic capabilities of a firm help in analysing the performance of the firm (Lin & Wu, 2014). SWOT analysis has been taken into consideration for discussing the resources, capabilities and weaknesses of Marriott International. It currently operates in almost 127 countries. Strategic partnership and highly innovative are also one of the major strength of the organization.

Currently, Marriott is focused on family-centric businesses. With the increase in the percentage of millennials, family-centric business is considered to be a weak strategy. Along with that Marriott International is currently targeting the high income group instead of diversifying the current market. This is also considerably one of the weakness of the organization.

If Marriott focuses on the emerging economies, then it can grab relevant opportunities. The organization also has a large number of skilled employees. They are also considered to be a great opportunity for Marriott.

Currently, global pandemic is the major threat of Marriott International. Due to this pandemic, the entire tourism and hospitality industry is at standstill and this is the reason Marriott is currently losing its profit tremendously.

Aligning the sustainable strategy with the capabilities of Marriott In the above section of the report, the strengths and weaknesses of Marriott has been discussed in detail. When an organization builds and reconfigure the internal and the external aspects of an organization it is known as the internal capabilities of a firm (Braganza, et.al, 2017). The main objective of this section is to align the strategy that has been adopted by Marriott International with the internal capabilities of the firm. From the analysis it can be said that the current sustainable strategy that has been adopted by the organization matches with the strength of the company. Since, Marriott has a global presence therefore, sustainable strategies adopted by Marriott can have positive impact on the global market. On the contrary, adopting sustainable strategies require a lot of innovative ideas and for that sufficient investment is necessary. Currently, due to the global pandemic the company is losing its profits. Therefore, the current strategy cannot be matched with the weakness or the threat that Marriot is facing.

Furthermore, the sustainable strategies that have been adopted by Marriott International can be matched with the capabilities of the firm. From the analysis it can be found that skilled and capable employees working in Marriott can help the management team with innovative ideas which can help the organization to adopt several other effective sustainable strategies which will further have a positive impact on the environment, globally.

Strategic issues of Marriott International The issues which arises within an organization due to ineffective strategic decisions and implementation of strategy then it is known as strategic issues. The main objective of resolving strategic issues is to modifying existing strategies with thorough planning. While analysing the operations of Marriott International, it has been found that the strategic team of Marriott is focusing on niche marketing. When an organization considers a limited market for its operations it is known niche marketing (Dinis & Krakover, 2016). Marriott International focuses on customers who are of high income group. This reduces the streams from which revenue can be generated. Therefore, this can be one of the major strategic issue of the organization. Apart from this, due to this global pandemic and economic crisis, Marriott International is focusing on reducing costs by terminating employees. This is also considerably another major strategic issue of the organization. If more and more number of employees are terminated from the organization, then it can reduce the satisfaction among employees and there are high cases where customer complaints are remained unsolved which is further creating dissatisfaction among the customers. With the decrease in the satisfaction of the employees the productivity of the employees will also reduce. This will further have an impact on the financial performance and the productivity of the organization. Therefore, it is of utmost importance for the organization to leverage the internal capabilities of the organization for overcoming the strategic issues.

Recommendation The first strategic issue that has been discussed is niche marketing by Marriott International. This is reducing the percentage of revenue within the organization. Therefore, it is recommended to the management team of Marriott to launch new products or services for a new target market. Therefore, it can be said exploration of the new customer segments is important. Diversification of product, services as well as the target market can help in increasing the percentage of revenue for the organization.

The second strategic issue is employee related issue. To reduce this issue, it is highly recommended that Marriott focus on reducing the turnover rate of employees. Employees must be satisfied within the organization. Employee rewarding program must be initiated within the organization this can reduce the turnover rate of employees. Satisfaction of employees and reducing the turnover rate of employees can be done by implementing training programs for the employees. The objective of the training program is to help the employees understand the issues that Marriott is currently facing.

Conclusion The main aim of the report was to focus on identifying strategic issues and steps that has been undertaken by an organization operating in the hospitality sector. The organization that has been selected for the report is Marriott International. Marriott International is the United States based organization that is operating in several parts of the world. From the report it can be concluded Marriott is currently focusing on sustainable strategies to reduce the environmental degradation within the organization. The organization is focusing on empowering its employees with the help of diversity and inclusion and work with minor communities. It can also be concluded from the report that niche marketing is one of the major strategic issue that the organization is facing. To reduce this strategic issue, it is recommended to Marriott team to start exploring new markets.

References Ahmady, G. A., Mehrpour, M., & Nikooravesh, A. (2016). Organizational structure. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 230, 455-462. .

Braganza, A., Brooks, L., Nepelski, D., Ali, M., & Moro, R. (2017). Resource management in big data initiatives: Processes and dynamic capabilities. Journal of Business Research, 70, 328-337.

Dinis, A., & Krakover, S. (2016). Niche tourism in small peripheral towns: The case of Jewish heritage in Belmonte, Portugal. Tourism Planning & Development, 13(3), 310-332.

Issa, T., Chang, V., & Issa, T. (2010). Sustainable business strategies and PESTEL framework. GSTF International Journal on Computing, 1(1), 73-80.

Kuratko, D. F., Hornsby, J. S., & Covin, J. G. (2014). Diagnosing a firm's internal environment for corporate entrepreneurship. Business Horizons, 57(1), 37-47.

Lin, Y., & Wu, L. Y. (2014). Exploring the role of dynamic capabilities in firm performance under the resource-based view framework. Journal of business research, 67(3), 407-413.

Macrotrends, (2020). Marriott Total Assets 2006-2020 | MAR. [online]. Retrieved from https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/MAR/marriott/total-assets

Marriott International, (2020a), Core Values and Heritage. [online]. Retrieved from https://www.marriott.com/culture-and-values/core-values.mi

Marriott International, (2020b). Serve 360. [online]. Retrieved from https://serve360.marriott.com/

Marriott International, (2020c). Corporate Governance. [online]. Retrieved from https://marriott.gcs-web.com/corporate-governance

Mathooko, F. M., & Ogutu, M. (2015). Porter’s five competitive forces framework and other factors that influence the choice of response strategies adopted by public universities in Kenya. International Journal of Educational Management, 29(3), pp. 1-18.

Pan, W., Chen, L., & Zhan, W. (2019). PESTEL analysis of construction productivity enhancement strategies: A case study of three economies. Journal of Management in Engineering, 35(1), 1-40.

Song, J., Sun, Y., & Jin, L. (2017). PESTEL analysis of the development of the waste-to-energy incineration industry in China. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 80, 276-289.

Spee, A. P., & Jarzabkowski, P. (2011). Strategic planning as communicative process. Organization studies, 32(9), 1217-1245.

Stringer, L. (2010). The green workplace: Sustainable strategies that benefit employees, the environment, and the bottom line. St. Martin's Press.

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• Programs and Courses

International Strategic Management

An undergraduate course offered by the Research School of Management .

• Code BUSI3020
• Unit Value 6 units
• Offered by Research School of Management
• ANU College ANU College of Business and Economics
• Course subject Business
• Areas of interest International Business, Management
• Academic career UGRD
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• Offered in First Semester 2023 See Future Offerings

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Indicative assessment, inherent requirements, requisite and incompatibility, prescribed texts.

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This course involves on-campus teaching. For students not on campus, there will be a remote option in Sem 1. See Class Summary or Wattle for details.

International firms need to formulate company policies that take account of the fact that they manufacture, service, employ and market to or in countries with different laws, different beliefs and different levels of socio-economic development compared to a firm's country of origin. This course examines the contextual, organisational and managerial issues associated with the operation of multinational firms. Interactions between contextual elements and management of an international enterprise will be studied from both theoretical and practical perspectives. The major topics that will be studied include international strategic planning and implementation in MNCs, strategies for international competition international production and outsourcing, international joint ventures and strategic alliances, organisational structure of MNCs, control in outsourcing, control in international operations, intra and inter-firm technology and knowledge management, cross-cultural negotiation and decision making, motivation and leadership in international management, international human resource management and international social and ethical responsibly of firms.

Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:

• Explain and illustrate the international strategic management processes used by top level management in multinational enterprises;
• Define, explain and illustrate the relationships among philosophic roots and approaches for international strategic planning and implementation, strategies for value chain activity integration, international business strategies, structure of multinational enterprises, and human resource management orientations, and the role which culture plays in managing multinational enterprises;
• Creatively apply knowledge from different approaches to strategic management issues and problems of multinational enterprises, demonstrating thorough understanding of the various international strategic management concepts and their practical application; and,
• Communicate effectively in oral and written forms about international strategic management using appropriate concepts, logic and rhetorical conventions.
• Typical assessments may include, but is not restricted to: in-class exercises, written and oral assignments, quizzes, examinations, group project tasks, oral presentation, and other assessment deemed appropriate to show attainment of the learning outcomes set for the course. Further details will be made available via the Class Summary. (100) [LO 1,2,3,4]
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International Strategic Management Assignment sample

Introduction.

In the technological world, several industries are going to profound a huge transformation and it will be effective for the future also. The production of various industries can be impacted through some revolutionary but the system can be produced by different methods. In the automobile industry, transportation is the required thing to conduct the business properly and for this car, sharing can be increased to different levels. The car-sharing industry can get lots of success in the automobile industry of London. The future strategy of this industry is so much power and for this, it can be helpful to create a foundation for future business success.

The marketing level of the car-sharing industry can be conducted into a different level and it can be impacted to future business strategy. The manufacturing process of Daimler (Car2go) and BMW (DriveNow) maintained the potentiality and successfully portraited the products (Gardiner, 2013). The contradictory thing is that the car-sharing industry maintains the cost reduction process in various ways and it will be helpful to maintain the business properly. In London, the industry can take a place to get proper market value as per the business strategy and set a great competition among the other industries.

The environment of the Car-sharing Industry as per the Five Forces Model

The car-sharing industry creates a huge segment in the UK and for this, the evaluation of this industry can be seen properly. It can be defined as a potential market strategy by combining the prospects of the business strategy. The proper business strategy and manufacturing process can be impacted to maintain the industry properly. To define the industry properly, the five forces model can be shown the process adequately.

(Fig. 1 Source – www.sukantk.medium.com )

The threat of new entrants: Medium

When a new business joined in the business strategy, it will be expected that the market level can be increased from a very fast day. So, it can be possible for the car-sharing market also. In London, the customer can depend on the service and the industry can carry a valuable reputation in the business market policy. There might be some possibilities to create a digitalization process and can be implemented in the manufacturing purpose to build the industry properly. There are some reasons why the entry-level of the car-sharing industry is medium –

• The participation of the govt. policies can be implemented in the business strategy to the entry-level and the market can face some challenges through this. In the car-sharing industry, it has to implement the govt. policies to maintain the proper business strategies.
• To operate a successful business strategy in the car-sharing industry, it has to be maintained economical scale properly. There might be some technological, functional properties be implemented to operate the stage properly but it can be helpful to get the high market level.
• To implement a new market strategy, it is also important to choose a proper location where the industry can properly grow. London has various locations to implement a proper car-sharing industry and it can be helpful to launch the service in the market.

The threat of substitutes: High

To get proper manufacturing service, it is also can be a possible thing that the third party can produce some materials to get the proper market strategy. It might be possible to conduct a proper business as per the car-sharing industry, get help by travel, cost-related, service-related, etc. Through these, it can be created a differentiation among the getting substitutes. In the car-sharing industry, the most element is the bicycle. The car-sharing industry can be dependent on the need for travel prospects and public transportation. In London, the car-sharing industries can be impacted by the use of smartphones and it can be travel-friendly. The market strategy can be a hugely challenging prospect to conduct the best service. London has the proper geographic location to get the proper substitution to implement in the market strategy, but sometimes it might happen that the internet connection cannot get properly and it can make a negative impact on the car-sharing industry.

The bargaining power of the buyers: High

The car-sharing industry is so much transparent in London and that’s why it is possible to get proper customer response. For this proper customer response, it can be impacted to the price structure, availability status, and also related points to maintain the market strategy. The buyers can get various access to get success and that’s why the bargaining power of the buyers is high in the UK as per the car-sharing.

The bargaining power of the suppliers: Low

As per the car-sharing industry of London, the suppliers can make the strategy to conduct the business for the long-term strategy. There might be some complexities that arise due to the global market policy of the car-sharing industries and the suppliers can start the bargaining process to conduct the business as per the policy. Due to supplier’s bargaining policy, the market strategy can get low of the car-sharing industry in London.

The rivalry among the existing competitors: High

It is the most probable thing in the car-sharing industry that it can create so much rivalry to maintain the market strategy properly. There are lots of compatible elements like – scope of price, proper accessibility, customer reviews, etc. that can be impacted in the business strategy in London. There are some reasons why the car-sharing industry has many competitors in the business market.

• The car-sharing industry is the proper market strategize industry in London. The industry has the potential to grab the market properly. The market of free-floating car-sharing can create a great impact on the business strategy.
• The car-sharing industry can maintain a proper cost structure and that’s why it can be implemented properly. By maintaining a proper cost strategy, it has various rivalries in the business market.
• The differentiation process is also helpful to conduct the business properly. There might be various differentiation processes to maintain the car-sharing industry properly. For this reason, the industry has a large number of competitors in the business market and maintains a sustainable environment in the business market of London.

So, this is the analysis of the car-sharing industry as per the five-forces model and it can be helpful to maintain the market strategy properly.

Value – Chain method for the car-sharing industry in London

The value-chain model can be implemented to get a proper idea about the whole market strategy of the car-sharing industry of London. Through this model, it can be effective to identify the different stages of the service model to get a proper idea about the business strategy. The value–chain process can be implemented in the car-sharing industry to produce a proper implication as per service policy.

(Fig. 2 Source – www.geektonight.com )

The value-chain analysis consists that the business management support system that can be helpful to combine the analysis into two different parts – primary activities and secondary activities. It is the prime analysis process to focus the market strategy and understand the pricing, locational activities to create a competitive situation. The value-chain activity can be defined into two various methods one is primary activities and the other one is secondary activities.

The primary activity requires the physical attribution of the product and maintaining the market strategy properly. The primary activity includes inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, marketing, and sales, and services. These are the primary elements to define the value-chain service of the car-sharing industry in the UK.

• Inbound logistics – as per the car-sharing industry, various parts, materials, use of the warehouse, the travel-friendly vehicle can be implemented as inbound logistics. The raw materials and their suppliers can be a part of this system and it can be helpful to maintain the car-sharing industry in the UK.
• Operations/productions – being an automobile industry, it is required to put some operations to maintain the car-sharing industry. The operation stage can be produced to input the final products. In the operation part, it is included the production of the cars, required machines to implement the car parts, car packaging system, assembling the proper model, testing the model properly, and giving some equipment for proper maintenance.
• Outbound logistics – the outbound logistics can also be implemented in the value-chain analysis of car-sharing. The activities are including in the outbound logistics are collecting the raw materials and parts, storing the required elements that can be helpful for the future. The outbound logistics can be implemented to input the materials in the warehousing, handle the proper materials, maintain the delivery policy, proper vehicle options, process the order with proper scheduling. So, these are also helpful to conduct the proper service.
• Marketing and sales – in the business industry it is a required thing to conduct the proper marketing and sales industry in the corporate components. The marketing and sales are depending on the customer’s requirements and the production of the car-sharing market can be implemented in the marketing process. It includes car advertising, proper promotion, creating proper salesforce, proper channel selection to conduct the marketing and sales properly, and also it requires channel relations and pricing.
• Services – in the car-sharing industry, it is also important to give proper service that can be helpful to maintain the marketing level. This process includes various service requirements like – producing various products, installation process, repairing the produced model, proper training, proper supply of the parts, and the adjustment of the products. Through these services, the car-sharing industry can be increased the business strategy progressively.

The secondary activity requires the conductive way by which the primary activity can be done properly. The secondary activity works like a support activity. It includes procurement, development of technology, human resource management, firm infrastructure, etc.

• Procurement – in the car-sharing industry, it is an important thing to conduct the raw materials, supplies the products, even proper equipment, laboratory works, etc. procurement can be work as a primary activity but it can be implemented the raw materials things also. So, this is the best option to conduct the proper service.
• Development of technology – in this fastest growing world, it is an important thing to develop various technologies in the car-sharing industry. It is a necessary thing to require the machinery process in the car-sharing process. Various software companies are there to develop the car-sharing industry. Through these processes, it can be helpful to conduct the proper service.
• Human Resource Management – in every business organization, it is the main part to have a human resource management system. The management system can be operated in various ways. Human resource management can do the activity of recruiting the proper candidate, conducting proper training for the employees, developing the management system, conducting proper compensation, the relation between the labourers, conducting some programs to enhance the skills, etc. It is very much important to have a proper management system in the car-sharing industry.
• Infrastructure of Firm – the infrastructure of a firm can be the other activity to maintain the industry properly. There are lots of challenges that can happen in the firm infrastructure policy. It includes implementing an organizational structure, it requires some strategic planning, it can be included the financial strategy that can be helpful to maintain the quality also. Through some information systems, the car-sharing industry can be updated. According to Johnson and Sholes (2002), the production of raw materials can be also a part of the firm infrastructure and it can be helpful to maintain the organization’s management.

The value-chain analysis can be helpful by being implemented in the car-sharing industry. It is very much effective to analyze the proper organizational prospects. So, through this process, it can be helpful to know about the value of the car-sharing industry.

Various entry modes evaluation

In an organization, it is a required thing to conduct the marketing policy at the international level, there are various ways to conduct the system. To conduct a business in the international sector, it is important to be known about entry-level marketing. Several organizations have different level entry modes to conduct business in the international market. To be part of different entry modes, it is required to be known about the organizational circumstances, required goals, proper objectives, etc. Through these processes, the organization can be identified the different entry-level modes to conduct business in the international market.

There might be some changes to conduct a business on an internal and external basis. Various firms can be implemented to conduct the market strategy properly and the expanding factors can be affected in the marketing purpose. There might be some legal policies, agreements that can be conducted at the international market level. Some steps can be followed to conduct a business adequately at the international market level.

(Fig. 3 Source – www.superheuristics.com )

Exporting – exporting is the main procedure to conduct international business properly. It is a border to sell domestic goods in the international market (Cavusgil, 2004). There exporting can be divided into three different modes – indirect exporting, direct exporting, and cooperative exporting. Indirect exporting is the low-risk mode of entering the international market. Various organizations like to promote indirect exporting to conduct the business properly. It is the renowned procedure to promote a business in the international market. It is very much important to conduct the business properly. In some situations, the risk level can be high to conduct the business at the international market level. Exporting can be the cheaper process to conduct international business. Direct exporting can maintain the risk sometimes. It is an effective mode of entry for those organizations that conduct their business in the international market but conduct limited risk methods. Cooperative exporting can be helpful to conduct business in the international market but as per the organizational prospects. The exporting process can be beneficial to provide various goods to get an international complement. It can be helpful to get a successful business strategy.

• Licensing – to conduct a business in the international market, it is a required thing to get a valid license. A license can be helpful to create a bordar at the international market level. It can be conducted through some agreements and legal policies. To conduct a business in the international market, the license can be helpful to provide the security of the goods and it can be helpful to deal with the right party. The risk factors can be decreased by the licensing process. It can be affected through some economic and political approaches. But the licensing process can be maintained the profit level and create the future market as per the competitors (Brouthers, 2013).
• Franchising – it is the newly invented process to do business in the international market. It is also an entry mode to conduct a business in the international business policy. The franchisees pay the fees to the franchisers to conduct a business by providing proper services (Kotler & Armstrong, 2012). There might be some contracts included in the franchising option and it will be helpful to conduct the business in the international market. In the franchising option, there are lots of advantages that can be implemented in the international market strategy. It can be also decreased the risk factors to conduct the business. This is a famous model of entry by maintaining the security prospects. In many organizations, franchising can be implemented as in renowned entry mode of the international market.
• Joint Ventures – many organizations can choose to work in joint ventures and it can be also effective to the international market. There are various modes to conduct joint ventures in the business market. Joint ventures can be impactful for the two or more organizations and by doing this the organizations can know about each other’s strengths or weaknesses and provide proper services. There might be some common objectives between the two companies and can be effective to decrease the risk factors. By applying proper technology, the joint venture can be developed in the international market. In the international market, it can be effective to conduct the business properly by providing proper restrictions and legal aspects by the government. A joint venture believes in the commitment and it will be effective successfully. So, it can be said that joint ventures can work adequately as an entry mode in the international market.
• Direct investing – direct investing is also an entry-level method in the international marketplace. To conduct the business in the international market with 100% ownership. In direct investing mode, the organization can be maintained the purchasing power through this investing mode. In the entry mode, the direct investing process might be created some risk factors. It is a risky way to conduct business in the international market. In the direct investing process, it might be implemented high control, commitment, legal presence, etc. So, it can be said that to create a proper business in the international market, this entry-level can be affected in some ways.

So, these are the entry modes to conduct the business properly in the international market. Through the study, the proper entry mode of the international market is the licensing process. By conducting the license system, the risk factors can be decreased in various ways. Not only the risk factors but also effective to state some legal aspects also. So, to conduct business in the international market, it is important to verify the entry modes properly.

Creating Shared Value

As per the SEAT, it is creating some revolutionary methods to maintain the automobile industry properly. It can be effective to maintain the market value in the international aspects also. The ‘Minimo’ can be developed by maintaining the car and automobile services. In this case, the service can be provided to the international market. It can be also helpful to increase the market strategy.

As per the value report, SEAT’s can create an appropriate result to conduct the business in the international market. The company’s profile made the value of the international market. The company maintains honesty, living prospects, diversity, proper communication etc. The company maintains sustainable pillars to maintain the market value. The employment procedures of this company can be integrated into the prospects of the strategies. The manufacturing process of this company can be effective to the other companies also. The company also maintains security. The environment of this company can be impacted by the international market policy.

The company maintains some activities that can be implemented in the company’s environment. The company believes that planting various and more trees can be helpful to maintain the environment. So, the planting trees process can be implemented by the employees and it maintains the workplace also. The company also believes to reduce wastes as much as possible. Reducing wastes can be effective to maintain the proper environmental nature. The company states the recycling process and reuse them. Some wastes can reuse properly after the recycling process. The company also believes to overcome every challenge by conducting a proper management process. These are the same processes to produce the proper environmental systems to conduct a proper business.

SEAT can be maintained by some activities and it can be valued by the different methods of the process. It can be helpful to conduct business in the international market. In the automobile industry, it is very much effective to conduct business properly. Some key components are there that can be helpful to conduct the business properly. The growth and innovation process can be properly contracted in various ways. It can be helpful to maintain the social value also by conducting the economical prospects also. There might be some innovative ideas that can be conducted in the international market value and maintain the business strategy. In various organizations, the shared value can be represented differently but the report can be impacted in some ways. There must be some societal benefits included in the shared value. So, it is very much important to conduct business in the international marketplace.

At last, in the conclusion part, the whole study is implemented through some processes. The car-sharing industry is increasing day by day and it can be impacted in various automobile industries. In the UK, the car-sharing industry can be implemented by using various technologies, methods etc. To conduct the analysis process properly, there are some theories and descriptions. To know the car-sharing industry properly, the five forces model can be described briefly in this study. Through this brief discussion, the idea of the car-sharing industry can be identified properly. After that, by conducting the value-chain method, the idea of the SEAT can be defined properly. Then there are some entry modes of the international market and lastly, it described the creating shared value. So, to conduct business in the international market, it is important to maintain the proper strategies of the business market.

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Akyelken, N., Givoni, M., Salo, M., Plepys, A., Judl, J., Anderton, K. and Koskela, S., 2018. The importance of institutions and policy settings for car sharing–Evidence from the UK, Israel, Sweden and Finland.  European Journal of Transport and Infrastructure Research ,  18 (4).

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Delivering A Successful International Assignment

• Anne Morris
• 9 October 2019

IN THIS SECTION

• 8 minute read
• Last updated: 9th October 2019

Organisations deploy personnel on international assignment for many reasons. Whether you are addressing an internal skills gaps, supporting leadership development or looking to improve working relations across borders, for any international assignment to be successful, there will be a multitude of legal, immigration, tax and pensions risks to manage when sending employees overseas.

This article covers:

International assignment objectives, international assignment structures, employment law.

• Immigration options 

Assignee remuneration

Professional support for international assignments.

Global mobility programmes have traditionally been developed with a uniform approach, driven largely by cost management and operational efficiencies. However, organisations are increasingly taking a more flexible and bespoke approach to overseas assignments in order to attain advantage in areas such as compliance and talent development and retention.

While a one-size-fits-all approach to the fundamentals of mobility management may be a commercial reality, overlaying this should be areas of specific consideration and capability that can be adapted to the specific needs and risks of each international assignment. This allows for greater focus on the assignment’s commercial objectives and the agility to respond to the organisation’s changing global mobility needs .

From the outset of any successful assignment project, there should be clarity of objectives. Why as an organisation is the decision being made to invest in sending an employee to perform services in a different country?

International assignments can offer value in many areas, many of which typically present in the longer-term.

Internal knowledge transfer is a common assignment objective to address talent or skills shortages within overseas regions. Deploying key talent with specialist knowledge and skills to train and upskill local team members can help to resolve local labour or skill supply issues. The cost/benefit analysis can explore potential missed opportunities or delays resulting from shortages in the local talent market.

International assignments are also highly effective in building relationships and improving intercultural working. This could be relationships within an organisation, with local clients and intermediaries or local authorities. Face to face interaction remains highly effective and valuable in building influence on the ground and can offer significant potential for advantage over competitors.

Beyond relationships, value is also created in the knowledge gained by assignees working overseas, from insight into local customs and culture, improved language capability and a general understanding of how business is ‘done’ within the region and helping to adapt organisational protocol to suit the local environment. Combined with the assignee’s existing market and organisational knowledge, they can offer a global perspective with local details, bringing considerable potential to build competitive differentiation.

With clarity of objective, you can then consider whether an international assignment is the most appropriate solution . Is it possible to hire or promote locally? Would multiple, shorter trips be as effective in performance terms but with lower cost implications? International assignments demand significant investment and it will be important to assess cost projections against expected return and value to the organisation.

As well as clarity of objectives, a successful international assignment also requires clarity of contractual terms, both to manage the expectations and understanding of the assignee, and also for the mobility team to identify support needs and potential risks. 

Now more than ever, organisations are developing portfolios of mobility programmes to enable an agile approach to global mobility that responds to the organisation’s changing needs for international personnel mobility. Assignments come in increasingly different shapes and sizes, from permanent relocations or temporary exchanges, secondments or transfers to a different region or to a different organisation.

While organisations demand greater flexibility and agility from their global mobility programmes, underpinning the activity should be an appropriate assignment structure with a supporting contractual agreement that enables compliance with regulatory and legal duties.

When considering which structure to adopt, organisations will need to consider a range of factors including the type of assignment and the relevant environmental context such as regulatory, immigration, employment law, tax, pension implications. 

For international assignments, where the employee is moving from the home country employer to a host country employer, the employer could consider a number of assignment structures, including:

• The employee continues to be employed solely by the home employer.
• The employment contract with the home employer is suspended for the duration of the assignment while the employee enters into a new employment contract with the host employer .
• The employment contract with the home employer is terminated with a promise of re-employment at the end of the assignment while the employee enters into a new employment contract with the host employer .
• The employment contract with the home employer is suspended and the employee enters into a contract with an international assignment company (IAC) within the employer group
• The employment contract with the home employer is suspended and the employee enters into a contract with both an IAC and the host country employer.
• The employee remains resident in the home country and works in a host country under a commuter assignment.  

Each type of assignment structure offers advantages and disadvantages which should be considered in light of the individual assignment. For example: 

• Do employment laws in the host country require the assignee to be employed by a local entity? 
• Would the assignee be agreeable to ending their home country contract and starting a new agreement with a new entity in the host country? 
• Are there terms in the home country contract that would need protecting in any new agreement, such as restrictive covenants? 
• Which jurisdiction would prevail, the host or home country? 
• How would local laws interpret a situation where there is no contract of employment with the employer in the host country? 
• Issues such as income and corporate tax, pension and employment rights and responsibilities will need to be identified and assessed against the specific assignment objectives and budget and the assignee profile and circumstances. 

Employment law implications come hand-in-hand with selecting an appropriate assignment structure.

Home-country employment contracts for employees on assignment from the UK to an overseas jurisdiction should generally be interpreted under the laws of England and Wales. If a host country contract is used, there should be specific provision in the agreement to determine which jurisdiction would prevail. However, neither position is guaranteed, for example where issues of domicile arise which may supersede any contractual provisions. Again the need is to assess on an individual assignment basis.

As well as explicit contractual considerations, employers should also be aware of any statutory rights or implied terms under UK law that may continue to apply even in the host country.

Specific provisions may also need to be made to ensure confidentiality and appropriate handling of commercial and sensitive information. While this may be standard or expected for senior employees, those on assignment should also be considered for such terms relevant to the type of assignment and the commercial objectives of the project.

Immigration options

Successful international assignments will invariably require careful consideration of the immigration requirements. Governments across the globe are adopting increasingly protectionist stances towards economic migrants, as policies seek to favour domestic workers. This means business travellers and visa holders are now facing greater scrutiny when applying for work visas and when trying to gain entry at the border. 

Visa options and criteria vary between countries and are subject to frequent change. Where permission is required for the assignee to work in the host country, it will be important to ensure the assignee applies for the most appropriate route to meet the assignment need, whether that is a work permit or a business visitor visa. The immigration requirements and options will be determined in most part by the rules of the home and host countries, the nationality of the assignee (and any of their dependants who will be joining them overseas) and the nature of the activities the assignee intends to perform during their time in the host country. 

For example, a British citizen may be eligible to travel to the US to attend sales meetings and work conferences for up to 90 days  without having to apply for a visa but to conduct ‘gainful employment’ they would need to look at a specific work visa, such as the L-1 visa for intracompany  transfers. 

A further factor will be the specific requirements of the visa or permit. Work visas, for example, may require sponsorship of the employee by a local entity with valid sponsor status. The application process for work visas are typically resource-intensive and in many cases will require the employer to provide compelling evidence as to why the role or work cannot be performed by a worker resident in the host country. 

Preparation will, therefore, be critical, ensuring there is sufficient time to consider the relevant immigration options in light of local rules, and to then make the required application. Complications may also arise where the employee does not meet certain requirements under the local rules, for example if they have a past criminal conviction or negative immigration record. This will require careful handling and, depending on the host country’s rules, may require submission of a visa waiver to explain the issue and provide assurances of the employee’s eligibility by requesting a discretionary decision on the application.

Relocation packages are typically the biggest expense associated with an international assignment. While cost control will remain a concern, it is important for employers to ensure they are offering packages that are competitive within the market and that the package will support both the commercial objective of the assignment and compliance with associated legal and tax risks.

Home-based packages remain common, including those which may be markedly above local market compensation levels, particularly in circumstanecs where the assignment need is business-critical.

It may be possible however to look at offering a lower package than the home-based option, by either localising the package to harmonise with host nation levels or to develop a ‘local-plus’ offering that maintains a degree of competition, but this can be challenging to apply consistently across all assignment types and locations.

Again, consideration should be given to the individual assignment and the assignee. Millennial workers for example are generally understood to value international experience and the remuneration package may not be their primary concern where the opportunity for overseas exposure is available.

For organisations with a substantial cohort of international assignees and travellers, it may be more appropriate to build a compensation scheme specifically for globally-mobile personnel.

Importantly, assignees who will remain under an employment contract in their home country may continue to be subject to home country payroll while on assignment. This will also enable pension and benefits to be offered in the same way through the home country. Taxation, however, raises more complex issues, for example where withholding rules apply in the host country. This will require specialist guidance to ensure tax liabilities in the home and host country are correctly managed and met withiin the appropriate timeframes.

International assignments are demanding on the employer and the employee, but have become critical given the business imperatives to meet talent and development needs and achieve competitive advantage . 

Employers should not lose sight of the need to understand the specific risks of each individual assignment, which increasingly demand bespoke solutions. While compliance , efficiencies and cost control should be underpinned by a solid global mobility infrastructure of policies, systems and procedures, the current shift is away from a uniform approach to assignment management, instead moving towards more agile management of each assignment, shaped by the specific assignment objectives, budget and risks in relation to immigration, tax, remuneration and employment law.

DavidsonMorris’ specialist global mobility consultants provide expert guidance to employers on all aspects of international assignments, from programme management and implementation to strategic consultancy to ensure value and return on the mobility investment. We understand the commercial drivers behind mobilising workers and the need to ensure compliance without impacting return on mobility investment.

We work with senior management teams, HR and mobility professionals to develop strategies that ensure effective compliance risk management while supporting delivery of the organisation’s global mobility objectives. For advice on making the most of international assignments, speak to us .

About DavidsonMorris

As employer solutions lawyers, DavidsonMorris offers a complete and cost-effective capability to meet employers’ needs across UK immigration and employment law, HR and global mobility .

Led by Anne Morris, one of the UK’s preeminent immigration lawyers, and with rankings in The Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners , we’re a multi-disciplinary team helping organisations to meet their people objectives, while reducing legal risk and nurturing workforce relations.

Contact DavidsonMorris

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Ch 12. Strategic HRM Management of International Assignments

2007, International Business

International managers constitute valuable resources that organizations do not always use to the best of their potential. Further, senior managers assigned to positions in foreign subsidiaries do not always live up to their bosses’ expectations. When they succeed in their international assignments, they often leave the organization upon returning to their country of origin. Organizations can reverse this trend by encouraging managers’ international mobility, through better planning of assignments, better recruitment and selection practices for international assignments, better pre-departure preparation, better performance management, and better management of the return of their international managers. The following challenges are associated with the strategic management of international assignments: • Assigning the right kind of international manager to the right position, at the right time • Designing international HR practices for balancing generic and local needs on the one hand, and control, coordination, and autonomy needs on the other • Establishing balance between global competitiveness and reactiveness to the local environment’s peculiarities • Identifying the needs for international personnel with a high degree of precision • Strategic management of international assignments and of international personnel at the lowest cost: what type of international employee must be chosen, and to fulfill which position? Which type of contract must be drafted? In the following sections, we will first look at the different approaches to international staffing, the reasons for using international assignments, and the different types of international employees. Then, we will propose a model for the strategic management of international assignments. Finally, we will look at the role played by women in the global arena.

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In the era of globalization business organizations do not confine themselves in one country .In order to explore new markets and opportunities, organizations expand their international operations. In managing subsidiaries across different countries, the approach to marketing, finance, operations, production and above all human resource management functions has to be tailored according to the local environment where the subsidiary has to operate. Organizations are not strategy, structures or systems rather they are about people. In order to survive and grow in international markets organizations adapt their HRM practices for successful execution of strategies. International human resource management is defined as 'the human resource management issues and problems arising from internationalization of business, and the human resource management strategies, policies and practices which firm pursue in response to the internationalization of business' (Scullion 1995). The field of international human resource management has been a focus of all business organizations and its importance will grow in the years to come. Multinational Companies (MNC'S) use three types of strategies for transfer of HR practices across different nations; Ethnocentric strategy uses same HR practices of parent company in host nations, Polycentric strategy employ local people as workforce and adapts the HR practices of host nation, Geocentric strategy only focuses on skills of the employee and adopts HR practices which are most effective and efficient irrespective of the nationality. All strategies have their pros and cons, they are applied as per the type of business, the strategy of the organization, the leadership, and the past experiences of the organization regarding different strategies. The international organizations can use culturally sensitive and adaptive HRM practices for creating competitive advantage in overseas operations. In attempt to explore new markets and opportunities multinational companies are adapting to HRM practices across different borders. Neha Tiwari 356

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Multinationals that are moving abroad for its subsidiary operation may use any one of the typology such as Global, Multi-domestic,Transnational, and International strategy in order to manage and maintain their business abroad. International staffing is a critical elementof the implementation of the four strategies for doing business globally. In staffing the international operation, the organization mayfollow one of the three staffing approaches or a combination of three approaches (PCN, HCN, TCN) depending on their domesticcircumstances and the life cycle of the MNC. In all the three staffing approaches (Ethnocentric, Polycentric, Geocentric) PCNs, HCNs andTCNs are used. But they will differ in relative proportions. There is little evidence in support of the utilization of HCNs and TCNs. Most ofthe research focused on expatriates (PCNs) than HCNs and TCNs. Therefore we want to explore on what situations multinationals useHCNs and TCNs. Further the study investigates the alignment b...

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Introduction - International Strategic Management And Innovation

Analysis of the macro-environment, analysis of the micro-environment and of competitive success factors, analysis of the business model and business strategy, analysis of innovation strategy.

• Appraisal of organisation’s strategic situation
• A structured comparison between Primark’s business strategy and the industry success factors

A VRIN analysis of the key resources and capabilities that have been identified within business model canvas

• An appraisal of Primark’s innovation strategy and the extent to which it fits with the firm’s strategic needs

Recommendations and justifications for Primark to achieve sustainable advantage after Covid

Get free samples written by our Top-Notch subject experts for taking online  assignment help  services.

 The International Strategic Management is referred as the implementation of objective; purpose etc by formulating the initiatives on behalf of the stakeholders and under the guidance of upper management for international expansion. Alongside, the word innovation refers to creation of something new on a continuous basis to add any new feature or product value. This report is based on understanding these two concepts in the clothing sector. The report is based on Primark Company, which is a subsidiary of Associated British Foods (ABF) and British food processing. It is one of the major retail groups having its operations in United States, Europe as well. It was founded in 1969 and this report is going to reflect upon the go over its businesses and innovation strategies before and after pandemic. It is going to reflect upon the macro environmental analysis and micro environmental analysis of the clothing industry. Further to this, it is also including a description on business model, business strategy and innovation strategy of this company. Lastly few recommendations will be included.

Clothing industries is one of the most potent industries across the globe. The ever-changing demand of clothing is driven by various factors including weather, demography, and fashion industry. The introduction of internet driven platforms has made it ever so dynamic and competent. In 2020, fashion clothing had a major presence in world economy with a mammoth figure of $1.5-3 trillion. Global CAGR projection of 2.5-5 % per year shows the true potential of the industry. This is the reason Textile industry is of first choice for the developing countries. Due to its global supply and demand the GDP of many developing countries is driven by it.

In order to maintain an uninterrupted supply and demand of the products globally, free trade agreement helps to develop an ecosystem for access to most of developed markets globally. This gives retailers an extra advantage to choose from ample choices for different stages of production. Due to geographical and economic conditions some countries have low cost raw material, some have low cost man power and some provide advanced technology like Hong Kong. They can choose special skills and material from different countries to produce best quality garment at the least cost (MacCarthy and Jayarathne, 2013). This puts several international retailers and brands at an advantage.

Retailers in global markets compete to provide the best quality products at lowest investment and at certain frame. Any deviation from the above three factors can risk the product line, especially when one has to be done at the cost of other. Some global factors such as 2020 COVID-19 pandemic can cause severe disruption. To mitigate the overall risk factor, Retailers have been opting for a dual source option. Turkey has emerged as a second option for retailers after china supply chain was largely affected due to 2020 pandemic.

In developing countries the working conditions and work ethics can be of concern and affect consumers adversely. The Rana Plaza disaster of 2013 was a wakeup call to improve the conditions. The sustainable apparel coalition formed in 2010 addresses the issues to provide better work place environment and monitoring.

Retail philosophy and strategy is driven by selling high volume of product at low margin. And with ever changing and growing fashion demands, the retail philosophy has an adverse effect on environment (Boström and Micheletti, 2016). Many brands has come forward to address the issue by utilizing recycled materials and recycled waste as commodities for their garment. One of prominent global brands, Puma launched its product line with recycled plastic waste in 2020. Whereas ,Uniqlo has gained popularity for its use of recycled material. Other brands and firms such as Ralph Lauren in London have taken initiative to make second hand apparel as part of their retail space.

Technology has played a big role in recent years for both manufacturing and marketing of garments. In Paris Autumn show 2015, 3D printing mechanism was explored and exhibited by an international brand named Chanel. Even with some technical challenges it holds promising future. Retail brands and firms can take sustainable route using advanced technology and incorporating recycled materials to control the environmental impact and to maintain profit margin.

Retail markets have shown a promising growth in past and will continue the trend. Study done by one of leading retailer in UK, Primark has shown4.2 % growth and operating profit of 8.3 % on Year on year basis for 2018-2019. It is a good example for new industries opting for low cost and quality goods as marketing strategy to transform into largest retailer in UK. The firm is also third largest in Europe and since 2015 it has started building its place in USA. Its business strategy largely relies on low cost to attract large section of consumers. This has proved successful as shown by profit margin of 12 % and return on capital employed of over 27% for the year 2019.

Since the suppliers are common for most competitors, low cost can reflect on the turnover. Its reported turnover was 40 % of its global competitors such as Nike, H&M ETC. With innovative shopping experience for its customers, Primark has shown multifold sales figures than its competitors such as H&M &Inditex in Europe. The Comprehensive approach by the firm has proved effective in making place in market, adding new consumers and expanding across regions at the same time keeping a check on competition.

One of the highlights of Primark strategy has been its product line in the market. In the retail market women’s fashion is considered the most crucial product line. Primark always kept in that competition while also maintaining men’s, women’s and children essential wears. It gradually started competing with big fashion brands by providing quality and trending product line at value for money price (Schilling and Shankar, 2019). It has provided a more sensible alternative for its customers. By incorporating the demands of fashion industry it has now been reputed as trendsetter in UK. Be it Daily mail in 2014, or the over view of retail analysts; all has applauded the approach of Primark as the new first choice for customers.

While Primark has made top place for itself in UK, it has also started establishing in US. It has continued its strategy of low pricing to tame the competition. In order to maintain supply and also to meet the ever changing fashion trends, Primark largely relies on micro environment. Unlike most of big brands that owns factories for assembling; it uses a more dynamic approach to meet the demands. It extensively depends on buyers and merchandisers internationally to identify and establish the product line for each region. With in-house team of designers along with a network of 1033 factories in over 30 countries,it caters the demands internationally. To accommodate the low prices it depends on advanced technology and a strong distribution system. Procuring cloths from near sources, Bulk orders and running factories in off season enables them to keep the prices attractive.

The business in Primark is driven by customer demand. The role of customer is not only that of a buyer but also the inspiration for product development. The product to be stocked and sold for each region is driven by the fashion sense of local consumers (Bocken and et.al., 2017). The evolving nature of fashion industry is also a potential opportunity for retail industry. Primark gradually tapped into fashion sensible customers by competing with the likes of ZARA and TopShop by introducing trendsetting product line. To make the product line appealing, the firm has used social media and influencers to reach out to diverse consumers. Primark has developed its stores to give its customers innovative shopping experience. Their stores are designed to give rich experience to buyers which also act as attraction for others. In Bermingham UK, Primark store is valued at £70m and this store attracts shoppers from as far as Scotland. This innovation helped them to convert browsers to potential buyer. Seeing the success, the firm plans to renovate its stores in four more cities to provide customers a good shopping experience.

Fashion product lines have to always go through the test of trends. Being a dynamic market there is always the threat of substitute products from competition taking over the market share. To tackle this Primark has heavily invested to fortify its distribution centers. It emphasizes on innovation at core of its strategy to counter any competition. The same was reflected in 2020 advertisement for new business development manager. Many competing firms have been investing in developing new materials like Uniqlo and Puma. Primark has developed a reliable product supply chain and it plans hold onto its strength for near future. Low cost, quality product, strong supply chain along with innovating ideas to attract potential shoppers, Primark has recorded highest sales per store in Europe.

This section is going to discuss about many models that help in maintaining the businesses and staying the customers. The quality standards and overall services shown by the employees of a company must be handled ethically without compromising the professional context. There are models such as Value proposition theory, Differentiation theory or the business model canvas

Value proposition theory

It is a holistic approach that values the customers and organization to make the right decisions for the overall success. The agenda is to make use of the allocated resources and flourish the skills, deliverables and other motivators. Here there could be three components such as the customer’s requirements or needs; company’s management services and the value addition to the product or market on the whole. It actually helps the company to be creative an articulate the value of brand and leads to customers engagement. There is a need to build a potential value of a brand and its products in a segment of customers. Moreover, it lays the foundation to make the brand know about its strengths, competitors’, revenues and other sections. The theory quantifies the products and addresses the pain points of a brand to solve them for their loyal clients (Yang, Evans, Vladimirova and Rana, 2017). Further it helps in assessing the processes, helps in optimizing it with respect to resources available and leads to forecasting as per demand-supply.

In regard to Primark, they know exactly the market dynamics and also the latest trends to suit their target customers all around the world. This theory has assisted in optimization of its resources including the distribution and supply chain processes. Nevertheless it led to a declarative phase that the true value of selling a product can be only experienced and not felt or seen. This strategic value proposition helped Primark to overpower their rival companies and make a difference in the market routes. It gradually made its stores reputed and award worthy that helped in gaining the right attention and generated business. This led to growth, possibilities, opportunities and developmental works for this company. The design team smartly made the replicas of the stuffs that were available in the market with its own spin. Such a move played in favour of them and the customers were calling them as trendsetting company.

Differentiation strategy

It is a theoretical strategy to make an approach to make the business successful and provide the services or products better than their competitors’. It has made the filtering process more wholesome and helped in differentiating wither the markets or products whichever is more feasible. It makes a heterogeneous execution of ideas or tactics to build the brand’s name valuable and profitable as well. It acts as a study of middle powers and makes assumptions in differentiating from the great powers and smaller powers (Brécard, 2014). Here the power could mean the actual authority in conducting a task on a big platform.

The Primark has been always known for its low pricing strategic decision. It comes under the differentiation strategy and helps in creating stores at different locations. The prime agenda was to build a loyalty and make a benchmark on its brand value. The fashion industry is changing every decade and the cycle of trends etc come in rotation. It played the triggering element for the buyers when taking a purchasing decision. Moreover, the brand and its stores keep reinventing that gives a fair chance to their clients as well. During pandemic, the shops etc were closed down that made the customers move to online, yet after lifting lockdown, the customers rushed to Primark stores and cover their losses. It is a suitable example to this strategy and helped in making a profit.

The business model canvas

The Business Model Canvas is an integrated framework used for strategic alliance and knowing about the strategies including 9 elements. It must be analysed thoroughly in order to assess the business environment of a company. The following 9 elements are explained as follows-

• Key activities are the actions to be conducted in order to fulfil the requirements’ of the customers and achieve the objectives. There are major three categories such as production, problem-solving and platform or network, which helps in making the organizational value propositions.
• Key resources include the possessions, funds, capitals and assets of a company. Mainly it consists of people, company’s management; finance like cash or credit line; intellectual resources including copyright, patents, IPR and tangible resources such as office block, equipment etc.
• Partner network are considered as the external agencies to assist, conduct and support in completing an activity or task. These could be a buyer- vendor relation or a joint venture, or cooperation, or strategic alliance.
• Value proposition reflects as the business’s building block for executing an idea at an organizational level. It leads the entire ideation into execution part by defining the elements and everything
• Customer segments are the division to categorically find the target audience for a specific product or service. It helps in making the product or service more visible to the marketer (Zott and Amit, 2013). Moreover, it is divided into demographics, geographic, social class, personalities and others. Such an analysis increases the chances of customers’ retention rate and also provides the services opportunities’.
• Channels are the communication platforms to market a product or convince a client or negotiate with a supplier. It is about making the customers more about the products, company’s success or the entire services they might be providing. Herein email marketing, cold calling or website or any other online medium to interact with the external elements.
• Customer relationships infer the client servicing that is a continuous process during the pre-sales, post sales until the delivery part. It is a complex procedure and could be personal based or community related or even elf service. Additionally it is transaction in nature for the overall development and growth of the company.
• Cost structures are the well defined numbers about the ongoing processes and daily activities of a company. The income statement can be one of the examples that assist in maintaining the expenditures on daily basis. This also includes labour costs, other maintenance expenses etc.
• Revenue streams are defined as the approximate sum that required for setting up the business or any company. It helps in laying a canvas to divined, check and analyse the complete expenditure and re-align the finance in flourishing the markets or business tactics.

In addition to the above, the strategic resources and capabilities, to analyse Primark’s strategy could be that their distribution facilities are compact and very resourceful. The employees know their jobs and help in easy execution of operational activities. The inventory management has always been one of its prime strong aspects that help in stocking and achieve the target revenues. Moreover, their ideology of selling as a low budgeted brand is fine until they want to be online. Their strong point is non dependency on one supplier and this is how they command over their margins. If a supplier is not competitive enough then they can go to some other supplier to maintain the low costs or targeted pricing. Nonetheless, the upper management is clear. Convinced and in sync with the motives and thus, when they still do not want to go online made some shareholders agitate. However, their confidence in their brand is making it unique and has a simplified structure. Its adoption of lean production and minimal advertising are another two features that helped in rise of this brand. The low margins were returned through high sales volume that easily made it profitable business segment.

The differentiated strategy has always proved in favour to the Primark’s innovation and marketing as well. The Associated British Foods (ABF) has published a report on this company’s business model and well-established its agenda of ‘quality, up-to-the-minute fashion at value-for-money prices’. After the year 2014, it has become a front runner in the retail sector as a trendsetter and is found to be cheaper than its rival companies like H&M and Forever 21. Their female clients are referring it as ‘Primani’ and have also expanded the products range including menswear, kids, footwear, lingerie, accessories and others. One of the key aspects of its products offering is the steady pricing, despite any fluctuations in the markets or rate of currency exchange. It has played an important role in attracting the right audience in the other markets as well, especially the United States. Its store openings in the US market made it clear that they were disrupting it on the basis of price when compared with brands like Target, H&M, Gap, Zara and many others. It has opened up the largest retail space in the Birmingham city in 2019 and simultaneously started the stores refurbishments. It made their sales enhanced as the layouts were made in such a way that the buyers end up buying unplanned stuffs and leaving the stores by overspending and casual purchasing.

One of the most innovative features was developed and termed as ‘snap and share’ where the customers could click pictures in any of the clothing by this retail company along with their music choice in the background. It is made possible by understanding the value proposition of this company, which can be easily applied using the business model canvas. It has assisted in making their followers on different social medial platforms such as instagram, pinterest, twitter etc. (Arriaga, Domingo and Silvente, 2017). Although they do not let their merchandise to be sold online but it is observed that some clothes were sold on e-bay. Moreover, the management has always focused on encouraging their roots of Irish background and helped in connecting with their clients. For this, one of their Boston Massachuetts store was nominated for the Retail Week’s Award in 2015. Despite huge investments in their store spacing, their uniqueness lies in making it look as a classic store as well as giving keen choices to make their customers look stylish.

In regard to sources of innovation for Primark, then it would be the use of social media platforms, the design layouts of its stores and the program for promoting the sustainable cotton are few of the sources to be considered. The major agenda is in seeking to these so that its fostering can be done. After the lockdown due to the global pandemic, the management of this company is now focusing on new areas of activities such as vending, third party operations and also quantifying the customisation with experiential leanings (Wigley and et.al., 2012). For this, they have been consistently trying in bringing something unique to the high end fashion street into something more common and easy to use in daily lives. The company stands as a retail company which is in love with fashion and passionately serving their customers. Their target audience are mostly twenty somethings and it helped them grow amongst the rival companies who were known for high pricing and more durability. Although it was clear that Primark is now looking forward to collaborations in the fashion industry. Similarly, they made an association with ASOS but could not convert it due to incompatibility, late shipping schedules, return or exchange policy etc.

Further to the above pointers, their website has always been engaging and smells of innovation that made the customers feel excited and eager to purchase the merchandising. The variety and wide range of portfolios help in fetching the right attention. Their detailed sections on the complete products list and their pricing with images have also caught the attention of the prospective buyers. After pandemic, the company is focusing on adding sustainability based aspects to gain more attention such as use of recyclable materials and plastic waste as well. Their survival is because of unique combined efforts shown at both external and internal levels. The stores are in sync with the purchasing, logistics and inventory departments that help in keeping a track and maintain the numbers. The competencies that Primark have shown in selling the goods and other relatable accessories are very innovative and engaging as well. The customers can buy high street and affordable fashion clothes and later still can buy stuffs that are not easy tp buy when going to any other retail cpmpany in the United Kingdom, pr any established market like US or Belgium.

Appraisal of organisation’s strategic situation

A structured comparison between primark’s business strategy and the industry success factors.

Therefore the clothing sector and Primark might have different agendas but sustainability is the common goal to attain and flourish their businesses. Despite many claims, the clothing sector is reviving itself from time to time and similarly Primark have become a trendsetter by giving designs at low pricing. That has become its USP and made the clients believe in fast fashion and easy purchasing.

The VRIN analysis has a firm sustained competitive advantage in Primark. The key resources and capabilities are almost similar when compared with other retail companies all around the world. Before understanding that, the VRIN stands for value, rareness, imitation and substitution risks and non substitutable. Here the Primark has successfully justified the N by making their brand as one way stop. Their rival companies are unable to match Primark’s competencies in the form of differentiation strategy and making its stores as one of its kind. In addition, they were unable to find solutions in order to have any competitive advantages or alterative solutions (Ortega and Okechukwu, 2017). Likewise, the sentiments that were associated with this label had changed amongst the customers of United Kingdom and now it is regarded as one of the significant brands that are now on the fashion pages.

Furthermore, the nine elements of the business model canvas is a more comprehensive model and the value propositions that are identified here are the channels and customer segments. Primark never is going to be online and especially after pandemic, their reluctance is till saying a lot about their perspectives in attaining the sustainability. The value retiling of this company is well established and have successfully opened many stores in many other major cities of Europe. The agility that it has exhibited is remarkable and helped in overcoming the challenges of the market environment. Customer segmentation is also well defined at Primark that claims that it is now a trendsetter and soon after lockdown restrictions were uplifted, the brand has easily received the losses they faced during 2020. The middle class women were the prime targets that helped in getting Primark in the lines with Zara or H&M. their designs, affordability and stylish clothing made it as one of the products to ascertain with.

An appraisal of Primark’s innovation strategy and the extent to which it fits with the firm’s strategic needs

Primark is always known for its low strategy in pricing and giving stylish alternatives that resemble to the high street fashion of the UK. Their operations included computer based customs clearance that is very appealing for importing and also have defined facilities for distribution and storage purposes. The innovation strategy that is laid after 2020 is presenting a business plans for leveraging on relevant pop-up opportunities. Their focus is on taking ownership in making some changes and giving solution to problems concerning the business. Here there is an extensive network of partners and key influencers, which could make their presence more prominent and gain the upcoming prospective clients (Duff, 2017). Primarily the aim is to establish partnerships and put some focus in customers’ engagement for longer run.

In regard to innovation, Primark has brought improvisations in almost all the sections of their operations management. This is how they rapidly expanded and reached approximately ore than thousand stores now in all the prime cities of the world. The relationship building is crucial for the management to sustain both the existing and new relations. The revenue streams were optimising and whatever losses they incurred due to corona virus, they managed to recover during Christmas 2020. Overall, the operational standards, quality services, financial performance and robust customer services are helping them to be considered among the top players and regain the customers’ credibility. The innovation here is to be the original fast fashion in house and manage the profits with the same amount of productivity without any compromises. Additionally, it is seen as an ability to demonstrate a sound knowledge of wider business factors for better chances of success and profitability in the markets.

It is important for the management to make some changes and help the company to become more environmental friendly. They can easily associate themselves with many other companies who are providing the right materials, or fibres in manufacturing breathable clothes. Its legacy has helped it to easily regain the losses that they incurred while following the lockdown. The loyal customers flooded its stores and thus, they must leverage this fact and make its products more appealing. It could be easily achieve by collaborating with small businesses to generate revenues and also fulfil the corporate social responsibility.

Moreover, the management’s firm decision of not going online has led to many complaints but it has made this brand to be more aware in achieving the attention through use of social media platforms (Aileni, Chiriac, Surdu and Radulescu, 2020). The company can easily make their customers know about their plans and ask them to donate or raise funds. Such an activity would lead in helping the society and the surroundings on the whole. Another suggestion could be to join hands with some non-profit organizations working in the clothing industry. It would help them source the raw materials quicker than expected. With pandemic many companies are now trying to bring clothes that are germ free and infection prone. The design team at this retail company can make use of it and try to incorporate it in their next fashion segment.

It is summed up that the clothing industry is going to flourish for many decades and now the focus is shifted to be more sustainable and environmental friendly. There are many examples in the recent times that showed that brands are re-focusing on recycling materials or use of natural fibres and plastic waste as well. In addition to these, Primark’s strategies have been vividly discussed its strategies, market dynamics and the tactics that were adopted despite the pandemic and losses when the lockdown was enforced. There are few recommendations and majorly, it has focused on knowing the factors that helped in surviving the cut throat competition thrown at this company’s face. It shed light that it is important to know that clothes are commodities that make the clients happy, self worthy and valuable. Therefore the innovation at this company is also directing to cotton usage and making the stores more contemporary for good make feel emotion intact. Thus, Primark has successfully marked its presence on all he levels including local, national and international levels.

Aileni, R.M., Chiriac, L., Surdu, L. and Radulescu, R.I., 2020. Field research and methodologies for textile industry innovation in the context of European economy.  Industria Textila ,  71 (1), pp.12-16.

Arriaga, J.L.D.O., Domingo, D.A. and Silvente, V.B., 2017. Facebook in the low-cost fashion sector: the case of Primark.  Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management: An International Journal .

Bocken, N.M., Miller, K., Holgado, M., Weissbrod, I. and Evans, S., 2017. Business model experimentation for circularity: Driving sustainability in a large international clothing retailer.  Business model experimentation for circularity: driving sustainability in a large international clothing retailer , pp.85-122.

Boström, M. and Micheletti, M., 2016. Introducing the sustainability challenge of textiles and clothing.  Journal of Consumer Policy ,  39 (4), pp.367-375.

Brécard, D., 2014. Consumer confusion over the profusion of eco-labels: Lessons from a double differentiation model.  Resource and energy economics ,  37 , pp.64-84.

Duff, K., 2017.  An investigation into how the Primark brand use social media to influence the buying behaviour of Irish female customers  (Doctoral dissertation, Dublin, National College of Ireland).

Dutot, V., Galvez, E.L. and Versailles, D.W., 2016. CSR communications strategies through social media and influence on e-reputation.  Management decision .

Jacobs, B.W. and Singhal, V.R., 2017. The effect of the Rana Plaza disaster on shareholder wealth of retailers: Implications for sourcing strategies and supply chain governance.  Journal of Operations Management ,  49 , pp.52-66.

MacCarthy, B.L. and Jayarathne, P.G.S.A., 2013. Supply network structures in the international clothing industry: differences across retailer types.  International Journal of Operations & Production Management .

Ortega, A.M.G. and Okechukwu, C.U.U., 2017. Strategic means to launch business-Primark in Denmark.

Schilling, M.A. and Shankar, R., 2019.  Strategic management of technological innovation . McGraw-Hill Education.

Wigley, S.M., Sinha, P., Goworek, H., Fisher, T., Cooper, T., Woodward, S. and Hiller, A., 2012. The sustainable clothing market: an evaluation of potential strategies for UK retailers.  International journal of retail & distribution management .

Yang, M., Evans, S., Vladimirova, D. and Rana, P., 2017. Value uncaptured perspective for sustainable business model innovation.  Journal of Cleaner Production ,  140 , pp.1794-1804.

Zott, C. and Amit, R., 2013. The business model: A theoretically anchored robust construct for strategic analysis.  Strategic organization ,  11 (4), pp.403-411.

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