This article introduced three strategies of globalization business and analyzed the relations among them; then offers some essential decisive-related questions for strategy scheme and decision making; and at last summarizes some issues for executives to think about.
The globalization directly affects the competitive situation of the world, it is necessary to make good use of strategies and reduce risks in order to establish and lift the power of business competition.
Because competition is emerging in very much different markets, today's businesses are forced to be globalized in non-traditional ways. Before enterprises make a presence in markets just so that they know what competitors in that market are doing and use it as a window to look into new trends and new competitive strategies. These are just some of the reasons that require businesses today to have a global mindset-it is an essential factor for survival.
Followed are three strategies for globalization business.
The first is to adjust measures according to local conditions of target area, and it's the essence of all global business strategies. There are differences in terms of costs for different raw materials, labor power, working skills, and institutional infrastructures. The decision makers with a global perspective, have to recognize the differences across countries and account for them in the strategic decisions. Those decisions may have to do with customers, raw materials, manufacturing, capital funds, market capacity or any of the dimensions on which strategic plans are made. Thus, a company in a labor-intensive business that fails to account for labor cost differentials across countries.
On the contrast, the second strategy is to fully use the similarities across countries. Because there are significant similarities, it means that products, skills and investments that are made or developed for one market have the potential to be leveraged in multiple geographic markets. The similarities imply that a product created or developed in some market can be sold in another market without having to be reinvented. What that enables a business to do, for example, is to use its research and development dollars by selling a proven product from one market, usually the company's home market, to different countries. This advantage is particularly significant in businesses like pharmaceuticals that are research and development intensive.
The above two strategies of similarities and differences across markets are not opposite ends of one scale. Rather, they are complementary dimensions and should both be leveraged. An executive needs to ask what the similarities and differences are across markets. It then becomes a matter of strategic choice whether to exploit similarities first or differences first or both simultaneously, in order to take advantages of the global potential that lies inherent in each business.
The third of globalization business strategy is about the fundamental choices. Typically, these decisions involve four considerations: operations and costs; customers and markets; competition; government policies. Does the product have a committed champion? Can a product sold in multiple markets increase competitive advantage in home market? Are the competitors in that particular market already global and therefore, does the company needs to have a presence in multiple markets to be able to defend against the competitors? Sometimes, answering these questions in the context of a company's organization is as much an administrative as an economic and strategic process.
Ultimately, an executive must make sure that the company has a presence in multiple markets and view it like a global game of chess. He must coordinate competitive moves across countries; consciously decide in which country to launch a product, where the global competitors are strongest, where the cost structure is lowest, and where the business is likely to get the quickest market feedback. Then he must decide how to launch the product in other markets and how to manage pricing in multiple markets. It is the global chess game rather than individual market share games being played in local area. Unless all elements fit together, it is difficult to develop the competitive global business.
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