ISYS40141 Global Business Management Assignment Sample
Question 1
According to the world economic forum, there are a number of factors that is involved in the determination of the country’s competitiveness to a great extent. Innovation capability is one of the important factors as creative leadership and management styles has become one of the major aspects of the organizational processes of businesses nowadays that is vital to note. Without creativity or innovations in the different parts and departments of the business, an organization cannot thrive in the today’s world with such close competitions. And that is why, innovation capability of the country and its various sectors becomes vital (Cheba and Szopik-Depczyńska, 2017). The size and territories of the markets, the culture and the regulatory policies is another important factor that determines the competitiveness. And hence market is another vital pillar. The financial system is also critical a pillar as the investment, procurement and the supply chain structures should be strong and secure transaction portals and financial planning. The qualifications and the talents in the labor markets marks its efficiency and that is why, this is another very cardinal pillar, as given by the world economic forum. Next, the product market is critical to understand and forecast the sales and performance of the product or brand throughout the product’s life cycle that is vital to note. The skill sets, abilities, talents and the health of the public or rather the people from the labor market is critical to sustainability and progression of the businesses in the country and that is why, these two are the major factors involved as the pillars as well (Murugan, Sai and Lin, 2017). Macroeconomic stability is affected by a number of factors such as cultural, political, and social factors and this is surely driven and blocking the progress and competitiveness of the country and that is why, an important pillar too. Technology leadership or information and communication technology adoption is very critical for the development and competitiveness of the country. Next infrastructure development as well as institutional developments are vital for the through administration of the management processes in the country and that is why, there are vital. Although these pillars continue to exist, it is very important that the enhancers to the same are also determined and in here, the country of United Kingdom has been chosen.
According to the world economic forum, there are a number of factors that is involved in the determination of the country’s competitiveness to a great extent. Innovation capability is one of the important factors as creative leadership and management styles has become one of the major aspects of the organizational processes of businesses nowadays that is vital to note. Without creativity or innovations in the different parts and departments of the business, an organization cannot thrive in the today’s world with such close competitions. And that is why, innovation capability of the country and its various sectors becomes vital (Cheba and Szopik-Depczyńska, 2017). The size and territories of the markets, the culture and the regulatory policies is another important factor that determines the competitiveness. And hence market is another vital pillar. The financial system is also critical a pillar as the investment, procurement and the supply chain structures should be strong and secure transaction portals and financial planning. The qualifications and the talents in the labor markets marks its efficiency and that is why, this is another very cardinal pillar, as given by the world economic forum. Next, the product market is critical to understand and forecast the sales and performance of the product or brand throughout the product’s life cycle that is vital to note. Various factors affects the competitive scenario. The skill sets and the health of the public or rather the people from the labor market is critical to sustainability and progression of the businesses in the country and that is why, these two are the major factors involved as the pillars as well (Murugan, Sai and Lin, 2017). Macroeconomic stability is affected by a number of factors such as cultural, political, and social factors and this is surely driven and blocking the progress and competitiveness of the country and that is why, an important pillar too. Technology leadership or information and communication technology adoption is very critical for the development and competitiveness of the country. Next infrastructure development as well as institutional developments are vital for the through administration of the management processes in the country and that is why, there are vital. Although these pillars continue to exist, it is very important that the enhancers to the same are also determined and in here, the country of United Kingdom has been chosen.
As for higher education plus training, United Kingdom is one of the powerhouses in terms of educational opportunities being provided to students across the world. And as the postgraduate and graduate level study’s quality is very high in the country – there are thousands of applicants from all over the globe applying for their higher studies in England. As per the statistics, the total number of the students undertaking higher education in the country is about 2.53 million, and about fifty percent of people between the age of thirty and thirty-fours in the country have a higher degree and training from the country itself which shows the high quality (Frimpong et al. 2017). As per the data, about seven hundred and twenty-nine thousand applicants were reported to apply for the higher training and studies in the United Kingdom that is one of the highest in global statistics. Hence, as almost half of the population is highly educated in the active working age group, the pillars of the competitiveness are enhanced.
Labor markets in the country of United Kingdom is also highly skilled and they have the right qualifications and the right opportunities to work in the various academic and the industrial sectors of the country that is vital to note. As per the 2021 reports, the formal employment rate is as high as 75.3 percent showing the market influences and the progressive indications towards a strong economy (Farinha et al. 2018). The rate of unemployment is as low as 4.5 percent and as per the trends coming up every year, the numbers are falling every year, thus showing the bettering economy of the country and more employment options. After the pandemic, the vacancies numbers have been estimated to be about 1,102,000 which has set a record of all time high in the recent years and this enhancer is surely one of the most critical for the country.
The financial markets in the United Kingdom have been reported by many to be very self-contained, sustained as well as stable and secure. These markets in the chosen country is seen as ‘developed’ just like other developed countries of the world and this is what helps the large competitions of the country in various sectors, with others. In the world equity index, its market value has been estimated to be about 4.1 percent and the total and total capitalization value inclusive of all organization has been found to be around 4.55tr Great Britain Pounds (Murugan, Sai and Lin, 2017).
The technology readiness that is the use of the information and communication technology is advanced and high in the country and with big global brands coming from the United Kingdom originated multinational companies like Unilever, Vodafone and others, the technology leadership has been very competitive on the global level. Currently, the technology readiness of the country is so good and og high quality that on the network readiness index, it ranked about tenth amongst as much as one hundred and thirty-four countries of the world that is vital to understand ((Lopez-Leyva and Mungaray-Moctezuma, 2017). One in Europe, the rank is about 8th and because of its developed economy and strong business standpoints, the technology integrations are becoming only better by the years. In terms of the best indicators, in terms of open data and e-commerce legislation and cybersecurity, its ranks 1 and these shows the areas, the country here is excelling at, in terms of the technology readiness that is important to understand. But in terms of financial applications, it ranks 28 which shows the lag in securing these areas, digitally and this has to be improved greatly. In terms of products and consumer access though, the rank is 4 which shows the development done in the recent years, with respect to the technology infrastructure.
Figure – 12 pillars of competitiveness
Question 3
For the Porter’s 5 forces analysis, the British multinational company Unilever has been chosen here. The company has been expanding over the world since in the twentieth century and there are various market forces that it faced in different countries that it was able to withstand in a major way and manner. But with the changing times and shifts in the global economy and political powers as well – a great deal of modifications and alterations are done with respect to the market forces that are intricately studied in the Porter’s five forces analysis (Ullah, 2021). And it is to be noted that the microeconomic and the macroeconomic changes of the company are also very critical with respect to the shift and change in the market forces, with which a company must strategize and align itself, to sustain itself to a great extent. The company Unilever has over four hundred brands and most of the brands being global, they do business from all corners of the world. And one of the most profitable line of products for the company are the personal care and the beauty products. Dove and Axe as well as the Cinthol are some of the important brands that have been quite profitable for the company and there are one of the most personal care brands all over the world. With Dove dealing with both the women and the men market segments, that porter’s analysis has been done chiefly with respect to this line of product, by Unilever corporation.
In terms of the threats that are or can be caused by the new entrants in the market, it is important to understand that a big multinational company like Unilever with established brands and product line such as those mentioned above – has a strong brand image (Shaikat, 2020). That is why, the threats from the new companies or new market players such as small and medium size companies are relatively low as because Unilever’s strategy is based on cost leadership, this increases the market base and accessibility of lot of consumer segments from many different economies and populations and that is why, the new entrants cannot provide much threat to the company. And that is why, it is critical to note that with respect to this market force, it is also to be considered that the entry costs are also high in this food and manufactured consumer goods segments that includes investments, prices, and volumes. And these factors become barriers to the new entries.
As per the bargaining power of consumers, there are other companies like Proctor and Gamble and Colgate –Palmolive that produces similar line of products like the Unilever and these presents as options to customers from across the world. But the cost leadership approach of the company allows the business of Unilever in prosperous way but when it comes to Dove, it is slightly high priced as compared to the other products in this product line (Putri and Fadilla, 2021). Because of this, the chances of substitution are quite high, and the clients have been reported to be switching to many low-cost beauty shop brands. Thus, with respect to this product line and segment, the bargaining power is high, with respect to the customers which is an important observation.
This naturally makes the other force, that is the threat of substitution even more high because of the same reason as mentioned above. The other multinational companies from the same country of origin or other host countries who have the similar low-cost, line of products in the food and manufactured good segment are major competitors to Unilever (Lieu et al. 2020). And consumer buying behaviors becoming more variant, experimental as well as flexible nowadays due to more advertisement and accessibility nowadays, the risk or the force of the substitution threat is quite high for Unilever’s line of products. This is also having a negative influence on consumer loyalty as well as sales performance of these personal care products in the market that is important to understand. Thus, this threat is quite high as well.
With respect to the suppliers, the bargaining powers are also very critical to understand which is low. This is because of the strong stakeholder management and supplier relation policies of Unilever are very strong and local suppliers are used for the manufacturing processes that is an important factor attributing here – to a great extent as well.
However, with respect to final and the most critical market force, that is the rivalry with the competitors with the companies such as the Proctor and Gamble as well as Colgate Palmolive are very high (Kpoku, 2021). The other companies when from the local markets are using strategies like marketing, branding and digital advertisements to sell their products to different segments that is important to understand as well. Substitution being a major threat and other companies taking up niche, market diversification strategies – the intensity of this rivalry factor is also quite high.
Figure – Competitors of Unilever (note personal care and beauty)
Question 5
As for the positive, the Hong Kong Disney theme park, the numbers of visitors are increasing by 1 to 1.4 million and on an average, the theme park is experiencing as much as ten million visitors that is critically high (Banh, 2019). As the area is not very huge, the tourists and the travelers as well as the locals finds it comfortable to visit the place more than once a year and cover the area in one day. The Mystic manor is one of the important attractions of the Disney theme park in Hong Kong that attracts people in large numbers. It has created thousands of jobs for local communities that is also a positive.
Increasing operating costs and fast rates of the asset depreciations were the major two negatives faced by the company. The negative about the Disney theme park in Hong Kong failed in many and multiple ways. The government of Hong Kong decided not to be renewing the contract of the Disney’s theme park and the plot of land where it was to expand was lost. And on the economic grounds as well, the loss faced by Walt Disney in the country was about $342 million which is an aggregation of losses over many years. During the Covid 19, as much as 1.4 billion in Hong Kong Dollars was lost that led to serious troubles for the operations of the company that is important to understand. The Walt Disney company started the theme park in the year of 2005 in Hong Kong and only in the years of 2012, 2013 and 2014 – the company saw a profit for this park and all the rest of the years, suffered from losses which are major negatives.
Figure – Statistical representation of the earnings made over the years
Question 6
According to the five dimensions of culture given by Hofstede, the ways the two cultures are similar are – masculinity and uncertainty avoidance (Yan, 2017). With respect to the culture, both have policies of equality still the certain jobs are pretty much demarcated for the men and the women although cross overs are happening nowadays.
The major point of difference is that United States have anindividualistic culture while India has a collectivist culture (strong family value, kinship, and group behaviors). The country United States have long term orientations while the other have mostly short-term goal settings in the community plus industrial settings (Beugelsdijk and Welzel, 2018). Sustainability is still a problem in the latter. In India, with respect to power distance, the major problem is still hierarchy in the corporate and the administration systems while in the States, egalitarianism is followed in true sense, stressing on equity. In terms of avoidance of uncertainty, the informed and evidence-basedpractices are more followed in United states as compared to the other.
The factors or the differences that can impact the business between the two countries are the culture value differences such as whether to follow individualistic or collectivist culture and whether it should be hierarchical blocks or equality (Bissessar, 2018). This can result in operational and company culture barriers as well as disruptions in industrial and community sectors of the country.
Fig: 5 dimensions of culture
Question 16
UNITED KINGDOM
With respect to the impact of the global crisis of Pandemic COVID 19, there has been devastating effects on the economy of many countries, around the globe. As per the government reports generated, the Gross domestic product that is the GDP of United Kingdom fell below the original mark by 6.3 percent since the inception of severe COVID crisis in March 2020 which is important a figure to be noted. And the economy was so much affected that this fall in the Gross domestic product was maintained till the month of November, and it was only in as late as December, the GDP saw an increase by 1.2 percent in the country of United Kingdom (Ansari, Khan & Singh, 2021). In the United States economy, the covid impact resulted in loss of jobs which was as much as 20.5 million. In China, the value chains as well as the export-import businesses were seriously impacted causing the problems at the economic levels.
ASEAN COUNTRIES
Travelling bans, lockdowns as well as the recession issues were the major issues with respect to the ASEAN (that is the very Association of Southeast Asian Nations) economy (Suet al. 2021). The tourism industry and the international routes was affected the most.
MINT COUNTRIES
With respect to Turkey, Nigeria, Indonesia, and Mexico that forms the MINT countries – the effect of COVID 19 was severe as well. These countries were fighting hard for many decades to reduce the poverty issues but due to the COVID crisis – the rate of poverty was increased again – which is a socioeconomic issue (GokandMehmetcik, 2021). The GDP fell by 8. 3 percent in the country of Mexico that is vital to understand. In Nigeria, the GDP fell by 6.1% and it was reported that as much as about twenty seven percent of population became unemployed. In Turkey, the political instability was increased during this Covid crisis, impacting the economy. In Indonesia, the problems of the poverty increased.
BRICS COUNTRIES
With respect to the BRICS countries, the rate of unemployment, GDP lowering as well as the business interactions were also decreased to a great deal during to the COVID 19 crisis that is important to understand (Siddiqui et al. 2020). Nearly fifty percent of the staffs in these countries of the group lost the jobs during second half of 2020 and this impacted on the economic growth and development of these countries negatively.
The economy of India, fell by 7.3 -7.8 percent which is quite high given its position amongst the emergent economies of the world.
With respect to the European Union, the decline in the Gross domestic product was about the 6.1 percent (about 4.8 percent according to other reports).
The variation between the United Kingdom fall in GDP and the country of origin is only of 1 percent but given the country’s economic gaps and the population gaps, every percent is critically severe. In India, the loss of jobs and the unemployment rates were much higher as compared to the United Kingdom and this is majorly because of one serious factor – technology leadership. Rich workforce with skills and labor markets which are technologically qualified in the United Kingdom is one of the strongest features that allowed them to shift easily to virtual, work from home and remote working settings (Wang, Zhang and Xi, 2021). And neither the technology leadership is there in India, nor the workforce has the technical skills with respect to information and communication technology that led to serious gaps with United Kingdom. The rate of the unemployment increased more in India and the productivity fell and so the economy at a higher rate than the United Kingdom. The value chains are impacted by the internal and the external processes and the supply chains are impacted by the costs attached with the suppliers, warehouses, retailers, wholesalers, and the clients and both were more affected with respect to India. This is again due to lack of enterprise resource management technologies and the skills required to use these advanced informational technology resources. With respect to the technology and the operations, marketing and sales, the digital spaces and the remote working became mandatory in the covid period but lack of labor’s skills to work these systems impacted on the income and productivity of the country in major ways. A total of 17 to 18 million people lost jobs during the Covid waves in India that is vital to note while in United Kingdom, about 7 million of jobs were at risk but still there was support.
Figure – approximate decline from projected GDPs in pre-pandemic era
References
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