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Lecture IV

Explore challenges in international strategic planning for MNCs, including host government relationships, competition, and strategic orientation. Discover approaches to navigate complexities and build worldwide advantage.

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Lecture IV

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  1. Lecture IV International Strategic Planning (chs. 3 and 5)

  2. What complicates MNCs’ strategic planning? - Strategy formulation process – SWOT analysis – international environmental forces –global competitive environment and the host government 1. Host government relationship 2. Competition

  3. Host government relationship • Conflicts between developing countries and MNCs: MNCs’ size, control, flexibility, and efficiency

  4. Host government relationship (Contd..) Allegations against MNCs activities– • Technology transfer (prices too high, sales too restricted), • MNCs’ ethnocentrism perpetuates a neocolonial dependence of LDCs, • MNCs introduce superfluous products, • MNCs’ transfer pricing, • Best jobs given to expatriates, local labor at a disadvantage

  5. Host government relationship (Contd..) B. Host Governments’ bargaining power C.MNCs’ negotiation methods • Policy approach • Centralized approach • Diffuse approach • Coordinated approach

  6. Competition • Global competitive environment of the industry (industry drives strategy) • Other MNCs • Domestic industries (Keiretsu ) • SOEs

  7. MNEs’ International Strategy [text, ch. 3] Levit [1983]: product standardization Hout, Porter, and Rudden [1982]: economies of scale through global volume, synergies across different activities Hamel and Prahalad [1985]: broad product portfolio to share MNCs’ infrastructure and capabilities

  8. MNEs’ International Strategy (Contd..) 1. The Goals (of international operations) Global efficiency (p. 199, figure 3-1) Multinational flexibility/responsiveness Worldwide learning 2. The Means • National differences • Scale economies • Scope economies (p. 202,table 3-1) 3. Building blocks of worldwide advantage (p.203, table 3-2)

  9. (Bartlett and Ghoshal’s Organizational Topology) BG Permultter Example Polycentric Multinational Ethnocentric International Global Centocentric Transnational Geocentric MNCs’ Strategic Orientation

  10. MNCs’ Strategic Orientation (Contd..) Between the two extremes of highly centralized, centocentric/global (standardization, global integration, efficiency, economies of scale…) and decentralized, multinational (host country focus, effectiveness…) strategies, there lies a possibility of combining the features of the two to better respond to the situation.

  11. MNCs’ Strategic Orientation (Contd..) (p.211, BG) “excentralization”? -decentralization? No. Certain resources may be concentrated but not necessarily at home. J. S. Lublin, “Firms Ship Unit Headquarters Abroad,” WSJ, B1, 12-9-92

  12. What an MNE needs to do to build worldwide advantage? - p.206, table 3-3.

  13. Responding to the strategic challenges - by (pp. 206 - 209) • Defending its worldwide dominance • Challenging the global leader • Protecting domestic niches

  14. EPCG and MNE’s Strategy / Structure(slides 14-18) • Empirical tests of the structural and strategic characteristics of firms have mostly failed to establish significant relationships between a geocentric mindset and companies’ strategic orientation and structures.

  15. EPCG and MNC’s Strategy / Structure (Contd..) • S. J. Kobrin, “Is there a Geocentric Mindset and Multinational strategy?”, Journal of InternationalBusiness Studies, Fall, 1994 --- Results of the study may help to explain business strategies of Hi-tech companies --- The cases of Google, Yahoo and Microsoft (MSN in China)

  16. EPCG and MNC’s Strategy / Structure (Contd..) • In Kobrin’s study, an index of a geocentric mindset is found to correlate with geographic scope and various aspects of IHRM policy and practice, but no relationship is found with measures of MNCs’ strategy or structure. • Also, Kobin’s “speculative hypothesis” about the development of a geocentric mindset may relate to the information or knowledge intensity of the firm rather than its position on the strategic continuum.

  17. MNE’s Strategy and Industry Characteristics Product requirements and Market requirements (distribution channels, and Service needs/expectations) Product and market requirements are influenced by market forces or dictated by the host government. Operational requirements – economies of scale, investment requirements in R&D, manufacturing facilities…etc. The interaction between these two dimensions dictates MNE’s strategic direction

  18. Product/Market Requirements Global (Automobiles, Electronics) Transnational ? Global Multinational (Detergent) Operational Requirements MNE’s Strategy and Industry Characteristics (Contd..) National National Global

  19. The Worldwide Learning Challenge(ch.5,pp. 456-457) • MNE’s Learning Processes • Center-for-global (market insensitivity) • Local-for-local (duplication, inefficiency) • Transnational Innovation • Locally leveraged (“not-invented-here” syndrome) • Globally linked (high coordination cost)

  20. Strategic Implication of Cultural Differences • Cultural forces impact the interpretation of the environment, and therefore affect strategy formulation.  • Cultural differences in understanding our relationship with • The environment • Other people “Conformity”– US and Japanese interpretations

  21. The American concept of profit maximization? Charles Handy, The Age of Paradox, 1995 Charles Handy, Beyond Capitalism: A Quest for Purpose in the Modern World”, 1999 SRC (Self Reference Criterion)

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