International Business Ventures Essay. Measuring a potential business venture has many aspects that the international manager must be aware of to convey the correct information to the decision-makers.
Being ignorant of any aspect can lead to a false representation of the project and an uninformed decision. For a business to survive, it must grow. To optimize growth, management must identify the most attractive prospective leads. The country as a whole, including geography, government, and financial aspects, must be considered to yield the best possible picture of the market a company wishes to enter.
Concentration should be placed on gathering reliable facts backed up by more than one source. It is hoped that after creating a picture of the market, management’s analysis of the potential business venture and plan of action will be structured to avoid losses and find the most profitable scenarios. The success of the multinational corporation lies on the shoulders of its management. International management and organization-design expert Henry Mintzenberg says every CEO has three essential duties: direct supervision, development of the organization’s strategy, and management of the organization’s boundary conditions. Top management’s responsibility at and beyond the organization’s boundaries is largely a communication responsibility. However, no commonly accepted model exists for decision, execution, and assessment of communication opportunities. Within even some of the largest and most venerable organizations, the process used is haphazard and inconsistent.
The Wyatt Company’s survey of communication professionals showed that only 58.1% agreed that their organization’s communication objectives are linked to business objectives. Additionally, 83.3% reported that their organizations conduct no formal review of return on communication investment. CEOs must establish and reinforce their organization’s image in public by viewing each target public as a client. By conducting research, analyzing trends, and consulting with experts, a CEO can focus on selling what the client wants to buy.
Finding a country to conduct business in can be easy if the organization’s top management follows Mr. Mintzenberg’s advice. The way a company discovers where to conduct research is through leads on potential operations from outside sources. The selection of which leads to investigate becomes the difficult task.
After sifting through the leads and finding the right ones to investigate, management must formulate an international marketing plan. This helps management locate potential markets for their products. The first step is to use secondary research to determine the sales potential in a given market. Asking questions about need, demand, and support provides a starting point for research. For example, if we were a company that sold pants, we might ask the following questions:
Is there a need for pants? Is it cold enough there to wear pants? Do people who demand pants have money? These are the questions that one should ask potential markets. Table 1, located at the end of the paper, shows the statistics needed for a general market picture. After gathering information from secondary research, the picture of a potential market becomes more evident. However, to make the picture clearer, one must conduct primary research. This research outlines the specifics of the potential market that directly pertain to the product. Robert Douglas’ book, Penetrating the International Market, addresses the issue of locating potential markets in greater detail.
After finding a lead that contains profitable markets, it is necessary to analyze the venture as a whole. The decisions of companies must be based on reliable sources and facts for all investments. To gather the information needed for investment projects, management must organize a competent feasibility team. The members of this team should be comprised of company employees so that the knowledge stays within the company. If the resources are not available for an employee-conducted study, outside consultants may be used. It may also be beneficial to use a combination of the two.
The first step in conducting a study is to design it using project objectives as the basis. During the second step, the team must be staffed with people who have the ability to solve problems in any situation. In the third step, the team should be properly placed and instructed. In the fourth and final step, the product of the feasibility study should be properly communicated to the decision-making management. Table 2, located at the end of the paper, shows a general overview.
