International business blunders
International business has never been a simple matter. In point of fact, with the diversified number of countries which engage in global business, the challenge is anything but easily surpassed. There are many lessons to be learned in gaining an international view of economics. Education about the world’s economic structure, cultural differences and the interrelation between the two is as important as understanding the methods your business uses from start to finish.
In this context any miscalculation would lead to a fatal business blunder. (Stickland, 2003) In this context the indication by David A. Ricks in his text Blunders in International Business that the use of the self-reference criterion as “probably the biggest cause of international business blunders”. (Ricks, 1999) It could be mentioned that under the parameter of understanding the method and interpretation of facts the context of execution changes from time to time and place to place.
The primary factor to conceptualize would be the fact that every country pursues business differently. Laws affect the ways in which business is conducted from region to region and country to country. Negotiations are never conducted exactly as they would be where you have pursued such actions in any city, in any state in whichever country from which you originate. It is widely believed that to survive as a corporate sector in the long term it is extremely important to mould the organization into an international sector.
Therefore, it’s that much obvious to plan the strategies of the company in accordance to international trade sequences. It is important evaluate the marketing policies to survive in the international market and analyze the effectiveness of the prevailing marketing plan. It is quite true that the activation of the international strategy would collide with that of the plans implemented while operating in the local market. A very relevant example would be the case of Mexican company Fortune Track.
The company is Spanish speaking personnel oriented organizations who have little or no . As a result they had to translate their entire contents and advisements that predominantly focused towards Spanish speaking communities. Once the translation was completed there was no backup measures to double check the translations as a result all the translation appeared quite funny to the English specking population once the company ventured into the markets of the United States.
The result was a complete failure of the promotion with thousands of dollars wasted. This blunder happened only because the management was not aware of the language of the market they were to penetrate. (Stickland, 2003) In conclusion it should be mentioned that though there are many indications and examples of international business blunders there are hardly any reference point that can be regarded as a positive measure to avoid those blunders.
It is definitely a complex formula to develop a winning strategy that would be successful every time when implemented but there should be indication whereby the errors or blunders could be avoided by specified formulations. In other word, there should be certain measures to avoid these blunders. References: Ricks, David A; November 1, 1999; Blunders in International Business; Blackwell Publishing, Incorporated; 3rd edition Strickland, A & Thompson, A; 2003; Strategic Management Concepts and Cases; New Delhi, India: McGraw Hill.
