1000 words or above

PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING:

1. Please choose ONE question from the two questions below and write up that question in a well-written, well-structured essay (see the Writing Effectively rubric). This question is worth 100points. I suggest using concise language and that you choose examples interest you most, either from your professional experience or from reputable sources. Please cite all sources you choose to use and pay close attention to the quality of the sources that support your arguments, as noted in the syllabus. Note the suggestions regarding acceptable sources in the syllabus. Please limit the resulting document to a total of 2.5 pages (approximately 1000 to 1250 words).

2. This exam is not a team project; it is to be completed independently.

3. Please be sure to answer the question completely.

4. Please return a Word.doc (not a pdf) file of your completed exam with your name in the title of the document to the instructor through the Blackboard link by 11:59 pm by Wednesday August 31 .

(1) Selection of Countries for a Global Business and Strategies for Participation

For many firm, changes in environmental factors such as income have changed what they consider as globally strategic markets. Being a serious global player means much more than simply having X percent of your revenues from outside the USA and being involved in Y number of countries. Global firms have a global level of market participation and significant global market share, a reasonable balance between the business’s geographic spread and the market’s spread, as well as presence in globally strategic country-markets.

(i) What are globally strategic markets? What are the most important criteria for determining what are, and what are not, globally strategic markets? Please describe these criteria in detail and provide some relevant examples.

(ii) How do firms benefit from doing business in globally strategic markets? Please provide examples of the types of benefits.

(iii) How should the changes associated with the phenomenon of globalization influence firm decisions regarding selection of countries for participation? What changes should firms actively monitor and how should firms interpret them?

(2). Assessing Global Opportunities

Zara is a Spanish firm that is a leader in the fast fashion industry. Zara’s success lies in part in the ability to successfully assess global markets and the opportunities and challenges they may contain. Zara offers over 20 different clothing collections with around 12,000 designs being sold every year. However, countries differ in their tastes and fashions, which necessitates adapting products and services. Zara regularly seeks new opportunities to sell its products and reduce its worldwide operating costs. As it enters new foreign markets, Zara must surmount various challenges. For example, the firm had to substantially adapt its approach in Islamic countries, where women are discouraged from wearing tight-fitting attire and generally do not interact with male sales personnel. Zara has over 2000 stores in over 100 countries and international shipping and logistics pose various challenges. Recently, in order to find market opportunities and cost-saving ideas, Zara managers decided to conduct an assessment of the various environmental factors it faces in international markets.

(i)What kinds of factors should Zara be examining as it engages with this assessment? What sorts of result would be likely to influence Zara’s decision making? Give some examples of the types of conclusions that Zara managers might make from their assessment.

(ii)How might differences in environmental factorsbetween markets result in adaptation of Zara’s various functions (e.g. marketing, management, etc…) or location of new stores? Zara is particularly interested the challenges it might have with pricing its goods. Why might this be and what kinds of adaptations should they consider in response?

(iii) Fast fashion is currently a popular trend. What are some other key global macro trends that might affect Zara’s international business, and how the firm could take advantage of these trends (e.g., Zara might find new suppliers in particular world regions). What are some of the lessons learned by other companies and how could Zara take advantage of these lessons.

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