DISCUSSION 1
Increased global interaction has been promoted by advanced technology in communication, ideas and culture, which largely encourages and facilitates international trading. Businesses go abroad in seeking better financial incentives, stronger networks, and markets of opportunities. But at the same time, the complexities in terms or risks involved in international operation are more than domestic firms. Respond to the following in a minimum of 175 words:
- Discuss how to manage cultural risks and other factors related to a foreign operation of a multinational business. Is cultural, business, or political risk more challenging to overcome than one of the others? Why or why not? How should American standards influence multinational businesses?
DISCUSSION 2
When you’ve come up with the moment, write two fully developed paragraphs in addition to your introduction explaining it to your classmates. In the first paragraph, describe the moment of persuasion so that your instructor and peers can “see” it. In the second paragraph, explain why you felt like that moment of persuasion was either successful or unsuccessful. What strategies or techniques did you use to try to get the person to side with you?
RESPOND TO STUDENTS POST BE CONSTRUCTIVE AND PROFESSIONAL
Bailey post
A multinational business has a multitude of challenges and risks, from legal compliance, to language barriers to other competition. The most challenging risk to overcome would be the political risk. Cultural risk is easy to overcome, as long as there is open communication and understanding. Business risks can be overcome with proper plans and research. However, the political risks involves a lot more.
To overcome a political risk in a country, one must first know a wealth of knowledge about the laws in that country, and they must also ensure they hire a good legal team to discuss the risks with the local government. Once they have a connection with the local government, they are able to better mitigate the risks.
I believe some American standards should influence multinational business, like our communication, leadership skills and research. However, I do believe that America should open up to other countries standards with our own businesses. Other global companies typically treat their employees with more respect and dignity, providing them with more benefits and time off. They are also open more to collaboration among other companies, where American companies prefer to keep their doors closed to outsiders.
David post
As companies extend their exposure to foreign markets through multinational divisions of their company, online sales via the internet, and social media to expand their representation there is an additional layer of risk/exposure that the company needs to address and that is cultural risk. Cultural risk arises in a multinational company when there is difference between the culture of the various nations involved in the company, the employees, and the customers the company is trying to reach/engage with.
To operate a multinational company with the highest level of business and cultural success, the firm must mitigate the risks faced by the company in an expedient manner, Cultural risk is an extremely tricky risk to mitigate, however if the company has done adequate planning and research then the pain threshold of this risk should be minimal. The ongoing issues associated with the cultural risk factors make eliminating the risk completely impossible. Within today’s workforce even in the home country of the company the workforce may be ethnically diverse which could still cause some cultural conflicts/risks that the company will have to navigate. Utilizing the following items will help mitigate the risk.
Maintain an open and free flowing communication system between the multinational departments within the company. As part of this communication system establish training programs that will help cross train key people from the different departments. This type of program will help management understand their employees needs and it will reduce some of the cultural risks by having an understanding of their needs.
Respect all cultures associated with the employees and locations of the company. Promote cultural diversity training throughout the company. Expose employees to other cultures through workshops that discuss things like food, music.
Promote teamwork amongst the different multinational divisions. Make sure that the employees at the manufacturing plants understand the supply chain and the sales team understands the manufacturing department so that they know how the process works. .
Encourage staff living in foreign countries to diversify themselves in the local culture. Encourage them to break down the barriers separating expats from locals. A person can adapt the different culture easily if he/she has the opportunity to live in that culture for some time.
There should be some basic standard to follow when doing business globally which includes understanding the foreign laws and regulations, assessment of political and financial situation of other country, strong understanding of foreign markets, labor and material prices ,environmental factors and regulations of the other countries.
Madison post
Working in a large hospital during a pandemic has it’s up and downs. At the beginning of the world-wide outbreak, our entity made the decision lay-off workers and temporarily close specialty units. Now that we need the specialty units and extra staff, they are put in a position to ask for help, but not without a little persuasion. Approximately 2 week ago, a mass email was sent to all hospital personnel with a contract asking for employees to schedule themselves one extra day per week. There was no promise on what unit we would work on, and we were not allowed to refuse COVID-19 assignments/patients. We had the option of completing 6 weeks or 12 weeks, and each contract option varied in incentives. On top of base pay + overtime pay, upon completion we would receive a hefty bonus. You would only receive the bonus if all shifts were completed, meaning if you have to call out for one of your extra shifts, for whatever reason, you would not be eligible for all compensation.
Personally, I think the persuasion in this interaction was outstanding. This year our regular performance bonuses were not given out. The hospital simply could not afford it, and we understood that. Before September of 2020, we were not allowed to pick-up ANY overtime at all, again for any reason. These were just hospital rules that needed to be followed. Depending on your lifestyle and how strongly you feel about your presences at work, this contract was not an option, like for me. Would I love to schedule overtime and collect a nice bonus? Yes, I absolutely would, but taking into consideration that I already work five days a week, have a rowdy two-year old, and starting to really gather everything for my wedding, I could not sacrifice my time. On the other hand, I have friends who are single, work three days a week, have tons of free time, and they love the fact they are contributing to our growing demands for extra help during a global pandemic. It just depends on which way your boat floats, and what weather is best for sailing!
Diana post
While on a trip thru Colorado with both of my daughters, we had a set amount of time to go and see all we could. We had made choices of each town we would stay in and those that we would just drive thru. While in Pagosa Springs, we were to just have lunch and drive on to Telluride. Once we arrived, the girls wanted to also go into the hot springs. This would have taken half a day to do and we needed to get to Telluride early if we wanted to stay the night before snowfall. My offer to them was if we wanted to stay on track to see all the cities, we could get to Telluride and jacuzzi at our hotel outside in the cold and watch the stars.
I felt this was a successful outcome as it was determined we would go to Telluride and stay on track. My strategy was to offer something in return for missing out on not going to the hot springs.
