International Business Interview (task1)
In many aspects, international business is similar to the national one; however, there also exist significant differences. The main problem is the divergence of the national cultures that influence the relations. An example is the family business model in the Eastern cultures. The paper investigates the key lessons and the possible difficulties in the work of a representative of Johnson & Johnson company.
The interviewee has been working in the company as the sales representative for about ten years. The interview provided me with an opportunity to learn certain aspects of international business and the possible problems of an international company in the markets abroad. One of the most important lessons that I received due to this interview is the knowledge of how the national divergences may influence the business and how to minimize the political and economic risks.
The company Johnson & Johnson is one of the best examples of the international marketing. The products of this company can be found in nearly every shop in the countries all over the world. The international expansion of the company started in 1910 with the opening of a department in Canada. In 1924, one more department appeared in Great Britain, and in the following years, the company starts the work in more than 50 countries. Nowadays, the company adds new products due to the purchase of different companies. Only in 1990th, the company bought 44 new companies to produce the new items.
There exist different reasons why an organization can start developing the strategy for international development. There exist two factors for a company to choose the model of international business. The first factor is the lack of opportunities for the business development on the local market due to the low prices of the products or the governmental limitations. Very often, this factor is the reason for the company to begin the investigation of the possible activity on the international markets. The other factor is the existence of better opportunities for business abroad, for example, low taxes or other factors. Many companies place the production in the Oriental countries where the labor force is relatively cheaper.
One of the most important features that have to be taken into consideration is the individualism or collectivism of the culture. The cultures are usually divided into individualist and collectivist according to the existing system of values. Everything depends on the priority of individual self-control or the social solidarity. The international business works in different cultures; that is why the same sources (the number of employees, production funds, methods of production stimulation) can give different results in different cultural environment.
The choice of international business strategy is connected with high risks. Among the typical difficulties of the international strategy there take place the problem in the choice of the products that would be interesting for the different international markets. Another problem is the political and legal risk that may have different forms in each country. The economic risk is not highly connected with a specific country. Its source is usually the activity of the rivaling companies, changes in the preferences of the customers or the technological factors. Despite this fact, there take place many cases when the changes in the political life of a country have a destructive effect on business. One of the examples if the collapse of the USSR that caused many of the American investors that had agreements with the government, to establish the new agreements with the independent republics. One more example is the civil war in Syria that totally destroyed the economy of the country.
The prohibition of a chain of western products after the revolution in Iran caused a high damage to the business of the American and European companies in the country. The majority of economic protests have an economic basis – people require to increase the salaries or improve the conditions of work. However, if such a strike has a national character, there take place the political factors. Sometimes, it is difficult to differentiate between the political and economic risk. Even an economic protest that claims to control inflation by controlling the prices may have a hidden political basis.
The political risk should be perceived as a part of country risk that may include the changes of taxation and monetary regulations, the demand for the government to use the local compounds or the employment of the local population, the discrimination of companies that belong to foreign investors, the limit of access to the local credit resources, etc. Also, the international business may be influenced by political processes. For example, the creation of the common European market in 1992 changed the conditions for the foreign investments. This unification created a certain political risk, and, at the same time, favorable conditions for big corporations. For example, Spain and Portugal were the sources of relatively cheap labor force. However, now the salaries in these countries are constantly increasing that may cause these countries to lose their attractiveness in this scope.
Among the main problems that would require hiring a consultant is the globalization. On the market, there constantly appear new rivaling companies. To resolve this problem, it is necessary to understand the international market and the local cultures. Thus, the best consultants in this sphere would be the citizens of the country where the company wants to create a department. Due to the analysis of this information, it is possible to satisfy the needs of the local population and to increase the production. Another problem is the creation of innovative products. This process is difficult for big corporations as in this case the company may lose the control of the processes. One more problem is the technological development. Due to the rapid development of technology, the capital investments in the technological basis may inhibit the company`s development as the rivaling organizations may easily wait for the development of a new generation of technology that may appear in a year. The solution of the problem lies in the development of long-term technological strategy together with keeping flexibility to be able to use the innovative products.
The interview with the representative of Johnson & Johnson company allowed me to determine the lessons and the possible difficulties in the work of international corporations. Johnson & Johnson is the company that managed to open more than 250 departments all over the globe, and its products may be found in nearly each store that sells means of hygiene or medicine. There exist two main reasons for a company to begin the expansion, however, the international business is connected with high political and economic risks. To minimize these risks, it is useful to hire the consultants that can give the recommendations on the company development. It is recommended to discuss such questions as the globalization, innovations, and technological development. The creation of a strategy for the business development allows avoiding these issues and creating a powerful company.

*** Note : For improvement in task 2, I suggest you provide more details about the interviewee’s work. The discussion was very general. So the sale representative is running a family business ? In an eastern culture ? A lot of key information was missing. It would be helpful to know what exactly the interviewee does. The support the argument, you need to provide evidence or examples based on the interviewee’s work experience.
Also you were required to propose a topic for your task 2. You touched upon several big issues in the essay. But it’s not clear which one you want to further explore. I would suggest you work on something that is directly related to the interviewee’s work. But since you did not specify the interviewee’s work, it’s hard for me to tell. Maybe J&J’s product/sales customization for a foreign market ?

***you don’t need to actually interview the person but base on my task 1 you need to write down the interviewee’s name there you can talk about anything as long as it is connected with my task 1, needs to be make sense, and sounds like you really do the interview. My task 1 is base on the google search so for this task 2 you can also do the same thing but it’s need to be sound more like the real interview***

task 2 outline

Task 2: “Answer the Question” (2-3 pages, single-space)
Based on your Task 1 and feedback from the instructor, you will identify a specific topic for in-depth analysis. You are expected to apply course knowledge in this essay. You need to address:
(1) What is the issue? Why did you choose to study this issue?
(2) What are the causes of the issue?
(3) How does it affect international business?
(3) How would you resolve this issue? (provide suggestions and explain why they will work)

For the course knowledge it is about international business : (you can pick one of them)

Globalization
International Trade
FDI
Political Economy
Cultural Differences
FOREX & Monetary System
Global and regional integration
Strategy and Entry Decisions
International Operations

***you don’t need to actually interview the person but base on my task 1 you need to write down the interviewee’s name there you can talk about anything as long as it is connected with my task 1, needs to be make sense, and sounds like you really do the interview. My task 1 is base on the google search so for this task 2 you can also do the same thing but it’s need to be sound more like the real interview***