Paul Davies Gerald Carrino February 20, 2014 INBS250-07 Case Study 1 Uganda (Page 79) Chapter 2 1.

Describe Ugandan cultural attributes that might affect the operations of a foreign company doing business there. - Uganda is a country that is home to around 25 million people. While many of the people who live in Uganda speak the language native to the land, the official language is English. Uganda may not be a place that many Americans travel to but the countries surrounding it have many people that immigrate to Uganda due to the bloodshed in their countries such as Sudan and Zaire. One of the major problems that a foreign company doing business here would face is that the government supports nepotism and is considered by many to be one of the most corrupt countries in the entire world. The government has few, if any, regulations for companies that conduct business in the country which is about the only positive thing about business ventures here. One of the downsides that cannot be over looked is the fact that electricity is far from plentiful in Uganda and that is something that businesses would have to take into consideration. Lastly, a business would have to recognize and educate themselves on the religious groups within the area such as the Christians and the Muslims. 2. How would you describe the respective attitudes of Martin and Green: ethnocentric, polycentric, or geocentric? What factors do you suspect of having inuenced their respective attitudes? - The attitude that would describe Martin the best is polycentric. Polycentrism is a belief that an organization should behave like a local company. This is a great way to describe Martin because he strongly believes that a foreign business should keep in mind the Ugandan ways of running a business regardless of how his company is normally run. The attitude that would best describe Green is ethnocentric. Ethnocentrism is a belief that the ways of doing business in your homeland will be both beneficial and just as effective in other countries discounting any cultural differences. This is a great way to describe Green because he believes that the way the company does business back home will work the same as it would in Uganda. There are a couple factors that could have influenced their opposing attitudes. Martin was most likely influenced by his education in African studies and his time spent with the Peace Corps while in Kenya. Martin does not agree with the management style of the United States and other western countries as he would rather use the style of the local culture. Green on the other hand knows that the crosshair is on him for the impact of the company in Uganda and he will be personally held accountable for Martins decisions that he makes which is a big reason that Green would rather stick with what they know best and that would be his companys ways of doing business rather than the local Ugandan ways.

3. Who was right, Green or Martin, about Martins more controversial actions in facilitating the project? How might things have turned out if Martin had not been a member of the project team? - Both Green and Martin were right and wrong. Green had his interests and values of the company back at home in his representation of the company. Martin on the other hand chose not to back the culture that he knows about his country but instead chose to use his polycentric attitude to get things started in Uganda. Martins actions would have most definitely been controversial with regards to his companys standards and ethics but in Uganda he was performing his job just as any other company would. If Martin had not been a member of the project team the project would have taken a much longer time to reach where it was in the reading. Without the knowledge that Martin about bribes, local customs and hiring of locals, the project would have been both over budget and extremely late with regards to the original timeline. 4. In the next phase of the projectbuilding the power plantshould HG employ someone whose main function is that of liaison between its corporate culture and the culture of its host country? If so, is Martin the right person for the job? - Yes, the company should hire a cultural liaison because the company and Uganda are far enough apart in business matters that there is a chance for unintentional offense to be taken for both sides. Both the company and Uganda have their own cultures and their own ways of doing business that they both think is the better way of doing things. The guidelines that the company follows are strict when compared to the way officials from Uganda do things. Now as for whether or not Martin is the guy for the job, the answer is no. Martin is a polycentric person and believes that everything should be in the Ugandan way. What the company needs is a person who is geocentric so that way the person is well informed of both the way that the homeland company and the host country do business. Global Credit Crisis (Page 171) Chapter 4 1. Which scenario do you think best explains the global nancial crisis? Why? - All three scenarios gave us the same overall view on interesting topics. The corruption of the financial system has led to it falling in the past and will make it end up falling again because the corruption in the system is too wide-spread to make it stop. The third scenario showed the financial crisis the best. The United States is more willing to print money and continue to raise our nation debt just to end the financial crisis. It isnt just the printing of money and rising of the debt though that is the cause for the crisis, it is also the poor decisions of our legislators, banks, loan officers, and the consumers themselves that have led to the financial crisis. 2. How does each scenario inuence the policies that governments adopt, the strategies that companies pursue, and the choices that consumers make? - The first scenario describes the process of moving money from lenders to debtors as one of the causes of the global credit crisis. A policy resulted from this which

allowed governments from around the world to buy the assets to fix the leaking pipes of the economy. Strategies that a company could pursue are by taking advantage of the free government money and not spend it on growth. A choice that consumers could make is by cutting back on spending money with the economy in shambles. The second scenario influenced the policies of governments in the way of regulatory reform to correct opportunistic behaviors, perverse incentives and conflicts within agencies. This policy resulted in naming some companies too big to fail and provided a safety net to fall back on for big businesses. Strategies that a company could use is by taking more risk on their financial endeavors because the government is supplying big companies with a safety net to fall back on if bad situations should arise. A choice that consumers could make is once again by cutting back on spending money. The third scenario resulted in the government policy that allows a government to print more money and increase the debt of the government as a result. This also led to the credit ratings of governments being downgraded. Strategies that a company could pursue are by responding with laying-off some of their workers, downsizing the company or by moving their banking resources to a different country that has policies that they like more. A choice that consumers could make is once again by cutting back on spending money.

3. How might the various scenarios inuence economic freedom? - These scenarios have a negative impact on the state of the economy because of the regulatory expansion and the increase of inflation by raising the debt by printing money with essentially no value. 4. The case points out the crises produce winners and losers. Who are the winners and losers for Scenario 1? Scenario 2? Scenario 3? - The winners of the first scenario are the middle men between the lenders and debtors and also the investors that sold their bad loans. The losers include everyone from the lenders and debtors to the tax payers and government officials who were responsible for these oversights. - The winners of the second scenario are the executives that run the businesses that were too big to fail and also the people that sold their bad loans. The losers would include the employees who are not executives, the employees who have retirement plans, the SEC, and the government officials that were responsible for these oversights. - The winners in the third scenario would include all of the banks, creditors, and lenders that are able to lend money to countries in the financial crisis and people who will make money from the crisis whether it is legal or illegal. The losers in this situation are the governments that are involved, the companies who produce things and the consumers that continue to spend money.

5. Say you were asked which economic indicator would conrm the end of the crisis. Which would you nominate? - The only indicator that would mark an end to the crisis would be a large decrease in unemployment; consumers spending is again stimulated, and a much lower debt for the government. 6. Interpreting economic environments, estimating scenarios, and positioning the rm to prosper are the jobs of managers worldwide. How would you advise one to do so with respect to the global nancial crisis? - A manager would have to be patient and flexible with the route he takes his company with the plethora of policy changes and the way that the manager will use the capitol of the company. A huge factor that the manager must decide is the cause and effects of the way the company handles the policy changes and the scenarios that have happened in the past and how managers handled those situations. The most important factor is the way their company or other companies handled any crisis in the past and all current options a manager has for the current crisis. The manager has to make a decision on where to take the company and find new opportunities to attract investors that show the credibility and growth of the company.

Walmart Goes South (Page 319) Chapter 8 1. How has the implementation of NAFTA affected Wal-Marts success in Mexico? - NAFTA was an important piece to the total elimination of tariffs that were set between the governments of the United States, Mexico and Canada. The agreement set forth to vastly improve the labor and work force for the homelands. The implementation improved the suppliers and the rate of efficiency of the internal companies. Increased competition lead to more success for the companies within the city. 2. How much of Wal-Marts success is due to NAFTA, and how much is due to Wal-Marts inherent competitive strategy? In other words, could any other U.S. retailer have the same success in Mexico post-NAFTA, or is Walmart a special case? - Most companies cannot compete financially with Wal-Mart on the price cuts for all of the items they sell. Wal-Mart had only profit to gain after the implementation of NAFTA. 3. What have Comerci and Soriana done to remain competitive? What else do you think they need to do to remain competitive in the future? - Comerci had gone into strategic alliances with other competing companies. They also restructured all of their debts. Both Comerci and Soriana have widened their network and also have expanded all of their operations within their companies.

4. What do you think of Wal-Marts strategy in Mexico and Central America, and how have bilateral agreements and geographic proximity played a role in their success? What challenges do you think Walmart de Mexico e Centramrica will face as it continues to expand in Mexico and Central America? - The strategy that Wal-Mart had established within the company worked well. It had forced their competitors and their coinciding suppliers and distributors to be more responsible and work within a pricing structure.

Sony (Page 389) Chapter 10 1. Why did the contraction of the U.S. and Japanese economies and the rise in the value of the yen hurt Sonys exports from Japan? - Rising costs and the reduction of people spending money in Japan combined with the rising value of the Yen was in turn increasing the cost of Sonys exports and thus made them much more costly than competition. 2. In what other ways has the strong yen affected Sonys bottom line? What would be the effect of a weak yen? - The strong value of the Yen had a negative impact on the exports of the economy. This affected Sony because the profits of the company were directly reliant on exports and the high value of the Yen made production costs rise and made it more expensive to both produce and sell the products. - The weak value of the Yen has a positive impact for the area of exports within the economy of Japan. This aided Sony in being able to produce cheaper locally and purchase internationally. 3. Given the instability in the currency markets, why do you think it is important for Sony to manufacture more products in the United States and Europe and to also buy more from suppliers in other countries in Asia? - It is of utmost importance for Sony to produce and manufacture more products within the United States and Europe for the fact that the US Dollar and the European Euro are on a downward slope. By Sony also taking advantage of the weaker currencies in Asia they can in turn make their supplies cheaper. Since the fact that Asian currencies are tied in with the US Dollar they will remain low for as long as the US Dollar remains low. With the markets being this unstable, Sony has been able to take advantage of the low value currencies of the weaker economies with their purchases while also using the stronger economies for their sales. 4. What are the major forces that affected the Japanese Yen prior to the global nancial crisis in the fourth quarter of 2008? What has had the greatest impact on the Yen since then, and where do you forecast the future value of the Yen? - The major forces that affected the Japanese Yen were as follows. The always devaluing of the US Dollar was a tell-tale sign. The decrease in value of the US Dollar combined with the rise in inflation coupled with the drop of the stock

market had shown a lower confidence in the Japanese Yen. Foreign banks were also not purchasing any Japanese Yen to shore up its value. The future of the Japanese Yen is a strong one. Businesses within Japan have been able to take advantage of weaker economies for their purchases and continue to sell in the strong economies. While the rising value of the Japanese Yen helps to increase their purchasing power, it also has a negative effect on the exports of Japan due to the eventual abundance of goods, reduction of employment within the country and inevitable recession of the Japanese Yen.