Examine the countries where your company does business

Question

1. Examine the countries where your company does business according to where they rank on the Hofstede cultural dimensions. Think of some examples of how a U.S. manager would need to modify his or her behavior when communicating with associates from one or more of these foreign countries.
2. Does your company operate in any countries that are considered very politically or economically risky?
3. Does your company primarily operate in civil law or common law countries? What are some of the implications of this?
4. Has your company purchased any insurance from the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC)?
5. What are some key intellectual property protections, if any, that your company possesses? When do these protections (e.g., patents) expire? How does your company intend to recoup lost revenues due to any patent or other intellectual property protection expirations?
6. Find the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) score for two countries where your selected company does business, one country with a relatively high score and one country with a relatively low score. Search for news stories about corporate financial scandals in these two countries. Prepare a short summary of news stories about financial scandals in these countries. Briefly describe what you perceive are the risks of corruption, such as paying bribes, that your selected company might face in these countries.
7. Determine your company's mode of entry into foreign markets. This should be based upon a serious analysis of your company's risk-return tradeoff. In your opinion, has your company taken the right approach?
8. Does your company have an exit strategy? Recall that exit strategies are to be determined before entry into the foreign market, rather than after entry.
9. Critically and objectively evaluate how ethical your company's global operations are and determine if they are good corporate citizens (i.e., do they have a well thought-out corporate social responsibility program for the long term?).
10. What is the corporate mission statement of your target company, assuming it has one? How well do the company's actions adhere to its stated mission?
11. With respect to its strategy formulation, would you categorize your company as a shareholder model or a stakeholder orientation? Why?
12. Is the company a stateless corporation? If not, is the company on its way to becoming a stateless corporation?
13. What type of organizational structure is the company currently using?
14. Do you think the company may benefit from a hybrid or matrix structure? Why or why not?