In answering each question, thread into your answers our class and case discussions and your article readings on these topics. Answer question #1 first then answer either question #2 OR question #3. Answer the questions in a maximum of 12 pages (plus up to 2 pages of charts and figures, if you’d like to include these). In answering the questions, respond to each sub-question separately, ie, answer 1a first, then answer 1b, then 1c, and so forth. While answering the questions, do NOT cut and paste material from the internet. You are welcome to draw from internet sources to expand your knowledge about the concepts covered on this exam, but you CANNOT directly use passages from them as part of your answer (I will run your answers through the Safe Assign software!). Your takeaways from the lectures, case discussions, and your readings on BB should be sufficient in answering the questions. Good luck! This exam contributes 110 points toward your course grade.Question # 1: One of the themes we discussed in class this term has focused on the strategy and structure of the internationalizing firm. In this context, we focused on the strategic and structural tradeoffs the firm needs to make to effectively internationalize. In light of our class discussion and your readings (a) discuss how the globalizing firm can manage the tradeoffs between the pressures for local responsiveness on the one hand and global integration of operations on the other (20 pts). In attempting to manage these tradeoffs, address how the firm can balance the following motives: (b) achieving global value chain rationalization (10 pts), (c) transforming the firm’s strategy, structure and processes from an international to a multi-domestic, then to a global, and eventually a transnational orientation (10 pts); (d) assuring buy in within the organization through institutionalizing interdependence (10 pts); and (e) managing the firm’s cultural contexts, both corporate and national, as it operates simultaneously in multiple markets around the world (10 pts). Pick a firm with which you are familiar or one of the cases we studied in class (BRL Hardy? P&G Japan? MKC? Philips vs Matsushita) and address the question within the context of that firm’s operations. Weave into your answer such concepts as the strategy tripod, standardization vs adaptation, concentration vs dispersion, dependence vs autonomy, and adaptation, aggregation, and arbitrage we discussed in class [total 60 points].
