AD212 American Business and Management

Fall 2002

Chapter 3: Exploring Global Business

and

Rapaport, "Import Jeans, Export Values"

Solomon, "Building Teams Across Borders"

Is the balance of payments situation a problem for the U.S.? (See figures 3-3 and 3-4.) What might turn things around?

Under NAFTA (pages 83-4), there are no import duties on goods from Mexico, where labor rates, environmental restrictions, etc., are far lower than in the U.S. How, then, can American business com-pete against companies in Mexico?

What are the ethical and business dilemmas of using subcontractors abroad, especially in low-wage countries?

"Building Teams Across Borders," starts out this way: "If you think about it, global teams are probably one of the toughest games around, with little chance to succeed. And if you're really honest about it, you'd confess that it's astounding when intercultural teams have any success at all." Sounds tough. What are these "inter-cultural" problems that make success so difficult? How can you best deal with them?

Your company develops applications software to run with Windows, Linux, and other popular computer operating systems. You have been successful in the American market selling through dealers, and now look abroad for the opportunity to expand your markets (and possibly your development operations). Given the types of choices mentioned in the text on pages 86-89, how might you expand internationally? (This could include a sequence of steps.)