Reference no: EM133012867
BUMKT6942 International Business
Case A: Why Ford and Other American Cars Don't Sell in Japan
Case Questions: Watch this video case and answer the following three questions. Each question is the same value. Total 20 points for this case.
1. Donald Trump has criticized the imbalance in auto trade between the United States and Japan. Discuss his perspective. Why does the imbalance exist? Would typical trade policy tools such as tariffs improve the imbalance? Explain. How might efforts to improve the imbalance actually hurt Americans?
2. How are differences between the culture in the United States and the culture in Japan reflected in the car purchasing process? How do these differences put U.S. automakers at a disadvantage in Japan?
3. How have Japanese automakers been able to find so much success in the United States? Why is the reverse not true? How does the response of U.S. automakers to the preferences of U.S. consumers put them at a disadvantage in Japan? Consider both the product and the message about the product in your response.
Case B: Woolworths' corporate responsibility strategy
The Woolworths Group is an Australian conglomerate founded in 1924. Its headquarters are in Bella Vista, New South Wales. Colloquially known as ‘Woolies', the company has extensive retail interests in the Oceania region, particularly Australia and New Zealand, but also has a foothold in India. The Woolworths Group consists of three core businesses (Woolworths Food Group, Endeavour Drinks and Portfolio Businesses), employs more than 200 000 people and has revenue of about A$60 billion (US$46 billion). Across the three core businesses, Woolworths has 13 different business subsidiaries.
Integrating these 13 subsidiaries into a corporate social responsibility program is a challenge for a company with so many employees and diverse interests. To accomplish its objective, Woolworths Group's Corporate Responsibility Strategy 2020 identifies 20 corporate responsibility and sustainability goals that the company plans to implement by the year 2020. These goals cover a broad range of stakeholders (e.g. customers, team members, suppliers and local communities in which Woolworths operates). The strategy is based on a framework of ‘People-Planet-Prosperity'.
The focus on ‘People' is about encouraging diversity. The target goals include striving for gender equity by having at least 40 per cent of executive and senior manager positions held by women; and having no salary wage gap between male and female employees at equivalent positions in all levels of the company. And rooted in Australian business, the company is embracing diversity by increasing the number of Indigenous employees in line with the company's stated commitments under the Australian federal government's Employment Parity Initiative.
The focus on the ‘Planet' includes two major initiatives. First, Woolworths is working towards zero food waste going into landfill. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, 20 per cent of what goes into municipal landfill is food. Second, Woolworths is trying to reduce its carbon emissions or footprint by 10 per cent. Many of our daily activities (e.g. using electricity, driving a car, disposing of waste) cause greenhouse gas emissions. A carbon footprint is defined as the total set of greenhouse gas emissions caused by an individual, an event, an organisation or a product, and it is expressed as a carbon dioxide equivalent. Such emissions trap heat in the atmosphere, which according to most scientists contributes to disruptive climate change.
The focus on ‘Prosperity' is founded on trusted relationships. Woolworths' target is to achieve a top quartile ranking in how the business engages fairly and equitably with its suppliers, as measured by independent supplier surveys. Inspiration is also built into ‘Prosperity' in the form of the company implementing activities to inspire customers to consume its products in a healthy, sustainable way. The most transparent ‘Prosperity' initiative, though, is to invest the equivalent of 1 per cent of total earnings in community partnerships and programs.
Woolworths' ‘People-Planet-Prosperity' strategy drives how the company does business. The strategy states that Woolworths is committed to hard work and that its integrity is resolute. The foundation for this is a down-to-earth culture and family-friendly values. Every aspect of Woolworths' business exists for the purpose of making customers' lives simpler, easier and better. Underpinning the company's operations are working relationships built on mutual trust with suppliers. More than 80 per cent of the company's suppliers have been its strategic partners for a decade or longer.
Case Questions: Answer all questions associated with Case B. Each question is the same value. Total 20 points for this case.
1. What challenges do you think a company like Woolworths Group faces when developing and implementing a company-wide corporate social responsibility strategy that takes into account more than 200 000 employees, diverse interests and stakeholders?
2. The focus on ‘People' is about encouraging diversity. One goal is to increase the number of Indigenous employees in line with the company's stated commitments under the Employment Parity Initiative. Does such a diversity approach enhance the company's sustainability strategy? Explain your answer.
3. Woolworths Group is trying to reduce its carbon emissions or footprint by 10 per cent. Based on where the world is now, is 10 per cent enough of a reduction? Perhaps global warming isn't real, despite what the vast majority of scientists say: what do you think?
4. Woolworths' targets are to achieve a top quartile ranking in how the business engages fairly and equitably with its suppliers. How do supplier relationships and fairness in dealing with suppliers relate to sustainability and ‘doing good' for society (and the company)?
Case C
Watch Video: China's Comac Aims to Rival Boeing and Airbus in the World's Biggest Market
1. Reflect on the notion of a technology decoupling between the United States and China. What are the potential implications of such a separation for companies? Consider the implications for global trade patterns of Trump's message to European companies that they either choose to do business with China or with the United States. How could this change the nature of U.S. trade policy?
2. Using the theories of absolute and comparative advantage, discuss the current standoff between the United States and China. What are the two countries trying to achieve? How do their objectives fit with what the two trade theories suggest?
3. Reflect on Trump's position that all technology from China should be viewed as being suspect. In your opinion, is the United States being reckless with its allegations that Huawei and TikTok are being used by Beijing for espionage? Could the administration's position ultimately result in the creation of new competition for U.S. companies?