Business

Question 1
For a newly internationalised company, like Elecdyne discuss oneof the following sets of issues (1-4) + plus you must discuss question 5 :

1. the centralisation-decentralisation debate (You should identify where the various functions of management sit in terms of being upstream, downstream, neither, or both, and how developments in technology may affect these functions in the next 10 years.)

2. social innovation and networking, (You should undertake an analysis of the social innovation based opportunities that have / might develop for a newly internationalised company, like Elecdyne in different sectors (e.g. health and education) over the next 10 years.)

3. sustainability and the potential impact of related issues on the company’s innovation, production and / or logistics functions (You should analyse the sustainability based opportunities that might develop for a newly internationalised company, like Elecdyne over the next 10 years and evaluate the potential impact of these on the company’s innovation, production and / or logistics functions)

4. corporate social responsibility, including 5 key CSR related issues, Pyramid of CSR etc.(You should Evaluate the issue of Corporate Social Responsibility using the “pyramid of CSR framework” and analyse 5 key CSR related issues or factors that you think a newly internationalised company, like Elecdyne should focus on as an international business over the next 10 years.)

5. Using the relevant framework (e.g. identify the economic, social and / or environmental aspects of the issues chosen, what objectives / strategies an internationalised company might therefore set, and how it would measure success in meeting these objectives / of these strategies.(You should Critically discuss the problems that international companies may face, when they have multiple objectives (considering economic, social and / or environmental aspects) and the use of the balanced scorecard approach for making strategic decisions)

Advice:

The question should be split, broadly as follows:-

1. Introduction (including the choice of issue and why is it important)(10lines)
2. Describing and discussing your selected issue in terms of economic, social and / or environmental factors (40-60lines)
3. The range of objectives and strategies the firm might set itself to meet because of these issues (e.g. profit maximisation, sales maximisation, growth maximisation, sustainability, corporate social responsibility, etc.)) and how it might balance the different objectives (e.g. balanced scorecard approach, triple bottom line, etc.)(30-60lines)

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THE MARKS will BE SPLIT UP BROADLY AS FOLLOWS:-

40-60% FOR ISSUE CHOSEN BY STUDENT

40-60% FOR HOW THE FRAMEWORK WAS USED TO BALANCE BETWEEN OBJECTIVES FOR ISSUE 1 CHOSEN BY STUDENT

Question 2
For the electronics industry in particular, evaluate the demand and supply opportunities for one of the following industries / sectors:

1. Agri-food industry (Evaluate the potential over the next 20 years for the agri-food industry to provide a newly internationalised company, like Elecdyne with new materials for use in its products or new markets for its specialised products.)

2. Automotive Industry (Analyse the importance of the automotive industry as a potential market for newly internationalised company, like Elecdyne, both currently and over the next 10 years)

3. Computer software (Critically discuss the impact of the software industry for a newly internationalised electronics hardware company such as Elecdyne, and the strategic options that the company could consider in response)

 

4. Higher education (Analyse the potential of the Higher Education sector as a growing market for newly internationalised company, like Elecdyne’s products in the next 10 years, paying particular attention to how you might link issues of social innovation and /or corporate social responsibility and / or sustainability when marketing its products to potential Higher Education customers.)

For any potential new electronics products you identify, analyse how an electronics company could choose which of these products to focus research and development upon, and use this to decide which products YOU would focus on developing (Evaluate the various tools / frameworks that could be used by a newly internationalised company, like Elecdyne to choose which products to spend Research and Development resources on, and determine which you would use and why.)

 

Advice:

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The question should be split, broadly as follows:-
1. Introduction (including importance of New Product Development in electronics (with examples), why you chose the industry / sector you did, brief discussion of why you will look at demand and supply side opportunities, and that this will produce a range of opportunities that will need to be decided between. (10-30lines
2. Issues for the selected industry, demand side new product opportunities, supply side new product opportunities (if any). (all together 40-60 lines – 10-20 lines issues + 20 -40 lines product opportunities)
3. Choosing products (including discussion of factors to take into account (e.g. resources, market factors etc.); potential analytical structures to choose from and why you chose the structure you did; using opportunities highlighted for the industry selected to illustrate use of analytical structure chosen(40-60 lines)

 

THE MARKS will BE SPLIT UP BROADLY AS FOLLOWS:-

40-60% FOR INDUSTRY CHOSEN BY STUDENT

40-60% FOR HOW TO DECIDE ON WHICH OPPORTUNITIES TO PURSUE

 

 

lecdyne Case Study Information (You may use this to provide examples for your answers)
Elecdyne is a (fictional) Japanese SME, based in Tokyo, which started in 1990. Having grown from five workers initially, it now employs 100 staff, producing a range of electronic products such as televisions, CD Players, DVD players, MP3 players, hi-fi equipment etc using technology licensed from a number of multinationals. Before it internationalised it supplied only the Japanese market, and only purchased from local suppliers in and around Tokyo. Elecdyne had initial success in competing on price. However it failed to grow its sales in the past two years and is finding it increasingly difficult to compete, given its need to pay for the licences, its high wage rates relative to China and Eastern Europe, and the near impossibility of hiring research graduates (who prefer to go to better paid jobs with Japanese multinationals such as Sony and Matsushita). It is therefore in a situation where its profits have been steadily reduced and it now faces the prospect of making a loss in the next financial year (its first loss since it was started). Elecdyne as a company never had contact with overseas markets before internationalising. However, all of the top management team have learnt English, and several of them have studied abroad (in the USA, Canada, France or the UK).
The management team’s debates over suitable countries to locate / sell in revolved around issues such as production cost reduction, access to technological expertise (to allow them to avoid reliance on large multinationals), access to new markets, and ease of creating and managing an international company.
In addition, however, they also recognised that they needed to act quickly, and that they may not have the optimum resources and information in place at the time they internationalise, and may need to engage in bricolage (making the best use of resources at hand for new uses). They want to create a coherent strategy that they can use to both internationalise but also take their staff with them, by clearly showing why they need to internationalise, what the key opportunities and problems are, which countries have been considered and what the final strategy should be. They also want to clearly show that they have considered the key elements impacting upon their decision making processes with regard to issues such as location of their activities along the value chain, as well as increasingly important issues regarding social innovation and networking, sustainability and corporate social responsibility.
Finally, they need to use the skills and competencies they have developed to evaluate the possibilities offered by different industries to create new growing markets for their company and consequent need to develop new products and / or services to access these markets. In addition, however, they also need to be aware of any cultural, environmental, management, social, and ethical issues that may be created by the opportunities presented.

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