SET -1

M. S. Ramaiah Institute of Management

IV Semester End-term Examination, May 2023
PGDM-AICTE BATCH: 2021-23
Course Code: 21PGDIB403 Course Name: Global Strategic
Management
Time: 2 hours Max. Marks: 50
Section A: Application based questions
Answer 5 questions. Choose between question no. 1 or 2, 3 or 4, 5 or 6,
7 or 8, 9 or 10. Each question carries 6 marks.
(30 Marks)
CO BL
1. Perform a brief PEST analysis of Bangladesh for Blinkit planning to 1 4
enter that market with their online Grocery and Supermarket services.

Political: Stable democratic Govt. however there is challenge from

Islamic fundamental organizations and violent opposition movement
Economic: Economy is fast growing and has shown sustained growth
over last 10-15 years. However, has negative trade balance and low
Forex reserves putting it at risk of default.
Social: Has achieved higher life expectancy and lower infant mortality
rate than India. Successful micro Finance capability helping many
families.
Technology: Has reasonably modern tech through multi-nationals but
low Research output and Innovations.

OR
2. Analyze the attractiveness of the German market for an
Indian luggage manufacturer like VIP industries

Opportunity: Good quality low-cost luggage can appeal to

lower middle class and low earning members of the
German society. The technological strengths of VIP
Industries will be appreciated by consumers in a highly
developed economy. Democratic country with rule of law
and honoring of contracts.
Challenge: Highly competitive market with lower end of
the market dominated by Chinese exporters

3. Illustrate the strategic options for Bharti Airtel entering 2 4

the Malaysian market.

The options for Bharti Airtel entering the Malaysian

market can be:
 Setting up a 100% owned subsidiary and creating
own Telco infrastructure in that country as a
greenfield project
 Joint Venture with a local organization in the
Telecom industry having knowledge of the local
marketplace.
 Buying out a local Telecom organization and using
 it’s tower and optical fiber infrastructure to roll out
Mobile and broadband services

OR
4. Analyze the risks associated with a brand like Adidas
entering the Iraqi market.

There are multiple risks in entering a country like Iraq

 Lack of civic facilities and manufacturing
ecosystem in a country just recovering from a
bloody war
 Political instability given a remote controlled
political leadership
 Terrorism threat
 Lack of buying power due to low GDP level and
growth levels

5. A sports goods manufacturer from UK wishes to enter the 3 4

Indian market and is considering an alliance with a sports
marketing chain Decathlon which has multiple retail
outlets in India. Critically analyze the pros and cons of
entering the Indian market with this Strategic Alliance

Pros:
 Established retail chain with presence in multiple
cities in good locations.
 The retailer has knowledge and skills in marketing
and promoting sports goods.
 The company can back up the tie up with TV +
Social Media advertisements to create brand
awareness, together with in store promotions.
Cons
 Not having company owned stores may lead to
brand dilution.
 Challenge of competing products from other
brands in the Decathlon stores.

OR
6. Fiat re-entered the Indian market with a forward
integration partnership with Tata Motors who took the
responsibility of distribution, showroom display and
service of the Linea and Punto models from Fiat. Critically
examine the reasons why this alliance did not yield
satisfactory results for Fiat.

 Tata Motors always gave lower priority in the

showrooms to Fiat compared to their own products.
 Service of Fiat models was not up to expected level
and quality.
 The FIAT brand got diluted with the association of
Tata Motors

7. Create a global organization structure for an organization with 4 product 4 4

lines operating in Asia and Europe with high local responsiveness and
having standard functional departments.
  Top level Corporate HQ with CEO and product line leaders with
CXO functions
 Second Level Regional HQ in Europe and Asia providing
common Admin and support functions.
 Third Level Country Managers and all the sales and local
marketing organizations for higher local responsiveness and
localization of product offerings. Country specific Admin, legal,
HR and Finance functions supported by Regional HQ

OR
8. Analyze the need for Global Standardization and Local
Responsiveness for a food franchise like McDonalds
comparing it a Microprocessor manufacturer like Intel.

McDonalds requires higher level of Local Responsiveness

due to changes in local food habits, religious and cultural
norms. Global Standardization is needed for restaurant
ambience, equipment, hygiene and processes.

A Microprocessor manufacturer on the other hand need

not modify products based on local needs since it is part
of a global electronic manufacturing ecosystem. Hence it
can have a much higher level of Global Standardization.

9. Evaluate the success of an Open Innovation strategy 5 4

followed by Alphabet and Google as exhibited by their
Android Mobile operating systems.

Alphabet and Google have been highly successful using

open innovation strategy as is exhibited by the Android
operating system which is open and allows for 3rd party
applications to be available via the Google Play store.
This has enabled the company to have a very rich set of
applications supported by the open Android Operating
System. They have also allowed other technology
providers to add to the overall Android platform to make
it more robust and that's reducing development cost and
making it more inclusive for these smaller players.

OR
10. Thomas Cook had a series of Focus Group
discussions with their corporate customers to redesign
and improve their travel services for corporates. Analyze
the process and benefits of such an approach of Co-
Creation of value.

Co creation of value through focus group discussions with

their existing customers has enabled Thomas Cook to get
a first-hand feedback from their corporate clients on how
they can improve the travel services for organizations.
The input from these existing customers has in a way
enabled Thomas Cook to redesign for better service
coverage and quality. Hence these customers have
allowed for higher value creation leveraging their
 experience and insight on what needs to be added as
features to the travel services and also to improve the
weak areas.

Section B: Case Study (compulsory)

11.Answer the following question: (10
marks)
Asea Brown Boveri (ABB) had 15 joint ventures and eight
representative
offices in China in early 1997, and employed a total of 80
expatriate managers.
The company reckoned that by the year 2000 it would have 25
joint
ventures, and if nothing changed, its number of expatriate
managers would
then balloon to 250! If, on average, an expatriate manager cost
an additional
US$200,000–300,000 per year on top of his normal salary, 250
expatriate
managers would increase the compensation bill by more than
US$50 million
per year.

The company set up a ‘localisation of management committee’

with the
intention of locally staffing its middle-management positions
within three
years and its top management positions within five years. To
show the 4 5
company’s commitment to the goal, its Vice-President of
Human Resources
for China sat on the committee as chairman. The committee,
among other
things, had the key task of identifying high-potential candidates
among its
China operations, and ensuring that these high-potential
candidates possessed
the necessary training and good communication with the
operating units.

More importantly, the company explicitly required its

expatriate managers
to set targets of localization in their operations. Although ABB
understood
that expatriate managers were under pressure to meet short-
term business
goals, top management thought that the development of local
managers was
a long-term strategic concern and should be given priority. The
expatriate
managers were thus assessed not just on their business
performance, but also
on their ability to develop local managers. ABB believed that
management
must continuously scout for, identify and keep track of internal
talent. High potential staff at ABB were identified through a
performance appraisal system.
Then, they were prepared for higher positions or greater
responsibility by
providing them with the necessary training and promoting
them to more
challenging positions as early as possible. Upper-level
managers were also
instructed to support and coach newly promoted managers.
The company
reported potential local managers to its corporate headquarters
in Zurich.

Create KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and a high level

Performance Evaluation framework for the senior management
of ABB in China.

 Standard Business performance measures and KPIs

within ABB
 Creation of a process and framework to identify local
talent suitable for taking up leadership roles.
 Number of local talents identified to replace expensive
Expats in leadership position.
 Extent of training and mentoring provided to new local
leadership to support their success in ABB

Section C :
Analytical/critical thinking oriented question. Choose between question No.
12. or 13. Each Question carries 10 marks.
(10 marks)
12. Analyze the Netflix OTT platform on globalization
strategy for their level of Standardization of Services & 4 5
Products and their Local Responsiveness

Netflix OTT platform must have a balanced and smart 5 4

mix using AI of International content of movies and
series which may be of interest to local viewers
keeping in mind the cultural context and social norms
prevalent in a particular country.
At the same time supporting development of local
content which would be immediately relevant to the
viewers and likely to have high viewership will help
improve the brand image of Netflix in that country/

OR
13. Critically evaluate the statement that “If a firm
adopts Sustainability best practices together with
being Socially Responsible and committing to CSR
activities, it will increase shareholder value”

In the current marketplace the customers appreciate a

company's sustainability practices and their active
involvement in CSR and other social cause funding.
Hence if an organization is focusing on having the
right sustainability practices and also making a
substantial spend in the social space, it will definitely
improve the image of that organization with the
shareholders as well as other investors. This will in
turn would cause a higher demand for their shares
leading to better Price/Eraning ratios