BPI – Introduction to Process Efficiency Measurement
Business Process Improvement projects are extensively used by Organizations from time to time to overhaul their existing processes and operations in a bid to improve the efficiency and effectiveness. In the current situation where intense competition and changing business environment calls for Organizations to keep reinventing themselves and building capability as well as flexibility in […]
Introduction to Intellectual Property Rights
Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) safeguard the creations of the mind, offering legal protection to inventors, artists, and businesses for their innovations, designs, and works. When individuals and businesses know their work is protected, they are more likely to invest time, resources, and energy into research, development, and innovation. This cycle of protection and creation benefits […]
The New Trend: Insourcing IT Services
Insourcing is the opposite of outsourcing! Well, that sounds obvious, isn’t it? However, many people do not know what it means. However, this is a trend that is hitting the market in developing countries. Take India for instance; it is the largest exporter of software services in the world. A few bellwether companies primarily ran […]
Step 3: Defining a Project Problem Statement
The next step in the Six Sigma journey is to have a clearly defined problem statement that will guide the team throughout the execution of the project. Here are a few tips which give us an insight into how a project problem statement must be developed. What is a Problem ? As per a layman’s […]
Formulating Information Security and Data Protection Policies When Firms Go Digital
The Paradigm Shift Needed as the World Transitions from Analogue to Digital Information Security and Data Protection are central to any organization’s tech policies and more so, when Digitalization happens, as then the whole organizational processes and methodologies are entirely virtual making them more vulnerable to Data Theft. Indeed, having effective Information Security and Data […]
It has been found that many multinationals find their sweet spot in emerging markets when they cater to the lower and the middle end of the market segments. In other words contrary to popular perception, multinationals find that selling to these segments is much better than focusing on the top segment alone.
The experience of Japanese companies which focused on the top segment in many emerging markets and which found that they were not succeeding is a case in point. This led to the Japanese auto majors to target the lower and middle end of the market segments in many Asian countries including India where the Japanese carmakers have targeted these segments with good results.
Western multinationals are put off by the rigid bureaucracy and political interference in many emerging markets, which makes them reluctant to expand their operations. In this case, they can tie up with the local companies and enter into mergers or acquire local businesses. This makes sense because the senior management from the local companies would be conversant with the local bureaucracy and hence, their familiarity and knowledge can be tapped to deal with policy paralysis and the logjam that many emerging markets are going through in recent years.
Another advantage of this strategy is that the multinationals can grow inorganically when organic growth is no longer possible or feasible.
Often it is the case that many multinationals do not take the emerging markets as seriously as they would take the developed countries. This means that they do not send high performers and senior executives to head their operations in these countries.
The net result is that they face a lack of talent to steer their operations in these countries. Of course, the fact that working and living in emerging markets like India, Brazil, and Russia is difficult for many expatriates from the West. However, this should not deter them from displaying commitment.
Talking about commitment, many multinationals lose interest in emerging markets within a couple of years especially when the returns are not up to their expectations. With political risk and societal barriers impeding their growth, many western multinationals pull out or sell their stakes.
The key aspect here is that since the western multinationals have deep pockets, it makes sense to the stay the course for at least five years and hence the commitment apart from sending top-notch talent has to be actualized.
Multinationals do not have a choice but to expand into emerging markets since growth in the developed world has crawled to around 2% whereas even the most underperforming emerging markets are reporting 5% growth.
Hence, the strategies to be followed by multinationals include the combination of the strategies discussed above along with more focus on the next “Breakout Nations” like Vietnam, Algeria, and Mexico. It remains to be seen as to how well the western multinationals adapt to the local conditions in these countries.
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Cross Border Mergers and Acquisitions and Some Recent Trends in this Field
February 12, 2025
