Business and the environment. Entry strategies to international markets. Globalization. Government regulation of foreign trade.

2. Entry strategies to international markets: What obstacles can a company encounter when marketing abroad? What are ways to overcome them?
Practically all successful companies are out for coming into the international arena. But just the very few of them effectually realize their ambitions. Where does the blame lie for their failure? Are the obstacles insurmountable? What are the ways to overcome them?
In the first place the company should size its possibilities deeply: whether it is ready to become a multinational company and get to the international market. The decision depends on many factors: the company must have sufficient circulating capital, its administrators and employees should have enough high proficiency, etc. But the company has to take into account other factors as well. Much turns on the nature of product the company sets out on the market. The examination of competing firms can not be underestimated. May be it is meaningless to try to sell Russian agricultural commodities in Switzerland, electronics in Japan. On the other size of coin something conceptually new must be evaluated as well, whether it would be in demand in other countries. For example, Ukrainian bacon would be scarcely in demand in Great Britain. Any way much attention should be paid to advertising, in what connection

Business and the environment 3 Entry strategies to international markets 4 Globalization 5 Government regulation of foreign trade 6

1. Business and the environment: It is often suggested that there are three main approaches to reducing pollution – consumer pressure, government legislation, and financial incentives. What are they and which of these appeals to you most? Why? Environmental pollution as well as environmental depletion have become one of the most important problems of the 21th century, for it touches upon not only some moral or manufacturing questions, but the survival of humankind itself directly depends on the timely decision of this problem. Let us consider three main approaches to reducing pollution. They are: consumer pressure, government legislation, and financial incentives. That is very typical for those who live in the former Soviet Union to shift responsibility on the authorities. This factor can not be qualified as a positive phenomenon, but it is a reality, connected not only with Russian and Soviet history, but with Russian and Soviet set of mind as a whole. The authorities can take action in both directions: on the one hand, there should be a reasoned emissions trading; on the other – nonpolluting requires sizable financial injection from the national budget. But I think such measures are irreplaceable but insufficient. Surely secured in legislation charging scheme, that is applied in a successive order either to industrial enterprises or to private citizens, would be necessary. Unfortunately for most business managers and individuals the risk of losing money is the most powerful argument not to make a contribution to the total pollution. But in such cases the effect is not guaranteed and unstable. As for financial incentives, there should be the system of control of their application and the perception of the importance of this problem as well. I think any successive activities are impossible without either corresponding legislative strategy or financial investment from the state budget and by business communities as well. Besides listed actions are accessible only for state men and upper-tier managers. But the problem is solvable only providing common anxiety about this problem. What can we do? Different political or legislative measures on the protection of nature often do not depend on our activities. But the support of these measures is quite in our hands. This problem should be taken into account not only by different social movements, but by all responsible citizens. Besides, there are some other activities, which are rather available: we can avoid pollution ourselves by committing no nuisance either in city or natural environment, we can also carry out in practice such measures as separate collection of waste, finally we should remind our relatives and children of necessity of protection the world, we live in. So, all mentioned measures are reasonable and advisable. But no approach is sufficient to solve the problem of solution. For it is closely connected to political, economic, moral, and other different aspects of human life, there should be a complex of measures to be applied. 2. Entry strategies to international markets: What obstacles can a company encounter when marketing abroad? What are ways to overcome them? Practically all successful companies are out for coming into the international arena. But just the very few of them effectually realize their ambitions. Where does the blame lie for their failure? Are the obstacles insurmountable? What are the ways to overcome them? In the first place the company should size its possibilities deeply: whether it is ready to become a multinational company and get to the international market. The decision depends on many factors: the company must have sufficient circulating capital, its administrators and employees should have enough high proficiency, etc. But the company has to take into account other factors as well. Much turns on the nature of product the company sets out on the market. The examination of competing firms can not be underestimated. May be it is meaningless to try to sell Russian agricultural commodities in Switzerland, electronics in Japan. On the other size of coin something conceptually new must be evaluated as well, whether it would be in demand in other countries. For example, Ukrainian bacon would be scarcely in demand in Great Britain. Any way much attention should be paid to advertising, in what connection a great number of factors should be taken into account: whether the production is intended for general public of one or another country or for national minorities, Russian expatriates, etc.; what the reasons for the population to prefer the production of the company to local production may be. Besides national customs and traditions can influence either manufacturing (for it would be necessary to engage the labour power of the country to be with the subsidiary enterprises) or the commodity marketing: it would be extremely thoughtlessly to produce and widely sell porkmeat on the food market of Saudi Arabia. So it is necessary to investigate carefully cultural preferences, religious traditions and prohibitions, features of the mental structure of the population of the country, the company is going to penetrate with a market. There may be useful to consult not only economists and marketing specialists, but different subjects matter experts: lawyers, religious scholars, culture specialists, political analysts and so on. As for legal consulting the company will face a lot of difficulties not only in other countries but primarily at home. The ambiguousness of many points in our legislation often troubles even functioning of any company inside Russian Federation, say nothing of its manufacturing abroad.