Yesterday was the beginning of the sixth week in
International Business. Before I get started on that, I will tell you about a very exciting weekend I had. I took Friday off so I could have a 3-day weekend. I drove to my mom’s house in Houston (3 hours away) and arrived early Friday afternoon.
When I got there, I buried myself in my homework. I was able to get it done by early Friday night. That left about two days where I had no school obligations. It was a great feeling. I used my time wisely! I read a good book (
Inside Drucker’s Brain) from cover to cover. It was a great read. Here’s the review I wrote for it on Facebook:
This is a great Drucker primer that will have even the youngest manager going back for more. If you have never read a Drucker book, this is a good one to start with.
His exposure to philosophy, art, history and other subjects as a child played a huge role in the way his mind worked. The man was a visionary on multiple dimensions simultaneously. He correctly predicted the Holocaust in '39 and formulated his management style based on a few very important influences as a young man.
He says that he is a horrible manager and maybe this is because he put himself in the shoes of the customer and the front-line employee. He was indeed humble, if nothing else.
His approach is Jeffersonian in nature and his approach to problems is honest. And if properly executed, you will see results and redefine the way you think about business theory. He shaped the way corporations operate and think and was an influence on millions of managers. He did this behind the scenes with little to no credit for his work.
This is not a self-help book. If you are looking for that, go read Dr. Phil or join Oprah’s book club. This is a real-world example of how things get accomplished.
This week in International Business, we’re studying “Global Alliances and Strategy Implementation”. One of the major downfalls in internationally-active organizations is that they do not learn from their mistakes. The key to implementing the less complex market entry strategies like importing, exporting and countertrade is to keep some overarching goal in mind and build international competencies as quickly as possible. In this way, choosing to stay an exporter (or importer) becomes a conscious strategic decision instead of simply the “easiest” way to get at some foreign customers.
Since the USA has become a net importer of goods, a vast array of governmental resources is available to US companies wishing to export. In particular, the EXIM bank serves as an excellent source of loans for small US business wishing import or export. This section of the class focuses on building and maintaining international business partners and how these alliances and joint venture arrangements can help to implement a long-term internationalization strategy.
Here we go!