MUSINGS

Joint ventures and strategic alliances allow companies with complementary skills to benefit from one another's strengths. They are common in technology, manufacturing and commercial real estate development, and whenever a company wants to expand its sales or operations into a foreign country. In a joint venture, the companies start and invest in a new company that's jointly owned by both of the parent companies. A strategic alliance is a legal agreement between two or more companies to share access to their technology, trademarks or other assets. A strategic alliance does not create a new company. Joint Ventures When two companies invest funds into creating a third, jointly owned company, that new subsidiary is called a joint venture. Because the joint venture can access assets, knowledge and funds from both of its partners it can combine the best features of those companies without altering the parent companies. The new company is an ongoing entity that will be in

For most entrepreneurs, building and maintaining a local customer base is one of the first steps on the road to success. Once they have achieved this goal, some business owners feel they're ready to take on the next step: expanding internationally. Becoming a global company is an impressive feat, and not every business that sets out to do it accomplishes the goal. To successfully convert your business from domestic to international, you'll need to consider a new set of factors that might not necessarily affect a local-only company. International business experts shared their insights on what it takes to break down your company's national borders and run a multi-country operation. Are you ready to go global? Creating a strong international presence is rarely as simple as telling your customers you ship overseas and then waiting for the sales to roll in. There are numerous things to think about when selling and marketing in another country, and these factors must be c

Designing and developing a better compensation package for HR professionals for the  international assignments  requires knowledge of taxation, employment laws, and foreign currency fluctuation by the HR professionals. Moreover, the socio-economic conditions of the country have to be taken into consideration while developing a compensation package. It is easy to develop the compensation package for the parent country national but difficult to manage the host and third country nationals. When a firm develops international compensation policies, it tries to fulfills some broad objectives: The compensation policy should be in line with the structure, business needs and overall strategy of the organization. The policy should aim at attracting and retaining the best talent. It should enhance employee satisfaction. It should be clear in terms of understanding of the employees and also convenient to administer. The employee also has a number of objectives that he wishes to achieve f

Most successfull brands have grown by licencing and franchising. One of the key issues, is how ownership, control and use of the brand can be spread between different businesses.  The FT article,  Virgin group: Brand it like Branson , is a fascinating look at some of the hurdles faced by Richard Branson, and provides some revealing information. For example, the group makes about £120m a year from licensing its brand to other companies.  Some of those companies are publicly concerned about the fact that damage to the brand as a whole, could impact their business, and that they have little power to prevent it.  Virgin America, in its IPO prospectus, explains that: “The ‘Virgin’ brand is not under our control, and negative publicity related to the Virgin brand name could materially adversely affect our business” The Virgin brand has been valued at roughly £1bn, and is an excellent case study for anyone hoping to grow their business through licensing and franchising.  However, the