MGT 658 Week 1 Discussion 2

MGT 658 Week 1 Discussion 2 | american-intercontinental-university

I know that per this week’s discussion board assignment requirements I only need to find one story of a US-based company that had a business issue in a foreign market in a global journal or newspaper; however, because both articles I found were over 10 years old. The first article is about Best Buy and was published by Business Insider, and the other article is about Home Depot and was published by CNBC. Both companies are US based companies, Best Buy is based in Richfield, Minnesota and Home Depot is based in Atlanta, Georgia. 

In 2010 Best Buy bought a 50% stake in Carphone Warehouse, a UK based mobile phone company, with big plans to move into the European market by opening 100 "Big Box" stores. Less than a year later Best Buy reports a new plan to abandon its stores in the UK altogether claiming that the "economic downturn, low brand recognition and a stiff competition from British market" created a business issue. Market analysts reported that Best Buy failed in the European market because it announced their expansion plans too early, two years ahead of time, which gave its competitors, Dixons and Comet, a chance to respond. Market analysts also said that European consumers do not like mega stores and prefer smaller shops. (Groth, 2011). 

In 2006 Home Depot acquired 12 stores in China, stocking them with tools and materials in anticipation of China’s growing middle class and new homeowners. However, after only 6 years of operating overseas Home Depot decided to close its stores and fire its remaining workers in China. Market analysts claim that Home Depot’s failure in China’s market has to do with four factors. One of these factors is bad timing, by the time Home Depot came to China its competitors already had an enormous impact on the market, not to mention that China’s growth of middle-class families had already started to slow down. Another factor contributing to Home Depot’s expansion failure was the fact that in China’s housing market many home buyers are purchasing houses for investment and speculation, not to improve. Thirdly, Chinese consumers do not like big, boxy warehouses far away from a city center. The final factor being that labor in China was so cheap that most people hired a handyman to do the work for them, so there was no market for DIY projects. After closing its stores in China, a company spokespeople said “China is a do-it-for-me market, not a do-it-yourself market, so we have to adjust” (Carlson, 2013).

Before itemizing some of the positive and negative ramifications of the plethora of information now available due to information technology I want to make sure we all understand what ramifications are. Ramifications are consequences of an action or event; therefore, part 2 of this unit’s discussion board wants to know what the possibility consequence of this large and excessive amount of information is. I am now going to list some of the possible positive and negative consequences:

Positive Negative 

• Easier access to real time information. 

• Information can now to shared globally in a matter of minutes. 

• Access to creditable scholarly sources. • Information overload. 

• A lot of false, misleading, or uncreditable information. 

• Fake news is also easily made available and eye catching. 

• A lot of websites are paid based on their “clicks” and not based on the accurateness of their information.  

Reference 

Carlson, B. (2013, September 27). Why Big American Businesses Fail in China. CNBC. Retrieved from https://www.cnbc.com/2013/09/26/why-big-american-businesses-fail-in-china.html. 

Groth, A. (2011, November 4). Best buy's overseas strategy is failing in Europe and China. Business Insider. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/best-buy-europe-2011-11.