Navigating the Global Business Environment

Chapter 1: Introduction

The global business environment could be comprehended as the circumstantial scenario which is comprised by the collective influences of the internal and external operational environment within which any business organisation has to operate. The decidedly significant aspect regarding the influence of globalised business environment could be understood as the necessity to carefully develop business operations planning processes so as to identify and then manage the favourable and adversarial circumstances which any global business operative or multinational company, such as the Nestle Food could come to encounter. The concept of globalised business environment and the effects of the same have different dimensions in terms of the implications on the activities undertaken by multinational organisations such as the Nestle Food. The primary implication of having to operate within globalised environments is to manage the intensive competitive pressures which could exist in the globalised markets. Peripheral implications are directly related to taxation policy management and formulation of decisions regarding the impacts of fiscal policies at the various national levels where the selected business organisation could have to operate. In this context, the implications of favourable and unfavourable circumstances which could be spawned by the global business environment on particular multinational organisations have been brought under consideration in the corresponding study. Furthermore, emphasis would be concentrated upon the delineation of the benefits of globalised trade perspectives in relation to the corporate entity under consideration (Nestle Foods) and the research would be assessing the factors of globalised business disciplines which could have specific implications regarding the activities of the selected organisation.

1.1 Aim:

The primary aim of the study is to formulate an evidence based synopsis of the conducted relevant research processes regarding the formulation of greater understanding of the positive and negative implications of globalisation on a particular multinational company under consideration.

1.2 Objectives:

To identify the inherent factors related to the concept of globalisation in the corporate context

To determine the fundamental catalysts of the process of globalisation in the corporate context

To assess the benefits which the process of globalisation could entail within the selected business organisation under the current business scenario

To evaluate the drawbacks which the process of globalisation could entail for the selected business organisation

To estimate the operational approaches which could be developed to curtail the effect of such disadvantages of globalisation

To recommend effective strategies for future progression of the relevant research process

1.3 Rationale:

The particularity of the economic operations regarding the globalisation concept is of most significance concerning the business activities of the multinational organisations such as the selected Nestle Food. Singular market based operations have evolved consistently through the entire duration of globalisation of international businesses and this has culminated in the synchronisation of the production interdependence, consumption of goods, products and utilisation of services which could be extensively similar in nature and the market responses which could be generated from identical behavioural impulses. These activities are oriented towards the manifestation of growth as a proportion of gross output of sales volume throughout the entire global market perspective. Thus, this context has been of critical significance in terms of being the fundamental rationale regarding selection of this issue for the research topic. The issue under consideration could be also considered to be specifically significant from the perspective of the selected global business organisation for a multitude of reasons. This could be underscored to be the principal reason which could prompt a research undertaking involving the demonstrated research topic selected for the corresponding work. Another reason of undertaking this particular study could be comprehended as to address the dearth of proper understanding and evaluative knowledge regarding the holistic impact of the volatile and dynamic trends of globalisation in the current age on multinational commercial organisations such as the Nestle Food.

1.4 Significance of the Research to the following Stakeholders

Organisations

The significance of this research for the multinational organisations such as that of the Nestle Food could be fathomed from the particular perception that all of the globally operating business organisations are currently encountering the necessity to develop the necessary strategic approaches through which the organisations could identify and realise the existing business opportunities and could avoid the impending risks which accompany the adverse business conditions which could be generated by the globalised trends of business dynamics. This necessity could be soundly addressed through the successful culmination of the corresponding research process.

Researcher

The significance of the research regarding the Researcher could be understood to be that of two folds. The first one is the formulation of a constructive method through which better learning could be facilitated. This has culminated in the utilisation of the various research techniques and methods within the structure of the research project. However, this is the procedural application of the research purpose.

Academics

In terms of the research significance from the academic purposes, the identified aspect is the fulfilment of the necessity to build better understanding regarding the overarching topic of the impact of globalisation on different business propositions. The factor of addressing the dearth in proper knowledge in this respect has been also significant regarding the academic importance of the research topic.

1.5 Research Questions

What are the inherent factors related to the concept of globalisation in the corporate context?

What are the fundamental catalysts of the process of globalisation in the corporate context?

What are the benefits which the process of globalisation could entail within the selected business organisation under the current business scenario?

What are the drawbacks which the process of globalisation could entail for the selected business organisation?

What are the operational approaches which could be developed to curtail the effect of such disadvantages of globalisation?

What are the effective strategies for future progression of the relevant research process?

Chapter 2: Literature Review

2.1 Introduction

According to Aizenman and Jinjarak (2009), the globalisation concept could be comprehended to be the integration of different national and geographical economies through transference of the propositions of the liberalised economic policies across the transnational borders. Bende-Nabende (2017) has suggested this to be a transmission of information and knowledge, economic conditions, financial dynamics and commercial discourses throughout the globe from centres of significance to the peripheries of the proverbial global economic structures. From the financial perspectives, this could be better understood to be, Brewer and Young (2017) as has been outlined by, as the establishment of an internationalised market unit which could be completed bereft of any influence from the national and socio-political aspects. The dominant connotations associated with the interpretation of the concept of globalisation could be understood to be the reference to progress, technological and procedural developments regarding business and integration of different commercial endeavours and market segments. From a definitive standpoint, Brock (2015) has observed that Globalisation could be characterised as a trend which includes internationalisation of production processes, the reformation of the international division of labour, emergence of an intense and all-encompassing competitive environment, acceleration of the unimpeded movement of growth capital and integrating national states into the agencies of the global commercial world. In this context, Bryson and Daniels (2015) have defined Globalisation as the conceptualisation of an internationalised political economic structure. The core emphasis of such a concept is on the integration of all of the local, national and even regional economies within a consistently internationalised and global operational perspective.

To this effect, the research perspective of Buckley and Ghauri (2015) have suggested that Globalisation could be defined as a process through which the financial and production structures of individual countries could be interlinked through the ever incremental number of transnational and transcontinental economic and technological transactions. This could be considered to be responsible for the rapid transformation of the international labour division in context of the creational of global market wealth. In terms of the various growth prospects of the national economies, increasing dependence could be observed on the economic agents and activities which could be associated with various other countries. This could culminate in the finalisation of the special limits of such an economic integration worldwide. From these defining elements, as has been opined by Colander (2017), the summarisation of the process of globalisation could be succinctly conducted involving a particular perspective. This perspective highlights the realisation that Globalisation could be considered to be a process which could encompass the discourse, the cause and the consequences transcultural and transnational integration of technological and commercial activities.

2.2 Body

According to Cramer (2017), to formulate effective understanding of the rationale behind the enhancement of transnational trade which has fuelled the growth of globalisation, one has to take into consideration the fact that it is beyond the possibility of any country or region to produce all of the necessary products or goods which it requires. Dieuaide (2018) has outlined the underlying causalities as the natural resource availability, the labour costs and the possession of technological knowledge and information to be of prime responsibility regarding the variations of production and commercial value generation in national economies. Thus, globalisation suggests that countries and commercial entities such as the Nestle Food which have absolute or comparative advantages in the global market scenario could better propagate the produced products and services to comparably less technologically or financially capable national markets. Eppinger and Potrafke (2016) have specified that globalisation could be manifested in the growth of the global trade and internationalisation of the movement of investment capital to generate maximised revenue in the form of a particular proportion of the production output in favour of the capital investing entities. This could be further comprehended as the Gross World Product (GWP). Hanson (2016) has outlined the factor of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to be the prime vehicle of globalisation as the infusion of FDI enables the capital markets of different nations to become integrated in a greater measure. The extent of this could be comprehended, as has been researched by Herrmann (2017) from the fact that approximately $1.3 trillion does get exchanged in the form of FDI through the different foreign exchange markets globally. The majority of such amount could be attributed to international trade related transactions.

Central Paradox theory

According to the research based observations of Hirst and Thompson (2019), the Anglo-Saxonic model of capitalism is reflective of a central paradox when it comes to the determination of the dynamics of globalisation. This could be better elaborated as the suggestion that the fundamental aspect of globalisation concept is to enable the shareholders to gain optimum value regarding their assets and investments in their respective organisations. The paradox lies in the divergence of the conceptual perception regarding the determination of this fundamental element in comparison with the multiple stakeholder model of capitalistic trend enunciation. Homann (2016) has specified the paradox to be comprehensible in the fat that in spite of this model of capitalism based globalisation being suggestive of the ultimate significance of shareholder value generation, simultaneously, this also outlines the proposition that to achieve market success, every business organisation has to consistently invest in the development of skills and technology as well as the working systems which could be based on high involvement and extreme discretionary measures. This could, then, be translated into maximisation of skill based productive utility. Thus, Krugman (2017)has determined that this model could be alternatively called the workplace performance based model.

World System Theory

According to Machado (2017), this theoretical construct is perceivable as the hallmark of the paradigms of global economic singularity systems. This could be better analysed as distinctive and sociological paradigm which has been developed during the late stage of the progress of globalisation and thus, Michie (2011) has found the fundamental similarity between the world system based globalisation analysis approach with that of the genesis and expansion of the global capitalism throughout the world after the advent of the Industrial Revolution. Potrafke (2015) has specified that this entails the critique of capitalist global economic system as an expansionary mechanism encompassing the entire globe within this short period of time. The functionary approach of this outlines the process of establishment of production and marketing networks throughout the globe and the ultimate objective is to integrate the mini-systems of national market economies into a global enterprise. In this context, Qaim (2017) has observed that this theoretical construct could categorise the entire world market into three specific regions which are particularly formulated on the hierarchical organisation of geographical tiers. In terms of the financial and commercial structures, the first category or tier is the core structure which is comprised by the Northern American, Western European and Japanese landmass. The second tier is considered the periphery and is constituted by Latin America, Africa and various Asian regions including the Middle East which had been subordinated forcibly by the core tier at a historical juncture of the age of colonialism. The third tier is consisted by the regions which have been descending financially from the core to the periphery or by the regions which have been ascending from the periphery to the core tier. The third category is thus known as the semi-periphery section. The research of von Furstenberg (2017) has brought forth the perception that financial value generally flows from the peripheral regions to the semi-peripheral section and then onwards to the core regions. This takes place in the form of specific regional functionalities which influence the international labour divisions. This contributes to the structure of growth generation and value addition to the stakeholder investment scenario.

Frameworks of operations for the globalised enterprise

Waddell (2017) has suggested that the most significant objective for any business organisation currently operating within the globalised market conditions is to demonstrate the most successful performance in a comparative measure with the other business organisations. This is also made more crucial from the perspective that multinational business organisations have to consistently earn a profit through gaining the above the average revenue returns so as to meet the expectations of the stakeholders such as the shareholders and investors. According to Hirst and Thompson (2019) this could only be performed through properly understanding the opportunities which globalised market environments could bring forth and the associated risks and adverse conditions which could have to be contended with while undertaking business operations by any such multinational corporate entity. The building of the most accurate and precise understanding about these conditions could entail the successful business strategy formulation for any company such as Nestle so as to maintain a favourable market leverage and sustain the necessary extent of revenue return generation within the current conditions along with the realisation of expansion of the business prospects to hitherto unattended market horizons in new national market spaces on the global scenario.

2.3 Conclusion

The literature review has elaborated on the predominant conceptual aspects of globalisation and has specified that the global food and nutrition organisation, Nestle, has been operating for more than one hundred and thirty years in the particular discipline of baby foods, cereals meant for breakfast, coffee, confectionery, frozen food, pet foods, yoghurt and snacks. The company has consistently been able to differentiate the product offerings with persistent utilisation of varied combinations of the endorsed products and has also achieved success in positioning itself on the global scale as the premier health and nutrition propagating corporate organisation.

Chapter 3: Methodology

3.1 Research Methods and techniques.

The Researcher has outlined the utilised research techniques and methods as an ardent indication of the significant considerations and discussions concerning the research data collection and analysis under consideration. The emphasis has been on the selection of the most suitable form of research measures so that the research process could become more effective in terms of meeting the research objectives. The available categories of research designs could be comprehended to be the Explanatory, Exploratory and Descriptive research design formulation process. Descriptive research design is of particular significance for the purpose of resolving the research problems and aligning the research outcomes with those of the research objectives. This has been the rationale for the selection of the Descriptive research design for utilisation in the corresponding research project. Descriptive research design is also effective in terms of the collection and analysis of the research data through which the overall efficacy of evaluation of research hypothesis and the process of validation could be ensured.

There are specifically three different measures of research philosophies through which any research project could be brought to culmination. These are the Ontology, Axiology and Epistemology. Epistemology is considered to be able to recognise the research circumstantial reality regarding the influence of human actions and through the interaction of external environment with the tangible experiences. In this context, the human intelligence based analytical comprehension formulation is considered to be the primary element which is propounded by Epistemology. There are four segments of the entire working architecture of Epistemology. These are Pragmatism, Post-Positivism, Realism and Interpretivism. In this context, the Positivism based discourse outlines that facts and associated knowledge regarding tangible and intangible events such as Globalisation could be only assessed through proper examination and observation. Thus, the Researcher has selected the Post-Positivist research philosophy to quantify the outcomes of the research data analysis.

The Researcher has selected the Deductive research approach for the purpose of testing the research data analysis outcomes involving particular theoretical and observational constructs through which the research questions based objectives could be fulfilled. The Deductive research approach is considerate about the formulation of research findings and development of proper understanding of the same through the careful, deliberate and extensive evaluation and testing of the acquired data and information from previously undertaken research processes concerning the same research problems and topics. The Deductive approach of research is an ascending process and the utilisation of such an approach could develop the most pertinent and relevant theoretical hypothesis from the multiplicity of data sources.

3.3 Sampling

The research process has utilised the non-probability based deliberate sampling method to select 30 existing employees of the Nestle Food from the UK as research participants for the Qualitative data collection and these employees have been the middle level managerial personnel of the organisation under consideration since it has not been possible for the Researcher to get adequate appointments from the higher level managers of Nestle Food to have them interviewed.

3.4 Ethical Issues

The ethical issues comprised off obtaining proper and informed consent from the interview sample personnel regarding their participation and this was performed through the acquisition of the No Objection Certificate from the research participants by the Researcher. Another ethical issue of ensuring absence of coercion and offensive questionnaire formulation was also addressed by the Researcher through the legal affidavit substantiating the fact that the participants would be well within their rights to discontinue the research participation at their own discretion and would be participating in answering the Qualitative questions at their own accord and could desist from providing any answer as per their own volition.

3.5 Data Analysis and Interpretation

The undertaken research project has been premised on the effective collection as well as analysis of credible, evidence based, authentic and extensive research data. The requirements have thus prompted the researcher to evaluate multiplicity of sources of data and information generation for this purpose. This has culminated into the utilisation of the Primary and the Secondary sources for collecting and analysing data and information. In this context, data collected from the Primary sources has been fundamental in terms of the establishment of the research process and regarding the formulation of the analytical structure of the research undertaking through which the available data has been evaluated to determine the underlying thematic constructs which could be aligned with the research objectives. For the purpose of performing the necessary interpretation and analysis of the collected data, the Researcher has utilised, under the purview of primary data collection and analysis process, one method of collecting and interpreting of the research data and these could be understood as Qualitative methods of gathering of data.

Method of Qualitative data collection

The objective of the Qualitative data collection is to conduct a minute and detailed evaluation of the collected data so that relevant outcomes could be identified from the entire process. Accuracy of data interpretation outcomes is key regarding such a data collection process. The Researcher would be performing direct interview sessions with the selected research respondents for this purpose so as to determine the individualised perceptual constructs related to the responses of the particular research respondents and this has been considered necessary for the research process culmination since the Qualitative data collection process entails the generation of first-hand information which could be derived from the research participants through direct interviews. The core aspect of this format of data collection and interpretation is directly associated with the extensive measure of accuracy and credibility of outcomes of the interpretation of the availed data and the prospect of finding similar thematic connotations of the derived Qualitative data structure from the interviews with those of the research objectives and to align both so as to arrive at a credible conclusive understanding of the entire research project.

Chapter 4: Findings and Discussion

4.1 Introduction

The collection and analysis of the Qualitative research data has been undertaken through direct interview sessions which have been performed by the Researcher involving the participation of 30 different midlevel managerial personnel of the Nestle and the development of a significant extent of semi-structured and open ended questionnaire, being constituted by 30 different questions. The collected data has been demonstrated in the form of the tool of direct interview statement transcriptions which have been closely analysed by the Researcher through thematic construct analysis.

4.3 Research findings and linking with the objectives

The research responses have been demonstrative of the general managerial perspective that Nestle adheres to the credo of a holistic service development and change institution in the overarching working processes. This generally entails the components of revenue formation such as products, technologies, employee skill management and knowledge development. The various methods of outsourcing and formulation of strategic alliances with companies within the target local, regional and national markets have been utilised by the organisation so as to ensure the greatest possible reach to the existing and developing customer base on a global scale and this is not only constricted to developed or semi-developed nations but includes the underdeveloped or developing nations as well as could be outlined from the statistical measure of extent of Nestle at multiple countries regarding placement of production plants and deputing of sales representatives to facilitate marketing and availability of the product offerings. The emphasis has been on cost management and ensuring of localised resource availability. Thus, the Researcher has been able to outline the advantages of the company in terms of a prolific brand image with hundreds of years of service history, the general applicability of the products offered by the company and the considerably extensive research and development service based investments through which betterment of health preservation based food product development could be achieved. Curtaining of shipping and transportation costs has been one added advantage for the company due to opportunities to establish production plants at different geographical locations. Increasing emphasis on the health and supplementary sustenance discipline as opposed to the junk food industry has been also observable through the responses of the participants. Apart from these, the prevalent disadvantages derived from the conditions experienced by Nestle have been the growth of administrative costs since the asset management of such a global enterprise entails miscellaneous expenses, the obligations to adhere to differential and often stringent legal stipulations concerning environmental and local raw material utilisation based perspectives and overall, the challenges from the substitute products being levelled by the rival companies such as Cadbury. The aligning of the research findings with the objectives could be performed through the indication of similarity in between the interview questions and the research objectives. The first objective has been represented by the 1st to 5th research questions. The second objective has been reflected by the 6th to 10th questions. The 11th to 15th questions have put forward the research enquiry of the third objective. The 16th to 20nd questions have been formulated to bring forth the research inquest of the fourth objective. The responses gathered from the 21rd to 25th questions have been indicative of the data required to fulfil the fifth research objective and the 26th to 30th questions have been formulated to investigate about the thematic research construct of the sixth objective.

4.4 Critically analyse the findings and make valid justify recommendations.

The research findings have been more or less indicative of the general trends of an effort on part of the organisation under consideration to balance the exigencies of the current globalised market conditions and the business opportunities and drawbacks which have emerged with such conditions. The drawbacks which have been outlined through the research data collection through analysis of the responses from the interviewees could attest to the fact that adverse conditions are mostly associated with rise in the costs of raw materials and administrative staff management due to the obligations of they having to travel extensively for supervision purposes and the criticality of maintaining a competitive edge over the market rivals. However, the most fundamental difficulty which has been outlined through the analysis of the collected data has been the addressing of changing needs and preferences of global customers since convergence of cultures and market access development have been facilitated due to globalisation. Environmental regulation adherence has been one of the points of persistent problems and this has prompted Nestle to restructure various production plants and the general working processes as well at various national market spaces.

4.5 Recommendations

Greater consumer research effort at health sustenance and supplementary food disciplines. Utmost quality management through utilisation of new and innovative technologies so that product recall could be precluded altogether. Researching about the emerging markets such as those in Central African countries where the middle class is a burgeoning one and food habits are growing increasingly Westernised. This could solve the market saturation problems. Hiring of internationally acclaimed legal consultancy to formulate roadmaps to ensure environmental regulation adherence. Providing greater emphasis on community shops based distribution so that retailers and distributors would not have to be provided with greater incentives and the distribution cost could be curtailed. Maintaining the most positive relationships with the raw material suppliers on local and regional basis. Greater emphasis on the policy parameters which could define the manner in which renewable energy and recycled production equipment could be generalised in the production plants of the company. Capitalising on the long standing brand image of Nestle in terms of health food products.

4.6 Data analysis merits and demerits

The merits could be identified as detailed description of the feelings and opinions as well as experiences of the research participants, credible interpretations of their demonstrated actions and performance based processing of information with the added advantage of minimisation of the research errors which could be prevalent in the statistical modes of data analysis. In depth insights regarding the research issues could be obtained through designing, carefully administering and then analysing the questions and their responses. This has been also an interdisciplinary method which could encompass greater range of viewpoints and interpretation based techniques such as language and etymological responses. Semi-structured interviews and direct observations have been utilised in this respect to make the data collection detailed and subjective.

The disadvantage has been palpable in the generalizability related issues due to the considerably smaller sample size. Furthermore, thematic analysis have been consistently hampered duet to the elusiveness of personal feelings and experiences since majority of the respondents have been inclined towards formal corrective prospects regarding their responses.

Chapter 5: Conclusion, Recommendation and reflection:

5.1 Conclusion

The assessment of the critical issues which could clarify the research understanding development process so as to suggest the credible directions towards which the future formats of research processes could be directed have been properly performed through the preceding research project. The core importance of such a format of research project for Nestle Food has been to determine the best possible methods of viability maintenance in the globalised market and formulate business plans for the future market endeavours so that competitive leverage could be gained in the hyper competitive scenario of globalised commercial world.

5.2 Recommendation

1: The data collection process had been hampered consistently by the relatively smaller set of questions formulated based on the research objectives. In terms of the future studies, this has to be rectified in terms of the development of a greater numerical value of the questions so that greater measure of the drawbacks and advantages of globalisation could be identified.

2: The Researcher did not succeed in obtaining permission from the top echelon managerial personnel of Nestle at UK to interview them. In case of the future data collection and research process, renewed efforts would have to be invested to address this shortcoming.

3: Corroboration of the collected research data analysis could not be performed through the research authentication measure of Quantitative data collection since the Researcher did not have much duration of time for such an effort. Future research recommendation is thus firmly suggestive of performing Quantitative data collection in tandem with Qualitative analysis.

5.3 Reflection.

The fundamental significance of the research regarding the topic of determination of the advantages and drawbacks of globalisation, for the Researcher, has been to develop effective recommendations for the business organisation under consideration and to devise procedures through which better business decisions by Nestle Food could be conceived, through the utilisation of the findings and analysis of the data collected and evaluated by the Researcher in the concerned research project. In this context, the overall objective of the Researcher has been to develop suitable academic research based assistance for the company of Nestle Food.

References and Bibliography

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Brewer, T.L. and Young, S., 2017. Globalisation or De-Globalisation: What Role for the World Trade Organisation?. In Globalisation and Korean Foreign Investment (pp. 134-152). Routledge.

Bryson, J.R. and Daniels, P.W. eds., 2015. Handbook of service business: Management, marketing, innovation and internationalisation. Edward Elgar Publishing.

Cramer, J., 2017. Corporate Social Responsibility and Globalisation: an action plan for business. Routledge.

Eppinger, P. and Potrafke, N., 2016. Did globalisation influence credit market deregulation?. The World Economy, 39(3), pp.426-443.

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Krugman, P., 2017. Crises: The price of globalisation?. In Economics of Globalisation (pp. 31-50). Routledge.

Machado, C.A., 2017. Paradoxes of Globalisation: Some Thoughts on a Much Abused Concept. In Globalisation and Korean Foreign Investment (pp. 39-59). Routledge.

von Furstenberg, G.M., 2017. New directions in global economic governance: managing globalisation in the twenty-first century. Routledge.