- Basic Principles of Internationalization - Business expansion strategy

Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Allen M. Featherstone / The landscape of the United States seed industry has changed substantially over the last 100 years. In the mid-1930s, there were 115 active seed corn companies marketing seed in the United States. By the 1980s, there were 303 hybrid seed corn companies and in 2016 there were 140 active hybrid seed corn companies in the United States. As the seed industry continues to evolve, so will the logistics and methods of which seed is sold to farm customers. The purpose of this thesis is to analyze and determine if a seed business expansion provides a positive net present value and rate of return for the management based on the capital costs of the investment and estimated income opportunities. Based on historical information of the existing business and the new market territory opportunities, a ten year projected cash flow was estimated to provide a basis for the net present value and internal rate of return analysis. Sensitivity analysis was applied to different variables in the cash flow model to identify variables of risk and the impact on the projected cash flow and net present value analysis. The projected cash flow model and net present value analysis provides management a basis for the decision to expand their existing business. The conclusion of the net present value and internal rate of return analysis was that the expansion of the seed business was profitable under most sensitivity scenarios. Recommendations were made for additional research that could be performed to maximize and diversify the business’s product offerings and net income.

The current study aims to investigate the feasibility of international apparel and footwear retailers to expand their business in Pakistan and compete with other brands. It also highlights the business opportunities in Pakistan apparel retail sector and the motivations of international brands behind expansions. This study was conducted with the help of interviews based on diamond model of Porter, and Hofsetede cultural dimensions. The open ended questions were delivered to the professionals electronically while interviews were conducted by telephone. Seven companies from Pakistan were selected for study purpose. Data was analyzed and assessed manually. The study revealed that there is a significant opportunity for international apparel retailers to launch their retail outlets in Pakistan along with some risks. International brands which are financially strong can tackle these risks. However it was concluded that the companies with less financial strength may find it difficult to go in a new market within 5 years. UK brands are already there and brands from other countries are also opening. Overall Pakistan retail sector is growing and people are becoming fashion conscious. This study provides information to International apparel brands which they can take into consideration while entering Pakistan's apparel retail market. It also gives an opportunity for assessment of market in the light of theoretical modules and shows a direction of getting better market share by launching.

Abstract   Title: Strategies and tactics to stimulate Social enterprise business expansion-Swedish experience   Level: Final assignment for Master’s Degree in Business Administration   Author: GU Yanhao   Supervisor: Maria Fregidou-Malama   Examiner: Lars Ekstrand   Date: 2013-10-17   Aim: This study aims to identify elements which can affect social enterprise business expansion. Based on study, suggestions for social enterprises to achieve long term development are exhibited.   Method: This research is a qualitative research based on case study. Relay on previous knowledge about social enterprises, I formulate questions which serve my study’s aim. There are three companies be selected in my case company list. Those three companies are divided in two categories: one type is social enterprise consultant company whose mission is to aid regional social enterprise to make health business operation; another type is social enterprise. There are four interview used in the research to ensure that the research result contains different perspectives and opinions.   Result & Conclusions: This study depicts an overall view about social enterprise business expansion. Certain suggestions have been listed relay on the combination of previous literature result with case studies. In the study, various elements have been determined which have significant impacts on social enterprise business expansion operation. They are divided in two segments, internal and external. Internal aspects include human resource and social entrepreneur. External factors include third Part Company, non-profit charity groups and authority. Social enterprise who wants business expansion needs to integrate different resources from various social institutions. Meanwhile to enhance internal product capability as well as competitive advantage social enterprise needs to more emphasize on social entrepreneurs’ characteristics.   Suggestion for further research: Further study should emphasize on various sizes of social enterprises in multi-stakeholders co-operation model. This study mainly focuses on SMEs type of SE, but with the time passing by, due to SE can offer solutions to social crisis and economic crisis, SE will be popular, and this idea will spread quickly. Therefore, more and more large size SE will emerge which needs guide and help with business maintaining and expansion plans.   Contribution of the thesis: This study contributes to three aspects. First, this study analyses the present situation of social enterprise, exhibit internal and external factors which affect social enterprise to make business expansion. It offers social enterprise a path to implement business expansion, and help social enterprise to identify its potential capabilities which could help them achieve long term development. Secondly, during this work, author explains the ideology of social enterprise, what are its contributions to society as well as the reason why it exists. Since the results offer an explicitly structured conclusion, they are valuable information to society as well as local municipality to re-considerate the important role social enterprise can play. Last not the least, this research presents a new model of key elements for social enterprise business expansion. It is critical and crucial for further research in academic study.

Background: The Chinese market is growing fast and rapidly in a high pace. Many foreign companies see the possibilities in this and are expanding their business to China. When operating business in China strategic decisions are taken by the management, sometimes without reflection of what influences the process. This makes the influence on the management strategic decision-making process vital when expanding to China, since it may reflect on the company’s strategic plans.   Purpose: To further explore and extend the research area on how the expansion to China influences the management and their strategic decision-making process.   Research questions: RQ1: Do the expansion to China influence the management strategic decision-making process?   RQ2: How does the expansion to China influence the management strategic decision-making process?   Methodology: Conducted as an abductive qualitative multiple case study, examined with semi-structured interviews with an exploratory purpose.   Conclusion: The empirical investigation showed that the management and their strategic decision-making process are influenced by the expansion to China. The influences are; rationality, decision speed, environment, politics, culture and how management view their strategy through the strategic lenses.

During the previous years there has been a lot of focus on e-commerce in the fashion and clothing industry and that everything will be bought online in the future. However, several e-commerce companies have decided to expand into offline retail. This dissimilarity between theory and reality creates an interest for further research and a curiosity of how the future within retail will develop. The purpose of this research is to understand why Swedish online fashion retailers expand through an offline strategy. An Expansion Theme Model, which emerged from the theoretical framework, is used throughout the research to create a cohesive presentation of the material. In this research two case studies were conducted with e-commerce companies that are moving towards offline retail, one that is planning to open their own offline store and the other that is selling to external offline retailers. The findings present the reasons for expanding into offline retail according to the respondents in the two cases. Two reasons that were discussed in both cases were to enhance the brand image and use offline retailing as a marketing tool to reach a larger customer group and ultimately enhance the company’s profit. The findings present several problems within each case that can be solved by expanding into offline retail. The first problem is about suppliers that protect offline retailers. The second problem is about how to reach the minimum quantities that the suppliers require. The third problem is how to achieve a better negotiation power with the suppliers. The fourth problem discusses the challenge of displaying products online. The view of the future within retail is also presented, where all of the respondents agreed that the two selling channels will be more integrated in the future. Finally, the transition towards offline retail creates many new possibilities in the world of retail that is yet undiscovered and it is therefore exciting to follow this development.

The present Master Thesis investigates the concept of international franchising from both business and legal standpoints. The actuality of the topic is obvious: Franchising becomes one of the most perspective and fast-developing method for business expansion, and this Diploma was written as a reflection of such tendency. In the meantime, Franchising is an extremely complex and arguable business issue and still causes a kind of confusion in people's mind. For this reason, my effort in this Work is concentrated on the diversified influence franchising has on the business and economic environment, especially in times of economic troubles. And the Thesis proves the strong correlation between the economic and legal climate from the one hand, and the business opportunities from the other. This Diploma aims at the comprehensive research of the selected theoretical and practical aspects of international Franchising. The research is focused on detailed description of the three major pillars: franchise contract, the most evident franchising trends in terms of potential opportunities and risks, and, finally, the franchise overview with the analysis of the specific industries. The main conclusion that arises from this Thesis is definitely that international franchising is not just "a vehicle for conducting business" for large-scale experienced companies, but a real driver for globalization process now-a-days. The key message is that franchising tends to be considered more as the great business opportunity, even for small- or medium-sized companies, rather then a risky business concern. It is my great hope that this Master Thesis might help the potential entrepreneurs to create a broader view on franchising in international business format before making an intelligent decision about investing in a franchise.

The present thesis is dedicated to the conditions and opportunities for business development in Brazil. The thesis is based both on a thorough analysis of various aspects of the Brazilian environment and on a case study resulting from the intention of a real Czech company to expand its activities to the territory of Brazil. The author considers various options for achieving this goal, as well as the feasibility and profitability of the project itself. The objective of the present thesis is to explain, through a detailed analysis of the available information, the potential of the Brazilian economy, to demonstrate, with a real example, its possible benefits not only for the Brazilian economy, but also for entrepreneurs in other countries around the world and to apply academic knowledge and practical experience of the author for possible future implementation of a real investment project. The thesis is divided into a theoretical and a practical parts. The theoretical part contains an introduction to the topic of international trade and business, after that focuses on the current state of the developing economies in the world, with an emphasis on Brazil, and then presents a detailed analysis of the specifics of the Brazilian business environment. The practical part consists of a case study of the company and of the draft for implementation of the project related to the extension of the territorial scope of the company. The research allows to test the basic hypothesis of this thesis and to demonstrate opportunities offered by the Brazilian business environment.

The thesis develops a business plan dealing with the expansion of the present business. The business plan is built on teoretic bases, than it analyses current condition in the company and finally it suggests realization of expansion including economic evaluation. This business plan should help to owner of business to make a right strategic decision.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) contribute to China's economic growth and help maintain social stability. However, SME business leaders have cited access to finance as an obstacle of SMEs' survival and success. The purpose of this multiple case study was to identify main strategies SME entrepreneurs and business leaders used to attract venture capital (VC) investments to achieve financial sustainability and business expansion. Data were collected from a purposive sample of 23 entrepreneurs and leaders from 4 SMEs in China and an analysis of organizational artifacts. The resource-based view theory served as the primary conceptual framework. The data analysis process entailed using coding techniques to identify keywords, narrative segments, and concepts. Member checking ensured the credibility and trustworthiness of the data interpretation and analysis. The process led to 4 themes including developing a unique and pioneering business model, assembling a management team with industry experience, indicating use of raised capital in investing in technology, and engaging with superior principal endorsements during the fund-raising efforts. The implication for positive social change included the potential to enhance the capability of SME entrepreneurs and business leaders to obtain VC funding to support their businesses, which can increase economic development and improve the social stability of local communities in China. The findings from the study may contribute to the development of the SME sector in China and benefit their owners, business leaders, employees, future entrepreneurs, the local community, as well as economy of China.