Module 4: International Business Environment

Objectives

After studying this unit, you should be able to:

 Discuss the international socio-cultural framework

Introduction

Environmental factors are external effects that cannot be managed. Because environmental factors
cannot be managed they must be anticipated and analyzed. The ability to predict or “guess” the future
state of the environment enables the marketer to position the firm defensively against environmental
threats or to seize opportunities that are created by the environment. Before entering into international
market, a company must analyze the international marketing environment very carefully because the
future of the company depends on this analysis only. However, you must note that this analysis should
not be done at the beginning but throughout the life of the business as the international marketing
environment changes really fast. A company needs to analyze the political, legal and regulatory, socio-
cultural, economic, and technological environment in order to understand the international marketing
environment.

Social and Cultural Environment

Though society and culture do not appear to be a part of business situations, yet they are actually key
elements in showing how business activities will be conducted, what goods will be produced, and
through what means they will be sold to establishing industrial and management patterns and
determining the success or failure of a local subsidiary or affiliate. Let us learn various aspects of
international socio-cultural environment, discussed in the subsequent subsections.

Elements of Culture

There are too many human variables and different types of international business functions for an
exhaustive discussion about culture. The main elements of culture are:  Attitudes and Beliefs: The set
of attitudes and beliefs of a culture will influence nearly all aspects of human behaviour, providing
guidelines and organisation to a society and its individuals.

Example: In contrast to American individualism, Japanese are group-oriented. Japanese do not like to be
alone or to do things differently from others. They stick together: eating, working, or traveling in a
group. Following others and being part of a group gives them a kind of care freeness and joy. Why are
Japanese group-oriented? The reasons originate from their geography, history, and culture. Arab
Countries are attempting to strike a balance between the individuals rights and privileges and the
individuals obligations toward the family and the community. This balance is germane to this discussion
because the path chosen may affect the state's role and efficiency in Human Resources. The extent to
which MENA countries can capitalize on their Traditional support for family security (for example,
through waqf) may help determine the degree to which state may concentrate financing for issues in
which it may have a comparative advantage.
  Attitudes towards Time: Everywhere in the world people use time to communicate with each
other. In international business, attitudes towards time are displayed in behaviour regarding
punctuality, responses to business communication, responses to deadlines, and the amount of
time that is spent waiting in an outer office for an appointment.

Example: An interesting phenomenon related to the Spanish people's attitude toward time is something
that we have come to dub "The Manana Complex" (Manana meaning 'tomorrow' in the Spanish
language). "Why do something now when it can be done tomorrow?" Or "What's the rush? Things will
be completed eventually" seems to be the philosophy and way of life for many Spanish people.

 Attitude towards Work and Leisure: People’s attitudes towards work and leisure are indicative
of their views towards wealth and material gains. These attitudes affect the types, qualities and
numbers of individuals who pursue entrepreneurial and management careers as well.

Example: Time spent in the home and with other household members (Kelly, 1997, p.132), and research
has uncovered both the familial and personal importance of leisure in daily life.

 Attitude towards Achievement: In some cultures, particularly those with high stratified and
hierarchical societies, there is a tendency to avoid personal responsibility and to work according
to precise instructions received from supervisors that are followed by the latter. In many
industrial societies, personal responsibility and the ability to take risks for potential gain are
considered valuable instruments in achieving higher goals.

Example: For example, McCoach and Siegle (2001) compared 122 gifted achievers with 56 gifted
underachievers in 28 different high schools. The results of an analysis suggested that gifted
underachievers differed from achievers on four factors: attitudes toward teachers, attitudes toward
school, goal valuation, and motivation/self-regulation.

 Attitudes towards Change: The international manager must understand what aspects of a
culture will resist change and how the areas of resistance differ among cultures, how the
process of change takes place in different cultures and how long it will take to implement
change.

Example: For example, Perlman and Takacs (1990) argued that there is a big similarity between the
stages that an individual goes through dealing with death described by KublerRoss (1969) and the stages
they identified that individuals go through when they experience organizational change. More
specifically, they noted that there are many emotional states that a person can experience during
change processes, which are equilibrium, denial, danger, bargaining, chaos, depression, resignation,
openness, readiness and re-emergence.

 Attitude towards Job: The type of job that is considered most desirable or prestigious varies
greatly according to different cultures. Thus, while medical and legal professions are considered
extremely prestigious in the United States, civil service is considered the most prestigious
occupation in several developing countries including India.

Example: Gardner & Korth (1998) sought to understand if attitudes toward group work varied according
to individual learning style preference. They found that there were a large number of statistically
significant differences; in other words, student attitudes about group work and preferred instructional
methods seemed to vary systematically with their individual learning style.

Cultural Dimension

The influences of the religious, family, educational and social systems of a society on the business
system comprise the cultural dimension of our picture. Because cultural attitudes vary so much among
countries, it is harder to find general patterns here than for the economic dimension.

Marketing in Cross-cultural Context

In understanding, analyzing and predicting consumer behaviour for marketing management purposes,
the role of culture has always been given a prominent role in consumer behaviour studies, which in turn
are expected to facilitate the effectiveness of marketing management efforts. In the post-Second World
War years, with the adoption of marketing concepts, marketers started imparting greater consumer
orientation to their marketing efforts. In recent years, the marketing discipline has been going through a
number of major paradigm shifts. The traditional transaction-oriented marketing is being replaced by
relationship marketing. In recent times, segmentation marketing with emphasis on viable segments as
target markets is progressively replaced by micro marketing facilitated by the advances in the
information, communication and production technologies.

Though all people have much in common as human is, there still are many differences in cultures as we
move from nation to nation. Culture is adaptive, and marketing strategies based on the values of society
must also be adaptive. When cultural changes occur, trends develop and provide marketing
opportunities to those who spot the changes before their competitors do. As culture evolves, marketers
may associate product or brand benefits with new values, or they may have to change the product if
that value is no longer gratifying in society.

With so much diversity present among the members of just one nation, it is easy to appreciate that
numerous larger differences may exist between citizens of different nations having different cultures,
values, beliefs, and languages. If international marketers are to satisfy the needs of consumers in
potentially very distinct markets effectively, they must understand the relevant similarities and
differences that exist between the peoples of the countries they decide to target.

Notes:

When consumers make purchase decisions, they seem to take into consideration the countries of origin
of the brands that they are assessing. Consumers frequently have specific attitudes or even preferences
for products made in particular countries. This country of origin influence how consumers rate quality
and sometimes, which brands they will ultimately select.

As increasing numbers of consumers from all over the world come in contact with the material goods
and lifestyle of people living in other countries and as the number of middle-class consumers grows in
developing countries, marketers are eager to locate these new customers and to offer them their
products. The rapidly expanding middle classes in countries of Asia, South America, and Eastern Europe
possess relatively substantial buying power because their incomes are largely discretionary.

Consumer behaviour has emerged as a sub-field of marketing discipline. Initially, consumer behaviour
research mainly focused on the Behavioural aspects of consumers of the majority culture, and that too
was limited to domestic country context. Historically, this was the case in the USA, the home of
marketing discipline. However the marketing phenomenon spread to other parts of the world, either
through increasing international trade or through the expanding operations of multinational
corporations worldwide. This often led to comparisons between the behaviors of foreign consumers
with those of the USA, and thus the initial research efforts into cross-cultural marketing came into
existence. Thus, when Americans venture abroad, they experience what anthropologists call culture
shock, that is, a series of psychological jolts when they encounter new customs, value systems, attitudes,
and work habits; the shock reduces their effectiveness in foreign commercial environments. Therefore,
it is crucial to effective operations that the manager be well schooled in the host culture. A lack of
understanding of the host culture will lead the manager to think and act as he would in his home
culture. Such a self-reference criterion, that is, the unconscious reference to one’s own cultural values-
has been termed the root cause of most international business problems abroad. The goal should be to
eliminate this cultural myopia.

Culture is specific to a context. Different countries have different cultures; hence, consumer behaviour
also differs in different countries. This aspect is particularly important to multinational corporations,
which enter different markets to cater to the diverse cultural needs of consumers. The differences in
perception among consumers with regard to products (and, perhaps, even brands) are based on need,
usage and importance.

Example: In the US, products like cola, burgers, peanuts, popcorn and ketchup are a popular part of the
culture.

The theme of cultural influences in a given country has two variations. Cross-cultural influences are
norms and values of consumers in foreign markets that influence strategies of multinational
organisations marketing their products and services abroad. The second variation refers to subcultural
influences that concern differences in values among different groups within a country that distinguish
them from society as a whole.

In its international operations, Levi Strauss closely follows both cross-cultural and sub-cultural trends.
The basic principle it follows is “think globally but act locally.” The company recognises that tastes in
fashion, music and technology etc. are becoming increasingly similar across most countries of the world
because of International reach of media such as MTV, Internet and greater facilities for travel. There
seems to be increasing influence of American culture on consumption vales as more and more
consumers are shifting their preferences for American goods.

Example: Multinational corporations such as Proctor & Gamble, Pepsi, Coca Cola, IBM, Gillette, Johnson
and Johnson, Kellogg’s, Colgate-Palmolive, Nestle, Canon, Epson, Honda, Suzuki and many others earn
large revenues abroad.

As more foreign markets emerge and offer opportunities for growth, marketing in foreign countries is
likely to increase in importance. Marketing across cultural boundaries is a difficult and challenging task
because cultures may differ in demographics, languages, values and nonverbal communications.

Cross-cultural analysis helps marketers determine to what extent the consumers of two or more nations
are similar or different. The greater the similarity between consumers, the more feasible it is to use
relatively similar strategies in each country. In case the cross-cultural analysis reveals that there are wide
cultural differences, then a highly individualized marketing strategy may be indicated for each country.

Marketers often make the strategic error of assuming that since domestic consumers like a product,
consumers in other countries would naturally like it. Such a view is often referred to as a “culturally
myopic view.” Companies have generally been successful in marketing abroad by recognizing local
differences in consumer needs and customs. To accomplish this, such companies had to learn cross-
cultural acculturation, which means thoroughly orienting themselves to the values, beliefs, customs,
language and demographics of the new country. They developed strategies to encourage members of
the society to modify attitudes and possibly alter their behaviors.

What multinational advertisers are finding is that it is very difficult to assume anything when it comes to
cultures. While many believe that the world is getting smaller and that cultural diversity will decline as is
suggested by the adoption of Western fashions in many Asian countries, there are others who are
finding that differences between cultures remain firm. For example, some of the European countries
with similar values and purchasing behaviors were banded together in a common market. This has not
met expectations due to stereotypes, history and schooling.

Notes:

Eighty percent of Indians are Hindu who don’t eat beef so there will be no Big Macs in India, Instead, the
menu will feature the Maharaja Mac—”two all mutton patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles,
onions on a sesame-seed bun.” For the strictest Hindus who eat no meat, McDonald’s will offer deep-
fried rice patties flavored with peas, carrots, red pepper, beans, onions, coriander, and other spices.

The critical decision is whether utilizing a standardized marketing strategy, in any given market, will
result in a greater return on investment than would an individualized campaign. Thus, the consumer
response to the standardized campaign and to potential individualized campaigns must be considered in
addition to the cost of each approach.

As the international trade barriers break down under the World Trade Organization regime,
International marketing is replacing the dominance of domestic marketing. The International marketing
possibilities are also greatly facilitated by the globalization, privatization and liberalization forces
sweeping the world economies. In addition to these, emerging trends in the marketing discipline, the
dominant cultural paradigm in marketing has shifted from dominance of majority culture to
multicultural and/or cross-cultural marketing. For both domestic marketing and International marketing,
marketers all over the world are being forced to recognize the fact of cultural diversity of marketplaces
and how to make their marketing efforts effective in such culturally diverse contexts.

More and more companies have adopted a International outlook in which the world becomes their
market.

Example: Numerous major corporations, such as Coca-Cola, IBM, Pfizer and Gillette, receive over half of
their earnings from foreign operations, while many others also have significant international markets.

Such situations require the marketer’s appreciation both of cultural differences among international
markets and of their influence on consumer behavior.
There is growing evidence that increasing integration across cultures both within a country and across
countries is creating an emerging common consumption culture. Such a consumption culture is
exhibiting greater commonalities, especially among the middle-class segment, across all cultural groups.
These developments call for greater integration of cross-cultural marketing and multicultural marketing
research streams. By integrating these fields of research, greater synergy can be achieved to benefit the
development of more relevant research for the benefit of marketing practice, both at the domestic and
international levels.

Globalization has increased the mobility of individuals across national borders, ensuring that populations
become more heterogeneous and culturally diverse. The advanced societies are becoming more
multicultural and culturally diverse and marketing theory and practice needs to e developed to
accommodate these changes.

The main issue that marketers have to address is whether ethnic minorities have different wants and
needs from the majority population and thus whether special marketing strategies are required to
effectively target them. If individuals from minority groups lose their ethnic identity by adopting the
behaviour of the indigenous population over time, a process of acculturation occurs. High levels of
acculturation enable minorities to become assimilated whereby individuals become completely
integrated into the host culture. If ethnic minorities adopt the assimilation list pattern of behaviour,
marketers could safely assume that minority groups require no special targeting and that the same
marketing strategies would work equally as well with minority populations as those designed for the
indigenous population. But it is not so in real life, minorities they have their own tastes and preferences
and thereby making the jobs of marketer very challenging.

Another aspect is geographical concentration of ethnic populations that is evident in many multicultural
societies suggests that specific segments of the ethnic minority population should be fairly easy to
target. For this reason community-based marketing strategies are thought to be the key to marketing to
ethnic minorities.

For some international marketers, acculturation is a dual process: first, marketers must learn everything
that is relevant to the product and product category in the society in which they plan to market, and
then they must persuade the members of that society to break with their traditional ways of doing
things to adopt the new product. The more similar a foreign target market is to a marketer’s home
market, the easier is the process of acculturation. Conversely, the more different a foreign target
market, the more difficult the process of acculturation.

Some of the problems involved in multi-cultural analysis include differences in language, race, ethnicity,
consumption patterns, needs, product usage, economic and social conditions, marketing conditions and
market research opportunities. There is an urgent need for more systematic and conceptual cross-
cultural analyses of the psychological, social and cultural characteristics concerning the consumption
habits of foreign consumers. Such analyses would identify increased marketing opportunities that would
benefit both international marketers and their targeted consumers.
Technological Environment

Pervasive are diversified in scope, technological changes affect many parts of societies. These effects
occur primarily through new products, processes, and materials. The technological segment includes the
institutions and activities involved with creating new knowledge and translating that knowledge into
new outputs, products, processes and materials. Given the rapid pace of technological change, it is vital
that firms carefully study different elements in the technological segment. The marketers need to
identify the speed with which substitute technologies are likely to emerge and the timing of any major
technological changes. Some new technologies that have helped international marketers are discussed
in the following subsections

Internet

A technology with important implications for business in the Internet sometimes referred to as “the
information superhighway.” The Internet is a global web of more than 25,000 computer networks. It
provides a quick, inexpensive means of global communication (i.e. with strategic alliance partners) and
access to information

Example: GE engineers often use the Internet to communicate with their counterparts when doing
development work for other companies. The Internet provides access to experts on such topics as
chemical engineering and semi-conductor manufacturing, to the library of Congress, and even to
satellite photographs.

Modems

Modems are important for connecting personal computers to phone lines that help gain access to the
Internet. The technology in the manufacture of modems has advanced rapidly. Their speed may only be
curtailed by the limits of conventional phone lines. Encyclopedia Britannica Inc. is using the Internet to
revive its business.

Example: The firms now offer a free search engine with sites screened by its editors. As Encyclopedia
Britannica’s actions demonstrate, the Internet can allow a firm to be both flexible and innovative with its
product introductions.

High Speed Digital Stream

To obtain technology to deliver a high-speed digital stream that can be viewed as movies, Web sites or
advertising on televisions with its equipment.

Satellite Imaging

Another new technology that is gaining rapid popularity is satellite imaging. Several aerospace
companies have invested up to $1 billion in corporate earth imaging systems.

Example: Space Imaging, Inc., a joint venture for Lockheed Martin, E-systems, Mitsubishi Corporation,
and Eastman Kodak Company, is a $500 million venture that provides from an advanced satellite. Many
expect this technology to compete in the global information trade industry and some anticipate that it
will create a revolution. There are a number of uses for this technology.
Economic Environment

Perhaps the most important characteristic of the international market environment is the economic
dimension. With money, all things (well, almost all!!) are possible. Without money, many things are
impossible for the marketer. Luxury products, for example, cannot be sold to low-income consumers.
Hypermarkets for food, furniture, or durables require a large base of consumers with the ability to make
large purchases of goods and the ability to drive away with those purchases. Sophisticated industrial
products require sophisticated industries as buyers. Let us learn more about economic environment,
discussed in the following sub-sections:

Economic Systems

There are three types of economic systems: capitalist, socialist, and mixed. This classification is based on
the dominant method of resource allocation: market allocation, command or central plan allocation, and
mixed allocation, respectively.

Market Allocation

A market allocation system is one that relies on consumers to allocate resources. Consumers “write” the
economic plan by deciding what will be produced by whom. The role of the state in a market economy is
to promote competition and ensure consumer protection.

Example: The United States, most Western European countries, and Japan – the triad countries that
account for three quarters of gross world product – are predominantly market economy.

Command Allocation

In a command allocation system, the state has broad powers to serve the public interest. These include
deciding which products to make and how to make them. Consumers are free to spend their money on
what is available, but state planners make decisions about what is produced and, therefore, what is
available. Because demand exceeds supply, the elements of the marketing mix are not used as strategic
variables.

Mixed System

There are, in reality, no pure market or command allocation systems among the world’s economies. All
market systems have a command sector and all command systems have a market sector; in other words,
they are “mixed”. In a market economy, the command allocation sector is the proportion of Gross
Domestic Product (GDP).

The International Economic System

Several factors have contributed to the growth of the international economy post World War II. The
principal forces have been the development of economic blocs like the European Union (EU) and then
the “economic pillars”– the World Bank (or International Bank for Reconstruction and Development to
give its full name), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the evolution of the World Trade
Organisation from the original General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).
Until 1969 the world economy traded on a gold and foreign exchange base. This affected liquidity
drastically. After 1969 liquidity was eased by the agreement that member nations to the IMF accept the
Special Drawing Rights (SDR) in settling reserve transactions. Now an international reserve facility is
available. Recently, the World Bank has taken a very active role in the reconstruction and development
of developing country economies, a point which will be expanded on later.

Until the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) after World War II, the world trading system
had been restricted by discriminating trade practices. GATT had the intention of producing a set of rules
and principles to liberalise trade. The Most Favoured Nation (MFN) concept, whereby each country
agrees to extend to all countries the most favourable terms that it negotiates with any country, helped
reduce barriers. The “round” of talks began with Kennedy in the 60s and Tokyo of the 70s. The latest
round, Uruguay, was recently concluded in April 1994 and ratified by most countries in early 1995.
Despite these trade agreements, non-tariff barriers like exclusion deals, standards and administrative
delays are more difficult to deal with. A similar system exists with the European Union, – the Lomè
convention. Under this deal, African and Caribbean countries enjoy favoured status with EU member
countries.

No doubt a great impetus to global trade was brought about by the development of economic blocs,
and, conversely, by the collapse of others. Blocs like the European Union (EU), ASEAN, the North
American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with the USA, Canada and Mexico has created market
opportunities and challenges. New countries are trying to join these blocs all the time, because of the
economic, social and other advantages they bring. Similarly, the collapse of the old communist blocs
have given rise to opportunities for organisations as they strive to get into the new market based
economies rising from the ruins. This is certainly the case with the former Soviet bloc.

Income and Purchasing Power Parity around the Globe

When a company charts a plan for global market expansion, it often finds that, for most products,
income is the single most valuable economic variable. After all, a market can be defined as a group of
people willing and able to buy a particular product.

Ideally, GNP and other measures of national income converted to U.S. dollars should be calculated on
the basis of purchasing power parities (i.e. what the currency will buy in the country of issue) or through
direct comparisons of actual prices for a given product. This would provide an actual comparison of the
standards of living in the countries of the world.

Key Economic Issues that Influence International Business

The key economic issues that influence international business are discussed below:

Inflation

Inflation is the pervasive and sustained rise in the aggregate level of prices measured by an index of the
cost of various goods and services. Inflation results when aggregate demand grows faster than
aggregate supply- essentially, too many people are trying to buy too few goods, thereby creating
demand that pushes prices up faster than incomes grow. Consider the impact of inflation on the cost of
living. Rising prices make it more difficult for consumers to buy products unless their incomes rise at the
same or faster pace. Sometimes it is practically impossible. Either alone or together, these measures
slow or stop economic growth.

Unemployment

The unemployment rate is the number of unemployed workers divided by the total civilian labor force,
which includes both the unemployed and those with jobs. In practice, measuring the number of
unemployed workers actually seeking work in various countries is difficult given the lack of a standard
measurement method. Generally, people out of work and unable to find jobs depress economic growth,
create social pressure, and provoke political uncertainty.

Debt

Debt, the sum total of government’s financial obligations, measures the state’s borrowing from its
population, from foreign organizations, from foreign governments, and from international institutions.
More recently, many countries have borrowed from international lenders to finance their movement to
freer markets, a process of economic transition. Many countries that began with this ambition but that
eventually failed then increasingly had to rely on foreign debt.

Income Distribution

GNI or PPP, even weighted by the size of the population, can misestimate the relative wealth of a
nation’s citizens. Uneven income distribution is not a problem of poorer nations. There is a strong
relationship between skewed income distributions and the split between those who live in urban
settings versus those who live in rural areas.

Poverty

A related but separate issue concerns poverty- the state of having little or no money, few or no material
possessions, and little or no resources to enjoy a reasonable standard of life. In many parts of the world,
workers and consumers struggle for food, shelter, clothing, and clean water, health services, to say
nothing of safety, security, and education. Failure results in suffering, malnutrition, mental illness, death
epidemics, famine, and war.

The Balance of Payments

The Balance of Payments (BOP), officially known as the statement of International Transactions, records
a country’s international transactions that take place between companies, governments, or individuals.
Managers use the BOP as a comprehensive indicator of a country’s economic stability.

Political Environment

Majority of the MNCs have to face complex political environmental problems because they must cope
with the politics of more than one nation. That complexity forces MNCs to consider three types of
political environment: foreign, domestic and international.

The developing countries and the less Developed Countries (LDCs) often view foreign firms and foreign
capital investment with distrust and even resentment, owing primarily to a concern over potential
foreign exploitation of local natural resources. Dependency Theory explains why Latin American
countries are reluctant to welcome foreign-based MNCs. According to this theory, the ongoing
economic, political and social transformations have made it necessary for Latin America to rely on the
capitalistic system. Let us know some more about political environment, discussed in following
subsections.

Political Systems

In order to appraise the political environment of a country, the knowledge of the form of government of
that country is essential. Basically, the government can be classified into two categories – parliamentary
(open) or absolutist (closed). In the parliamentary form of government, the citizens are supposed to be
consulted from time to time for learning about their opinions and preferences. In this type of
government the policies are thus intended to reflect the desire of the majority segment of society. Most
of the industrialised nations and democratic countries can be classified as parliamentary. The absolutist
governments include monarchies and dictatorships.

In the absolutist system, the ruling regime dictates government policies without considering citizens’
needs or opinions. The United Kingdom is a good example of a constitutional hereditary monarchy.
Despite the monarch, the government is still classified as parliamentary.

Political system of many countries does not fall neatly into these two categories. Some monarchies and
dictatorships like Saudi Arabia and North Korea have parliamentary elections. The erstwhile Soviet
Union had elections and mandatory voting but was not classified as parliamentary because the ruling
party never allowed any alternative on the ballot. Countries such as the Philippines under Marcos and
Nicaragua under Somoza held elections but the results were suspect because of the government’s
involvement in fraud.

At the international political level, the governments can be classified in a number of ways. However, the
best way to classify the government is through the political parties. The classification could be based on
four types of governments (i) Two party, (ii) Multiple party, (iii) Single party, and (iv) Dominated by one
party.

In a two party system, there are mainly two parties that control the government, turn by turn, which-so-
ever in a majority and the other parties are also allowed to support any one of the two parties.

Example: The classic examples are the United States and the United Kingdom. Both the parties have
different philosophies, which change the government policy when one of the parties is elected to form
the government.

In a multi party system, there are a large number of parties, however, none of them are strong enough
to gain control of the government. There have been cases when the larger parties, in spite of having a
thin majority, cannot control the government because it needs support from other parties. The
government, in this case, can only be formed through coalition of likeminded parties each one of which
would like to protect its own interest. The coalition government largely depends upon the cooperation
of its allies. There have been instances when the governments have fallen because one of the parties in
the coalition government withdrew its support. A change in a few votes may be sufficient to bring the
coalition government down. In such cases fresh elections are called for.
In a single party system, there may be a number of parties functioning in a country, however, one party
has so much of majority that there is very little opportunity for others to elect representatives to govern
the country.

Political Risks Defined

Political risk, sometimes called “sovereign risk,” has several elements. First, it is found whenever a
government prevents a private sector debtor from repaying its obligations. Second, it occurs when the
foreign government is itself a debtor and defaults on its own obligations due to its own volition. Third,
political risk is present when a government repossesses the assets of a private entity (sometimes
referred to as “confiscation,” or “expropriation”). Other examples of political risks include imposition of
new controls (such as trade restrictions, exchange limitations or monetary controls), and war, revolution
or insurrection. Ultimately, the exact definition of “political risk” will be listed in any insurance or
guarantee documentation.

Interestingly, political risk is not limited to foreign countries.

Example: The United States froze Iranian financial assets during the hostage crisis in Iran. This may have
been considered a confiscation by the U.S. Government of Iranian assets.

However, despite domestic political risk threats such as this, most businesses are much more concerned
about political risks initiated by foreign governments.

In theory, whenever a business suffers a loss due to the occurrence of a political risk, it can receive
compensation from that foreign government. However, most countries have adopted the idea of
“sovereign immunity.” This doctrine asserts that a government is not liable for its actions in court either
in that nation or broad, unless the government submits voluntarily to any such lawsuit. It is easy to
understand why not many business executives are eager to discover the limits of this legal doctrine.
Therefore, most companies prefer to avoid political risks when possible by insuring against that class of
risk.

Political Risk Analysis

There are a number of political risks which are to be faced by international marketers. The risks, which
the marketers face from the host government, are:

Confiscation is the process of a government’s taking ownership of a property without compensation.

Expropriation differs from confiscation in that there is some compensation though not necessarily just
compensation. More often than not, a company whose property is being expropriated agrees to sell its
operations – not by choice but rather because of some explicit or implied coercion.

Nationalization involves government ownership and it is the government that operates the business
being taken over.

Indicators of Political Instability

To assess a potential marketing environment, a company should identify and, evaluate the relevant
indicators of political difficulty. Potential sources of political complication include social unrest, the
attitudes of nationals, and the policies of the host government.
Social Unrest

Social disorder is caused by such underlying conditions as economic hardship, internal dissension and
insurgency, and ideological, religious, racial, and cultural differences.

Attitudes of Nationals

An assessment of the political climate is not complete without an investigation of the attitudes of the
citizens and government of the host country. The nationals’ attitude toward foreign enterprises and
citizens can be quite inhospitable. Nationals are often concerned with foreigners’ intentions in regard to
exploitation and colonialism, and these concerns are often linked to concerns over foreign governments’
actions that may be seen as improper. Such attitudes may arise out of local socialist or nationalist
philosophies, which may be in conflict with the policy of the company’s home country government.

Policies of the Host Government

Unlike citizens’ inherent hostility, a government’s attitude toward foreigners is often relatively short-
lived. The mood can change either with time or change in leadership, and it can change for either the
better or the worse. The impact of a change in mood can be quite dramatic, especially in the short run.
Government policy formulation can affect business operations either internally or externally. The effect
is internal when the policy regulates the firm’s operations within the home country. The effect is
external when the policy regulates the firm’s activities in another county.

References:

http://www.newagepublishers.com/samplechapter/001949.pdf
http://zadcomputers.co.in/zad/mdu/StudyMaterial/MBA/ INTERNATIONAL%20BUSI%20ENV.pdf
http://www.fao.org/docrep/W5973E/w5973e08.htm
http://www.bergen.edu/faculty/rangiello/global3.html