International Business Lecture Series Flashcards

A comprehensive set of vocabulary flashcards covering the core concepts of International Business, including market entry, finance, operations, human resources, and globalisation theories of globalisation.

Globalisation

The increased mobility of goods, services, labour, technology, and capital throughout the world, accelerated by new technologies and open trade policies.

International Business (IB)

Transactions devised and carried out across national borders to satisfy the objectives of individuals, companies, and organisations.

Micro-business

An organisation consisting of between $1 - 10$ staff with a turnover of less than $2\,million\,euros$.

SMEs (Small to Medium Sized Enterprises)

Entities with $10 - 250$ staff and a turnover of up to $50\,million\,euros$.

Multi-national Corporation (MNC)

A company that has business operations in at least one country other than its home country, usually operated as a Public Limited Company (PLC).

Primary Sector

Businesses involved in the extraction and exchange of natural resources to make profits.

Secondary Sector

Businesses involved in the processing and conversion of raw materials from the primary sector into consumer-ready products.

Tertiary Sector

Businesses that provide facilities for the easy flow of goods, such as supermarkets, hairdressers, and cinemas.

STEEPLED Analysis

A macro-environmental tool assessing Social, Technological, Economical, Environmental, Political, Legal, Ethical, and Demographic factors.

Motivation

The degree to which an individual wants and chooses to engage in certain specified behaviours, often described as the driving force behind human actions.

Emotional Intelligence (EI)

The ability to identify and manage emotions, composed of self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skill.

Recruitment

The process of targeting individuals through appropriate media to acquire the skills and knowledge needed to fulfill a vacancy.

Selection

The process of shortlisting and choosing the best fit for a vacancy from a pool of applicants based on skills and potential.

Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions

A framework including Power Distance, Uncertainty Avoidance, Individualism vs. Collectivism, Masculinity vs. Femininity, and Long-term Orientation.

Marketing

The activity of creating, communicating, and delivering value for customers and society through coordinating processes and institutions.

International Marketing

The performance of business activities that direct the flow of goods and services to users in more than one nation.

Global Marketing

Marketing concerned with integrating and standardising actions across a number of geographic markets.

Convenience Goods

Consumer products purchased without much thought, such as toothpaste and milk.

Shopping Goods

Carefully considered consumer purchases, such as new clothes or a car.

Specialty Goods

Unique products like luxury cars or the Apple iPhone that consumers covet based on brand and specific features.

Primary (Field) Research

Data collected first hand through surveys, focus groups, and interviews tailored to a company's specific brief.

Secondary Research

Data already available or published, such as journals, reports, and web-based sources.

The Marketing Mix (4Ps)

The traditional tactical tools of marketing: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion.

The 4Cs Model

A customer-centric viewpoint of marketing consisting of Customer, Cost, Communication, and Convenience.

Product Life Cycle (PLC)

The stages a product goes through: Introduction, Growth, Maturity, and Decline.

Price Skimming

A premium pricing strategy for new products intended to redeem research and development costs.

Price Penetration

Pricing a product attractively upon market entry to quickly establish a brand and grow market share.

Input Transformation Output (ITO) Model

An operations model where transformed resources (materials, info, customers) and transforming resources (facilities, staff) produce goods and services.

Efficiency

The ability to accomplish something with the least amount of wasted time, money, and effort.

Effectiveness

The degree to which something is successful in producing a desired result.

CAD (Computer-aided design)

Digital technology used to create $2D$ drawings and $3D$ models of products before they are manufactured.

CAM (Computer-aided manufacturing)

Manufacturing using computer software and automatable machinery to create products with high precision.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

A software system supporting automation and processes across finance, HR, manufacturing, supply chain, and procurement.

Lean Production

A production methodology concerned with reducing waste, such as over-production, waiting time, and defects.

Kaizen

A Japanese philosophy of continuous improvement in systems and processes.

Total Quality Management (TQM)

An all-embracing approach driven by senior management that empowers all staff to deliver a customer-focused product.

Working Capital

The money needed for day-to-day running costs, calculated as $\text{Current Assets} - \text{Current Liabilities}$.

Revenue Expenditure

Spending on resources needed for day-to-day operations, such as raw materials.

Capital Expenditure (CAPEX)

Funds used by a company to acquire long-term assets such as machinery or premises.

Break-even Quantity

Calculated as $\frac{\text{Fixed Costs}}{\text{Sales Price per Unit} - \text{Variable Cost per Unit}}$.

Income Statement

A document showing total sales/revenues and associated expenses to determine gross profit and net income over a period.

Statement of Financial Position

Formerly known as the Balance Sheet, it is a snapshot in time showing total assets, equity, and liabilities.

Net Present Value (NPV)

An investment appraisal method that adjusts for the changing value of money over time using discount factors.

Lingua Franca

A bridge language used systematically to enable communication between people who do not share a native dialect.

Ethical Relativism

The belief that ethical standards are relative to the country or culture where one is operating ('When in Rome, do as the Romans do').

Ethical Imperialism

The absolute belief that there is only one set of universal ethics that should be applied everywhere.

Mercantilism

A classical theory holding that wealth depends on a country's balance of export minus import, encouraging exports and discouraging imports.

Absolute Advantage

A theory by Adam Smith stating that a country should specialise in products it can produce most efficiently.

Comparative Advantage

A theory by Ricardo suggesting nations gain by exporting goods where they have the greatest productivity advantage.

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)

An ownership stake in a foreign company or project made by an investor, company, or government from another country.

Purchasing Power Parity (PPP)

A metric comparing economic productivity and standards of living between countries using a 'basket of goods' approach.

Entrepot

A form of trade where a country buys goods from one nation and sells them to another after adding value, such as branding or packaging.

Foreign Subsidiary

A company that operates in one country but is partially or wholly owned by a parent company based in another country.

Greenfield Investment

An entry strategy involving building an international operation from the ground up to offer the highest degree of control.

Offshoring

A geographic activity focused on moving internal operations to a different country, primarily to access lower-cost labour pools.

Ethnocentric Approach

A staffing policy where international subsidiaries are managed by parent-country nationals based on the home country's values.

Polycentric Approach

A staffing method in which international subsidiaries hire team members from the host country rather than from the parent company's location.

Geocentric Approach

A global staffing policy that focuses on hiring the best candidate for a position regardless of their nationality.

Expatriate

A professional or skilled worker who relocates to a host country for a specific period ($2 - 5\,years$) while remaining an employee of the home country entity.