La pertinence de l'importance de la location pour les entreprises Irlandaises engagées dans le processus d'internationalisation

Résumé du document

Since years, people are aware that markets are becoming more and more global. Coca-Cola, McDonalds or Nike for example are brands that are experienced in a lot of countries throughout the world. Given the study reported by Mary Lambkin and Tony Meenaghan (Perspective on Marketing Management in Ireland, 1994), some Irish brands are perceived to be successful abroad. Indeed, Guinness, Jameson and Bailey's are, in terms of spontaneity and awareness, rated as the famous ones. It shows that more and more firms are known abroad. Some internationalise their products, others decide to internationalise their production. Therefore, in the modern economy, strategic decisions on the location of these production and distribution facilities are key drivers for a company's competitiveness. It is actually needed to identify Irish firms within this internationalisation process. This paper, based on academic articles, raises different problems and tries to evaluate the relevance of this statement.
Firstly, a brief description of what international trade and "location" involves today will be done. Secondly, the approach that location is very important in the internationalisation process will be assessed. Discussing location as a strategic choice, it is also important to describe how location influences other operating decisions. Lastly, in order to balance the statement given, it will be tried to identify what other issues are at stake when a firm decides to internationalise.

Extraits

[...] On one hand, major qualitative factors include the labour costs, the material costs and government incentives (increasing importance of reduction in property taxes, low-interest loans On the other hand, qualitative factors affect international location decisions. We can quote the labour climate, the quality of life but over all the proximity to customers, suppliers and resources. Yang and Lee (1997) propose nine major factors that are divided in a lot of sub-factors. Among this plethora of criteria that have to be considered, how can a firm make its decision? [...]

[...] Regarding what has been highlighted about the recognition of Irish firms worldwide, one can affirm that Irish companies have already started this internationalisation process of operations. How are Irish firms involved in this new economy model? Let's have a look at the situation of Ireland's FDI. The results provided by economical reports indicate that Ireland has been very successful in attracting foreign direct investment (Garvey and Brennan, 2005). It appears that it happened through the conduct of a new policy supported by the European Union. [...]

[...] When a firm decides to internationalise, it has to consider these important issues. Indeed, inventory management, production decisions and customer service take place in an international environment (Meijboom and Vos, 1997). Therefore, the firm has to balance it on a global basis. Does location has an impact on the way global supply chains are run? Yes, it has. It is obvious that cultural differences and costs (at least tariffs) will always have an impact on international operations. Maybe E-Business can avoid it but neither manufacturing companies nor service companies can. [...]

[...] It can be useful for companies wishing to internationalise. Lastly, another argument could have possibly been about the gender barriers. This is raised by McLelland (2003) in its article about Irish female entrepreneurs planning to go abroad. Nevertheless, in reality the survey that was conveyed reveals that Irish female entrepreneurs do not especially think that being a woman made it harder to trade in certain markets. On the other hand, location influences global product design. Indeed, global product design cares about social and cultural differences. [...]

[...] multinationals over their overseas affiliates: does location make a difference?', Journal of International Management 6:105-120 Somlev, I.P. and Hoshino, Y. (2005) ‘Influence of location factors on establishment and ownership of foreign investments: The case of the Japanese manufacturing firms in Europe', International Business Review 14: 577-598 Yang, J. and Lee, H. (1997) AHP decision model for facility location selection', Facilities 15(9/10): 241-254 Zahra, S.A. (1999) changing rules of global competitiveness in the 21st century', Academy of Management Executive 36-42 Book Lambkin, M. and Meenaghan, T. (1994) Perspective on marketing management in Ireland. [...]