国际商务PPTChapter14.ppt

Multimedia Lecture Support Package to Accompany Basic Marketing Lecture Script 6-* Question 2: Firms will prefer concentrated production when Minimum efficient scale is high Location externalities are not important The product doesn’t serve universal needs There are substantial trade barriers If you picked A, you’re correct! Multimedia Lecture Support Package to Accompany Basic Marketing Lecture Script 6-* You may be wondering if, once a firm has decided on a production location, there’s ever a reason to make changes. The answer to this question is yes! The strategic role of foreign factories, and the strategic advantage of foreign factories can change over time. A foreign factory that was initially established to make a standard product to serve local market, or to take advantage of low cost inputs, can evolve into a facility with advanced design capabilities. Hewlett Packard, for example, initially located it production in Singapore to take advantage of low costs there, but today, the facility is an important center for designing and assembling portable ink jet printers. You can learn more about Hewlett Packard’s operations in the Management Focus in your text. Keep in mind that as government regulations change, or as countries upgrade their factors of production, the strategic advantage of a particular location can change. Just think about some of the changes that have been going on in many developing countries in the last twenty years or so. Countries that had been economic backwaters just a generation ago are now thriving economies with improved communication and transportation infrastructures. Multimedia Lecture Support Package to Accompany Basic Marketing Lecture Script 6-* Once consequence of these changes is that as the strategic role of a factory is upgraded, and a firm develops centers of excellence around the world, a transnational strategy becomes possible. So, instead of simply thinking of foreign factories as low cost manufacturing facili