Born Globals and International Business †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Born Globals and International Business. Answer: Introduction Unilever Plc. is the most popular traditional consumer goods company in United Kingdom. The organization was established in the year 1930 through merging of Dutch margarine producing company Margarine Unie and British soap maker Lever Brother. It has wide range of product portfolio including the products like food, beverages, personal care products and cleaning agents. Being the oldest consumer goods organization, it offers its products to around 190 countries. The organization has owned more than 400 brands with turnover of over 50 billion Euros in the year 2016 (Unilever.com 2018). As per the company survey of 2012, Unilever is the largest consumer goods company in the world as per its measure of revenue. The organization is also the largest producer of food spread like margarine in the world. Unilever has an estimated 49.6% market share in the global grocery market (Moore 2016). As per the above figure, Unilever has gained highest market share of 35% in its personal care product category (Unilever.com 2018). The research and development facilities of the organization are available in the countries like Netherlands, United Kingdom, India, China and United States. However, the organization is facing tough competition from its international competitors like Nestle, Protector and Gambler and many more. On the other hand, the organization is also facing tough competition from the local competitors like Danone, PepsiCo, Henkel and many more. Fast Moving Consumer Goods Industry includes the household products that the consumers buy during their shopping in the supermarket and in other shop. Fast moving entails the product items, which are fast to leave the shelves and likely to be high in quantity but low in cost. This industry is growing at a fast speed in United Kingdom. Moreover, the FMCG industry of United Kingdom has an overall value of over $570.1/369.17 billion (Fainshmidt, Smith and Judge 2016). It is particularly a fast-paced industry and it is continuously evolving. The industry is also extremely valuable in terms of getting help from the government fund. As per Telegraph Jobs (2015), Food industry has received more than 11 million worth of investment from the government funding of United Kingdom in the food technology. Apart from that, the industry also has huge contribution in the economic development of United Kingdom. The total export value of UK FMCG industry is almost 18 billion. The industry has an estima ted market size of 101.5 billion. In 2016, the industry has contributed 9.65% to the total GDP of the United Kingdom (Casson, Porter and Wadeson 2016). The industry has a tough competition among the major and leading market players of this industry are like Unilever, LOreal, Cadbury and many more. The industry is also significant for reducing the unemployment rate of the country. Over the years, almost 400,000 individuals have got employed in this industry, which is also indirectly contributing to the economic development of United Kingdom (Bhawsar and Chattopadhyay 2015). This study will assess the international success of the Unilever. Moreover, the study will critical analyze Porters diamond model for assessing the international success of the organization. The model has four components like factor condition, demand condition, firm strategy, structure and rivalry and related and supporting industry. These four factors assess the national competitiveness of a country and company, which have direct impact on its international success. National performance of any sector is certainly associated with the structure and strategies of the organizations in the sector. Competition acts an important role to foster innovation and ensure up gradation of competitive advantage. According to Andersson, Dellestrand and Pedersen (2014), domestic competition is always more direct and affects more earlier on the organization than the steps taken by the foreign competitors. Hence, such national rivalry acts as stimulus on organization for higher level of innovation and efficiency. Such innovation ultimately helps the organizations to gain success in international market. Likewise, Unilever faces tough competition from the competitors like McVitie's, Hovis, Kingsmill Bakery, Cadbury, Nails Inc. and many more. Carney et al. (2017) pointed out that lot of competitions and lot of rivalries from these competitors keeps Unilever on its toes. Hence, the organization tries to beat these competitions through continually developing more quali ty and innovative products and services. Such innovative and high quality products and service helps the organization to gain success both in domestic market as well as international market. Harzing and Giroud (2014) pointed out that constant pressure from UK competition triggers Unilever to develop competitive products and offer them at competitive price for staying competitive overall. Moreover, Unilever has adopted advanced technology to meet the level of standard in the consumer goods used by the customers in developed countries. On the other hand, Beaudreau (2016) opined that the cultural aspects play an important role in deciding upon the level international success of business. For example, Unilever follows collaborative organizational culture in United Kingdom, where the success of the organization comes through teamwork of the employees. Hence, in UK, the organization follows flat organizational structure for getting more outcomes from the employees for leading to organizational success. However, USA business culture is somewhat individualistic, where the success of the organization comes through individual effort of the employees. Hence, the degree of country r isk for USA causes from the teamwork culture and flat organizational structure of UK. In USA, Unilever follows functional organizational structure for supervising the individual effort of the employees towards leading organizational success. According to Carayannis, Sindakis and Walter (2015), firm strategy is extremely significant for creating competitive advantage in domestic as well as international market through increasing production and development of technological innovation. In case of Unilever, the organization has made a partnership strategy with UK government for increasing the production of sanitary soaps for preventing diseases and saving lives of people. Such government support and government partnership has enabled the company to get sell more numbers of sanitary soaps to both domestic as well as international market. On the other hand, Lazzarini (2015) opined that the success of international business is largely dependent on the way organizations are developed, organized and managed. Unilever follows cost leadership strategy for gaining market leadership both in domestic as well as international market. Factor Endowments Factor condition includes the factors, which can be exploited by the organization in particular nation. In case of international business, factor conditions indicate various kinds of resources, which may or may not be presented in domestic country of the organization. These factor conditions are like physical resources, human resources, knowledge resources and infrastructure and capital resources. The factor conditions can also be distinguished as basic factors and advanced factors. According to Bbel (2017), basic factors comprise natural resources like climate, oil, minerals and others, where the mobility of the resources is quite low. These resources can never revolve into real value creation exclusive of the invention of advanced factors. On the other hand, Wonglimpiyarat (2015) opined that advanced factors are highly sophisticated, which are research capabilities, human resources and many more. While considering the national competitiveness of Unilever, it can be seen that the or ganization has access to large pool of highly skilled employees. Such high qualified and highly skills employees continuously contribute to the research and development area of the organization towards fostering innovation. Hence, the organization is always engaged in fostering innovative quality consumer goods meeting the unique needs of the customers. Such strong innovation capability has facilitated the organization to gain success both in domestic as well as international market. Slvell (2015) pointed out that United Kingdom is full of rare minerals and oils, which can be effectively exploited in production of different types of cosmetics products. Moreover, with high level of technological equipments and technological standard, Unilever can effectively exploit such natural resources to produce innovative quality cosmetic products. Hence, the technological standard and high skill employees build the national competitiveness of Unilever, which in turn contributes in international competitiveness through unique product quality. On the other hand, Czinkota (2016) opined that China has rich mineral resources, which can be exploited for producing several consumer goods. However, with lack of advanced technological equipments and technological standards, Unilever is not capable of producing unique quality cosmetic goods in Chinas production house. Lack of technological standard seems to have high degree of country risk for Unilever in China market. According to Rahman et al. (2015), the success of technological innovation is highly dependent on the technological skills of the employees. Such employees having high level of technological skills can operate the advanced technological equipments in better way. Hence, they can perfectly contribute in the development of innovative products using advanced technological equipments. Likewise, Unilever has wide access to large pool of employees having high level of technological skills. Hence, such employees having high level of technological skills can operate advanced technological equipments for producing innovative products for the customers. In this way, such technically skilled and advanced employees contribute in the national competitiveness of the organization. Such national competitiveness ultimately builds the ground for the international success of Unilever. On the other hand, Zander, McDougall-Covin and Rose (2015) opined that the strong linguistic ability of the workforce of United Kingdom also supports the international competitive advantage of the Unilever. The employees from United Kingdom having high level of linguistic ability can effectively work in the global branches of Unilever and contribute to the success of the organization. Demand Conditions In demand condition, if the local market for a product and service is larger and the products and services are more demanding at foreign market, then local organizations put more emphasis for improvement of products than those of foreign companies. It ultimately increases the global competitiveness of the local exporting organizations. According to Chinta, Cheung and Capar (2015), a more demanding home market leads to innovation, growth and improvement of quality of the products of an organization. Likewise, Unilever take the advantages of strong home demand for creating national competitive advantage that leads to its ultimate international competitive advantage. With increasing population of United Kingdom, the organization is recognizing huge demand of consumer goods for meeting the daily needs of the customers. Moreover, Appiah-Adu, Okpattah and Amoako (2018) opined that Unilever is enjoying high level of economies of scale with huge products of consumer goods for meeting huge de mands of UK customers. Such strong economies of scale facilitate the organization to initiate cost leadership strategy for gaining high level of competitive advantage in domestic market. It ultimately facilitates in making strong financial strength, which ultimately helps in getting international success. According to Bai, Holmstrm-Lind and Johanson (2018), factor condition defines a nation or country having sophisticated homebuyers, who have aware and high demand for advanced, innovative and high quality products. Moreover, such demand for advanced, innovative and high quality products leads an organization create such innovative, advanced and unique quality products. In case of United Kingdom, the nation of Unilever, the people are having highly sophisticated lifestyle. They always demand for highly quality and innovative consumer goods for enhancing their quality of life. Hence, such demand of consumers has encouraged Unilever to create high quality, advanced and innovative consumer goods. In this way, such innovation has led to high level of national competitiveness of Unilever, which in turn has built the ground for international success through offering product uniqueness. As per Sarkiunaite and Rocke (2015), demand condition in home market provides key driver of growth, improvement of quality and innovation. It is the premise that a strong domestic market simulates an organization from being start up to slightly expanded to larger organization. With the modernization of society, the people of United Kingdom are now highly conscious about their health security. They are more inclined towards sustainable living for more healthy life. In this way, huge demand for healthy products in domestic market has encouraged Unilever to produce innovative healthy and well being products. Now, the organization offers more than 400 health and well-being products not only in their domestic market, but also such products are widely accepted in international markets. On the other hand, Wonglimpiyarat (2015) opined that increasing demand for sustainable living and environmental concern has encouraged Unilever to produce Ayurvedic skin care products. Such products have gai ned huge in the international market like India. In this way, strong home demand of UK customers for innovative quality products has led to innovation in Unilever. Such innovation has built the ground of international success for Unilever. Related and Supporting Industries The presence of related and supporting industry is sometimes extremely significant for the growth of an organization. The strength of national competitiveness tends to be related with cluster of industry. According to Harzing and Giroud (2014), organizations enjoy more innovative inputs and cost effectiveness, when their local organizations are competitive enough. Such related and supporting industries drive the success level of the organizations. They can assist from each others know how for generating innovative product ideas. Furthermore, Andersson, Dellestrand and Pedersen (2014) opined that related and supporting industry can encourage each other through producing complementary products. Likewise, the related and supporting industry of UK benefit Unilever to foster competitive advantage in domestic market. As per Slvell (2015), the growth of related companies like McVitie's, Hovis, Kingsmill Bakery, Cadbury, Nails Inc. always facilitate Unilever to get innovative product ideas, as these companies sale related FMCG product like Unilever. Such related companies help each other from exchanging unique product ideas. Hence, the organization is highly capable of getting unique ideas to produce innovative FMCG products even in international markets. In this way, the growth of related and supporting industries is directly linked with the international success of Unilever. Harzing and Giroud (2014) pointed out that the effect of related and supporting industries is strengthened, when the suppliers of an organization themselves are strong global competitors. Such suppliers can supply unique raw materials to the organizations for producing innovative quality products for fostering competitive advantage in the competitive market. On the other hand, Sharma, Davcik and Pillai (2016) opined that related and supporting industries offer cost efficient inputs and also contribute in upgrading process of an organization. In this way, such suppliers stimulate other companies in the chain of innovation. Likewise, the competitive global suppliers of Unilever facilitate it to avail unique raw material towards producing innovative FMCG products. Czinkota (2016) stated that the growth of Palm oil, sugar producing companies and many more in United Kingdom has ultimately help Unilever to get unique quality palm oil, sugar and many other things to produce innovative food products and personal care products. Such innovative help the organization to gain competitive edge both in domestic as well as international market. On the other hand, Bai, Holmstrm-Lind and Johanson (2018) opined that the international success of Unilever is highly dependent on the ability of suppliers to supply cost effective raw materials. It facilitates the organization to operate low cost production strategy for gaining competitive advantage both in domestic as well as international market. Conclusion While concluding the study, it can be said that Unilever is highly successful both in its domestic market as well as in international market. It is the largest consumer goods company in the world, while measuring it as per its revenue. Having a reach to more than 130 countries, the organization has a market share of 49.6% in the global grocery market. The FMCG industry of United Kingdom is continuously evolving over the years. There is a tough competition in FMCG industry among the major marker players like Unilever, Cadbury, LOreal and many more. The international success of Unilever is largely dependent on its national competitiveness. Porter diamond model has best assessed the national competiveness of Unilever in respect to its home market United Kingdom, which has huge impact on its international success. Firms strategy, structure and rivalry play an important role in the national competitiveness of organizations. Domestic competitions directly influence the organizations and encourage them to make innovation in their products. Likewise, the direct domestic competition of Unilever has encouraged it to foster innovation and products innovative consumer goods. In this way, such innovation in domestic market has ultimately led to international success of the organization through unique competitive advantage. On the other hand, factor conditions define different types of physical resources, knowledge resources, infrastructure and capital resources that may or may not be available in domestic market. As per this factor, the basic factors such as oil and natural resources are actually turn into real value with the help of natural resources like human resources, knowledge resources and others. Similarly, Unilever get wide access to highly skilled and knowledgeable employees in the market of United Kingdom. The dedication and expertise knowledge of these human resources has fostered innovative product ideas of Unilever. Hence, such innovative product ideas help the organization to gain competitive advantage and organizational success both in domestic as well as international market. As per demand condition, the size of local market decides upon on the level of competitive advantage for the organization. In case of Unilever, the organization always recognizes huge demand of FMCG products with the growing population of United Kingdom. Such mass production gives the organization an opportunity to gain high level of economies of scale. Moreover, with the help of high economies of scale, the organization has become able to initiate cost leadership strategy for gaining competitive advantage in its domestic market. Such competitive gain is also directly associated with the international success of the organization. On the other hand, the sophisticated and high quality homegrown demand of UK customers has encouraged Unilever to produce innovative FMCG products. The organization is also successful in its international market through offering such innovative products. Apart from that, the national competitiveness of Unilever is largely dependent on the competiveness of re lated and supporting industry. Moreover, the related and supporting industry of Unilever helps it to exchange innovative ideas for producing innovative quality products leading to success in both domestic as well as international market. Reference List Andersson, U., Dellestrand, H. and Pedersen, T., 2014. 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