Formation of Regions: making sense of global politics

Imagine, you are a decision-maker in an international firm. You come out of comma and now you try to catch up with what you missed from the recent news. Would you be surprised to learn about the recent US claims on Canada and Greenland, reaction of the EU, other regional developments?

Depending on how long you were off, you will find an unexpected resonance with the geopolitical developments that have unfolded during your absence from active decision-making in examining Maurice Gomberg’s 1942 “Outline of Post-War New World Map (image below)”. You would note the European policy circles in a state of profound puzzlement over recent American statements regarding territorial interests in Greenland and rhetorical positioning toward Canada – pronouncements that may seem unprecedented but in fact echo Gomberg’s vision of hemispheric consolidation under dominant powers.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outline_of_the_Post-War_New_World_Map

The map proposed a post-war order organized into vast regional blocs—a United States of America encompassing much of the Western Hemisphere, a Soviet-dominated Eurasia, and other spheres – prefiguring patterns we observe today: Continue reading “Formation of Regions: making sense of global politics”

Internationalization strategy: how to go from local to global

Internationalization is a complex process with many scientific articles dedicated to that. Comprehensively presenting it in a format of a short blog post is a task that requires major simplifications. Nevertheless, here is what it takes from a company to consider this major step in terms of market, operation modes and product – internationalization strategy canvas.

Understanding the big picture is critical for strategic decision-makers. Implementation of a decision too early or too late can turn very costly. Especially in the context of internationalization, a right decision in a right time makes an ordinary company extraordinary. The challenge is though how to understand the timing and correctly interpret the operational context of a firm, when external environment is always in a change?

International trade is an “infinite game” (see Carse 1986). Good news is that rules are the same for all players; the pace of the game is different, but stages are the same; the sequence of steps is different, but steps are the same. Each player sets own goals and selects a strategy. As it is common for the games, choices come with a price tag. Once the setup of the game is clear, the action is just a matter of imagination.

Figure 1. Internationalization process canvas

Continue reading “Internationalization strategy: how to go from local to global”