THE PROCESS OF CHOOSING WHERE TO OPERATE

1) CONCEPT:

SCAN:"Look at all parts of (something) carefully in order to detect some feature"*

LOCATION:"The action or process of placing someone or something in a particular position"**

STRATEGY:"A plan of action or policy designed to achieve a major or overall aim"***

CHOICE:"An act of selecting or making a decision when faced with two or more possibilities"****

  

2) QUESTION: What is the correct process of choosing where to operate?
ANSWER: Daniels explains clearly, in his book International Business:Environments and operations, the process that companies should do for choosing where to operate*****

 

                                          

 As we observe the process begins in the objectives of the company, according to these objectives, the company defines strategies to implement, after the company choice the most attractive countries to operate, in this part the company makes a critical and thorough scanning of certain variables according to choosing new locations and the allocating among the locations and finally the company takes the decisions more convenient.

Among the main objectives of a company we can find: to expand business and sales, to acquire better resources and to reduce risks. The strategies are raised by senior executives and relate to how implementing and achieving the objectives. Currently there are approximately 200 countries where managers can look at the opportunities and risks that can bring to operate in these countries, for this reason managers must do a scanning to some variables such as: market size, ease and compatibility, costs and resources, red tape and corruption, financial risk, monetary risk, cultural risk, political risk, legal risk, etc...

"Scanning allows managers to examine most or all countries broadly so that they can then take a more detailed look at a reasonable number of most promising opportinities in much greater detail. In scaning managers compare country imformation that is readily available, inexpensive and fairly comparable"******  
Finally when they have analyzed all the data from each country, final decisions are taken according to the results of the analysis and the compatibility with the profile and objectives of the company.

3) POINT OF VIEW: In order to have operations in other countries, companies must be very careful when choosing, because each country according to their economic, social, political, cultural, natural and geographical, generates a specific level of risk for companies wishing to operate in it. For all is clear that every country has an index of risk, but in turn also offers many opportunities that companies that are practicing international business, can take advantage according to their economic activity and the industry in which it are. 

The most important thing when choosing a country where to operate is to analyze the correlation that exists between the objectives of the company and each oportunity which each country offer for the achievement of these objetives.

To finish I think that companies that want to internationalize have many opportunities and many risks in all countries of the world, but to face all this it must have  studied and qualified staff, who can do a thorough and effective analysis, in order to make the best decision that minimize the risks and increase the opportunities.
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*Oxford Dictionaries.(2010).Scan.[Online]: http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1287566#m_en_us1287566

**Oxford Dictionaries.(2010).Location.[Online]: http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1264044#m_en_us1264044

***Oxford Dictionaries.(2010).Structure.[Online]: http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1295059#m_en_us1295059  

****Oxford Dictionaries.(2010).Choice.[Online]:

http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1232883#m_en_us1232883
*****Daniels, John D (2004). International Business:Environments and operations.Chapter 12: Country Evaluation and Selection.p 417.
******Daniels, John D (2004). International Business:Environments and operations.Chapter 12: Country Evaluation and Selection.p 416.




-Image 1: GettyImages.Man looking at globe, profile.(2010).Available at: http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/BD6728-001/Stone
-Image 2 Taken and adapted from: Daniels, John D (2004). International Business:Environments and operations.Chapter 12: Country Evaluation and Selection.p 417.