Question

Based on your Readings and Learning Activities, consider Barto Group, a Swiss candy company headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland. It is a growing candy company with 2016 sales of $625 million, 920 employees, and six manufacturing plants. Recently, its top management has been considering several possible expansion locations including Slovenia which is one contender. Based on your Reading and Learning Activities, discuss the following: What would Barto’s top management want to know about the business environment in Slovenia before reaching an expansion decision, and why 100 words or more

Answer 1

To ensure that Barto’s investment in expanding into Slovenia does not go bad, Barto needs to assure that Slovenia has a stable political and economic environment, as frequent changes in political leadership affects the trade policies, especially for international players, and the country’s labor laws, which have a direct impact on company’s over profitability and ease of doing business. Economic stability ensures the value of Solvenia’s currency will be relatively stable, thus ensuring a stable revenue generation for Barto.

Apart from political and economic stability, Barto should also look out for language and cultural barriers it is going to face if it is going to expand to Slovenia, and whether those barriers can be overcome.