Question

Discuss the principal considerations in international management decision-making and control processes, as illustrated in the Chapter 11 opening-discussion case, “Global Online Retail: Amazon v. Alibaba.” Please post your Discussion based on the following questions:
1) How might differences in national and corporate culture impede timely decisions and control processes among existing and potential competitors in online retail?
2) To what extent should total quality management and quality control be considered when establishing an online retail presence or contracting with another firm to provide it?
3) What specific decision and control systems or tools would be helpful in overseeing an online presence (either internal or outsourced)?

Answer 1

1) Online retail has been growing at a large pace and contributes to maximum share of total sales for most of the companies. This is why companies focus on boosting their online sales by putting best efforts , exercizing good decision making and thinking strategically about the business. These type of efforts play a great role when it comes to selling in foreign markets because there are complex processses in operations due to cultural differences like customer preferences, language, domestic fashion, currency etc. Shipping become challenging and take lot of time so they tie up with local courier service providers.

2. Total quality management and quality control should be considered to a great extent when establishing an online retail presence or contracting with another firm to provide it beacuse if the end user/buyer is dissatisfied with the quality of product, he/she may never come back to your online store and will be browsing other sites. It very important that the buyer get a good product while buying for first time which helps in retaining the customer and builds trust in your product. Due to lot of options available online, its easy for customer to go for different online stores so it is very important to have a good quality management process in place.

3.

• Total Quality Management
• Employee empowerment
• Face to face personal meetings
• Use of reports like monthly and quarterly reports, balance sheets etc