INTRODUCTION
As a person with knowledge of various multinational organizations and companies, the author has always brought up to his superiors the viability of strategy formation regarding operations management. However, at times the author fails to understand the reasons or logic behind certain strategic implementations imposed on it.
By delving into this project paper, the author intends to have better insights into how the management of these multinational companies and organizations are thought up, formulated and then imparted down into their subsidiaries. The author hopes to have an in-depth understanding as to how the strategic policies of these companies enable them to compete effectively and profitably in this era of internationalization where competition is extremely intense.
In order to reinforce the learning objectives, two key focal issues were focused upon, i.e. innovation and diversity. Innovation was discussed with regard to the marketing strategies of the companies where it must be renowned for its developmental capabilities to constantly innovate. Diversity comes under strategic thinking and formation as the companies must consider the diverse culture, political climate, economic surroundings, social environment, technological settings, government policies and legal systems in their bid to become a leading player in the industry.
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Purpose of the Study
This study will be conducted in order to determine the success factors of most multinational companies and organizations in internationalizing their trend to other countries / continents, and provide meaningful lessons such as learning their effective marketing strategies.
This study will also aim to increase the awareness and provide a better understanding of the issues and problems concerning most multinational companies and organizations in order to contribute an effective approach in addressing their problems.
Significance of the Study
If the success factors of most multinational companies and organizations in internationalizing their trend to other countries / continents will be determined, this study will be a benefit to other multinational companies experiencing problems gaining ground to other parts of the world. Also, if effectiveness is supported, this study will be significant in developing underachieving multinational companies and organizations as productive and effective entities in the future.
Research Questions
Specifically this study will address the following questions:
1. What significant success factors of most multinational companies and organizations in internationalizing their trend to other countries / continents were determined?
2. What specific alternatives or measures can be done to help improve the performance of underachieving multinational companies and organizations?
Assumptions
The research will be based on the following assumptions: (a) all participants will be utilizing the correct procedures as outlined in the guidelines for the specific methodology employed, and (b) all participants will answer questions honestly to the best of their ability.
Limitations
Time will be the greatest limitation to this research, which could hinder long-term outcome objectives. Environmental factors, such as socioeconomic status, will not be controlled, and this could create many variables within the research. As this study will utilize a small sample of respondents, the results may not effectively represent the general population.
METHODOLOGY
This study will be conducted in order to determine the success factors of most multinational companies and organizations in internationalizing their trend to other countries / continents. In this study, the interview method of data gathering will be utilized, with a combined total of 50 employees in both Palm, Inc. and Heineken as participants.
Methods of Research to be Used
For this study, the descriptive method will be utilized. In this method, it is possible that the study would be cheap and quick. It could also suggest unanticipated hypotheses. Nonetheless, it would be very hard to rule out alternative explanations and especially infer causations. Thus, this study will use the descriptive approach. This descriptive type of research utilizes observations in the study. To illustrate the descriptive type of research.
The purpose of employing this method is to describe the nature of a situation, as it exists at the time of the study and to explore the cause/s of particular phenomena. The researcher opted to use this kind of research considering the desire of the researcher to obtain first hand data from the respondents so as to formulate rational and sound conclusions and recommendations for the study.
To come up with pertinent findings and provide credible recommendations, this study will utilize two sources of research: primary and secondary. Primary research data will be obtained through this new research study. Questionnaire survey and in-depth interview will be conducted. On the other hand, the secondary research data will be obtained from previous studies on the same topic.
The Research Design
In order to come up with the most suitable research approaches and strategies for this study, the research process “onion” will be undertaken. This is because conducting a research is like peeling the back layers of an onion—in order to come to the central issue of how to collect the necessary data needed to answer the research questions and objectives, important layers should be first peeled away. With the said process, the researcher was able to create an outline on what measures are most appropriate to be applied in the study.
While it is not unusual for a researcher to first think of his research undertaking by considering whether one should, for instance, administer a questionnaire or conduct interviews, thoughts on this question should belong to the centre of the research ‘onion’. That is, in order to come to the central issue of how to collect the data needed to answer one’s research questions, there are important layers of the onion that need to be peeled away: the first layer raises the question of the research philosophy to adopt, the second considers the subject of research approach that flows from the research philosophy, the third examines the research strategy most applicable, the fourth layer refers to the time horizon a researcher applies to his research, and the fifth layer is the data collection methods to be used.
Figure 1 shows how the researcher conceptualized the research approach to be applied in this study, in order to come up with the pertinent data needed to answer the research questions stated in the first chapter, as well as to arrive to the fulfillment of this research undertaking’s objectives. Then again, the research philosophy that is reflected in this study is positivism. With this research philosophy, a researcher prefers to work with an observable social reality in order to come up with law-like generalizations similar to those produced by the physical and natural scientists and in this tradition, the researcher becomes an objective analyst, coolly making detached interpretations about those data that have been collected in an apparently value-free manner. In addition, the emphasis is on a highly structured methodology to facilitate replication and on quantifiable observations that lend themselves to statistical analysis. In here, the assumption is that the researcher is independent of and neither affects nor is affected by the subject of the research.
Meanwhile, the second layer shows that this study has undertaken a deductive approach. Accordingly, this approach has five sequential stages: deducing a hypothesis; expressing the hypothesis in operational terms; testing this operational hypothesis; examining the specific outcome of the inquiry to either confirm the theory or indicate the need for its modification; and finally, modifying the theory in the light of the findings (if necessary). Further, the deductive approach has a number of important characteristics. First, this approach is a search to explain causal relationships between variables, which consequently leading to the development of a hypothesis. Second, it involves the collection of a quantitative data (although it can, as well, use qualitative data), and these data are important to test a hypothesis that has been previously developed. The third characteristic of a deductive approach is that it controls to allow the testing of hypothesis. However, one must remember that with this approach, it is important that the researcher is independent of what is being observed—that is, the researcher should be objective and not subjective—so that the principle of scientific strictness will be pursued, as this approach emphasizes scientific principles. Also, it is important that concepts are operationalized, which will enable facts to be measured quantitatively. Finally, the deductive approach is generalization (e.g., to be able to generalize about regularities in human social behavior, one must be able to select a sufficient numerical size of samples).
Instruments to be used
A self-administered questionnaire, or the type of questionnaire that is usually completed by respondents, had been constructed by the researcher to gather the needed data. To further enhance the study on the customer satisfaction, the researcher prepared a survey-questionnaire wherein the respondents graded each statement. Every statement constituted of four levels of responses namely very satisfied, quite satisfied, quite dissatisfied and very dissatisfied. The equivalent weights for the answers were:
Range Interpretation
3.50 – 4.00 Very Satisfied
2.50 – 3.49 Quite Satisfied
1.50 – 2.49 Quite Dissatisfied
0.00 – 1.49 Very Dissatisfied
The decision was made to use a questionnaire for the data collection for this project due to the sensitivity of the information being obtained. It is important for the respondents to be open and honest in their responses. The use of the questionnaire provides the researcher with the ability to test the views and attitudes of the patients.
The survey-questionnaires also will use open-ended questions to obtain as much information as possible about how the interviewee feels about the research topic. Interviews will take between one and two hours. The questions that will be used during the interview will be based on the research questions for this project; they have been reviewed, refined and approved by the project supervisor. The researcher designed a semi-structured interview. Here, the researcher will encourage the interviewee to clarify vague statements and to further elaborate on brief comments. The interviewer did not share his/her own beliefs and opinions.
Validation and Administration of the Instrument
For validation purposes, the researcher will initially submit a sample of the set of survey questionnaires and after approval; the initial survey will be conducted to the 50 respondents. After the questions are answered, the researcher will ask the respondents for any suggestions or any necessary corrections to ensure further improvement and validity of the instrument. Afterwards, the researcher again will examine the content of the interview questions to find out the reliability of the instrument. The researchers then will exclude irrelevant questions and change words that would be deemed difficult by the respondents, to much simpler terms. The researcher will also tally, score and tabulate all the responses in the provided interview questions.
Apparently, there have been issues on the validation on using self-assessment as against an observer rating. The use of either one will significantly change the result of the findings. This study will opt to use both. While there are strengths of the approach, scholars have also presented future impediments and limitations of using this type of methodology.
Furthermore, the researcher will adopt the three-stage process devised by Saunders et al: The first stage is assessing the overall suitability of data to research questions and objectives. During this stage, the researcher will pay particular attention to measurement validity (measuring / estimating whether the secondary data will result to a valid answer to the research questions and objectives) and coverage (this includes ensuring whether or not the data is wanted and can be included, as well as making sure that sufficient data remain for analyses to be undertaken once unwanted data have been excluded).
The second stage is evaluating precisely the suitability of data for analyses needed to answer and meet the research questions and objectives. In this stage, the researcher will make sure of the validity and reliability of the secondary data by assessing how it was previously gathered, who are its sources, and the likes. Also, the researcher will be cautious not to commit measurement bias (which can occur due to deliberate distortion of data or changes in the way data are collected). Finally, the researcher will judge whether to use data based on an assessment of costs and benefits in comparison with alternative sources.
Conducting the Semi-structured Interview
During the interview, the interviewer will encourage the interviewee to clarify vague statements or to further elaborate on brief comments. More importantly, the interviewer will be objective and will not attempt, in any way, to influence the interviewer’s statements. In order to do this, the interviewer will not share his/her own beliefs and opinions. Also, the questions that will be thrown at the interviewees will be phrased clearly, so that interviewees can understand them, and they will be delivered in neutral tone of voice. The researcher will also avoid long questions, or those that are really made up of two or more questions, the tendency to obtain a response for each aspect a researcher wants to explore will be lost. The researcher will also avoid too many theoretical concepts or jargons, as the researcher’s understanding of such terms may vary from that of the interviewees. Also, during the interview, the researcher will be determined to establish trust by not being too assertive and by being attentive to the interviewees’ responses. Finally, the researcher will make sure that the interview will not last too long and will not consume much of the respondents’ time, as this may instigate uncooperativeness from the respondents.
Data Representative and Reliability
To ensure the reliability of interview results, a test-retest will be conducted, or the administration of the same test to the same set of interviewees on two different occasions will be conducted. This approach assumes that there is no substantial change in the construct being measured between the two occasions. Thus, two tests will also be conducted: a pretest or a pilot test shall be done and a post-test. Interviewees will be questioned twice themselves. Furthermore, the proposed approaches, structured interview and telephone questionnaire will be interview-administered in mode. This part will encourage credibility and accuracy in the interviews.
Description of the Data that will be Used in the Study
The study will also utilize secondary data. Secondary data include raw data and published summaries, as well as both quantitative and qualitative data. Deduced that secondary data fall into three main subgroups documentary data, interview-based data, and those compiled from different sources. Documentary secondary data, accordingly, are the ones often used in research projects that also use primary data collection data methods, although such data can also be used on their own or be combined with other secondary data. Meanwhile, interview-based secondary data are those data collected by questionnaires that have already been analyzed for their original purpose; usually, such data refer to organizations, people or households and are made available as compiled data tables or as a computer-readable matrix of raw data.
Ethical Considerations
In keeping with the procedures and in the interest of maintaining the integrity of the proposed research, the researcher will make every effort to ensure that the ethical guidelines of the medical profession will be strictly followed. All data collected from the sites will be kept in a secure location. The names of the medical workers and their scores will not be revealed. The appropriate measures of the data will be obtained with the statistical instruments selected, and all results will be revealed in the study.
Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com
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