“Critically discuss how a multinational corporation can achieve competitive advantages in a subsidiary with reference to any multinational corporation operating in Bangladesh”

Date: 26th December 2013

Submitted To:

Mr. Jasim Uddin

Faculty, School of Business,

North South University

Course: International Business (MGT-372), Sec: 04

Submitted By:

Name: ID#

Omar Faroque 1030406530

Amitabh Sarker 1020177030

Shad Md Imran Noor 102066030

Hannanul Haque 1020314030

Iffat Zaman 1030875030

Letter of Transmittal

August 26, 2013

Mr. Jasim Uddin

Faculty Member,

School of Business,

North South University,

Bashundhara R/A, Dhaka-1229

Subject: Submission of Research Paper on International Business.

Dear Sir,

According to your requirement of International Business, we have prepared the final research on

the topic, “Critically discuss how a multinational corporation can achieve competitive

advantages in a subsidiary with reference to any multinational corporation operating in

Bangladesh” apart from theoretical framework, we have chosen Robi for our research. To

prepare this report, we have tried our best to include all necessary information and relevant

explanation about theoretical framework and practical scenario to make the report not only

informative but also helpful for those who want to know more about this topic.

Your observation and thoughts regarding our report will be highly valued. Also, if you wish to enquire

about an aspect of our report, we would gladly answer your queries. Thank you again for your support

and patience.

Sincerely Yours,

___________________ _____________________ ____________________

Omar Faroque Amitabh Sarker Shad Md Imran Noor

ID# 1030406530 ID# 1020177030 ID# 1020666030

__________________ ____________________

Hannanul Haque Iffat Zaman

ID# 1020314030 ID# 1030875030

Table of ContentsIntroduction.................................................................................................................................................4

Research Objective......................................................................................................................................4

Scope...........................................................................................................................................................5

Research Question.......................................................................................................................................5

Literature Review........................................................................................................................................5

Developing International Strategies........................................................................................................9

Scope of Operation..................................................................................................................................9

Level of International Strategy................................................................................................................9

Synergy....................................................................................................................................................9

Distinctive Competence.........................................................................................................................10

Resource Development.........................................................................................................................10

Theoretical Relevance...............................................................................................................................10

Porters Five Forces Model.....................................................................................................................10

Threat of substitute products..............................................................................................................11

Threat of new entrants.......................................................................................................................12

Industry Rivalry.................................................................................................................................13

Bargaining power of suppliers...........................................................................................................13

Bargaining power of Buyers..............................................................................................................13

Global Integration and Local Responsiveness........................................................................................14

Pressures for Global Integration........................................................................................................14

Pressures for Local Responsiveness..................................................................................................15

When Pressures Interact....................................................................................................................15

Company Profile........................................................................................................................................15

Methodology.............................................................................................................................................16

Critical Analysis........................................................................................................................................17

Findings.....................................................................................................................................................18

Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................19

References.................................................................................................................................................20

Appendix...................................................................................................................................................21

Introduction

The world is growing fast because of business and business is growing fast because of globalization and

globalization is growing very fast because of global integration and local responsiveness could be viable

in international strategy for multinational corporations to achieve competitiveness and sustainability in

the subsidiaries. Now the question is how it’s possible to do for MNC’s to maintaining all the procedures

to get large no of local subsidiaries for their operation? The answer is the more they adopt their local

responsiveness, the more they get the subsidiary. To expand MNC’s operation globally they have to

focuses on somehow in international strategy. It’s very important to all the MNC’s for adapting local

culture and maintaining international standards for operating in host country in a long run. Sometimes

considering the host country’s economic, social factors, MNC can compromises with their product and

service. The conflicting demands often arise as MNCs attempt to maximize their abilities to respond to

the needs of the host countries (local responsiveness), while trying to maintain their controlled corporate

structure worldwide (global integration). The more autonomy foreign subsidiaries have to act

independently and respond to local demands, the less integrated the worldwide organization becomes –

and vice versa. In general, the ethnocentric strategy suggests that companies should maximize their parent

company control in order to integrate subsidiaries, at the cost of local responsiveness.

Research Objective

The Goal of to make this research paper is to investigate the effects of global integration and local

responsiveness could equally create a better competitive facility and sustainability of local subsidiary and

whether this high level of local responsiveness helping multinational company to achieve competitive

advantage over other local and foreign ventures of this country. Moreover, this paper will concentrate on

the dimension and degree of local responsiveness and adaptation of global integration to forigen

subsidiaries which are established in diferesent countries. After that the paper will compare the existing

theories regarding local responsiveness and adaptation with real life practices of the multinational

subsidiaries which is exisiting in Bangladesh. We had a number of objectives for carrying out this study.

Knowledge about Global Integration and Local Responsiveness. General knowledge about

competitive advantage by studying different types of books and journals.

Knowledge about the employees’ perception about Global Integration and Local Responsiveness

policy of Robi.

To clarify about the concepts of the specific dimension of International Business- by doing this

report we have come to know lot about Global Integration as well as Local Responsiveness and

their contributions for the development of a highly efficient and productive organization like

Robi.

To gain experience about writing a formal report- the report that we have made follow

international and formal standards.

Scope

The research as well as other studies that were undertaken to provide information about the

importance of global integration and local responsiveness to get competitive advantage for

multinational organizations. We considered Robi for this particular research. We tried to find out

what does Robi consider for Global integration and local responsiveness as an important factor

and how they implement it.

Several approaches have been used to address these questions. This study summarizes some of

the descriptive information, as well as information from the historical record, and also primary

data collected from interviewing the employees in an attempt to describe the evolution of the true

scenario prevailing within the Robi. All of this work has been carried out within the office of,

Robi situated in 53 Gulshan South Avenue, Gulshan-1,Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Research Question

“Critically discuss how a multinational corporation can achieve competitive advantages in a subsidiary

with reference to any multinational corporation operating in Bangladesh”

Literature Review

Internationally operating companies have to face two major challenges on how to configure and

coordinate their value chain in the most efficient and most profitable way: global integration and local

responsiveness (Daniels et al, 428). On the one hand, the growing globalization in the business world

requires companies to adapt to global strategies, which emphasize product standardization and globally

functioning infrastructures like customer service, supply chain management, communication etc. On the

other hand, consumer preference and host-government policies forces companies to tailor their operations

in order to adapt local market requirements. It is and will remain a huge balancing act for all international

companies to manage the gap of this apparent conundrum. Globally operating Multinational Entities

seem to be successful for the most part, by gaining sufficient profit through a functioning value chain that

is integrated globally, and by adapting successfully to local requirements at the same time - as the

example of Zara shows (Daniels et al, 405-409) Globalization is such a commonly used term in the

twentieth century. It simply means that the world has become integrated economically, socially,

politically and culturally through the advances of technology, transportation and communication. It is

undeniable to say that globalization has resulted in both positive and negative effects which must be

addressed accordingly.

According to Yoffie (1994) high level of local responsiveness is strategy focuses localization which

increases profitability by customizing product and service so they can provide the taste and preferences in

different national markets. Product or services' varies region to region. From modern perspective only

customizing products and services is not enough. To create momentum within the market firm’s needs to

influence the strategies like office management, marketing and promotion, recruiting and selecting people

and so on. As there is a positive correlation between local responsiveness and adaptation that’s why when

there will be high local responsiveness it is obviously firm that the strategies can be implied globally. If a

firm could adapt and influence local culture then it will help the firm to fight in the long run. Local

responsiveness helps firms to achieve competitive advantage but giant Multinational organizations

actually having a totally different view while implementing locally responsive and adaptive strategies in

developed and developing countries. As Guisinger (2002) stated in developed countries firms are trying

hard to adjust with the business environment. They do it because in developed countries economy and

legal system do not allow them to do so. Moreover, in the developed countries the other competitors

always try to provide customized product and services to the customers. As a result if a new MNC want

to enter into the economy then they must adapt and locally responsive to be in the competition. On the

other hand, while doing business in developing countries in the initial stage Multinational corporations try

to adapt the culture because to attract the large population but in later stages they try to influence the

culture. They do it because they wanted to impose the parent country culture in the subsidiary and try to

bring up less customized internal strategies but strict to customized products and services to keep the

exchange flow smooth and it gradually reduces their cost.

Multinational Corporation is the company which is operates it’s business in more than one country

through foreign direct investment, merger, subsidiary company, selling royalty and license. A nation’s

competitiveness depends on the capacity of its industry to innovate and upgrade. Companies gain

advantage against the world’s best competitors because of pressure and challenge. The theory of the

competitiveness of a nation or region highlights the effects of integration and dynamic interaction across

the industry, related industries and clusters. Technology and information interchange and innovation in

applying these, will contribute to competitiveness. A firm is considered competitiveness if it is able to

sustain it’s earning over time and can be viewed as a strong competitor if it is able to increase both its

market share and its earning. According to the theories, we can say that competitiveness is a

measurement between the companies within an industry. Which company has more competitive

advantage? They are more competitive. Company can earn that competitiveness in many ways. Reducing

price, reducing raw material cost, reducing production cost or else, company can achieve competitive

advantage by unique distribution channel. For normal company, competitive advantage is essential. But,

in the case of multinational company it is necessary to have competitiveness. Cause, they run the world

wide operation.

Competitiveness is a very important thing for an organization. Nowadays, almost every multinational,

international and national company is setting up their strategies to gain competitiveness. Company can

achieve competitiveness by using Porters Five Forces model. This theory talks about the business rival,

customer, competitors, substitutes and supplier of the organization. By making a good relationship

between all of them company can achieve competitiveness.

The pistachio industry has played a major role for the Iranian economy being one of the biggest non-oil

exports in the country. However, over the past 15 years, this industry has lost competitiveness against

American producers in demanding markets for high quality pistachios. This study focuses on the analysis

of the international competitiveness of the Iranian pistachio industry. From this example we can

understand the importance of competitiveness.

According to the Scholar Affuah Allan; competitive advantage will ensure that the firm survives and is

placed in a prominent position in the market. One is by making sure that the firm is able to offer all the

benefits that its competitors are offering but at a much lower price. This will enable the firm to have a

higher value for the customers and also be in a position to make profit. A firm will be in a position to

offer benefits to its customers if it will be I a position to have a cheap source of its raw materials or will

have access to cheap power generations. By this the firm will have low cot production. The other way a

firm can create competitive advantage is by making sure it utilizes all its resources well. Resources in a

firm will include both the material and the human resource. All the materials should be handled with care

in the firm. This will reduce the cost incurred in maintenance and repair. This can be done by making sure

that all the materials in the firm are handled by people for example if its machine is able to operate them.

(Allan 2009).

Another way a firm can create competitive advantage is by making sure the potentiality of the employees

is utilized to the highest. All employees are distinctive and possess different skills. By division of labor

and specialization the firm will be able to enhance its production because every employee will be

positioned where he /she is well skilled. The firm should be capable to use all it’s the resources very

effectively. For example a firm should be able to take its products to the market earlier than its

competitors. This should be in the routine of the organization. If a firm is able to do this then it is in a

position have a positive customer responsiveness.(Allan 2009).The other way that a firm can create a

competitive advantage is by employing differentiation strategy. This is done by understanding the

behavior of the buyer in the market. The firm should choose one or more criteria that the buyers use in the

market. Empirical studies have shown that local responsiveness and global integration can have a

significant impact on the validity of MNC’s subsidiaries. (Fong, Ho, Weng and Yang, 2007).

So far, from the discussion, we have known that sustainability means being sustainable. What do we

mean by sustainable? Sustainable means having the capacity to come out from some sort of problem

which is very uncertain. Nowadays, world business are facing different types problem like environmental

problem, political problem, social problem. Sustainability holds the solution for this of problem. For any

global company, they have to be sustainable with their plan. Without having sustainability they can’t

suffer in long-term.

Sustainability is important because it refers to whether or not we can maintain our current use of our

resources without running out. If we can't we will eventually starve. Power plants will break down and we

won't have fuel for our cars. Nowadays, it is bid concern for us. We have seen that many big

organizations in the world are focusing on sustainability. Cause, the resources we having everything is

going to be finished one-day. So, if company doesn’t make any plan on it. Then, after 10-15 years they

will have nothing to produce. That’s why; sustainability is being important day by day. Company like GE

(General Electronics) is focusing on sustainability. How you get to your intended destination has just as

much impact as what you do when you get there. Air travel creates a heavy carbon footprint. It is

estimated that 2 to 3 percent of the world's total carbon emissions come from air travel. Sustainable

tourists will seek out alternative modes of transportation, when possible, such as trains, buses and ferries.

After determining the overall international strategic philosophy of their firm, manager who engage in

international strategic planning then need to address the four basic components of strategy development.

These components are distinctive competence, scope of operation, resource development, and synergy.

Developing International Strategies

Developing international strategies is not a one dimensional process. Firms generally carry out

international strategic management in two broad stage strategy formulation, and strategy implementation.

In strategy formulation, the firms establish its goal and the strategic plan that will lead to the achievement

of that goal. In international strategy formulation manager develop, refine, and agree on which market to

enter and how best to compete in each. In strategy implementation, the firms develop the tactics for

achieving the formulated international strategies.

Mission statement

Environmental scanning and the SWOT analysis

Strategic goal

Tactics

Control framework

Scope of Operation

The scope of operation may be defined in terms of geographical regions, such as countries, regions

within a country, and cluster of countries. Or may focus on market or product niches within one or more

regions, such as the premium quality market niche, the low cost market niche, market differ in their

relative attractiveness for various product, manager must decide which market most attractive to their

firm.

Level of International Strategy

International business especially MNCs find it useful to develop strategic for three distinctive levels

within the organization. These levels of international strategy are corporate, business, and functional.

Synergy

It is the fourth component of international strategy is synergy. The goal of synergy is to create a situation

in which the whole is greater than the sum of the part.

Distinctive Competence

It is the first component of international strategy. A firm’s distinctive competence may be cutting edge

technology, efficient distribution network, superior organizational practice, or well respected brand

names. A distinctive competence is thought by many experts to be a necessary condition for firms to

compete successfully outside its home market. Without a distinctive competence, a foreign firm will have

difficulty competing with local firm that are presumed to know the local market better. A distinctive

Resource Development

Resource development might be specified along the product lines, geographical lines or both. This part of

strategic planning determines relative priorities for a firm’s limited resource. For example, Disney has

theme park operation in four countries; the firm does not have equal resource commitment to each

market.

Theoretical Relevance

Porters Five Forces Model

Porter’s five forces model helps in accessing where the power lies in a business situation.

Porter’s Model is actually a business strategy tool that helps in analyzing the attractiveness in an

industry structure. It let you access current strength of your competitive position and the strength

of the position that you are planning to attain. Porters Model is considered an important part of

planning tool set. When you’re clear about where the power lies, you can take advantage of your

strengths and can improve the weaknesses and can compete efficiently and effectively.

Porters model of competitive forces assumes that there are five competitive forces that identifies

the competitive power in a business situation. The full explanation of Porters five forces model

are given in the chart below:

Threat of substitute products

Threat of substitute products means how easily your customers can switch to your competitors

product. Threat of substitute is high when:

There are many substitute products available

Customer can easily find the product or service that you’re offering at the same or less

price

Quality of the competitors’ product is better

Substitute product is by a company earning high profits so can reduce prices to the lowest

level.

In the above mentioned situations, Customer can easily switch to substitute products. So

substitutes are a threat to your company. When there are actual and potential substitute products

available then segment is unattractive. Profits and prices are effected by substitutes so, there is

need to closely monitor price trends. In substitute industries, if competition rises or technology

modernizes then prices and profits decline.

Threat of new entrants

A new entry of a competitor into your market also weakens your power. Threat of new entry

depends upon entry and exit barriers. Threat of new entry is high when:

Capital requirements to start the business are less

Few economies of scale are in place

Customers can easily switch (low switching cost)

Your key technology is not hard to acquire or isn’t protected well

Your product is not differentiated

There is variation in attractiveness of segment depending upon entry and exit barriers. That

segment is more attractive which has high entry barriers and low exit barriers.

Some new firms enter into industry and low performing companies leave the market easily.

When both entry and exit barriers are high then profit margin is also high but companies face

more risk because poor performance companies stay in and fight it out. When these barriers are

low then firms easily enter and exit the industry, profit is low. The worst condition is when entry

barriers are low and exit barriers are high then in good times firms enter and it become very

difficult to exit in bad times.

Industry Rivalry

Industry rivalry mean the intensity of competition among the existing competitors in the market.

Intensity of rivalry depends on the number of competitors and their capabilities. Industry rivalry

is high when:

There are number of small or equal competitors and less when there’s a clear market

leader.

Customers have low switching costs

Industry is growing

Exit barriers are high and rivals stay and compete

Fixed cost are high resulting huge production and reduction in prices

These situations make the reasons for advertising wars, price wars, modifications, ultimately

costs increase and it is difficult to compete.

Bargaining power of suppliers

Bargaining Power of supplier means how strong is the position of a seller.  How much your

supplier have control over increasing the Price of supplies. Suppliers are more powerful when

Suppliers are concentrated and well organized

a few substitutes available to supplies

Their product is most effective or unique

Switching cost, from one suppliers to another, is high

You are not an important customer to Supplier

When suppliers have more control over supplies and its prices that segment is less attractive. It is

best way to make win-win relation with suppliers. It’s good idea to have multi-sources of supply.

Bargaining power of Buyers

Bargaining Power of Buyers means, How much control the buyers have to drive down your

products price, Can they work together in ordering large volumes. Buyers have more bargaining

power when:

Few buyers chasing too many goods

Buyer purchases in bulk quantities

Product is not differentiated

Buyer’s cost of switching to a competitors’ product is low

Shopping cost is low

Buyers are price sensitive

Credible Threat of integration

Buyer’s bargaining power may be lowered down by offering differentiated product. If you’re

serving a few but huge quantity ordering buyers, then they have the power to dictate you.

Global Integration and Local Responsiveness

Pressures for Global IntegrationPresently, global markets now produce and consume more than 20 percent of world output and are

projected to multiply 12-fold, to more than 80 percent of world output, by 2025. Similarly, more

economic integration will take place in the next 30 years than occurred in the previous 10,000 or more.

Managers, companies, and industries react accordingly, as seen in the ongoing formation of global

markets in chemicals, credit cards, financial services, accounting, food, health care, mass media, forest

products, information technology, automobiles, telecommunications, and so on. We highlight two

pressures for global integration: the globalization of markets and the efficiency gains of standardization.

Pressures for Local ResponsivenessInternational companies face several pressures to tailor their operations to local market conditions. Thus

far in the theory, we have looked at the influence of the external environment, government influence on

trade, and regional economic integration. There are two primary pressures for local responsiveness:

consumer divergence and host-government policies.

When Pressures InteractThe interaction of global integration and local responsiveness, in terms of how they bear on an MNE, is

expressed in the Integration- Responsiveness (IR) grid. The IR grid expresses how a company’s choice of

strategy is a function of the particular relationship the company sees between its idea of value creation

and the corresponding pressures for global integration and local responsiveness in its industry.

Company Profile

Robi Axiata Limited is a joint venture between Axiata Group Berhad, Malaysia and NTT DOCOMO

INC, Japan. Robi Axiata, formerly known as Telekom Malaysia International (Bangladesh), commenced

operations in Bangladesh in 1997 with the brand name AKTEL. On 28th March 2010, the service name

was rebranded as ‘Robi’ and the company came to be known as Robi Axiata Limited.

Robi is a truly people-oriented brand in Bangladesh. We stand as the people's champion and are there for

the people of Bangladesh – where they want and how they want. With local tradition at its core, Robi

marches ahead with innovation and creativity. To ensure leading-edge technology, Robi draws from the

international expertise of Axiata and NTT DOCOMO Inc.

Robi supports 2G voice, CAMEL Phase II & III and GPRS/EDGE service offering high speed internet

connectivity. The company’s GSM service is based on a robust network architecture and cutting edge

technology such as Intelligent Network (IN), which provides peace-of-mind solutions in terms of voice

clarity, extensive nationwide network coverage and multiple global partners for international roaming.

Robi has the widest International Roaming coverage in Bangladesh connecting 600 operators across more

than 200 countries. Our customer-centric solutions include value added services (VAS), quality customer

care, easy access call centers, digital network security and flexible tariff rates.

Principles: Robi Axiata Limited employees hold themselves accountable to the following

guiding Principles for the organization.

Emotional:   Passionate, Creative, Respectful, Open

Functional: Simple, Ethical, Transparent, Ownership

No matter what we do in order to realize our purpose, we hold ourselves accountable to the

following overarching guiding Principles for our organization:

1. Being respectful towards everyone.

2. Being trustworthy by action. Being passionate and creative in all we do.

3. Keeping things simple in the way we do things.

4. Being ethical and transparent.

5. Demonstrating individual and collective ownership.

6. Practicing an open culture in communication and interaction.

Methodology

To gather information about the topic provided to us, we prepared a set of fixed Likert type questions for

interviewing the employees of Robi. Structured questions helped us to conduct our research quickly

without wasting much time of the interviewers.

Data collection

Primary source- For our primary research, we took face-to-face interviews with one employees.

We had set questions, which were asked to them regarding the company’s global integration and

local responsiveness strategy.

Secondary source-. For conducting the secondary research and for collecting secondary

data, research has done through several text books and e-journals. Secondary data

basically supported our primary findings. Since, the overall findings are totally resulted

from the primary data, secondary data have very little impact on it.

Critical Analysis

As per the interview of one of the Multinational Corporation employee of Bangladesh it is found

that these organization are trying to locally responsive and some organizations are trying to

impose parent company culture and strategies to the local subsidiaries. After interviewing Mr.

Qazi Ishtiaq Newaz, Specialist in marketing operation of Robi, we found that Robi has chosen

our country to establish their subsidiary because of the Bangladeshi available resources as well

as exploit the cheap labor. Moreover, Bangladesh is a big market which is also emerged. On the

other case, telecom industry of Bangladesh is quiet competitive and as a result to survive in the

long run Robi is continuously improving their products and service according to the consumers’

preferences. As a result it is conducting continuous comprehensive market research and product

and service development. The Research and Development Department of Robi is working really

hard to satisfy their consumer needs. As a result in the competitive market of telecom industries

in Bangladesh Robi is still running their business with a marginal profitability. Robi offers a wide

range of value-added products and services such as, SMS, GPRS, EDGE, international roaming, Mobile

Banking, SMS banking, Caller Ring Back Tone, MMS, Voice Greetings, Welcome Tunes, Call Blocking

on 4 August 2008, which give subscriber to control which call he or she receive or not and Bengali SMS.

Robi has got the widest international roaming coverage among all the operators in Bangladesh. Robi has

got different specialized services in Bangladesh like they provide services like Robi Krishi Barta, Robi

Voice Tube, Robi Rashifol, Robi Radar etc.

A lot of competitive advantages of Robi over its competitors. First of all there are two things that

are considered to identify the role of any cellular operator in Bangladesh. One is Product and

VAS quality and network quality. It is important to know the condition of the industry. In

Bangladesh there are three major competitors in telecom industry. Those are Grameenphone

(Market Leader), Robi and Banglalink. These three are controlling ninety percent of the total

market share where Grameenphone is in the first position regarding market share. Banglalink and

Robi are in second and third position. In terms of Grameenphone, Robi and Banglalink is in first,

second and third position. However if we see the update regarding number of subscriber increase

for the month of August, 2012 by BTCL, Robi is in first position and they are almost double

ahead than the market leader Grameenphone. It has been possible because they have the strength

in the side of low call rate, network quality and better product and services. And also with these

advantage they are able to tap the lower end market as well. And leveraging their brand image

they are being able to maintain high sales of these products. And the competitive advantage Robi

is enjoying for the being local responsiveness in case of Human Resource Management is

basically an increase in demand to work for Robi. And as a result many talented people are

applying for Robi and after a rigorous selection process Robi ends up selecting the best in the

market which gives them an excellent team to conduct the business which actually is giving a

competitive advantage over its competitors. At the initial stage Robi faced several problems

regarding adjusting with the supply chain and distribution system of Bangladesh. As time passed

it become comfortable with these systems and while doing so both the party adapted each other’s

strategy. Most of the upper level of posts are filled by Bangladeshi people but the middle

management is completely filled by Bangladeshi employees. In case of office management Robi

is pretty much locally responsive but some influence from the parent country organization is still

seen in their some practices.

We have interviewed 3 employees of Robi , with a set of some descriptive questions. These

questions are given below with relevant analysis.

Findings

After analyzing and collecting data from primary and secondary sources we found the

competitive advantages, the local responsiveness, the way they globally integrate and local

adaptation of Robi.

Robi is concerned about the knowledge of the parent company and are also concerned about the

local marketing strategy. They implement their knowledge in marketing according to the local

subsidiary. Throughout the research it is also found that to keep themselves updated, the

employee uses corporate portals and intranet. Robi uses the best global practice to support the

capacity of growth and provide opportunity to expand their business by introducing new

products as well as create new market segment.

MNCs operate their operation through subsidiary because of reduce their cost, these

reduction of cost at the end give them huge amount of profits.

Market segmentation will help the MNCs to specialize in some different areas which

exists their business.

MNCs also take the advantages of economic factors of host country, like: tax free zone,

free entry barriers and quota systems.

Utilizing their host country’s low cost recourses which is used in their operation to

emerged their expansion.

Some MNCs which haven’t enough operation area, they want to expand their operation

through establishing local subsidiaries.

Conclusion

It can be observed from the above discussions that there are some potentialities in doing business

with Bangladesh. Despite the negligible problems we think there is an ample scope for the MNC

to start business in Bangladesh. Present globalization process as well as the favorable

government policy will be helpful to the MNC in this regard. To prepare this research paper we

did an research not only on Robi but also the other MNCs of Bangladesh. We must say the

market is very competitive in Bangladesh. And in order to sustain in this competitive market an

MNC should have something unique from its competitors to get an boost. So as a team after

conducting this research we can recommend all the MNCs in Bangladesh to be locally

responsive and adaptive in order to achieve competitive advantage. And this competitive

advantage will result in a higher sales margin and higher profit margin and also sustainable

business development.

References

http://dspace.bracu.ac.bd/handle/10361/2455

http://www.robi.com.bd/

http://www.reocities.com/ResearchTriangle/9574/bpb.html

International Business, environment and operation, 12th edition by Deniels, Redebaugh

and Sulivan.

Competitiveness in a globalised world: a commentary Patrick Minford Cardiff Business

School, Cardiff, UK

Components of an international strategy (international Business 6th edition- Ricky

W.Griffin Michael W.Pustay)

Ball. McCullock. Geringer. Minor.Mecnett- International Business 11th edition

The global integration of business functions: a study of multinational businesses in

integrated global industries by K Kiml, J-H Park2 and JE Prescott3 'College of Business,

Konkuk University, Seoul, Korea; 2College of Business, Ewha Womans University,

Seoul, Korea; 3Katz Graduate School of Business, University of Pittsburgh, USA

James H. Taggart An Evaluation of the Integration- responsiveness Framework: MNC

Manufacturing Subsidiaries in the UK

http://www.robi.com.bd/

Ulf Holm/Christine Holmström/Deo Sharma Competence Development through Business

Relationships or Competitive Environment? - Subsidiary Impact on MNC Competitive

Advantage

Alfredo J. Mauri/Arvind V. Phatak Global Integration as Inter-Area Product Flows: The

Internalization of Ownership and Location Factors Influencing Product Flows Across

MNC Units Trade, Technology and international competitiveness- IrfanUlHaque, R,

martin N, Bell

Trade, Technology and international competitiveness- IrfanUlHaque, R, martin N, Bell

Appendix

Interview Questions:

Q1. Does Robi launched any global services in Bangladesh market to get competitive advantage?

Q2.Are there any specialized services only for Bangladesh of Robi?

Q3. Are there any special employee training that are only pursued in Robi rather than other countries?

Q4.Do you get the compensation package like other employees of Robi in other countries ??

Q5. What about your experience till working for Robi?

Q6. Who are your competitors?

Q7. What is the position of your company in Bangladesh?

Q8. Do you follow the international standards to operate your business in Bangladesh?

Q9. Do you think Robi in getting any competitive advantage in Bangladesh because of global integration

and local responsiveness?