Levi Strauss & Co : Global Sourcing

As early as the 1970s Mattel was manufacturing products in China in order to take advantage of lower costs and enable corporate resources to focus on establishing the brand. By 2007, nearly 65% of Mattel products were produced in China. Mattel used a combination of company-run plants and a network of contract manufacturers. Exhibit C displays a simplified example of Mattel’s supply chain after moving production to China. Global production obviously had major benefits for Mattel, the country factors of China gave it a comparative cost advantage over producing in the U.S., and outsourcing enabled Mattel to remain profitable in an increasingly competitive toy industry. However, outsourcing does have disadvantages, a global supply chain increases the challenges to regulate and enforce quality.

The reason of the creating competitive pressure to firms is that which from the enhancing the quality but decreasing the price synchronously. The key of success is that the firms and organizations which treat “Global Sourcing” as a weapon fighting with its competitors.

At the time of development of globalization there were many concerns about its benefits. However, it has brought significant changes in all segments of human life and International business is one area in which it contributed heavily (Reich, 1998). Companies all over the world are currently formulating their business strategies mainly after considering the trends in global market instead of domestic market. Outsourcing and offshoring are some of the new business principles emerged in this world after the implementation of globalization (Samimi and Jentabad, 2014). The core of these new business concepts is to exploit the business opportunities in overseas countries as much as possible (Samimi and Jentabad, 2014).

Conditions have changed. Global trade has rapidly increased in both volume and value, reaching nowadays more than $4 trillion in 1997 (Daniels J.D., Radebaugh, 1998, pg. 529). Competition is fierce from all corners of the world. Failure at the global level can backfire and may consume existing brands and business relationships. At the same time, global opportunities have emerged that offer possibilities for growth, profit, and an improvement in worldwide standards of living.

According to our textbook, global sourcing is the practice of purchasing goods and services from the around the world wherever it is least costly (Pg 82). A strategic alliance is a partnership between two entities in which they both share their

Nordstrom is a main retailer with a demonstrated notoriety for incomparable customer service. The organization has been doing business since 1901 and nowadays is positioned among Fortune 500 's best performing organizations. There is no doubt that Nordstrom flourishes nationally, however notwithstanding utilizing worldwide markets can be an alternate challenge all together. We should investigate what are some of Nordstrom’s considerations in the worldwide business market.

In our day and age, the next step for every company is “to go global”.

One of the primary reasons Wal-Mart owners purchase foreign-made goods is that those imports are often less expensive and have great bargains. In the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart, went overseas looking for goods to sell in Wal-Mart stores.1 “Low cost imports from Asia became a vital compound of Wal-Mart’s low opening price point strategy,” says Hendrick Smith, an esteemed journalist from the New York Times.2 Hendricks’s research shows that Wal-Mart stores make more profit on the items manufactured in China than on items that are manufactured in the United States. Other big brand retailers, such as K-Mart, Home Depot, Target, etc… have followed Wal-Mart’s example and long since turned to foreign production. Wal-Mart’s power has made a tremendous impact on American made companies, giving them no other choice than to negotiate on the very low prices for their products. Gary Gereffi, a Duke University professor who studies global supply chains, said in a PBS interview, “Wal-Mart is one of the key forces that propelled global outsourcing - off-shoring of U.S jobs - precisely because it controls so much of the purchasing power of the U.S. economy,” Wal-Mart used its buying power to force local small businesses into squeezing their costs and keeping their profit margins very

It is critical for any organization or business to seriously analyze and implement maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) goods and services that will help the company achieve it organizational goals. Johnson, Leenders, & Flynn (2010) explain "Identifying and streamlining key business processes to reduce costs, grow revenues, and manage assets represents an opportunity in most organizations" (p. 77). This is important when applying the concept to maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) goods and services for any company or organization. Scott Singer (as cited in Avery, 2009) tells us "You want a superior unit

As our venture capital firm prepares to take the plunge into global investment, it is vital that we understand all the forces at work. In the book No Ordinary Disruption by Richard Dobbs, James Manyika, and Jonathan Woetzel, they examine four forces that are changing our world and as a result our business and leadership. This executive summary examines the fourth force of, “Greater Global Connections” specifically focusing on Chapter 4, “Trade, People, Finance and Data.” As Dobbs, Manyika and Woetzel walk us through their theory and evidence, it is clear that their analysis is well founded and appropriate.

The process of globalization has numerous significant effects on countries, organizations, and individuals. These effects can be observed in the quality of products, in their prices, but also in their availability. Because of globalization, numerous companies prefer to expand their business on international level. Some of them outsource some of their processes and activities to cheaper destinations that allow them to reduce their investments.

This can be seen from Fig 3 that the export and import during 2005 and 2006 have significantly increased and it is foreseen that the future global trend would be increasing. Also, in order to lower the production costs, lots of international companies will transfer part of work in some countries with lower labor and material costs. This kind of out-sourcing activity enhances the global cooperation as well.

Globalisation has enabled many companies to venture abroad in an attempt to grow their market presence while also boosting profitability, acquire cheaper raw materials, and gain access to low cost of labor.

FOR A CENTURY AND MORE, companies have ventured abroad only after establishing themselves at home. Moreover, when they have looked overseas, they haven’t ventured too far afield, initially. Consumer healthcare company Johnson & Johnson set up its first foreign subsidiary in Montreal in 1919 – 33 years after its founding in 1886. Sony, established in 1946, took 11 years to export its first product to the United States, the TR-63 transistor radio. The Gap, founded in 1969 – the year Neil Armstrong walked on the moon – opened its first overseas store in London in 1987, a year after the Challenger space shuttle

Well known companies like Nike, Microsoft, Sony, Shell Group are just some of the big companies that went global and expanded their trading around the world, they are large businesses that operate internationally in many countries. Development of worldwide integration urges companies to reach out international markets and interact with foreign customers. Businesses focus on fulfilling the demand of the market by its products or services, besides their target is increasing profit, in order achieve these goals they favor to expand their work in a foreign market. Other reasons to internationalize their business may be to become