FORMULATING AND IMPLEMENTING STRATEGY FOR INTERNATIONAL AND GLOBAL OPERATIONS3. For this exercise, research (individually or in small groups) a company with international operations and find out the kinds of entry
strategies the firm has used. Present the information you find, inwriting or verbally to the class, describing the nature of the company's international operations, its motivations, its entry strategies, the kinds of implementation problems the firm has run into,and how those problems have been dealt with.Experiential ExerciseIn groups of four, develop a strategic analysis for a type of company that is considering entry into an emerging market country.
Which entry strategies seem most appropriate? Share yourresults with the class.Internet ResourcesVisit the Deresky Companion Website atwww.pearsonglobaleditions.com/deresky for this chapter's Internetresources.CASE STUDYSearch Engines in Global BusinessA search engine is designed in such a way to actually find useful information on the World Wide
Web (WWW) and file transfer protocol (FfP) servers. In technical terms, the search queries andtheir results show up in the forms of search engine results pages (SERPS) and related information.This information may encompass Web images and other types of useful files. Data mining is also
part of this process.1 In today's fast-changing global business and MNCs' diverse operations indomestic and global markets, search engines are highly useful and have been introduced in a multitude of languages. Local cultures and environments matter a lot when designing country-specificsearch engines.In global business, data is an important part of search engines. As of 2012, the need for
large-scale data is everywhere (consumers and businesses) in global business. The Economistin its annual World in 2012 wrote: "Many more firms will start to analyze huge piles ofdata tooptimize everything from their supply chains to their customer relationships."2 Search engines
come in different forms and types and may include: general search engines, P2P search engines, meta-search engines, information-specific search engines, geographically based search
engines, business search engines, enterprise search engines, and others.3Figure 6-2 provides information on the main search engines in global business. Interestingly,
most of the search engines are available worldwide but are based in the U.S. This shows the powerof information-related companies that own these search engines. As of 2012, Google is the most
popular and powerful search engine in the world, followed by Yahoo, Baidu (China), Bing, and
Ask. Of course Google is highly diversified in its products and maintains sites in various languages. This is a perfect reflection of today's global business with diverse markets and consumers.
Google also maintains Google Docs, Google Calendar, Google Site Search, Google Maps, etc.4 In2012, Google sales surpassed $37 billion with a market capitalization of $200 billion. This showsthe immense power and coverage of this search engine.
Search engines in global business are mostly impacted by local cultures, country-specific
data, and national identities. For example, as of 2012, "Baidu" is the largest search engine inChina with sales of $2.5 billion, and it carries a market capitalization of $48 billion.5 "Yandex" is a major search engine in Russia. In addition, South Korea maintains "Naver," Czech
Republic has "Seznam"; "Sohu" is distinctly available in the Chinese market and continues tobe a dominant player. Regardless of their types and forms, search engines in global business are
highly differentiated on the basis of their functions, country image, and usage. Search engines'transaction data and search results can reveal an interesting array of data. The search engines and
their commercial identity are highly country- and region-specific. No wonder we witness a fewsearch engines that continue to dominate global business. This is also the result of complex valuechains where information is comrnoditized and content specific. In short, search engines such as
Google, Yahoo, Baidu, Yandex, Naver, and others will play a major role in their country-specific
FIGURE 6-2 Search Engine Market Share in Global Markets (2012)A. Top five seorch engines by market share (%)40 Google (U.S.)
Yahoo (U.S.)0 Baidu (China)El Bing (U.S.)• Ask (U.S.)
| CHAPTER 6 • FORMULATING STRATEGY 233 |
B. Other popular search engines and related
sites in global markets:-All the Web.com (U.S.)· AOL Search (U.S.)- HotBot (U.S.)-Alta Vista (U.S.)
- Live Search (U.S.)- Lycos (U.S.)- Netscape (U.S.)- Sohu (China)
- Yandex (Russia)- Naver (South Korea)- Seznam (Czech Republic)Sources: Marketshare.hitslink.com (2012); Pinnaclepixel.com (2012); Search Engine Colossus (2012);Wikipedia (2012).environments because of business efficiencies and productivity issues. The area is still in itsinfancy and growth stage and will have massive repercussions for MNCs, domestic companies,
governments, and consumers worldwide.6 Above all, consumers' privacy and national policiesare major variables in the growth of global search engines.Case Questions1. Compare and contrast the top five search engines in global business.2. Within today's changing global business, what do you see happening in the next five yearsregarding search engines' growth and country-specific issues?
3. Search engines carry national identities and cultures. Compare major search engines fromeach continent on the basis of their local characteristics and national identities.Source:Written exclusively for this book by Syed Tariq Anwar, West Texas A&M University. Copyright © 2012 bySyed Tariq Anwar. Used with permission.References1. Wikipedia. (2012). Web search engine, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_search_engine.
2. The Economist. (2012). Welcome to the yotta world, The World in 2012, London, UK: 126.3. Wikipedia. (2012). Listof search engines, http://en. wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_search_engin.
4. See: Google. (2012). Google search, http://www.google.com/intllen/aboutlindex.html.5. Value Line (2012). Various companies, Value Line LLC, New York.6. For more information, see: Chang et a!., Y. "Multimedia search capabilities of Chinese language search engines," Information Processing and Management 46 (20l 0): 308-319; Jansen,
B. J., and Spink, A. "How are we searching the World Wide Web? A comparison of nine searchengine transaction logs," Information Processing & Management 42(1), (2006): 248-263;
Kim, K., and Tse, E. T. S. "Dynamic search engine competition with a knowledge-sharingservice." Decision Support Systems, 52 (2012). 427-437; Tjondronegoro, D., Spink, A., andJansen, B. J. "A study and comparison of multimedia Web searching: 1997-2006," Journal ofthe American Society for Information Science & Technology 60(9), (2009): 1756-1768.
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