BUSI457 International Business
This is BUSI457 International Business course.
TEXTBOOK
International Business Competing in the Global Marketplace, 12th Edition
Authors: Charles W.L. Hill, G. Tomas M. Hult
Copyright Date: 2019
This week you have discussion response assignments.
D6: Direct Investment, Tariffs and Strategy for Harley Davidson
View the Harley Davidson CEO Interview and read the article at:
Read “chapter 8 – Foreign Direct Investment” and watch video/read article. After watching the video, answer the following questions.
1.How are Tariffs affecting Harley Davidson? How are Presidential comments directly affecting them?
2.How are they deciding to roll out their electric vehicles? Where are they directly investing in markets? How do they manage their supply chain?
3.How should they prioritize their markets? What options do they have? What would you do as CEO?
4.Anything else interesting in the video or with Harley and Motorcycle markets?
Ellie’s Answer:
- Harley Davidson decided to take the hit created by tariffs. They continued to offer their motorcycles at the same price on the European markets. Harley Davidson did this to protect their market share and to protect preexisting distribution and volume in European markets. Harley Davidson’s actions provide a band aid to keep a long-term share of the valuable European market.
Trumps comments have a large impact in the motorcycle market. Think of the average person that would by a motorcycle. What comes to mind is baby boomer, gen X, or late millennial males with a “tough guy” image. It is a troupe that men buy motorcycles at the age of 40 as part of a midlife crisis. This demographic has an overlap with Trumps constituency. Therefor Trumps comments on the motorcycle market do reach much of the demographic that would by a motorcycle.
- Electric vehicles are a very interesting direction for Harley Davidson. Long gone is the old electric vehicle stereotype of the Prius being a glorified golf cart. Electric vehicles are now seen as sporty with faster acceleration then traditional engines. In the teacher posted video, Harley’s spokesperson talked about customer demand for fast acceleration and long operating range. Younger generations are more likely to see the appeal of electric motorcycles because they have more time to see electric infrastructure grow and have less time spent with traditional engines compared to older generations. Another point in favor of electric vehicles is reduced emissions. Less emissions help electric vehicles pass government regulation an example being China’s incentivizing of electric vehicles.
Harley Davidson is moving manufacturing jobs to Thailand to get around high tariffs. Harley claims they just moved production for foreign market vehicles and keeps domestic market production within the US. This split production makes Harley Davidson need to create independent supply chains for both its domestic and foreign production so they can use the local advantages of each production location.
- If I were the Harley Davidson CEO, I would wait this problem out. Tensions run high in a trade war and make it hard to influence policy decisions. Time should lessen tensions and create a better position to negotiate from. Any major statements made will likely attract negative attention. I would try to mitigate damage by staying quiet. I would continue to invest in foreign production to reduce the shocks tariffs can apply to my company. I would continue to research and develop electric motorcycles to better appeal to the demographics of the future motorcycle market.
Your Job:
Your job is to response Ellie’s discussion. You don’t need to answer above 4 questions. Ellie already answered above 4 questions after watching the video. Your job is to response Ellie’s discussion do you agree, give reasons why you agree, what do you think her ideas, what ideas did you interested in her discussion, why do you interested her ideas, give reasons? Your response must be a paragraph. Please be polite and respect to your classmate. Please don’t forget to Week D6 watch video first before you write response.
Discussion 7: BREXIT Re-visited
Read “chapter 9 – Regional Economic Integration” and watch “Brexit” video. After watching the video, answer the following questions. Prove your answer that you read the textbook.
Video link—Brexit re-visited
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1Yv24cM2os&list=PLqs5ohhass_QREwr7tdW8gh3kLgAwX8wh&index=3&t=0s
- Why is Brexit difficult?
- If it is good to “be together”, then why does Britain vote to pull out of the Union?
- What will they gain be separating?
- Why work in groups, or as an individual? When do we want partners? When do we think we should just work by ourselves?
Jordan’s Answer:
Sometimes economics is not all about the numbers. Choices can contain many more factors then just pure economic efficiency. One factor that is hard to put a number on is sovereignty. The dictionary definition of sovereignty is “the full right and power of a governing body over itself, without any interference from outside sources or bodies.” Control over one’s self has an uncountable value. Control over the self is liberty.
To work with others, sovereigns need to agree upon rules each other will follow. These rules need to be agreed upon by all involved parties to work. All parties also need to have trust that the other parties will follow the rules. These rules can be set through direct dealings or through a representative body. The EU is an example of an entity that is supposed to represent with the will of its member states in a way that will increase collaboration. Member states give up some sovereignty to join the EU for the benefits of reduced trade barriers and a universal currency in the Euro.
The UK has some objections to the EU’s power over its member states. The UK does not want free movement of people into its boarders from EU member states. The UK wants its own regulatory bodies for its goods and services. The UK does not want to pay financial contributions to the EU. The UK does not want the European court of justice to have jurisdiction within UK borders. The UK wants to have independence regarding the creation of trade policy. These demands by the UK lead to Brexit.
The EU has been having some financial problems with its member states thus weakening the stability of the Euro. Greece has been in a crisis since 2008. The EU and the International Monetary Fund have spent a total of 289 billion euros in Greek economic relief packages. With economically frail member states, being part of the EU is made less attractive.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereignty
<– defining sovereignty
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agZ0xISi40E
<–more CGP Grey
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-45245969
<– Greek economic crisis
Your Job:
Your job is to response Jordan’s discussion. You don’t need to answer above 4 questions. Jordan already answered above 4 questions after watching the video. Your job is to response Jordan’s discussion do you agree, give reasons why you agree, what do you think his ideas, what ideas did you interested in his discussion, why do you interested his ideas, give reasons? Your response must be a paragraph. Please be polite and respect to your classmate. Please don’t forget to Week D7 watch video first before you write response.
