Unit 4.

1. What are the main reasons for manufacturing a product in the country or region where you want to sell it?

The main reason would be to save on the cost of its production and the consumers might prefer to buy locally made products rather than something that was maid across the world. The local governments give tax incentives in order to attract foreign companies.

Manufacturing is a process which involves tools and labor to produce goods for use or sale. If you are selling products where you're manufacturing it you can have a lot of advances. Surveys and analyses of trends and issues in manufacturing and investment around the place you want to sell it focus on such things as (it can solve a lot of problems):

• the nature and sources of the considerable variations that occur cross-nationally in levels of manufacturing and wider industrial-economic growth; if you have sources then you can manufacture and sell it in the one place.

• competitiveness; manufacturing and selling products in one region can reduce prices and your competitors.

• Reducing transportation costs

• quick response on every problem and issue

• quick start of selling and no delays

• understanding the main points of traditions

2. A lot of products are increasingly being ordered by phone or through the Internet, assembled to order and delivered from the factory directly to the customer. This is especially the case in the US and Europe. Do you think this approach would work well in South America?

The South America is not as developed as the North and the phone and internet are not as widely used or spread especially in more remote places.

I think this approach would work well not only in South America, but all over the world.The main purpose of the factory is the assembly the product. Another advance of delivering the product from the factory is sparing capacity. Most consumer goods are delivered from a point of production (factory or farm) through one or more points of storage (warehouses) to a point of sale (retail store), where the consumer buys the good and is responsible for its transportation to point of consumption. There are many variations on this model for specific types of goods and modes of sale. Products sold via catalogue or the Internet may be delivered directly from the manufacturer or warehouse to the consumer's home. It helps to reduce costs on transportation, people sources and time, which is very important now-days.

Unit 5.

1. How would you define a merger? How does it differ from an acquisition?

The merger is a combining of two or more companies, generally by offering the stockholders of one company securities in the acquiring company in exchange for the surrender of their stock. Whereas, an acquisition is a corporate action in which a company buys most, if not all, of the target company's ownership stakes in order to assume control of the target firm.

2. Think of three or four big international mergers in recent years. Have they been successful?

-In the 1999 merger of GlaxoWellcome and SmithKline Beecham, both firms ceased to exist when they merged, and a new company, GlaxoSmithKline was created.

-MG and Rover’s merger

-Citibank and Traveler’s merger created Citigroup

3. What kind of things do you think can lead to problems or even failure in international mergers and acquisitions?

Some of the issues that could arise are; what to call the new company, who will be the CEO of the new company, the location of the new head office, what language should they choose to speak, which stock exchange to be listed on, should one department be closed if there is another one like that already or should key people be moved to different countries?

4. Here is a list of some issues that must be considered to enable things to work well after a merger has taken place. Which are the most important? Can you add others? What factors need to be taken into account when coming to decision?

• who will be the chief executive of the new company?

• where will the НQ bе?

• if it is a merger between companies from different countries with different languages, what should the company language be?

• on which stock exchange should the new company be listed?

• where there is duplication, e.g. two centres for R&D, should one be closed?

• should key managers be moved to different parts of the merged company to speed up integration?

All the listed above issues are equally important and have to be taken seriously. One cannot be overlooked as it could create problems before the new company even started to exist and operate. They should be looked in the order of appearing, first with who will be the new CEO and be on the board then the new HQ location and so on. One step at a time. Factors such as cultural differences have to be taken into account, as it could create more friction between people.