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C11bu - Research Philosophy And Practice Assignment
Identification Of Strategies For Internalisation
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Selecting of Topic
I have been looking for strategies that can expand the revenue of small or medium businesses to the next level. While I have been discussing this idea with my peers, they told me about a strategy called internationalisation. Then I started searching for relevant information on this topic on an electronic database, “Google Scholar”. I have found many research articles on “internationalisation”. Then I started to search for the importance of internationalisation, especially for SMEs (Small Medium Enterprises). Thus, I came across “Strategies for internationalisation” as the assignment topic.
Internationalisation is a process to expand the business and capture a larger customer base out of the domestic country. It is a useful way to interconnect as well as contribute to the global economy. It is a process to design the products in such a manner that can meet the demands of customers across various countries. The company aiming to internationalise its products need to consider cultural and ethical aspects to ensure the success of the business. Internationalisation is quite a complex process and so, requires strategic planning for market entry to promotion (Buckner and Stein, 2020). Many companies take different strategies like joint venture, franchise, FDI (Foreign Direct Investment), etc. as internationalisation strategies. It is very important to decide whether to manufacture the product in the target country or export products from the domestic country. Accordingly, the strategies are built and finalised (Roque et al. 2019). Other than that, for deciding the type of product, some companies choose the “Product Standardisation” technique where no changes are made on the actual product and the original quality and features are maintained. Apple is a good example of this product standardisation strategy. However, some companies adopt a "Domestic strategy" such as Mcdonald's and focus on the needs, culture, and beliefs of the customers of a particular country.
Identifying relevant literature
The next step for me in this regard for carrying out the research on Strategies for internationalisation was to collect and identify appropriate literature. From extensive analysis and research I found that in order to achieve internationalisation, it is necessary for a company either adopt a standardisation principle in which same products will be offered throughout the world or incorporate the regional and cultural diversity in the developed product or service in order to make sure that it appeals to the people living in different countries.
Part A
In this regard the five keywords that I used for searching and identifying key literatures were
“Global Strategy”
In order to internationalise business, it is necessary for the companies to appeal to global audience and develop appropriate products and service due to which I searched for global strategy keyword to get relevant literature
“Internationalisation strategies”
As the topic of research was strategies for internationalisation, it was also crucial to search for internationalisation strategies to get relevant literature due to which I searched for this keyword
“Global business expansion”
Another keyword that I used for getting appropriate literature on internationalisation strategies was the term global business expansion which company uses to expand its business to different countries
“Multi-domestic Strategy”
The multi-domestic strategy is one of the crucial strategies for the internationalisation of business. I had previous knowledge about the different strategies that can be adopted for internationalisation due to which I searched for this term for getting relevant literature. This keyword has been chosen for gathering internationalisation strategies that have been adopted by different companies to expand their business globally.
“Transnational strategy”
Another keyword that I searched for to get internationalisation strategies was transnational strategies which I learned about while searching for literature. I found out that they are being adopted by KFC or McDonald's for internationalisation. This keyword was crucial getting the factors that these companies must have considered for growing their business to other countries
Part B
In order to find relevant literature for carrying out the research on strategies for internationalisation, I had to make sure that the literature was collected from trusted sources. In this regard, the platform that I used was Google scholar which has a big collection of different literature on various topics. The literature that I collected for these purposes consisted of research journals published by research scholars on the platform. The quality of journals that were selected were completely relevant to the research topic as appropriate keywords and filters were used. Journals that were uploaded before 2018 were not selected.
Writing research questions
Good research questions help to give a specific direction to the research and make it more specific. It can capture the reader's attention and keep them interested in the research. Moreover, correctly constructed research questions help to set what the researchers want to prove through this research. It helps to set research plans and help to build a specific research design or methodology (Studyhigher.ac.uk, 2022). I have chosen internationalisation strategies for a better understanding of this area. My research will be inductive because I want to explore this area of research. However, sometimes specific research questions help to develop theories as well which are further studied to generate hypotheses. Research questions are developed based on research problems and for that, the broad area of interest is identified at first. After that, this broad area is divided into subareas to understand each component of the broad area. From these sub-areas, a specific area of interest is chosen and research questions are made accordingly (Library.sacredheart.edu, 2020). Research questions are developed from research objectives or vice versa.
I have chosen a broader area for this research because I want to develop knowledge regarding international business strategies. I have done a literature review, where I used examples of some companies to understand strategies they had taken to expand their business in the international market. Therefore, the research questions are mentioned below.
- Which strategies do companies take to expand their business to other countries?
- How did these strategies help them to achieve success in the international market?
- How are they upgrading themselves according to the changing needs of the customers?
These research questions will help me to better understand the area of international strategies that help companies to give competitive advantages in these international markets. Furthermore, I can guide SMEs to apply these strategies in future as well to expand their businesses in the international market.
Identifying a philosophical position and methodological orientation
Research Philosophy
I want to select “Pragmatism philosophy” for this study over any other philosophies. The main reason for choosing pragmatism is that it is mostly applicable to problem-oriented studies. Pragmatism gives freedom to the researchers to select convenient research processes which are either qualitative or quantitative (Simpson, 2018). Moreover, it gives freedom to select the type of data collection as well which are primary data collection and secondary data collection. In this philosophical movement, researchers can reject unpractical research ideas and select only the practical ones to enhance the accuracy of the study (Lohse, 2017). There are other types of research philosophy as well, known as positivist, interpretivism, and realist philosophy. Positivist philosophy is mostly applicable to science experiments that deal with causal relationships or quantitative study. Interpretivism applies to social science but mainly deals with natural phenomena. On the other hand, realist philosophy deals with ontology, which refers to the ideas of reality and how it is constituted (Horne, 2021). Therefore, for this research, I have found pragmatist philosophy to be most appropriate as this will give me the freedom to select research design, data type and data collection tools.
Research design and approach
I will be selecting an exploratory research design for this study because I aim to explore the research area and gather knowledge and concepts regarding internationalisation strategies. Therefore, this research will be qualitative and as a source of data will be selecting secondary data because these are easier to collect, take comparatively less time and are inexpensive at the same time. Other than that, I will be selecting the "Inductive approach" also termed as a bottom-up approach for this study. The reason is I am proceeding from specific findings to develop a more generalised concept (Kiran Kumar et al. 2021). In the literature review part, I have written briefly about the strategies that the companies had taken to make them stand out among other similar companies. Therefore, I am going to observe the common pattern in the approaches and develop a more generalised concept that can help me to generate concrete knowledge regarding internationalisation strategies. The deductive approach is useful in quantitative research which is mostly performed in science experiments. Therefore, I am choosing this paradigm over any other.
References
Alhalwaki, H. and Hamdan, A.M.M., 2019. Factors affecting the implementation of internationalisation strategies in higher education institutions: evidence from Bahrain. International Journal of Management in Education, 13(1), pp.1-27. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Allam-Hamdan/publication/330059005_Factors_affecting_the_implementation_of_internationalisation_strategies_in_higher_education_institutions_Evidence_from_Bahrain/links/5e1e2bd3a6fdcc904f70449b/Factors-affecting-the-implementation-of-internationalisation-strategies-in-higher-education-institutions-Evidence-from-Bahrain.pdf
Buckner, E. and Stein, S., 2020. What counts as internationalization? Deconstructing the internationalization imperative. Journal of Studies in International Education, 24(2), pp.151-166. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sharon-Stein/publication/331135697_What_Counts_as_Internationalization_Deconstructing_the_Internationalization_Imperative/links/5c6747b1299bf1e3a5abe5e3/What-Counts-as-Internationalization-Deconstructing-the-Internationalization-Imperative.pdf [Accessed on 26 February 2022]
Courtois, A. and Veiga, A., 2020. Brexit and higher education in Europe: The role of ideas in shaping internationalisation strategies in times of uncertainty. Higher Education, 79(5), pp.811-827. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/334409908.pdf
Godos-Díez, J.L., Cabeza-García, L. and Fernández-González, C., 2018. Relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and internationalisation strategies: a descriptive study in the Spanish context. Administrative Sciences, 8(4), p.57. https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3387/8/4/57/pdf
Horne, J., 2021. The philosophy of research. Available at: http://www.iiisci.org/journal/pdv/sci/pdfs/IP062LL19.pdf [Accessed on 26 February 2022]
Kiran Kumar, G., Kobaku, T., Sahoo, S., Subudhi, B., Elangovan, D. and Blaabjerg, F., 2021. An Overview of Fully Integrated Switching Power Converters Based on Switched-Capacitor versus Inductive Approach and Their Advanced Control Aspects. Energies, 14(11), p.3250. Available at: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/11/3250/pdf [Accessed on 26 February 2022]
Library.sacredheart.edu, 2020. The purpose of a problem statement is to: Available at: https://library.sacredheart.edu/c.php?g=29803&p=185918 [Accessed on 26 February 2022]
Lohse, S., 2017. Pragmatism, ontology, and philosophy of the social sciences in practice. Philosophy of the social sciences, 47(1), pp.3-27. Available at: http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/14265/1/pragmatism__ontology_and_philsci_in_practice_preprint_.pdf [Accessed on 26 February 2022]
Roque, A., Alves, M. and Raposo, M., 2019. Internationalization strategies revisited: Main models and approaches. IBIMA Business Review, 2019, pp.681383-681383. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Maria-Do-Ceu-Alves/publication/335345022_Internationalization_Strategies_Revisited_Main_Models_and_Approaches/links/5d6acb53299bf1808d5cbcf4/Internationalization-Strategies-Revisited-Main-Models-and-Approaches.pdf [Accessed on 26 February 2022]
Simpson, B., 2018. Pragmatism: A philosophy of practice (pp. 54-68). London: Sage Publications Ltd. Available at: https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/63055/1/Simpson_SAGE2017_Pragmatism_a_philosophy_of_practice.pdf [Accessed on 26 February 2022]
Studyhigher.ac.uk, 2022.Research question: the importance of your research question. Available at: https://www.studyhigher.ac.uk/our-partners/university-of-oxford/bqlq-1-2-importance-research-question/#:~:text=The%20research%20question%2C%20if%20correctly,time%2C%20energy%2C%20and%20effort. [Accessed on 26 February 2022]
