When choosing a company to illustrate global business, it's not a bad idea to choose one that has about 315,000 employees around the world. About half are spread among 160 countries or so. The company that fits this global description is IBM.

The company was known as International Business Machines long before IBM finally reached its goal of becoming a global powerhouse. (Its first business machine was a scale for weighing meat.) IBM's brand name is now the third most valuable name in the world, after Coke and Microsoft. The brand name alone is said to be worth some $50 billion.

The person responsible for marketing the IBM brand is Lee Green, who is featured in this video. Lee's work includes those funny commercials for which IBM has become well known. IBM tries to maintain a global image by using the same themes in every country where it does business. The ad may change a little to adapt to the culture and the times, but the themes are the same. A company may reach global markets in various ways, ranging from exporting to foreign direct investment. You can read about each option and the risks and rewards in this chapter. IBM tends to do a great deal of foreign direct investment. That makes it a multinational firm. IBM's annual revenue is greater than many countries' entire GDP.

IBM recognizes that the worldwide population is over 6 billion. As a result, the company has to adapt to a variety of environmental forces: sociocultural, economic, political and legal, and so forth. IBM's global network of employees, research facilities, and offices help create a cohesive company message that reaches customers around the globe. The company mission is to help people in other countries develop their own products by using their own people to develop products specific to their own markets.

IBM clearly has a comparative advantage in producing some goods. It maintains that advantage by changing its product offers over time to match the changing needs of a global economy. It's interesting to note that IBM works with both small and large businesses and that they recognize that there is a huge potential for small businesses to do more globally, especially using the Internet. IBM's strength is to help businesses of all kinds integrate their operations to become global in scope. The company is trying to “invent the future” not only for itself, but for other companies as well. To do that, it has to maintain its corporate image through advertising and through providing excellent service with every contact, whether that contact is over the Internet, on the phone, or in person.

How could you prepare for a job in global business? You could study a foreign language, sign up for overseas program at your school, or simply make it a matter of researching the topic in as many ways as possible, including talking with those now involved in global business. Lee Green has been in over 100 countries because of his work. If that kind of life sounds glamorous and exciting to you, global business is the thing to study.

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Six Billion Customers and Counting - IBM

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1			What did you learn from this video that might help you to more effectively pursue a career in global business?
2			From what you have read in this chapter and seen in the video, does it seem that the opportunities in global business are greater in small or large businesses? Why?
3			What impression do you have of multinational firms that have operations in multiple countries? Do they seem to be a major benefit to the world, or are there some negatives that you see? Discuss.