Sun & Shade, Inc: International business venture analysis

The proposed international business venture will be a luxury retail sunglasses operation in the Bahamas, called Sun & Shade, Inc. It will be a foreign wholly owned subsidiary of a U.S. corporation. The Bahamas provides an ideal location for a luxury sunglasses business for a variety of reasons, including having a stable economic and political environment, a readily definable target market and customer base, and the inherent benefits to selling sunglasses in a Caribbean climate.As an international business, Sun & Shade, Inc. will need to consider numerous factors in its business planning and development. These factors include the impact of global macroeconomic forces like fluctuations in currency values, the national business environment of the Bahamas, and cultural differences between the host country (the United States) and the home country (the Bahamas).

[...] Fortunately, Sun & Shade, Inc.’s business is less likely to be influenced by currency fluctuations than many other international businesses, because a significant percentage of visitors to the Bahamas are from the United States. As long as the Bahamas maintains its currency peg with the U.S. dollar, and a majority of tourists are from the United States, Sun & Shade, Inc. will remain reasonably unaffected by changes in the global valuation of the U.S. dollar. Ultimately, this may change in the future, as the percentage of tourists from Europe appears to be on the rise due to the relatively stronger buying power of foreign currencies like the euro. [...]

[...] INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RESOURCES In an international business such as Sun & Shade, Inc., a successful human resources department is crucial to the overall success of the company. In his book Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric, wrote, “Without a doubt, the head of HR should be the second most important person in any organization. From the point of view of the CEO, the director of HR should be at least equal to the CFO.” Since Sun & Shade, Inc. [...]

[...] GLOBALIZATION As an international business, Sun & Shade, Inc. will be affected by global macroeconomic forces, including fluctuations in currency values. Relative to the euro and other currencies, the value of the U.S. dollar has declined substantially over the past few years. Currently, the value of the U.S. dollar relative to the euro is at an all-time low. Since the value of the Bahamian dollar is pegged to the U.S. dollar, fluctuations in currency values could affect Sun & Shade, Inc.’s business. [...]