Born global firms Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Born global firms - Essay Example Considering the long history of Beiersdorf and its presence on international markets, in this part,the expanding strategies of this company in the last 20 years will be examined. In the 1990s, Beiersdorf sales were coming mostly from the Nivea brand, brand that was constantly expanded by the company, starting from skin creams (including those for men), sun care creams, antiwrinkle creams, baby creams, shower products, to deodorant (Jones and Lubinski, 2011). Taking this into account, in 1993 Beiersdorfs has reacquired the rights to the Nivea brand name in the United Kingdom, rights that had been held by an English company since World War II. The company set up in 1994 a joint-venture with a state-owned chemical company in Shanghai called Daily Chemical Factory No. 2 in order to produce its products in the Asian market. Also, in this period, Beiersdorf contracted a 60% longtime joint-venture with Japanese consumer products giant Kao Corp. to market Nivea in Japan. By the end of the 1990s, Beiersdorf had 74 international affiliates and generated almost 70% of its sales outside its origin country - Germany. This multinational continued its policy of opening up to new countries and new product categories (e.g. synergistic expansion) even in 2000s (its presence globally can be seen in Figure no. 4). Synergistic expansion of Beiersdorf consisted of acquisition of the plaster brand Elastoplast in 2001 (which was the market leader in many countries, including the United Kingdom and Ireland). Following the acquisition, Beiersdorf has positioned itself as a global leader in this market. In 2008, Beiersdorf acquired C-Bons, a personal care firm from China and planned other acquisitions to expand further in China. This acquisition was a further initiative in the implementation of the company’s consumer business Strategy, enhancing the company’s business in China and in addition its activities in the growing hair care segment.

Entrepreneurial ventures Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Entrepreneurial ventures - Essay Example Business finance is a wide area and an exhaustive examination of each is not possible. However, the essay will bring out the disadvantages of each method of financing (Galloway 382). The bias may lie on the start-ups given that the initial stages of the business are the most difficult to finance since the risk is usually highest. There are two broad categories of business finance: debt financing and equity financing. These are ways of sourcing the capital that a business requires either to start operating, continue its day to day operation operating, or to attain a given strategic objective. Debt financing has the characteristic that the business or the entrepreneur has to repay with interest. The debt capital is a liability. Equity financing is the investment of the entrepreneur and other owners into the business (Krulikowski 245). This is risk capital. The distinction between debt and equity is that debt is a "loan" to the business while equity represents the extent to which one "owns" the venture. This leads to the issue of ownership and control of a business venture which complicates many startups. Debt financing maintains ownership while equity financing cedes some percentage ownership of the business venture. This is a significant consideration when choosing the type of financing for the business. There is no shortage of investors in the world, but there is a shortage of successful entrepreneurs. However, regardless of the source of financing, the entrepreneur must carefully evaluate the type of financing that the business requires (Krulikowski 267). This will depend on several factors. Firstly, there is a distinction on whether it is a startup or an established business. The size of operations will also determine the financing. The entrepreneur must have a business plan for the particular venture he or she plans to undertake. This means that