Globalisation On Management

Analysing The Effects Of Globalisation On Management And Company Functions Across Modern Businesses - A Case Study

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Abstract: Globalization is a much-debated topic among academics, consultants and corporates in terms ofits influence on different areas of businesses.

This dissertation has examined primary research among senior business leaders to understand their views in relation to the opinions expressed in the literature review. One hundred business leaders were interviewed to understand the effects of globalisation across management and company functions and to explore the changes they recommended.

The interviewswere conducted using a survey questionnaire,structured around four major themes of globalisation:The manifestation of globalisation across various management functions,the manifestation of globalisation across different company functions, factors contributing to globalisation,and the direct and indirect effects (impact) of globalisation.

The collated data points were analysed using measures of central tendency, and correlation analysis identified the underlying factors and causes of globalisation. Five major issues were identified that arehindering the growth of businesses trying to embrace globalisation on a larger scale.

The dissertation concludes by providing recommendations to businesses and policymakers on ways to adopt and capitalise on globalisation.

Declaration Of Original Work: I, Paul Gershin Chetty declare that this research report is my own, unaided work. It is submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Business Administration at Regenesys Business School, Sandton, South Africa. It has not been submitted before for any degree or examination at any other university or educational institution.

Paul Gershin Chetty                           4 August 2019

Acknowledgements:I would not have been able to complete this master's dissertation or attain my MBA degree without the encouragement and support of many people..

To my supervisor, Dr Patrick Mupambwa, thank you for your guidance and mentorship throughout this journey. Your patience and support are truly valued.

I also wish to express my gratitude to the individuals from various organisations who participated in this research study. I appreciate your time and willingness to take part, and I trust that this research will contribute significantly to your industry. Your work is what ignites my passion.

Thank you to my wife and daughter for all your love and support throughout this journey, and for making it possible for me to pursue my dream. I could not have done this without either of you.

Thank you.

Question: Select topic related to business management sector or public sector and prepare a mini dissertation.

Answer: CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction: Globalisation,a buzzword since thenineties,has been aided by the emergence of new technologies, along with the advancement of business models and strategies aimed at a globally connected world. Most businesses are familiar with the idea of globalisation and its role in business growth and expansion. They are focusing on broadening their base to create a common marketplace while adapting to newer ways of working and earning. In addition, start-ups are emerging at a much faster rate than everbefore.

However, recent research has found that changes in countries' socio-economic conditions, coupled with changes in their environmental conditions,have also contributed to the widespread adoption of globalisation. Not only has globalisation brought about an increase of the number of companies, but it has also indirectly spurred consumers' demand for options that better suit the way they live and operate. This has led to many companies offering similar solutions, thereby increasing competition across businesses and sectors. At the same time, rapid technological growth and faster information transfer have encouraged the demand for more businesses. These increased opportunities have made companies more efficient and effective and havevastly improved their earnings.

1.2 Background to study: From the perspectives of different business organisations across the world, two main characteristics stand out when defining the need for strategic changes associated with globalisation (Aslam, et al., 2018): strong interdependence among different countries, and multifaceted growth of the various aspects of businesses across the world. For the last two decades there have been increased debates regarding the business strategies that are enabling globalisation. 

Some research analysts (Hrybinenko & Shahoian, 2018) have placed special emphasis on the interconnections among businesses, which could be both internal and external in nature. These interconnections could be related to the concepts of globalisation and the need for interdependency among business functions. Therefore, the creation of strong network strategic unitsis necessary, supported by a strong vision, mission, goals and objectives of the various businesses. This is missing to a greater or lesser degree in many of the businesses vying for international and even national expansion (Javaid & Siahmardy, 2017). On the other hand, some brands have leveraged the opportunity of global expansion and have gained widespreadrecognitionfor selling their products and services. While gaps in business strategies and the need for change are evident,a lack of directionis hinderingthe achievement of such strategic changes.

Many companies showed promise in the early days of globalisation and some technologies were widely adopted - e.g. Nokia mobile phones, Kodak cameras and Walkman - but their failure to adapt their strategies to meet global demands led to their early demise. Whereglobalisation has been successful is where businesses have come up with innovative operating models, e.g. Uber and Airbnb, or where they have learnt to use technology for their benefit. Increased use of mobile phones, the internet and search engines, and satellite tracking technologies have ushered in a new era of growth and expansion among new age businesses (Okoro & Okoro, 2017).

Given the far-reaching impact of globalisation for people and companies across the world, examining the effects of globalisation on businesses' strategies would help in addressingthe underlying need for changes and,consequently, for change management at a global level.

1.3 Research Problem: The world's openness towards better solutions to address people's everyday needs,whilereducingbarriers to access,has ignited the flame for globalisation in the twentieth century. There are many factors, over and above information technology, information transfer and interdependency, that enable globalisation. Therefore, toensure economic integration on a global scale, businesses need to change or redefine their strategies by realising the probable effects of globalisation on their existing strategies. This dissertation endeavours to address the ways in which the effects of globalisation are understood.

Therefore, the problem statement for this dissertation is: What are the probable effects of globalisation on business strategies, management functions and company functions?

As an extension of the problem statement, other related factors such as recommendations or solutions for a global businesses would also be identified to address the issues that prevent successful globalisation for various companies across the world.

1.4 Purpose or rationale of the research: Many studies have been conducted relating either to the need for change for businesses arising out of globalisation, or to the need to change strategies for adopting new technologies. However, few studies have been written that have tried to obtain insights into the multifaceted aspects of globalisation,or in terms of identifying the need for change in business strategy arising out of globalisation. This study and dissertation will try to address the different gaps in a multifaceted approach, along with analysing the requirement for more changes in business strategy.

1.5 Research scope: The scope of the research was to examinethe effects of globalisation on the business strategies of various companies across the world. With many companies trying to expand exponentially, this research tried to explore different facets of globalisation and their direct or indirect effect on the various functions related to the globalisation. The manifestation of globalisation was also studied as well as trends that have been the immediate or lag outcomes of globalisation in the recent past. The effects of globalisation were explored from the point of view of the various functions of an organisation, especially the human resource management functions which play an important role in managing changes in strategy.

Innovation from the point of view of the changing business strategy also formed part of the scope of the study. Structural changes to the organisation and the corresponding managerial roles that evolved are also discussed. Global value chains, sustainable practices, need for change management and the corresponding implications for policy form part of the extended scope of the dissertation.

As technological advancement and leadership changes form an important part of the globalised world, these issues arealso discussed in detail as a part of the scope of the study. The effects of globalisation on small and large companies are discussed in detail to highlight the negative and positive aspects of the research topic.

1.6: Research Aims And Objectives

1.6.1 Research aims: The aim of the study was to investigate the effects of globalisation on the business strategies and management and organisation functionsof modern-dayorganisations.

1.6.2 Research objectives: The research objectives of this study were:

• To study the manifestation of globalisation across the different functions and value chains of businesses across the world.

• To critically analyse the factors contributing to the multifaceted approach to studying globalisation.

• To identify and describe the factors directly or indirectly affectingglobalisation.

• To critically describe the direct and indirect effects of globalisation.

• To understand the need for changes in an organisation's business strategy of the organisation on account ofglobalisation.

• To recommend generic and specific solutions to businesses for copingwith the negative effects and sustaining the positive effects of globalisation.

1.7 Research Questions And Sub-questions

1.7.1 Primary research questions: The primary research question was:

How does globalisation affect the business strategies of modern-day organisations with respect to across management functions, company functions and operations?

1.7.2 Secondary research questions: The secondary research questions, as derived from the primary research question, were:

• How does globalisation manifest itself across the different value chains and the functions of the world?

• What factors contribute to the multifaceted approach of globalisation in the modern-day world? How have these factors evolved or become more complex over time?

• What factors influence modern-day businesses in makingglobalisation mandatory?

• What are the effects of globalisation?

• What changes are needed for modern-day companies to survive globalisation and expand?

• What generic recommendations could be made for organisations currently in need of changing their business strategies in a globalised world?

1.8 Delimitations Of The Study: Although many researchers have drawn direct and indirect linkages to Industry 4.0 as an enabler or an effect of globalisation, this research report has refrained from discussingIndustry 4.0 in detail as it would lead to other topics that may not be of significance to the dissertation topic. 

With respect to the primary research study through the survey-based questionnaire, while many people could have commented, the study was limited to people who have either recently joined their industry or who have remained there for anextended period. This filter was applied to include only those people who have knowledge of the evolving industries and how businesses are changing their strategies to globalise operations across the world.People below 21 years of age were not part of the research questionnaire as their responses would not have beenconsidered sufficiently mature to derive useful and meaningful insights.

The research comprised a cross-section of respondents available through LinkedIn only. Moreover, time constraintslimited the number of respondents that could be included. The research questionnaire was sent to approximately 100 survey respondents, but the response rate was expected to range from 50-60%, depending on their availability and inclination to participate in the research.

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1.9 Outline Of The Study: The dissertation comprises six chapters as outlined below.

Chapter 1: Introduction

This chapter establishes the context for the dissertation. It startsby providing a background to the study on globalisation and explains the rationale behind studying its effect on business strategy. This chapter defines the scope of the study, the research aims, objectives, questions, sub-questions and delimitations.

Chapter 2: Literature Review

The literature review is a critical element of the dissertation as it incorporates the different themes, discussions, topics and concepts related to globalisation and its effect on business strategy.

The review was conducted within a structured framework based on key words extracted from the research questions and objectives. These key words helpedwhen searching the open and registered databases for articles, news items, blogs, reports and peer reviewed journal articles relating to the dissertation topic. Theidentified documents were scanned for gathering concepts, knowledge and information regardingglobalisation and its corresponding effect on business strategy.

Chapter 3: Research Methodology

The research methodology helped in understanding the way in which the research was conducted. This chapter begins with defining the research philosophy, and outlining the research approach and strategy. This is followed by an explanation of the research analysis process which, in the case of this study, involved the use of primary and secondary data points as identified from the survey questionnaire. This chapter discusses the processes for the collection of the data points and the sampling methods used for the collection of the data points that were analysed. The types of data analysis used are also explained in this chapter. The research validity and reliability arediscussed in this chapter as well as the ethical considerations required for conducting this research, specifically referencing all sources and protecting the identity of the primary research respondents. The chapter concludes with an explanation of the potential limitations of the research methodology and the chapter summary.

Chapter 4: Presentation Of Findings

This chapter presents the findings of the research. The data collected from the questionnaires was collated and analysed using MS-Excel to generate graphs and provide informationon the relationships between the variables.

Chapter 5: Analysis And Discussion Of Results

While Chapter 4 concerns itself with presenting the insights obtained from the data, this chapter analyses those findings and aligns them with thefindings of the literature review, therebyestablishing any gaps or anomalies that could help in identifying the effects of globalisation on business strategy.

Chapter 6: Conclusion And Recommendations

This final chapter entails collating the insights gathered from Chapter 5, and aligns the findings from the primary research with those of the secondary research. This chapter is also identifying the similarities and differencesbetween the primary and secondary research, so that the issues relating to the need for changing business strategies in the wake of globalisation may be addressed. The chapter includes plausible recommendations for businesses that have either adopted or are trying to adopt strategies needed to accommodate changes arising out of the globalisation process. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the scope for the future studies.

1.10 Summary: This chapter outlined the background to and rationale behind the study. It included an explanation of the problem statement, highlighting issues that which have not been discussed in detail in other research reports.The research objectives encompassthe main theme of the dissertation and have been broken up into the main research question and several sub-questions. This chapter provides the link between the research topic and the corresponding themes, topics, concepts and knowledge that areanalysed and described in more detail in the literature review.

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction: The literature reviewentails amassing a wide array of knowledge from secondary sources and producing a narrative or review of the views, quotations, statements andfindings of researchers across the world. It is done by analysing journal articles, research papers, news articles, company reports and analysts' perspectives. The literature review is a vital component of the whole dissertation paper as it helps in understanding the scope of knowledge relating to the research topic.

For the purposes of this study, a framework was constructed for carrying out the literature review. The research objectives, which form the core of the whole dissertation, acted as the starting point for the framework and the following key phrases were selected to search for the appropriate literature review articles, news items, reports, papers and blogs:

• Globalisation and its history

• Globalisation and its manifestation across industries

• Trends in globalisation

• Effects of globalisation on human resourcesand business strategy

• Globalisation redefining business strategy

• Globalisation and innovation enabling changes in business strategy

• Organisational challenges from globalisation

• Impacts of globalisation

• Strategic changes in different size organisations across the globe from globalisation

• Technological changes affecting changes in business strategy from globalisation

These key phrases helped in generating thousands or articles from the internet and open databases. Subscribed databases were only used for obtaining a list of the different literature articles. Owing to time constraints it was not possible to review all the articles generated from this process generated many articles that were not possible for review.Therefore, purposive sampling was used to identify literature articles that were aligned with the research objectives (Figure 2.1).

Figure 2.1: Literature Review Process

Finally, these research articles were scanned to narrow them down further to only the required articles. By including a limited number of focused papers, the researcherwas still able to access a wide breadth of knowledge, pointers, themes and areas related to globalisation and its implications for business strategy.

2.2 History Of Globalisation: Globalisation is commonly described as the process of interaction and integration between countries, people, companies and governments around the world. It is primarily driven by international trade and investment and is facilitatedby improvements in infrastructure and information technology (IT). Globalisation affects everything from the environment and human well-being, to economic development and the prosperity of citizens.

The origins of globalisation are widely debated (Bretos & Marcuello, 2017). According to the author,Thomas Friedman, Globalisation 1.0 began in 1492 and ended in 1800 and it comprised mainly the globalisation of countries (Bricklin, 2000). The second phase,Globalisation 2.0, lasted from 1800 until 2000 and was mainly about the globalisation of industries or companies.True globalisation began in 2000 and is still evolving and refers to the globalisation of individuals.

Alluding to the thoughts of Friedman, it could be argued that true globalisation startedin the late 1950s after World War II, when the world united on the common interests of the people and decided to work towards the greater good rather than destroying each other. This view holds that globalisation should not be construed within the tenets of country, companies or individuals, but is something bigger than the whole. Some analysts have argued that globalisation startedduring World War I.

According toIheonu & Madueke (2018), during 1914, it was observed that while immigration between countries and cross-border trade flows were extensive, institutional architecture across the globe was limited and people could migrate from one country to another country without a passport. of From World War II until the late 1990s, global economic bodies were institutionalised marking more clearly defined regulation of global business. The global business community expanded vastly during this period. However, it was not only the policies that facilitated the expansion, but also technology and communication.

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2.3 Manifestation Of Globalisation In Bringing In Changes: Globalisation is widely accepted as the free movement of goods, services and people across global business environments and markets in a connected and integrated manner. It may also be regarded as the openingup of global economies between countries, thus resulting in trade across boundaries. Some companies that were previously closed to global trade are openingup as foreign investments start coming into the countries in which they operate. It may also be that these countries are relaxing their import protocols and starting to welcomeforeign investment into the major sectors of their economy(Itegi, 2015). Thus, multinational companies have started exploring opportunities in these countries as they attempt to leverage new markets that have been opened. Some of these countries have liberalisedtheir visa formalities to attract global talent to their industries and develop better products and services in their homeland. In this way, formerly unproductive sectors would attract the attention of investors for financial assistance while productive sectors produce goods and services that can be exported, thereby creating a win-win situation for the countries who start working and supporting globalised business. 

According to the theory of comparative advantage, countries that are good at manufacturing certain goods and services have the advantage of being able to export to those regions that are not as adept in the production of similar goods and services, thus earning higher profits. Similarly, the countries that are inefficient in producing certain goods and services benefit when importing from another region.

The terms of trade between different countries and markets are overseen by the World Trade Organization (WTO) and countries must abide by the rules and regulations set by the WTO. Many policies related to supporting free trade are governed by the United Nations (Nsude, 2018) andcountries follow principles laid down for free trade and trade policies that support trade practices that are non-discriminatory.

2.4 Trends In Globalisation Affecting Organisations: The outcome of globalisation is an improvement in businesses and countries' economies, and it encourages cooperation and communication among different countries. Analysts believe that globalisation is helping to bring about improvements in world trade (Zürn, 2013), and that the exchange of ideas, goods, people and technology optimisesproduction and service capabilities. Various rends are driving globalisation as discussed below:

2.4.1 Trading: Since the end of World War II there has been a rise in international trade. Initial government restrictions on trade gave way to a more liberalapproach to trade and in January 1995, the World Trade Organization was established to facilitate trade by improving trade agreements, solving trade disputes and conducting global trade in a fair and appropriate manner. The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) helps to reduce trade barriers across countries and improves governance policies. It may be argued that globalisation supports capitalism, which gained traction in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries (Iheonu & Madueke, 2018). In the twenty-first century, anybody can enter the business world and provide goods and services to people and other organisations. Government control over assets and technology has been relaxed in most of the countries.

2.4.2 Financial Connectivity: The globalised free market has seen massive growth in international trade. Developed countries often provide capital and other important resources to boost the economies of developing countries while increasing their own profits due to cheaper labour and land prices. Thus, there has been growth in mergers and acquisitions in which companies from the developed world invest in companies from developing countries, commonly referred to as foreign direct investment. There has been an increase in the international labour costs and multinational companies are seeking ways to provide cheaper products than their competitors. 

Many companies are building relationships with suppliers under contractual agreements(Shankar, 2017) in which goods such as electronics, textiles, automobiles and garments are manufactured in locations where minimum costs are incurred. This way of outsourcing production helps companies in many ways, particularly with respect to avoiding high production costs. Outsourcing also reduces risk as the suppliers are responsible for the quality of goods that they train their staff to manufacture. Outsourcing has given rise to global supply chains in which goods are produced where they can be manufactured cheaply. Asian countries have become a hub or production and offices have been set up in locations such as India and China. China and India havebecome export hubs to the world because of the availability of cheaper labour and better transport facilities.

2.4.3 Better Communication: Companies are also cooperating in terms of new technology (Vahid, 2017). The advent of IT has facilitated connections between companies operating in different parts of the globe. This improved communication has enabled better collaboration regarding productivity and efficiency. Huge strides in information and communication technology means companies are able to connect with their customers almost instantly from any part of the globe and carry out financial transactions immediately 24/7 (Okoro & Okoro, 2017).

2.4.4 Transportation: Improved modes of transportation are being leveraged by large companies.Organisations are able to deliver goods much faster and in a more efficient manner than a few decades ago (Cardozo, Salazar, & Serrezuela, 2018).Air transport has become even more affordable and essential and countries are trying to lower their costs by connecting highways and railway infrastructure.

Among the different forms of transport shipping is the most popular because of the economic benefits associated with being able to transport massive quantities of goods across borders. Therefore,organisations prefer to transport their products mostly through waterways when there is enough time in hand, and high capacity ships are being deployed in the global transport arena..

2.5 Effect Of Globalisation On HR Management: Globalisation has encouraged businesses to become more competitive with the advent of globalisation, giving rise to a freer flow of human resources across boundaries. Skilled individuals from different parts of the world are linking up in the increasingly connected world usingthe latest communication technologies so that they can work together as a close community rather than in silos. 

Human resource (HR) managers do not need to recruit talent from a small pool of workers in a region, but are recruiting talent from across multiple regions people who represent the best fit for their organisation. The success of any organisation depends on its ability to source talent from different areas that will bring a diverse knowledge base and achieve specific organisational targets through innovation and diverse perspectives and ideas. To manage the huge diversity in culture, managers are undergoing special training to allowthe seamless integration of global cultures into a single enterprise (Iwabuchi, 2010).

Globalisation is influencing HR management in the following ways:

2.5.1 Management Of Diverse Culture: Employees from different countries and regions have different ideas and perspectives about how they should be managed. Therefore, HR managers need to be trained to manage diversity by becoming familiar with language barriers and differences in nonverbal communication.

2.5.2 Expatriate Management: Managing expatriates is challenging for HR managers owing to differences in value systems, beliefs and other cultural aspects, and their recruitment and training often requires adistinctiveapproach by the business.

2.5.3 Laws: Employment laws as well as conditions of employment are different in different parts of the world and it is crucial that HR managers to understand HR policies from both a monetary and non-monetary perspective.

2.5.4 Outsourcing Management: Globalisation has meant that many employees are outsourced to manage different aspects of businesses. For instance, KPO (knowledge process outsourcing) and BPO (business process outsourcing) use employees from the home country and subject matter experts from other countries, and such outsourcing needs to be correctly managed by the HR department (Verbeke, Coeurderoy, & Matt, 2018).

2.5.5 Corporate Social Responsibility: Many countries have mandatory corporate social responsibility(CSR) requirements and the HR managers are often tasked with managinga company's CSR activities and spend.

2.6 GLOBALISATION IS REDEFINING BUSINESS STRATEGY

The global economy is steadily integrating, leading towards the holistic globalisation of economies across the world. A prominent example of changes in business processes due to globalisation can be seen in the automobile industry. For instance, previously the US would import foreign manufactured cars at exorbitant prices due to the highly complex nature of their technology. However, from the beginning of the twenty-firstcentury, large global companies started establishing manufacturing units in various locations across the world (Bretos & Marcuello, 2017). To accrue bigger profits, Fiat, Suzuki and others started to manufacture cars in various new markets other than their home market, and have set up sales offices and management divisions in many countries around the world, to the extent that almost every car on the road is made up of parts that are manufactured in different regions of the world (Gugler, 2017). Interdependence between countries is increasing as their economies become intertwined because of globalisation. Globalisation has made a considerable impact on the strategic business management of organisations in most of the growing economies around the world. In 2018, the US government increased the taxes on almost $50 billion worth of Chinese goods. The Chinese government retaliated by increasing the tariffs on many items imported from America. Consequently, the stock market took a beating across the globe.

2.7 THE PROGRESSION OF GLOBALISATION AND RISING INTERDEPENDENCE

Globalisation is an enabler for businesses to grow and have a global presence, but strategically, is not the primary focus area (Nsude, 2018).Foreign direct investment and trade around the world has been growing at a rapid pace, and interdependence between countries is greater now than ever before (Akhmetova, et al., 2017).By the end of 1990, total exports in world trade were valued at $4 261 billion, increasing to$7 036 billion by 2000, and to$12 000 billion by 2005 (Akhmetova, Terzhanova, & Smailova, 2017).In 1992, the outflow of foreign direct investment to the tune of $230 billion had been reached,rising to $750 billion by 2005.

When viewed up close, global trade activities have developed with few countries becoming the major exporters of goods, while some countries have become the major importers of goods and products (Hu & Haddud, 2017). Import-export dependencies are skewed towards some countries:Germany and China are among the strongest exporters of goods related to manufacturing and the US and UK among the biggest importers. There are other industry verticals and most cross-border activities occur in the financial services sector.
While a few global hubs, such as Tokyo, London and New York, renowned for finance, there are many other financial hubs of economic activity, such as Shanghai, Frankfurt, and Mumbai, and most are interlinked. However, the financial centresdo not hold much significance for companies expanding internationally or collaborating with other companies.

Branding at a global level, international recruitment and other international strategies are more relevant to companies than whether or not it is an international financial centre. The wealth of countries do not have a bearing on a population'sper capita wealth (Somjai, 2017). For instance, the wealth of countries like Japan and China are similar, but asChina's population is far bigger than that of Japan,per capita wealth in Japan is much greater than in China. There are also differences between countries in terms of their history and culture, which suggests that the advantages of globalisation may only be starting to be realised.

2.7.1 Global Competition And Competitive Strategies Of Different Businesses: Competition between companies at a global level is greater now than ever before. The leaders of various large organisations are endeavouringto create and maintain competitive advantage through appropriate implementation of their human resource strategies. The world recovered rapidly from the global economic crisis of 2007-2008 (Marsonet, 2017), and in 2017, global GDP growth was at 3.5%. 

However, countries are still facing some challenges from which they are trying their best to recover. Globalisation has been accompanied by challenges such as uneven profit distribution, rising income disparity and growing pollution, therebycausing mounting insecurity as economies struggle to advance in a more sustainable manner. There is an urgent need to focus on the wellbeing of humans and provide benefits to a larger group of people, while providing equitable and environmentally sustainable benefits to organisations.

However, achieving this while maintaining competitive advantage is a challenge (Iwabuchi, 2010). Organisations are coming up with strategies to augment and improve their national capabilities around education, health, security and per capita income. In progressive globalised economies,organisations are working towards wealth creation and contributing towards the development and wellbeing of society and the economy. All largeorganisations are trying to stand out based on their performance by finding innovative ways to and respond to customers' needs. At the same time, they are alsoimplementing initiatives that will inspire their human resources to perform at an optimal level. According to Iwabuchi (2010), organisations can leverage globalisation by bringing in the following changes related:

• Introducing new innovations and creating and supporting a culture of innovation

• Developing long term interdependent relationships with their partners

• Initiating ecosystems that can adapt to customers' changing requirements along with introducing newer, more innovative processes.

2.7.2 Globalisation Enabling Ecosystems Of Innovation: Innovation ecosystems are pillars of growth for largeorganisations. When innovations are primarily based on technology, they emphasise innovation around consumer electronics, automation, automobiles, etc.
Astuteorganisations optimise performance by leveraging the strength of their competition. They react to the market's changing demands by switching to real-time business, thereby achieving maximum customer satisfaction with minimum inventory (Marsonet, 2017). Open innovation cannot be performed in isolation, so large organisations try to develop relationships with trustworthy partners to gain access to diverse ideas that will give them a competitive edge.

2.7.3 Structural Changes Of Business In Global Organisations: Traditionally,organisations have had a hierarchical structure, comprising different levels of seniority depending on roles and responsibilities. Based on this structure, strategic objectives give rise to tactical decisions in the immediate term, and the structure of business is dependent on the tax consequences, nature of the business and end products and services. Sufficient information relating to the business's goals must be available to guide individuals and employees.

Organisations often face tough decisions about whether to keep products standardised throughout their markets or to create products suited to thevaried demandsof different parts of the world. For instance, Coca-Cola's products are fairly standard around the world, with certain variations of the product, e.g. Cherry Coke, being offered where there is markets demand. Although the company brings changes to the packaging and logo to a little extent, the product is similar across the various markets. A product like McDonalds, on the other hand,adapts its product offering to suit the needs of the market in different countries (Zürn, 2013).

Managers around the world try to createan organisational structure that is suited to the needs of their market. The most common organisational structures are:

• Functional structure: This is where employees are grouped into various functional groups such as finance, operations and marketing. This is one of the most popular structures in most geographical areas.

• Divisional structure: This structure comprises various divisions such as the global geographic division and global services division.

• Matrix organisation: This is also a common approach in which employees are segregated based on their geographic division. This type of structure is employed by global companies such as Nestle, ABB, IBM and Colgate.

Failure to correctly implement an organisational structure may result in poor organisational communication, product and service development, and poor customer service.

2.8 ROLES OF BUSINESS LEADERS IN A GLOBALISED ENVIRONMENT

2.8.1 Challenges For Management: Leadership and management should be able to envisage how their organisations are going to shape up in the globalised world. Globalisation has brought to the foremany opportunities in which firms compete with other firms with similar offerings and services. Therefore, the challenge facingorganisations is to unearth those opportunities while minimising the threats. 

New business models revolve around the way in which operations across different locations can be integrated to govern a business in a holistic manner. Organisations are discovering new processes that will leverage opportunities through newer capabilities and better management (Berton, 1998). The management of large businesses isconcerned, not only with passing on information across borders between leadership teams, but also with integrating the organisation's functional departments.

According to Berton (1998), theseorganisations are proceeding with mergers and acquisitions across multiple geographies and business domains, which will help in the development of capabilities in an inorganic way but at a faster pace. This inorganic growth gives rise to faster integration of organisational departments, business processes and cultures. Human resources have to be managed in a more efficient way so that global linkages and opportunities can be leveraged. Managers are being trained to have a global mindset to avoid the disadvantages of linguistic or cultural differences. The only challenge in such situations is that operating the businesses at a global level involves considerable risks with which many companies are not able to cope. However, for most of the companies that have previously operated at a domestic level,the new forms of risks are better analysed in a global setting.

Leadership teams develop a good understanding of the global industrial landscape and are better equipped to analyse the potential challenges and global dynamics (Nsude, 2018). Competition is far greater in a globalised environment than in a localised environment, which makes business more challenging as business leaders must be better informed to make appropriate decisions.
Costs need to be kept in check in a global environment so that operations in multiple countries are streamlined without increasingcosts (Okoro & Okoro, 2017).

2.8.2 Implications For Government Policies: Vahid (2017) stated that corporate strategies revolving around the integration of operations and leveraging resources at an international level diminishes the scope of industrial policies at a national level. While a society may take pride in the presence of a large multinational company, the economic benefits may be insufficient to justify its presence. Therefore, most companies will remain in or closer to their home region when it comes to the production of high-value products (Vahid S. S., 2017). 

The growth of large businesses depends on the presence of government policies that allow them to operate with minimum friction andthey tend to set up base in regions where cross-border financial transactions are smooth. Firms' competitiveness is negatively affected when government policies hinder he movement of goods and services.To help home-based companies to grow and prosper, many countries have high barriers to entry for outside organisations. However, these countries' policies may be misguided because companies need exposure to the globalised marketto survive and grow (Vahid, 2017). Therefore, removing the obstacles for global operations will make local companies stronger and better equipped to take on competition in the longer term. Countries should rather try to help their own companies to grow by creating a conducive environment, not only for the big companies who come with huge financial might, but also for the regional start-ups who are beginning to make their presence felt. Corporate strategies are adapting better to globalisation as newer and more sustainable policies are being formulated to benefit businesses. The location at which companies open their subsidiaries or new units depends on the comparative advantages of one region in relation to another.

2.8.3 Organisations' Roles: Organisations have distinct roles to play:

• Unbiased division of labour by giving responsibilities to people with the appropriate skills sets

• Using organisation-wide technology

• External environment management

• Maximising profits

• Leadership management.

Focusing on these roles boosts value creation in a company and helpsit to yield higher profits in a more sustainable manner (Song & Wang, 2017). Globalisation has prompted companies to reassess the following five elements to ensure they remain competitive:

• Planning: Acourse of strategies is framed by an organisation, and the various functional departments are expected to follow these rules to keep the business running.

• Organising: Job roles are given to individual employees and departments are organised in such a way that employees are able to meet their individual goals, which are in line with the overarching organisational goal.

• Giving direction: In any business managers and senior executives give advice to staff and instruct them to perform their job responsibilities in the most appropriatemanner (Zürn, 2013), keeping in mind the organisation's goals and strategies.

• Coordination: Staffs working in various departments mustco-operate with each other to achieveorganisational objectives.

• Control: The all-encompassing activity that management must carry out, which involves keeping a tab on activities being performed, along with taking corrective measures as and when required. Controlling involves execution of the plan in a firm manner.

2.8.4 Enabling Change: With the advent of globalisation, various managerial functions are affected which are forcing managers to reskill themselves to meet changing needs.

The enablers change are:

• Vibrant macro environment: Globalisation has brought about multiple changes in the political, social, economic and cultural environment, affecting the way in which organisations operate. Therefore, managers must devise newer strategies to manage the changes and maintain the effective and efficient functioning of the organisation.

• Changing consumer tastes: Customers have become more informed and demand greater convenience, more flexibility and better value for money.

• Knowledge management: Knowledge has become an important asset for organisations competing in a globally competitive environment. Therefore, companies are trying to create and maintain an environment of learning to maintain their competitive advantage. They are having to formulate a learning culture in which employees are encouraged to keep learning.

• Innovation: Organisations are being forced to embrace innovation as a core strength. Innovation is being introduced to all aspects of a business tomodernise and update the existing systems and business processes to become more flexible, responsive and agile.

• Readiness: Organisations need to be prepared for any type of eventuality. This is being facilitated through market research, proactive consumer engagements and analysing the dynamic business environment (Aslam, et al., 2018). Customer relationships, products and services are being reinvented on a regular basis to ensure organisations are always ready for changes in market demand.

• Pragmatic leadership: The main job of leaders is to keep the organisation running in a profitable manner. Leadership also provides necessary guidance in terms of leadership and skills, motivating and inspiring others to carry out their tasks in the best possible manner. Because of globalisation an organisation is run collectively and not just by one individual, and teamwork encourages success in a globalised organisation.

2.9 ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOURAL CHALLENGES DUE TO GLOBALISATION

Management faces many challenges aroundorganisational behaviour, relating to productivity, quality, competitive strategy and manufacturing technology.

• Competitive strategy: Organisations competing in the global scenario with other companies that offer similar products and services (Iheonu & Madueke, 2018)need to come up with various competitive strategies. For instance, companies may introduce a leadership strategy that allows them to offer prices that are lower than in the market , thereby encouraging customers to buy from them. Organisations also may have a focused strategy in which their products and services are customised to suit the individual needs and requirements of the customers.

• Quality and productivity: Globalisation havegiven rise to immense competition regarding product quality (Javaid & Siahmardy, 2017). Therefore, companies that can offer the best quality products are often able to attract more customers and increase profits. Increasing quality and productivity is a priority for most organisations competing at a global level.

• Technology: With globalisation, technological improvements have become more prevalent. Managers are continuously trying to introduce newer technologies to leverage the resources necessary to produce desired high-quality products and services (Tarasenko, Yermakov, & Pchelin, 2017). Organisations are increasing their investment in new technology and are training employees to cope with the new technologies.

2.10 IMPACT ON OPPORTUNITIES OF GROWTH INFLUENCING BUSINESS STRATEGY

Economists believe that globalisation has benefited the global economy in multiple ways. It has brought about the creation of more efficient markets, and increasing competition has generatedfurther improvements in products and services (Passas, 2017).
Globalisation has also provided opportunities for growth in terms of foreign direct investment, which has boosted growth, industrial productivity and the transfer of technology. In addition, globalisation has encouraged innovations in technology, which havestreamlined manufacturing processes while increasing output. Economies of scale have been achieved due to globalisation, thereby reducing production costs(Aslam, et al., 2018).

There is another school of thought that believes that globalisation has produced more challenges and harm than benefits to global organisations. The growth opportunities that come with globalisation have their own share of risks and challenges:

• Threat to equitable distribution: The division of wealth has not been equitable as benefits are more skewed towards rich organisations and countries than poorer ones (Hrybinenko & Shahoian, 2018). This has resulted in financial and civil conflicts in many countries as the rich become richer and organisations with more financial might prosper.

• Interdependence: Globalisation has resulted in greater interdependence between countries and organisations, implying that local instability in one place affects the entire ecosystem and group.

• National development: Many of the countries view globalisation as a process in which large multinationals rise at the cost of smaller companies. Some of the organisations have grown to such an extent that their financial might is greater than many countries' total GDP, thereby putting the political stability of many governments at risk (Gugler, 2017).

2.11 GLOBAL VALUE CHAIN (GVC)

Global organisations manufacture products that are being distributed throughout global markets, facilitated by a number of factors (Perez, 2017), including reduced shipping costs, technological improvements and liberalisation of trade. Most countries around the world are trying their best to encourage trade, innovation and investment. Organisations whose businesses are spreading to multiple countries and markets are becoming part of a global value chain, whichcanspur on growth among interconnected economies. The global value chain comprises four major processes:

• Research and production designing

• Input

• Manufacturing and production

• Marketing, sales and distribution.

Global value chains have highly organised investment, production and trade functions. Production facilities are located in multiple countries because of globalisation, which has promptedorganisational efforts to restructure their operations in international regions through the efficient allocation of outsourcing and offshoring. Vast improvements have been made regarding processes related to communication systems and IT(Shankar, 2017). These advances are largely visible in areas such as inbound logistics, automation of production design and warehouse management. Technological enhancements arising from globalisation have succeeded in minimisingthe need for governance and maximisingproductivity (Verbeke, et al., 2018).

Global value chains are guided by huge volumes of data, which,using the latest technology, improves efficiencies in operations across countries and regions. The internet has enabled businesses to lower their barriers to entry into foreign markets and take part in global value chains.

Industries most affected by globalisation on the manufacturing front are automotive, apparel and electronics (Cheremina & Fedotova, 2017). They have outsourced several activities such as production to places where costs can be minimised by limiting leadership to business planning and coordination only. Theseorganisations concentrate their efforts on developing the brand and allied activities such as marketing, advertising and sales campaigns. These strategies have given rise to high levels of international competition, high diversity of production and shortening of the production life cycle.

2.12 THE MULTIDIMENSIONAL IMPACT OF GLOBALISATION

In addition to economic and political impacts, globalisation affects sociological, technological, cultural, financial and production areas:

• Sociological: Countries where globalisation has been more prevalent have experienced changes in family size, health and education.

• Technological: Globalisation has brought about massive changes in the way technology that is used. The sharing of technology between countries and organisations has opened up access to most effective technologies (Izmaylov, Yegorova, & Skalik, 2019). However, large technology companies that generally depend on the internet for their business, keep their major market in their home region only. For instance, the headquarters and major operating offices of Facebookand Twitter have remained the same despite having operations around the world.

• Cultural: A country's culture is one of the most important considerations when establishing a global business there. Business strategy differs for different countries, depending on their culture.

• Financial: There have been multiple changes on the financial front owing to globalisation. Financial issues at an international level affect the global operations of any company. Currency fluctuations may cause sales to drop or rise and companies that maintain their international cash flow on a regular basis are affected by many finance-related factors. In addition, there are many financial advisory companies such as Ernst &Young and KPMG, that advise larger organisations regarding their financial decisions.

• Production: The big automotive companies have been working at interlinking their units of production that are being established in different countries to improve efficiency.

2.13 BUSINESS STRATEGY OF DIVERSE LARGE AND SMALL COMPANIES

2.13.1 Global Business Strategy Of Large Organisations: It is difficult for large companies to create new products and services for different markets (Javaid & Siahmardy, 2017), and many factors are considered before creating strategies for large companies in the globalised world. Large corporations are able to creategreater economies of scale in a variety of ways such aslow-costlabour and low barriers to trade. By keeping important aspects of production in one region rather than scattering them, corporations can curb interdependence, and globalisation can be leveraged optimally if customer tastes are similar. 

The research and development units of large companies,such as Toyota or Apple, belong closer to their home market as they are not dependent on globalisation or other units in other countries. Globalisation has not influenced the business development of many industries such as aircrafts or pharmaceuticals, which incur huge capital expenditure to manufacture their products. However, such companies still need to be able to sell their products at a global level in different markets and lower barriers to entry are critical. Globalisation is not the only aspect that interests companies that have international operations, but is an important part of their business (Cardozo, et al., 2018). Financial and business consulting companies have grown because of globalisation but not many other industry verticals such as oil and gas.

2.13.2 Global Business Strategy Of Small Organisations: Most smaller businesses either are international businesses or have the potential to become international businesses, and can respond to globalisation in several ways andmustbe aware of the political situation, as political events may affect businesses anywhere in the world, either positively or negatively. For instance, the trade war between China and the US that started in 2018 influenced the stock market significantly. Businesses should be aware of prevailing political situations and to lobby for favourable business policies. Likewise, initiatives must be opposed when they areunfavourable for businesses(Izmaylov, et al., 2019).There have been many reports of negative dependency becoming positive in the long run.

As globalisation causes market diversification to increase at a rapid pace, smaller businesses need to review their businesses from a global perspective to survive and grow. According to some estimates, more than 97% of American companies have an employee base of 500 or less, which is also the case in some other countries as well.

Smaller American businesses are mostly export oriented and their approach is to identify and team up with other similar small businesses. In this way, they can work together to tackle business challenges regarding government policies and exports, thus facilitating expansion of the businesses and making it more rewarding (Hrybinenko & Shahoian, 2018). The challenges arising from globalisation should not prevent a business from trying to enter the global arenaconsidering the advantages that come from operating in an increasingly interconnected world.

While globalisation may not be the primary focus area, it is an important enabler of international and domestic expansion of companies, and one of the most important factors to consider when making strategic decisions. Globalisation has made trading easier around the world. The main support factors of globalisation are internet, mobility, communication which has made tracking and cooperation very easy. Globalisation is becoming more important in the near term.

2.14 TECHNOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS DURING GLOBALISATION

Technology isa major driving force in expediting the adoption of globalisation across the globe. It started in eighteenth century and is continuing to disrupt the ecosystem. During this time, three notable industrial revolutions have taken place.The first Industrial revolution took place in the manufacturing industry in eighteenth century, followed by the second industrial revolution in the service industryfrom 1870-1914. The third industrial revolution - the technology revolution¬ is happening now, having started in the twentieth century, described by Adam Smith as the information age (Marsonet, 2017).

Unlike before, the flow of information today is fast, accurate and appropriate. It took 1000 years for the world to hear boutpaper which had been invented in China. In today's world, technology has integrated communication channels and physical boundaries have become blurred. Information takes a few seconds to travel from one part of the globe to another, which has helped to improve the global productivity.

2.14.1 Importance Of Technology Inglobalisation: Technology is an essential element of globalisation and enhances citizens' standard of living. However, technology does not develop uniformly across the world. The US, European countries such as the UK, France and Germany, and Asian countries such as China, Japan and South Korea are at the epicentre of innovation and have contributed significantly towards the global knowledge base. Some developing nations are also coming up with new innovations which haveenhanced people's lives(Okoro & Okoro, 2017).

The globalisation of technology and rapid changes in the innovation landscape have had a significant effect on many countries, prompting them to adopt knowledge-based practices in driving their economies. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia pioneered the adoption of a knowledge-based economy driven by digital transformation. The Saudi Arabian government has profited from the oil price, making it one of the richest countries in the world. However, it has started facing significant pressures owing to frequent oil price fluctuations. (Cheremina & Fedotova, 2017).

Other factors, such as rising unemployment, motivated Saudi Arabia to move towards a knowledge-based economy, opting for digital transformation and starting to embrace a start-up ecosystem.According to digital communications company, Cequens (2019), the country could potentially add 1% to its GDP once it increases its investment in digital transformational initiatives by 20%. Saudi Arabia has devised a strategy to transform and complete this journey by 2030. Various global technology giants such as Uber and Google have come on board and the Saudi government is investing heavily on start-ups across the world.

To identify knowledge flows, the International Monetary Fund studied the countries and their patent applications. Figure 2.2indicates the knowledge link between the countries.

Figure 2.2: Evolution of knowledge flows from globalisation

The outcome of the research was two-fold:

• During 1995, the US, Japan and European countries were dominating the innovation landscape and had a major share of the global patent landscape. By 2014, China and Korea had started to build their knowledge basethrough patent citation.

• With time the knowledge links become larger due to the increasing use of technology. Therefore, foreign knowledge is ingrained with the domestic usage of another country (Aslam, et al., 2018).

2.14.2 Globalisation Drives Technology Revolutions In Emerging Markets: The major benefit of globalisation has been the spread of technology across the globe, which has helped countries to gain foreign knowledge and implement best practices within their ecosystems. Globalisation has improved international competition and facilitated the development of emerging markets(Tomlinson, 2003).

Emerging markets are highly adaptive to new technology originating from the developed market, which has helpedboost innovation within emerging nations and improved workforce productivity. Thus emerging nations achieved a high trajectory of growth in global markets in terms of adapting to technology.

The large population in emerging countries has enhanced their adaptation to technology. For example, India developed the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) to facilitate transactions between banks. Although the world hadalready been using digital payment technologies for some time, India hadsucceeded in adoptingUPI technology and had successfully revolutionised it within a short space of time(Savrul & Incekara, 2015). The higher intensity of the flow of information and knowledge towards emerging markets partially offset the negative effects of slow transactions & cyber-security.Technology flow is not uni-directional; some of the best practices in global innovations have come from emerging countries such as China, Korea, India and passed on to developed nations that are traditionally the pioneers of innovation.

2.14.3 Impact Of Technology On Globalisation At Industry Level: Technology such as the internet has helped in the emergence of the e-commerce industry as demonstrated by the piloting of electronic communication, which uses the internet network. E-commerce giants such as Amazon, Alibaba and eBay have disrupted the ecosystem by removing global barriers(Savrul & Incekara, 2015). They have transformed business by sharing opportunities with small businesses and individuals to penetrate the global market, which would otherwise have been difficult for them. The globalisation of technology has had a significant impact on many industries, most notably the financial industry. The flow of information and advances in technology have made it possible to conduct electronic transactions24/7/365. 

Trading has become much easier and secure with blockchain technology (the record-keeping technology behind cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin)(Zürn, 2013), which has improved the way in which financial transactionstake place. The most significant impact of blockchain technology, is its role inglobalisation of the manufacturing industry, in which organisations are using sensors to capture data that could be analysed in a remote location. At the same time,organisations are willing to outsource their manufacturing units to low cost centres such as China and India and keeping their designing and intellectual property within the country (Tomlinson, 2003).

2.14.4 Impact Of Technology Onglobalisation At Organisational Level: Organisations that constantly evolve, innovate, change and adapt quickly are most likely tosurvive. Globalization has created many opportunities for technology-driven, innovative organisations. However,organisationsthat are unable to adapt to global demand are often vulnerable. There have been many stories of failure in great organisations that did not develop their strategies and did not want to expand their businesses. They preferred to retain their core competencies and failed to diversify their portfolio. One example is Kodak(Mui, 2012)Although known for its innovation and the pioneer of digital image photography, Kodak did not have a proper expansion plan and were late in mainstreaming theirtechnology (Robinson, 2007). Therefore, when competitors came along with similar offerings, they captured the market. Globalisation inspires the free flow of information, but if organisations do not capture its benefits, they may face challenges from their competitors. 

The world is witnessing a digital revolution andorganisations wanting to sustain their growth need to embrace diversity and reap the benefits of globalisation on a large scale. Technology is continuously changing and the lifespan of each level of technology is diminishing. Digitalisation is the conversion of data into a digital structure(Brennen & Kreiss, 2016). andis defined by the integration of various digital technologies, such as cloud, IoT (internet of things) andblockchain which and help to create unique business models (Matzler, Bailom, Friedrich von den Eichen, & Kohler, 2013) (Matzler, 2013).

Digital transformation provides supports in reforming the organisation, and socio-economic aspects at system level(Unruh & Kiron, 2017). Due to globalisation and the flow of information, the physical world is constantly integrating with the digital world,encouraging global organisations to transform into digital organisations(Linz, Zimmermann, & Müller-Stewens, 2017)(Linz, et al., 2017). Therefore,organisations need to track technology and innovations across the globe.

Large organisations invest across the globe to build a diverse talent pool. Globalisation has opened the doors for organisations to establishoutlets in every corner of the globe,specifically in emerging markets where these organisations are acquiring high quality talent at a relatively low cost.

Many global organisations have openedcaptive centresin preferred locations to serve their customers all over the world. Locations such as Poland and Hungary (Budapest) in Europe; and India, and Malaysia in Asia provide a lucrative talent pool with diverse language capabilities, along with superior technical knowledge (Kobrin, 2017). Therefore,organisations have opened their shared service centres in these locations.

Many organisations opt to outsource their services to vendors outside of their country. These outsourcing vendors generally have global delivery capabilities. For example, IBM outsources its IT, and Accenture has a global presence and can serve customers around the clock from any part of the world. Thanks to globalisation and technology, geographical boundaries are blurred for these large organisations.

2.14.5 Key Benefits Of Globalisation: Globalisation promotes the spread of information and knowledge related to the digital transformation and technology. Thus, it helps increase growth and productivity at individual, organisation, sector and country level. However, government needs to invest in education for organisations to have the human capital needed to nurture and build their knowledge supply. Intellectual property rights need to be protected and should not be hampered byglobalisation (Tverberg, 2013).

Technology has also affectedglobalisation with inventions such as the telephone and television. The telephone has made it feasible for people to talk to each other, regardless of where they are geographically in the world. Communications technology has advanced with the help of satellites and mobile phones, which have made it possible to make calls, send and receive e-mails and texts and video calls. Technological advancements in the field of communication has brought countries together. Technological breakthroughs in communication that have revolutionised business, commerce, and have linked millions of people (Iheonu & Madueke, 2018).

Television too has connected people by allowing them to see what is happening in other parts of worldwithout having to leave the room. The touch of a remote button allows people to explore worlds on different channels, made possible through the internet, communication advances and with the help of sound and visuals (Zürn, 2013). It is being furtheredfound out that form the 1st industrial revolution.

Technology has had a great impact in globalisation in that it hashelped to bring the world together, where distance is not a barrier to trade. Technology is an essential part of global economic. As Friedman pointed out, 80% of globalisation is technology driven. Technological development has enabled development in areas such as communication and the invention of the telephone and mobile phones, and removed the barriers of time and distance that existed previously(Bricklin, 2000).

Transportation, on the other hand, has allowed trade to take place more efficiently and cost effectively with the help of containerships, jet aeroplanes and electric trains. It has helped facilitate growth between nations, as countries are able to make the most of their comparative advantage by exporting and importinglarge goods between countries.

2.15 ORGANISATIONS EMBRACING GLOBALISATION AND MAKING STRATEGIC CHANGES

The three case examples that follow illustrate how companies considering entering the global market need to adapt their strategies to meet local demand.

2.15.1 Ernst&Young: As a professional services firm specialisingin consultancy related to business management, legal matters and tax, Ernst & Young faced many challenges with the advancement of globalisation. The firm has spread its wings across different countries and operates through 29 different entities worldwide. Adding to the complex nature of its work, the company caters to different customers from different jurisdictions across the world. Thus, the firm is expected to comply, not only with international regulatory standards, but also with local and national regulatory standards. 

Despite these challenges, the company responded quickly enough to realise the increasing complexity of global operations and decentralised its operations across the world. Based on this new structure, the company establishedspecific headquarters butwould operate independently in different countries, with minimalintervention (Berton, 1998). The company recruited of local people and experts who were familiar with the local regions and could contribute effectively towards the country's growth At all stages, the company maintained a stable hierarchical structure, but once thedecentralisation process had commenced, the company opted for a flatter hierarchy.

Following in the footsteps of Ernst& Young, many other professional services companies such as Deloitte and PWC adopted a flat structure of operations togive them a greater level of control and flexibility within local operations.

2.15.2 McDonald's: The strategy employed by McDonald'sdemonstratedthe ability of a company to immerse itself within a global environment. McDonald's is operating in more than 117 countries with more than 34 000 restaurants. The company is renowned for serving almost 70 million people every day.

McDonald's was founded in 1955 and adapted well to the complexities of globalisation. The efficiency of its strategic vision and market analysis contributed to the company's success. The company is known in North America for its hamburgers using beef as one of the main ingredients. However, when it decided to spread its operations across the world, its first move was to study the socio-economic and political conditions of countries in which they were planning to expand. They did not face many problems in European countries because of the similar standards and lifestyles of people in those regions. However, they faced greater challenges when they planned to enter the South East Asian market. In the nineties, the company decided to expand its operations in Arabic countries, and introduced "Halal" meat in their recipes for the preparation of burgers and other related products.

McDonald's choice to change structures or menus was one of its best strategic decisions inadapting to the local culture. Similarly, in Israel they introduced the concept of kosher burgers, which was apt for the region. The company's brand and strategic choices with respect to item selection boosted its popularity. In India, McDonald's changed its game by introducing a vegetarianburger in the Muslim holy cities of Katra and Amritsar. A McDonald's spokesperson stated that it made sense to open only vegetarian restaurants in the cities to meet the needs of visiting pilgrims.

However, in the other cities of India, the company took care to keep beef on their menu in recognition of the religious sentiments of Hindus who make up the largest proportion of the country's population. In the many of the 250 stores in India, McDonald's introducedthe McChicken Burger, which has enjoyed widespread popularity.

At all stages, the company was careful to retain its branding and reputation by remaining faithful to its mission, vision and goals of providing quality food to the people of India's different regions. At the same time,it was careful to understand the complications arising out of using a global menu in the context of religious countries.

The strategy employed by McDonald's is sometimes referred to as "glocalization", a term coined by researchers referring to a combination of global and local strategies. Glocalization in McDonald's entailed employing local executives and recruiting only locals to manageits branches. Thus, the company followed its path of global expansion without undermining local socio-economic needs. In addition, McDonald's prices in developing countries are lower than in developed countries. All these factors contributed to the successful development of the brand and its exponential expansion across the world.

2.15.3 Disney Parks: Disney Park is an example of a of weak globalisation strategy. Disney Parks were successful in the US, and given the similarity of the socio-cultural background of the people in US and Europe, Disney decided to extend their parks in Europe and started operations in many parts of Europe at the same time. However, the sales figures were not strong enough to motivate Disney in further continuing operations. 

Unable to establish the reasons for its poor performance in Europe despite havingconducted feasibility, acceptability and suitability checks, Disney resorted to conducting customer surveys with English and German tourists visiting its park in Paris. Feedback received indicated that Disney's decision to allow alcohol in the park based on the fact that wine is an important part of French culture was misguided.

To date, the park in Paris has not enjoyed success. A major reason was Disney's inability to understand the concept of globalisation. While the company tried to accommodate the country's culture, it failed to understand that the park's content delivery did not suitthe tastes of French people. Europeans, and especially French people,do not relate to Disney's clean image and cartoons, thus were rejecting the concept in their sub-conscious minds.

2.16 Conclusion: This chapter provided a brief overview of the history of globalisation and explained some of the trends that have manifested themselves in recent years. The effect of globalisation on human resource management (HRM) was discussed, as HRM plays an important role in anorganisation's strategic decision making. The literature review included explanations of changes in business strategy for some organisations and the rising interdependency on different macro and micro-economic factors. Global competitionof different business were discussed along as well as the global value chain and the effect of globalisation on small and large businesses around the world.Technology has become an important enabler for decisions around strategic management and the technological implications of globalisation were explained in detail in this chapter. Finally, the benefits of globalisation wereclarified along with the case studies of some companies that have globalised.

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CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction: This chapter gives a detailed description of the research design, research approach, and the overall methods adopted. It includes the research tool, population, data sampling technique, analysis methods and ethical considerations for the study. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the potential limitations of this methodology for meeting the research objectives. 

Each research methodology element has been described along with a justification for their adoption. Overall, the methodology adopts the onion framework as proposed by Saunders, Lewis, and Thornhill (2012)., which applies a structured approach to adopting the methodology for any research. It progresses by starting from the outermost layer, gradually moving to the innermost layer. The various layers of the Onion model are described below in the subsequent sections.

3.2 RESEARCH PHILOSOPHY

Positivism and interpretivism are two of the most commonly used philosophies for social research studies (Bryman & Bell, 2011). Positivism believes that sociology can be used to study the social world, much like biology or physics investigates the physical world (Panke, 2016). It assertsthat quantitative methods such as social surveys or structured questionnaires can be used to conduct research and analysis with good reliability and representativeness. In positivist research, sociologists may tend to look towards deriving relationships or correlations between the governing variables.

Interpretivism,on the other hand, believes that individuals are intricate and complex, and that they may have their own interpretation and understanding of reality (Williams, 2007). This philosophy does not believe in applying quantitative methods and favours the use of qualitative techniques such as observation or unstructured interviews (Rubin & Rubin, 2004). While positivism promotes looking for objective causes of defining human behaviour, interpretivism believes that objective understanding is not possible because each experience is unique (Faulkner & Faulkner, 2013). Therefore, interpretivism strongly advocates an empathetic understanding, by involving feelings, experiences, or emotions. (Rajasekar, Philominathan, & Chinnathambi, 2013).

The nature of this research required that a positivism-based philosophy be adopted, because its aim was to study the impact of globalisation on strategies adopted for business development or expansion. The objective of the research required that business leaders, managers or stakeholders be surveyed to understand how globalisation trends and business dynamicshave influenced business strategy. The aim of the research required that an objective understanding of the business impact be studied, rather than an interpretive impact or the personal experiences of respondents. The aim was to discover the trends and patterns between variables orto look for correlations.

3.3 RESEARCH APPROACH

The approach may be either inductive or deductive, based on the nature of the study. A deductive approach to research involves reasoning in which the researcher moves fromthe general to the specific. It is also known as a top-down approach (Gray, 2014). It begins with thinking about a theory, narrowing it down to a hypothesis that can be tested, and collecting observations to address the hypothesis. Lastly, the researcher can test the hypothesis with the specific gathered data to gain confirmation or negate the hypothesis of the original theory. Figure 3.1 illustrates the steps involved in this type of research.

Figure 3.1: Deductive reasoning approach(Gray, 2014)

Inductive reasoning, on the other hand, is a bottom-up approach, which moves from specific observations to a broader generalisation. Figure 3.2illustrates the inductive reasoning approach.

Figure 3.2: Inductive reasoning approach(Gray, 2014)

The inductive approach begins with specific observations or measures, starts detecting patterns or regularities amongst these observations, and starts developing a tentative hypothesis that can be explored. Based on this, the researcher derives a general conclusion or theory.

This research involved the application only of an inductive approach to reasoning. It was chosen because of the design inherent in this research, of a structured questionnaire with closed-ended questions (Saunders, Thornhill, & Lewis, 2009).This research developed its questions based on the existing theory and background on globalisation and its impact on business strategy, and the closed-ended questions were used to verify thequestions.

Guillermo,Roque, and Takkouche (2016) describedinductive approachesas more inclined towards discovering and deriving the causal relationships between variables, which is why they favour the adoption of quantitative methods. In this research, the closed-ended questions allowed for testing of causal relationships and developing of quantifiable variables. Sutton, and Austin(2015) explained that the inductive approach is largely focused on exploring a new phenomenon or developing a new perspective, which is why it favours the adoption of such analysis methods.

3.4 RESEARCH METHOD

Research method refers to the specific means adopted to collect data, as opposed to research methodology which is the general direction followed for conducting research (Rowley, 2012). It can also be called research strategy.

For this research, a survey method was adopted. Surveys are defined as a method of research in which the researcher makes use of a list of questions to extract specific data form a target population group (DeFranzo, 2012). Surveys are increasingly being conducted to gather data or increase knowledge in the field of social research, or to gather thoughts, feelings or opinions.

Surveys may be administered through various means such as paper-based face-to-face surveys, phone surveys and online surveys. The wide scale application of surveys in business or marketing studies served to collect and analyse data for fine-tuning business models, create targeted marketing campaigns, gather product or service feedback, or improvise operations. The target population base of business managers or leaders for survey, would be used to gather data using a survey (Jamshed, 2014).

There are various advantages to conducting surveys. They offer a highly-structured approach to gathering data (Guillermo, et al., 2016) and the broad capability to fine-tune the questions for best relevance and understanding of the target audience (DeFranzo, 2012). As this research intended gatheringonly quantitative data, using a survey provided a direct advantage. Survey questionnairesmay be used to gather both forms of data by using a mixed questionnaire, tailored for quantitativeand qualitative responses.

As the researcher wished to gather data from many business users or managers within a short period of time, individual interviewing would have been time-consuming. However, using a survey considerably condenses the data gathering and analysis time. Johnston (2014) stated that the inherent disadvantage into using surveys is that it takes considerable time for the researcher to standardise the questions before administering them to participants. Unlike interviews, where the researcher has the flexibility to change his/her questions based on responses or the attitude of the participant, surveys comprising only closed-ended questions are static and provide little to no flexibility.

3.5 RESEARCH TOOL

The research tool used to conduct the survey was an online questionnaire, which was circulated using LinkedIn, the business and social media platform. The questionnaire comprisedonly closed-ended questions and was designed to obtain responses from business managers and strategy leaders. The closed-ended questions were structured in such a way that participants would be asked to choose from the available options. Some questions required participants to enter information on a Likert scale.

The use of a Likert scale allows for an effective gradation, such as 5: Strongly Agree, 4: Agree, 3: Neutral, 2: Disagree, and 1: Strongly Disagree. The advantages of using closed-ended questions are: they can be easily coded and entered by the participant, without requiring much clarifying to be given; and they allow for quicker survey completion, at no cost to participants.

However, there are also some disadvantages which come from using these questions (Neuman, Social research methods: Qualitative and quantitative approaches, 2012). In some cases, the options available may not sufficiently capture the actual response a participant wishes to give (Fink, 2008). In addition, there is no scope for participants to justify their responses or elaborate more on their answers, and there is often way to capture a situation where the participant does not have an opinion or knowledge on the subject.

Using an online questionnaire presented several advantages for this research. All the intended participants, as employees, managers, or leaders in various organisations,were acquainted with using the internet(Long, 2014). The link was shared with these managers, allowing them to complete the questionnaire when convenient. Where necessary, reminders were sent via email or LinkedIn, ensuring that responses were gathered within a short period of time, unlike interviews which would have to be conducted one after another - a time-consuming and costly exercise. There is hardly any cost associated with creating or distributing an online questionnaire; some survey websites allow for free user registration to create, host or circulate surveys. Using an online questionnaire meant face-to-face interaction between the researcher and participant was not necessary, thus ensuring that responses were objective and free from bias (Babbie, 2003).Data gathered from face-to-face surveys needs to be codified numerically using suitable analysis tools such as Microsoft Excel, and consumes significantly more time.

However, there are some disadvantages associated with using an online questionnaire when compared with a face-to-face survey. An online questionnaire does not allow the researcher to probe deeper into the responses or cross-question further to gain more insights(Creswell, 2008).

The online questionnaire for this study was initially drafted and tested on a pilot group of three respondents. The objective was to check whether participants could complete it within 10-12 minutes. In all three cases, the time taken was found to be within the desired limits, allowing the researcher to distribute the questionnaire to the target population.

3.6 RESEARCH POPULATION

The research population refers to a collection of individuals who have similar characteristics that qualify them for a study.Rubin and Rubin(2004)defined population as subjects who can be observed together based on a common feature or a set of features. The exact features defining a population vary depending on the objective and the nature of the research (Sutton & Austin, 2015). For this research, the aim was to analyse the impact of globalisation on organisations' business strategy. Therefore, the target population comprised individuals who could providedirect and updated information on how their businesses or management strategies had been affected by globalisation.

Information gathered in this way may either be derived from their own experiences of handling their individual roles, or from observations within their business units or departments, or through discussions with their peers. (Jamshed, 2014). This research used two categories of respondents to serve as the target population: corporate managers, with job titles such as vice president, director or regional director - typically those in senior leadership roles with more than 20 years' experience; and senior level managers, with job titles such as general manager or regional manager - typically those with less than 15 years' work experience. The advantage of applying thissegregation is that it would help gain insights both from strategic and operational levels. The estimated population size was 100 and was extracted using LinkedIn.

3.7 SAMPLING

In the field of statistics or survey methodology, sampling is defined as the process of selecting a subset of individuals from the designated population who are representative of the chosen characteristic of the population in question (Fink, 2008). The reliability of a study depends on how well a sample is selected, which implies that the selected sample should be representative of the population in question (Hinkelmann & Witschel, 2015).

The technique used for selecting or shortlisting these representative members is described as the sampling method. Sampling methods comprise two broad categories, namely probability sampling and non-probability sampling. Probability sampling involves each member of the sample group having a random or known probability of being selected. Non-probability sampling entails the members not having a known probability for selection (Saunders, Lewis, & Thornhill, 2012).

In the case of this research, a probability-based sampling method was followed. This method was adopted because the researcher wanted to reach out only to participants who could explain or provide insights into globalisation and its strategic impacts. Selecting members at random may have led to irrelevant data that would not be useful for analysis. The researcher used a stratified sampling technique. Lauer and Asher (2008) describedstratified sampling as the method of selecting participants based on the purpose of the study, such that they are the best possible respondents and their corresponding representation could be mapped.

In this case, the researcher planned to have participants belonging to either senior corporate or leadership roles in organisations, or those at senior management levels. LinkedIn was chosen as the platform for accessing participants(Wiles, Crow, & Pain, 2011). LinkedIn is a well-known business and employment-oriented service which operates using desktop-based technology as well as mobile app-based platforms. It is a social networking site designed to help business professionals to connect with one another. It is a social media platform for building connections, seeking work, reaching out to customers or potential partners, or for seeking job prospects or people at various levels. Using LinkedIn as the platform, people in the targeted job roles were reached by extending connection requests. More than 100 connection requests were sent, from which 110successful connections were created. Once the connection had been established, the online research questionnaire was circulated. Almost One hundred successful responses were obtained from the selected groups of participants.

3.8 DATA ANALYSIS

Data analysis refers to the process of observing, inspecting, cleansing and modelling data to extract useful information (Leavitt, 2014). The ultimate objective of data analysis is to find ways to transform the gathered data to arrive at conclusions, which leads to informed decision making (Blanding, 2015). As this research made use only of quantitative data, the data analysis was also based on quantitative date.

The thematic analysis of quantitative data requires that the researcher pays attention to identifying, examining or recording the various trends or patterns within the data, referred to as the underlying themes (Brink, 2003). Themes are essentially the patterns around which the data can be arranged and are associated with the research questions. Burns (2009) stated that thematic analysis goes beyond simply counting phrases or words and looks towards identifying the implicit and explicit ideas in the data.

Graziano and Raulin (2016) asserted that researchers willing to apply thematic analysis should emphasise the organisation and rich description of the gathered data sets, which is possible by employing in a process known as ‘coding'. Coding involves developing themes from the raw data. Interpretation of these codes involves comparing theme frequencies, their co-occurrence, and displaying the relationship between the themes (Graziano & Raulin, 2016).

For this research, the data gathered from the closed-ended questions was subjected to thematic analysis to capture the intricacies in the data meaning, as the questions were asked based on the different themes relating to globalisation, strategies, functions and businesses.

As mentioned earlier, this analysis involved an inductive approach, which means that the themes identified would be later linked to the data, and there would be no attempt to align the gathered data to a pre-existing model or framework. Unlike a deductive approach, in which thematic analysis is conducted based on the pre-conceived frames (Peighambari, Sattari, Kordestani, & Oghazi, 2016), the approach used in this study required that comparison with the available data be done only after the themes had been created.

While the data for this research was analysed using quantitative analysis, data gathered through closed-ended questions may also be analysed qualitatively, depending upon the nature of the questions. Questions with numerical values or coding were used to compute various statistics and represent them using graphs, pie-charts or histograms, depending on the nature of data. The following types of statistics were applied while conducting the quantitative analysis:

3.8.1 Points Of Central Tendency: The mean, median, and mode were used as parameters to find the central tendency of the data. The mean represents the arithmetic average of the data set, the median is the central value in the array, and the mode is the most commonly occurring value in the data set.

3.8.2 Measure Of Variability: Standard deviation would be used to measure the average value by which the different data points differ from the mean of the data set.

3.8.3 Measure Of Internal Consistency: The internal reliability of the questionnaire was tested using Cronbach's alpha coefficient value. As explained by Kothari (2014), when computing Cronbach's alpha, the reliability estimate figures greater than 0.7 are more acceptable, while values below 0.5 are not acceptable. The reliability for individual values is described in Table 3.1.

Table 3.1 Reliability of various Cronbach's alpha value

3.8.4 Measure Of Association: Pearson's product-moment correlation coefficient is used to analyse both the strength as well as the direction of association between variables. It is denoted by ‘r'.A positive r-value denotes a positive relationship, while negative r-values denotea negative relationship. The r-value may be interpreted as follows(Kothari, 2014):

• .01 to .10 or -01 to -10: Very weak relationship (positive or negative)

• .11 to .30 or -11 to -.30: Weak relationship (positive or negative)

• .31 to .50 or -31 to -50: Moderate relationship (positive or negative)

• .51 to .80 or -51 to -80: Strong relationship (positive or negative)

• .81 to 1.0 or -81 to -.0: Very strong relationship (positive or negative)

3.9 RESEARCH TIMELINE: The research timeline as envisaged for this dissertation report is outlined below based on an approximate timing of three months, which have been divided into 12 weeks.

Assumptions: • A total of three months (12 weeks)wereallocated.

• At the beginning, the timeline was followed strictly, but was relaxed later to accommodate lags in the process.

The maximum amount of time wasallocated for data survey collection as this was one of the most important elements of the entire dissertation process and took into consideration the time taken to develop the questionnaire, obtain approval, contact people via LinkedIn, send them follow-up mails, and to collect,collateand analyse the. However, a cross-sectional time horizon approach was applied, so that the data points from the survey could be gathered in a parallel manner.

3.10 VALIDITY AND RELIABILTY

Research validity, in the context of a survey-based study, may be described as the extent to which the survey measures the elements it intended to measure. Mohajan (2017)describedresearch validity as how well the instruments used in the research are fit to measure what they are intended to measure. There are two types of research validity: internal and external validity. Internal validity refers to how well the findings match with the reality that is being studied. External validity refers to the extent to which the findings may be replicated or extended to other environments (Neuman, Basics of social research: Qualitative and quantitative approaches, 2012).

The research took the necessary precautions to ensure adequate levels of validity, both in terms of face validity and construct validity. Face validity describes a highlevel of subjectivity, which is not based on any in-depth scientific justification. In this study, face validity was ensured by adopting a purposive sampling method. Respondents were chosen on the basis of their experience in their own fields andtheir ability to give insights into globalisation and its business impacts. Construct validity refers to the use of suitable assessment tools to measure the phenomenon under study. In this study, the quantitative data analysis approach served as a critical method for construct validity. The findings and themes from both were easily compared to find similarities or differences or to derive more themes.

Reliability refers to the ability to obtain consistent results upon administering the research to another sample from the same target population. Reliability is said to be high if, upon using the same questionnaire and methodology on a similar sample, similar results were obtained. Bryman and Bell (2011)stated that reliability may be deemed to be high if, upon re-testing the participants at a different or later date or time, or administering a similar questionnaire to the same participants, similar results or findings were derived. Due to the time and cost constraints for this study, it was not possible to conduct a similar assessment or questionnaire survey twice. However, this research ensured that internal consistency was tested, by measuring the Cronbach's alpha coefficient value for the inter-item correlations in the questionnaire.

3.11 ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

Ethics refers to the moral principles that govern the behaviour, conduct or actions of individuals performing any activity. The idea of ethics in the context of research implies that researchers should abide by certain standards of conduct. Ethical considerations are a critical part of any research and hold even more significance when the research is a primary study involving participants. This research adhered to all ethical considerations while conducting the surveys.

Creswell (2008)explained that the principle of non-malfeasance is of utmost importance when conducting primary research. It stipulates that participants should not be harmed or put under any form of risk during the research process. In this study, participants' involvement was limited to online activity, which entailed no physical involvement and posed no risk.

Protecting anonymity and confidentiality is of importance critical element of ethical guidelines (Faulkner & Faulkner, 2013). Bearing this in mind, the researcher ensured that the names, personal details, contact numbers, or any other details of the participants were not collected. Only the minimum possible data needed to meet the research objectives was collected, and participants' identitieswere kept anonymous.

The principle of informed consent is crucial in any primary study (Neuman, Basics of social research: Qualitative and quantitative approaches, 2012). Adhering to this, the researcher ensured that the objectives of the study were explained to all participants. After establishing the necessary connection with participants, the researcher explained the objectives and rationale for the research. They were also assured of their right to opt-out or withdraw at any point in the study. Faulkner and Faulkner, (2013) stated that a failure to inform participants of the purpose of the research may eventually be considered to be deceptive, and was prevented in this study.

Data protection is another critical aspect which was adhered to in this study. Any detail collected from the participant was not shared with any third party and was stored in password-protected documents. All data was retained in its original form, and data manipulation or changes were avoided. All measures were taken to ensure data integrity by rechecking and verifying the data gathered at all stages.

The researcher appreciated and acknowledged that all dataand findings were purely for academic purpose. Hence, there was no attempt to derive commercial benefit from this study or the research outcome report.

3.12 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

The study had a few limitations arisesmainly from the limited timeperiod and scale of the survey. Therewas also the possibility an inherent bias arising. Bias is defined as the "influences which may distort the data or its outcomes". In this context, a small group of business managers were approached via LinkedIn. Considering the topic of globalisation and its business impacts, it was deemed most appropriate to conduct the study on a much larger scale, involving cross-country data and hundreds of business managers or leaders.

However, with the time and cost constraints, conducting such a study was not feasible, which placed certain limitations on the generalisability of the results, as there was the possibility of some bias, or limited set of opinions. Using social media and an online questionnaire restricted access to business leaders who were active internet users. Therefore, business leaders whose online interaction was minimal were excluded from the study, which may also be responsible for non-coverage of adequate data points.

Since the design of the study involved the usage of online questionnaire, it was not possible to verify whether the participants thoroughly read through the questions before answering. Typically, in an online format, users may not show the same level of attentiveness throughout a questionnaire. To avoid this problem, the researcher kept the survey as brief as possible. However, it was not possible to ensure that participating managers and leaders read and understood each question or paid attention to each response they made.

3.13 THE SURVEY INSTRUMENT - QUESTIONAIRE

The survey questionnaire comprised questions around fourthemes. The detailed background study and literature review helped to create the necessary basis for the formation of these themes and the subsequent questions. The themes covered areas such as the impact of globalisation on management functions, its impact on various company functions, factors contributing to globalisation, and perceived areas for long-term impacts. It also included recommendations as obtained from the participants.

The questionnaire comprised only closed ended-questions. Table 3.2 illustrates the main points covered in the questionnaire for each theme, indicated by T1-T4.

Table 3.2: Research timeline and milestones

Note: No Demographics questions were asked of survey respondents, as all hadmore than 15 years' experience,thereby ensuring the data points available from their view were credible.

3.14 CONCLUSION

This chapter provided a detailed description of the methodology adopted for conducting this research. The Onion framework was applied, which suggests a layered strategy for approaching research, starting with the research philosophy, and moving on to the research approach, methodological choices, strategy, time horizon, and techniques and procedures. The positivist philosophy adopted allowed for an objective understanding of the subject area, rather than the personal or emotional experiences of the respondents. An inductive approach was adopted for the study.

A survey-based method wasapplied using an online channel. A structured questionnaire containing only closed-ended questions was used for administering the online survey. The research population chosen comprised business managers and corporate leaders from various organisations. These participants were chosen for their considerable experience in handling strategic or operational roles, and purposive sampling was used to select these participants. LinkedIn was used as the medium for building connections, seeking participation and gathering the responses for online survey questionnaire. On the data analysis front, the focus was more on a quantitative approach. However, the researcher acknowledged that qualitative thematic analysis would have helped in improving the depth of the research.

Thematic analysis as well as statistical analysis was conducted on the gathered data. Statistics entailing measurement of central tendency, variability, internal consistency, wereprovided. Stratified probabilistic sampling helped to ensure the face validity of the data, while the quantitative approach to data analysis helpedin implementing construct validity. Because of the limited scope and scale of the research, it was not possible to ensure high reliability. Ethical considerations were given due importance and were followed by protecting user anonymity and data confidentiality, by obtaining informed consent, adopting the principle of non-malfeasance, protecting data integrity and avoiding manipulation, limiting data to academic use and preventing commercial benefit. The potential limitations of the study were discussed.

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CHAPTER 4: PRESENTATION OF FINDINGS

4.1 Introduction: This chapter focuses on presenting the data collected from the questionnaire that was designed toanalyse the research objectives. The primary survey was conducted among100 respondents, and the questionnaire was created using cues from the literature reviews, together with the researcher's understanding of the basic functions of management and the basic functions of an organisation. This chapter elaborates on the findings obtained from the survey responses. It describes the questionnaire used for the survey and presents the analysed data in graph and tabular form. The chapter concludes with a summary ofthe key findings.

4.2 IMPACT ACROSS VARIOUS MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONS

This section presents the results of the impact of globalisation on planning, organising, commanding, coordinating and controlling, as various functions of management.

4.2.1 Impact On Planning Function: Figure 4.1 demonstrates that 72% of the respondents strongly agreed and 20% agreed that planning as a management function is affected by globalisation, Only 6% were neutral and a small number(2%) did not agree.

Figure 4.1: Effect of globalisation on planning

4.2.2 Impact On Organising: The graph below (Figure 4.2) illustrates the responses obtained for the impact of globalisation on the organising function of management:

Figure 4.2: Effect of globalisation on organising

The results reveal that 64% of participants strongly agreed and 18% agreed that globalisation affects organising ; 8% wereneutral in their responses, while 6% disagreed, and 4% strongly disagreed to this.

4.2.3 Impact On Commanding: Figure 4.3 illustrates that 40% of the respondents disagreed and 20% strongly disagreed that globalisation affects the commanding function; 10% were neutral on this point. A further 22% strongly agreed on the impact, while 8% did not agree.

Figure 4.3: Effect of globalisation on commanding

4.2.4 Impact On Coordinating: Figure 4.4 illustrates the responses obtained for the impact of globalisation on the coordinating function of management:

Figure 4.4: Effect of globalisation co-ordinating

This graph shows that 38% strongly agreed, and 30% agreed that coordinating as a management function is affected byglobalisation. Six percent were neutral in their response, while12% disagreed and 14% strongly disagreed.

4.2.5 Impact On Controlling: The figure below illustrates the responses obtained for the impact of globalisation on the controlling function of management.

Figure 4.5: Globalisation effect on controlling

Figure 4.5demonstrates that a majority of 44% believed that globalisation did not have an impact on controlling, while 20% strongly disagreedand 6% were neutral in their response. However, 24% strongly agreed and 6% agreedthat globalisation had an impact.

4.3 IMPACT OF GLOBALISATION ON VARIOUS COMPANY FUNCTIONS

The discussion below examines the results obtained for the impact of globalisation on various company functionssuch as production, finance, sales and marketing, human resources (HR), information technology (IT), organisational culture and corporate social responsibility (CSR).

4.3.1 Impact On Production And Operations: Figure 4.6 illustrates that 58% of respondents strongly agreed and 22% agreed that globalisation impacted production and operations. Approximately 8% preferred to remain neutral on this point, while 8% disagreed and 4% strongly disagreed.

Figure 4.6: Impact of globalisation on production and operations

4.3.2 Impact On Finance: The graph below illustrates the responses obtained for the impact of globalisation on finance.

Figure 4.7: Globalisation impact on finance

As seen in the Figure 4.7,a large majority of 74% either agreed or strongly agreed that globalisation affected finance. Four percent were neutral, while14% did not agree to this, and 8% strongly disagreed on globalisation's impact on finance.

4.3.3 Impact On Sales And Marketing: As demonstrated in Figure 4.8, 81% of the respondents either agreed or strongly agreed that sales and marketing were impacted through globalisation. Only 6% were neutral, while 14% either disagreed or strongly disagreed.

Figure 4.8: Globalisation impact on sales and marketing

4.3.4 Impact On HR (Law And Policies): Figure 4.9 graph below illustrates the responses obtained for the impact of globalisation on HR and policies.

Figure 4.9: Globalisation impact on HR

The research revealed that 36% strongly agreed and 40% agreed that HR laws and policies were affected by globalisation. However, 12% disagreed and 8% strongly disagreed. Only 4% remained neutral.

4.3.5 Impact On IT: The graph below illustrates the responses obtained for the impact of globalisation on IT.

Figure 4.10: Impact of globalisation on information technology

As seen in the figure above, half the respondents (50%) agreed or strongly agreed that globalisation affect IT . However, 40% did not agree or strongly disagreed to this, while 10% were neutral in their response.

4.3.6 Impact On Culture: Figure 4.11illustrates the responses obtained for the impact of globalisation on organisational culture.

Figure 4.11:Impact of globalisation on organisational culture

The graph reveals that a large majority of 94% respondents accepted that globalization introduced changes to the organisational culture,while 6% either disagreed or strongly disagreed. None of the respondents took a neutralstance.

4.3.7 Impact On CSR And Social Orientation: Figure 4.12 demonstratesa fairly even spread in response rates between agreeing and disagreeing whether globalisation affected CSR and the social orientation of a firm. While only 10% were neutral in their response, 46% either agreed or strongly agreed and 44% either disagreed or strongly disagreed.

Figure 4.12:Impact of globalisation on CSR and social orientation

4.4 VARIOUS FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO GLOBALISATION

The following discussion examines the results obtained for various factors contributing to globalisation, specifically changes in the competitive landscape, ecosystem and technology landscape, as well as stakeholder expectations, as summarised in Figure 4.13. Insights into these factors would help in understanding the causes or drivers of change inorganisations. Globalisation is widely recognised, and the responses to the survey were somewhat aligned with the literature reviews, with only slight variations in some common understandings.

Figure 4.13: Factors contributing to globalisation

The individual factors are being explained below:

4.4.1 Changes In Competition Landscape: Figure 4.14 reveals that 70% strongly agreed that competitive landscape changes are a contributing factor to globalisation, while 24% agreed, 2% were neutral, and 4% either disagreed or strongly disagreed. Thus, changes in the competitive landscape could be consider a major factor in causing organisations to accept or embrace globalisations across the value chain.

Figure 4.14: Changes in competition landscape

4.4.2 Changes In Ecosystem: The ecosystem comprises stakeholders of any organisation with which other organisations interact daily. In the main, stakeholders comprise suppliers, customers, internal people, partners or collaborators.

Thus Figure 4.15 demonstrates that almost 50% of the survey respondents strongly agreed and 24% agreed that organisations do face the negative effects of globalisation, with stakeholders accepting or embracing the changes.. While, 4% were neutral in their response, 14% disagreed and 8% strongly disagreed.

Figure 4.15: Changes in ecosystem

4.4.3 Changes In Technological Landscape: The technological landscape, also referred to as the rise of digital technologies, has been a major reasons for the increase in the efficiencies of organisations' processes or services, while also producing some unique products and services.

Figure 4.16: Changes in technological landscape

As illustrated in Figure 4.16, a large majority of 84% strongly agreed and 6% agreed that changes in the technological landscape were an influencing factor in globalisation,,Only 10% were neutral on it, and none of the participants disagreed.

4.4.4 Changes In Stakeholder Expectations: According to Figure 4.17, responses were mixed regarding changes in stakeholder expectations as an influencing factor in globalisation,. Half of the respondents (50%) either agreed or strongly agreed, while 48% did not agree or strongly disagreed. The remaining 2% were neutral in their response.

Figure 4.17: Changes in stakeholder expectations

4.5 VARIOUS LONG-TERM EFFECTS OF GLOBALISATION

Globalisation has given rise to various long-term impacts on areas such as company strategy, operations, socio-cultural changes, finance or changes in technology, as summarised in Figure 4.18.

Figure 4.18: Various long-term effects of globalisation

4.5.1 Change In Business Strategy: As depicted in Figure 4.19, 72% strongly agreed that changes in business strategy would be impacted over the long-term, and 22% agreed. Only, 2% were neutral and only 4% either disagreed or strongly disagreed.

Figure 4.19: Change in business strategy

4.5.2 Operational Level Strategies: As illustrated in Figure 4.20, there was a mixed response to participants' views of how changes in operational level strategies influenced globalisation. While 54% either agreed or strongly agreed, 40% did not agree or strongly disagreed. Only 6% remained neutral in their response.

Figure 4.20: Operational level strategies

4.5.3 Socio-Cultural Changes: Figure 4.21 looks at the effect of socio-cultural changes on globalisation, where 36% strongly agreed and 38% agreed; 6% were neutral, 12% disagreed and 8% strongly disagreed.

Figure 4.21:Socio-cultural changes

4.5.4 Financial Changes: The influence of globalisation on financial changes also had a mixed, with approximately 44% either agreeing or strongly agreeing,only 2% remaining neutral and almost 56% either disagreeing or strongly disagreeing (Figure 4.22).

Figure 4.22: Financial changes

4.5.5 Technological Changes: Figure 4.23 reveals that 66% either agreed or strongly agreed that globalisation had a long-term impact on technology within the firm. Only 2% were neutral in their response, while 24% disagreed and 8% strongly disagreed impact.

Figure 4.23: Technological changes

4.6 ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS

The results from the fourthemes are analysed in this section, which delves deeply into participants' responses to gain more information about the business leaders' perceptions.

4.6.1 Impact Across Various Management Functions: Table 4.1illustrates the findings on the mean, median, mode, and variance values for Theme 1.

Table 4.1: Impact across various management functions

Table 4.1reveals that the mean scores show higher values (greater than 4) for planning and organising as management functions, whereascommanding and controlling show low mean values. The variance is also low for planning and organising functions, which indicates that mostresponses are closer to the mean. For both planning and organising, the mode value is 5, which suggests that most respondents strongly agreedabout its impact. Commanding and controlling have mode values of 2, demonstrating that most of the respondents did not agree that these two functions were impacted by the firm's globalisation.

The table below illustrates the Pearson's correlation between variables in theme 1:

Table 4.2: Pearson's correlation -Impact across various management functions

As seen in Table 4.2, most variables show a positive correlation between them, except between the controlling and organising function. A strong positive correlation of 0.508 exists between commanding and organising, and 0.4847 between the coordinating and commanding functions. The remaining correlations are moderately to weakly positive, which means that most variables move together, or are impacted in a similar manner, whether increasing or decreasing, although the degree of this relationship is not sufficiently strong.

4.6.2 Impact Of Globalisation On Company Functions: The table below illustrates the findings on the mean, median, mode, and variance values for Theme 2.

Table 4.3: Impact of globalisation on various company functions

According to Table 4.3, higher mean values greater than 4 can be seen for production and operations, sales and marketing, and organisational culture. These functions also show low variances, indicating that the majority of responses are closer to the mean. Finance, HR are close to 4, indicating that most agree on the impact of globalisation on these functions too. A lower mean value exists for CSR, with a median of 3. Therefore, based on the participant responses, CSR remains the least impacted area. However, the mode values for most functions is 5 (HR is 4), indicating that the majority tended to strongly agree on the impact of globalisation in all seven areas.

Table 4.4 below illustrates the Pearson's correlation between the various variables in Theme 2.

Table 4.4: Pearson's correlation - Impact of globalisation

As seen in Table 4.4, most variables show a positive correlation between themselves, except for CSR, which shows the maximum number of negative correlations. A very strong correlation of 0.803 exists between production operations and sales and marketing, indicating that they move closely together with globalisation.

A strong correlation of 0.649 exists between HR plans and sales and marketing. Strong correlations also exist between HR and IT (0.536), and finance and HR (0.538). This indicates that as globalisation impacts finances, so too do HR policies around hiring, recruitment and payments.

4.6.3 Various Factors Contributing To Globalisation: The table below illustrates the findings on the mean, median, mode, and variance values for Theme 3: 

Table 4.5: Factors contributing to globalisation

As seen in Table 4.5, the competitive landscape and technology landscape emerged as factors with highest mean score, but with low variances. This indicates the majority agreeing with their contribution to globalisation and that most are closer to the mean. The median values are also as high as 5 for both factors. Changes in the ecosystem was the factor with next highest mean and median value. The lowest mean is for stakeholder expectations, and shows a high variance too, indicating that not many agree with the mean value.

The table below describes the Pearson's correlation that exists between the various factors contributing to globalisation:

Table 4.6: Pearson's correlation - Factors contributing to globalisation

Table 4.6 illustrates that most variables are positively correlated with each other, although the strength of correlation is moderate or weak. For instance, changes in competitive landscape is positively correlated with changes in the overall business ecosystem, with r=0.365.
This is a moderately positive correlation, largely because, apart from competition, many other factors affect the ecosystem, and competition alone does not influence the direction of the business environment. A similar analysis can be shown for the correlation between changing technology and ecosystem changes, with r=0.266.

This again is a moderately positive correlation. Other correlations, such as between technology and competition is also positive with r=0.22, although they are weak. This indicates that most of these variables move together with globalisation, although the degree or extent of change varies.

4.6.4 Various Long-Term Effects Of Globalisation: Table 4.7 illustrates the findings on the mean, median, mode, and variance values for Theme 4:

Table 4.7: Long-term effects of globalisation

As seen in Table 4.7, the highest mean exists for strategic changes, which also shows a high median value, and very low variance, indicating that the majority of responses are closer to the mean. Social and cultural changes also have high values for the mean response, but denote moderately high variance. This is followed by technological changes, and operational and financial changes.

The table below describes the Pearson's correlation that exists between the various long-term effects of globalisation:

Table 4.8: Pearson's correlation - Long-term effects of globalisation

Table 4.8 reveals that most of the correlations are positive, which indicates that the variables move together with globalisation, although the extent of movement is not the same. A strong positive correlation of r=0.613 exists between operational level changes and financial changes. This is indicative of the fact that any change in production or operational level strategy would be cost-intensive, and would require product or service revamping, or overhauling of distribution, with cost repercussions. Operational level changes move closely with socio-cultural changes as well, with a value of r=0.39, indicating a moderately positive correlation.

There is also a moderately positive correlation between financial changes and technological changes, with r=0.35. The obvious explanation for this is that the adoption of new technology or diffusion of technology within the organizations have cost repercussions..

4.7 CONCLUSION

The results for Theme 1, the impact of globalisation on management functions, give a clear indication that most respondents accept that planning, organising, and coordinating functions are affected byglobalisation. However, not many believe that commanding and controlling functions are greatly impacted by globalisation.

Company functions such as production, finance, sales, marketing, HR, and organisational culture do appear to be significantly impacted by globalisation. However, a moderate level of impact is seen on the CSR and social orientation front, and forIT.

The analysis of factors contributing to globalisation reveals that most respondents strongly agree with the role played by the evolving technology landscape, changes in the competitive environment and the ecosystem. On the other hand, moderate agreement exists on the impact of changing stakeholder expectations on globalisation.

Participants believed the long-term impacts of globalisation were more in the area of business strategy, the socio-cultural environment and technology. Moderate level impacts can be seen on areas such as finance and day-to-day operations. However, when probed further about different recommendations from industry leaders, the leaders identified some requirements relating to data and information and security.

Respondents identified technology as one of the most important enablers of globalisation, which could help companies or even the industries to move in with new products and services. Agility, with the help of dynamic strategies for using social media as promotional tools,was also mentioned by the business leaders to be important, and is discussed in more detail in the next two chapters. 

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CHAPTER 5: ANALYSIS ANDDISCUSSION OF RESULTS

5.1 Introduction: This penultimate chapter aims to establish the link between the data analysis and the final chapter. To achieve this, it explores the issues that appear to be jeopardisingthe growth of companies as they strive to embrace globalisation. 

This chapter elaborates on the key findings as obtained from the data analysis of the responses obtained. It also identifies some key issues the researcher observed from the discussion. The chapter also draws the necessary linkages with the background literature covered in the research, in order to compare and validate the findings with the existing body of research.

5.2 RESEARCH FINDINGS AND ALIGNMENT WITH THE LITERATURE REVIEW

The findings obtained from the research can be analysed in terms of the core themes that formed the basis of the investigation as illustrated in Figure 5.1:

Figure 5.1: Findings and key links with the literature review

5.2.1 Impact Across Management Functions: As illustrated in Figure 5.1, some key findings can be obtained about the impact of globalisation on various management functions. Globalisation appears to have had a direct impact on how a global team is organised, or how tasks are coordinated across geographically dispersed companies. The research participants gave the highest weighting to planning and organising functions. This is in line with the literature discussed by Okoro and Okoro (2017)who asserted that the functional departments of a global organisation need to devise new forms of working rules to keep the business running.

The findings also conform with the literature by Perez (2017), who stated that for a globalised firm, additional efforts are required to align the individual goals of team members with the overarching organisational goals. This requires a deeper understanding and monitoring of their work, which is why coordination efforts also increase. However, most responses gave a lower weighting to the change in ‘commanding' as a management function. A possible reason was cited by Gugler (2017), who said that globalisation leads to decentralisation of functions, thereby generating a flat organisational structure. This leads to lower hierarchical levels and more flexibility, rather than the bureaucratic control of teams.

5.2.2 Impact Across Various Company Functions: The second area of findings pertains to the impact of globalisation on company functions. Cultural realignment and financial restructurings emergedas the most impacted areas. Other prominent areas of impact were sales, marketing, production and operations. 

Findings by Aslam et al. (2018)indicate that having a multinational presence requires open acceptance of diverse cultures, values and beliefs. Setting up businesses in different nations entails bringing a diverse workforce with varying backgrounds and valueson board. All this requires cultural alignment to ensure open innovation and workplace harmony (Aslam, et al., 2018). This may be the reason why human resources (HR) policies and practices are also seen to be significantly affected by globalisation, as is evident from the participant responses. Moreover, the literature by Marsonet (2017)confirmed that handling a global workforce requires a strategic HR management plan to create and maintain competitive advantage. Likewise, the literature by Verbeke, et al. (2018)demonstrated that working in a global environment requires the development of new operational capabilities for functions such as logistics, automation, warehousing and production designing, which is why operational and production impacts are more prominent.

The reason why sales and marketing remain a prominent area of impact can be confirmed from the literature discussion by Zürn (2013) who stated that when companies venture into new geographies, they need to concentrate their efforts on countering competition, which requires that they rethink and invest in branding, marketing and public relations. The findings also reveal a moderate impact on areas such as CSR. There is not much evidence available in the literature that can focuses on the impact of globalisation on corporate social responsibility (CSR).

5.2.3 Factors Of Globalisation: The third area of the findings pertains to the factors contributing to globalisation. 

• Technological factors: Technological factors emergedas the most common push factor for globalisation. This finding is in linewith the available literature by Tarasenko et al.(2017), who maintained that emerging newer technologies for workplace automation, and resource optimisation or communication have compelled companies to globalise. Cardozo et al.(2018)had similar findings, and asserted that the advent of IT has helped to establish alink between global markets. It has allowed organisations to connect with customers at a global level. In addition, the internet has facilitated online buying, selling, and financial transactions.

• Competitive landscape: Changes in the competitive landscape have been highlighted as a leading factor responsible for globalisation, as is evident from the responses obtained. Shankar (2017)argued that organisational restructuring, propelled by technology, HR changes and operational realignments have led to a situation in which each firm aims to attain the best from its resources. This, in turn,encourages more competition among firms to expand into new markets, to gain first mover advantage of the opportunities (Shankar, 2017).

• High impact of eco-system changes: The survey results do not show a high impact from ecosystem changes, because the ecosystem by itself is composed of many socio-political, legal, environmental, or technological elements. This is also confirmed in the literature by Akhmatova, et al. (2017) who said that globalisation creates significantly high independencies between countries and their business environments.

• Changes in stakeholder expectations: Changes in stakeholder expectations emerged as a low-level impacting factor for globalisation. Literature evidence on the role of stakeholder expectations in globalisation is scarce.

5.2.4 Various Long-Term Effects Of Globalisation: The fourth element of the findings pertains to the long-term impacts of globalisation.

• Changes in business strategies: Changes in strategy, vision or mission emergedas the most affected area, as evident from most of the responses. This is also in linewith the literature findings by Perez (2017) who asserted that organisations tend to realign to innovate better, gain from a superior value chain, minimise their costs, or seek process improvements with globalisation, all of which involves strategic changes.

• Socio-cultural changes: The findings reveal a moderate level impact on the social and cultural factors where the firm operates. Impacts are also seen with respect to the financial strategies and operations. Earlier literature, such as that of Tarasenko et al.(2017) has already confirmed this, saying that companies align their resources to invest in high quality products and highly skilled people. It is ultimately these people and products that determine the company's competitiveness in the market. The literature by Cheremina and Fedotova (2017) also stated that organisations modify their culture and processes to become more flexible, responsive, and agile. They develop a more customer-oriented culture to become responsive to sudden changes in market demand and customer preferences. All these changes motivated by globalisation tend to remain over the longterm.

• Technological changes: Technological impact is also significant, mostly due to better communication facilities, as described by Cardozo et al.(2018), or superior tools for process improvements (Shankar, 2017). This area of findings relates to recommendations by business leaders. McCubbrey (2016) argued thatbecause technology is a major factor in globalisation,organisations should focus more on embracing newer technologies. The literature review spoke about the rise in competition between players owing to technology(Passas, 2017), which was also identified by respondents. The key findings highlighted the importance of data security and the need for agility in organisations, but these have not been discussed in detail in relation to globalisation in the various literature reviews that have been studied (Vahid, 2017).

5.3 ISSUES IDENTIFIED FROM RESEARCH FINDINGS AND LITERATURE REVIEW

The analysis helped to identify some issues relating to how business leaders perceivedglobalisation, its impacts and factors, some of which have been described below.

5.3.1 Shareholder Expectations: The data and discussions reveal that most respondents gave a lower weighting to changing stakeholder expectations as a causal factor for globalisation. Most shareholders expect a mature firm to expand into new markets, to avoid saturation in existing markets, and to gain from investment incentives abroad.

It is evident from the literature discussion by Akhmetova et al. (2017) that interdependencies between economies and motivations for foreign direct investment, promoteglobalisation. Under such circumstances, investors, as critical stakeholders, expect firms to seek international expansion into lucrative destinations. The move towards globalisation is also motivated by factors such as risk diversification and gaining economies of scale, as has been described by Gugler (2017) in the literature review discussion. With technological expansion, ease of communication, and flexibility of using technological systems for multi-geography operations, the expectations of investors and shareholders has increased even more.

When most competing firms are seeking newer ways for geographical expansion, planning for globalisation may no longer be a choice, but rather a necessity to stay competitive. In such cases, investors, senior leaders or shareholders would surely expect the firm to at least follow the competition and avoid being a late entrant into the market. Changes in stakeholder expectations are a causal factor behind globalisation that was not been acknowledged by the business leaders and managers surveyed in this study.

5.3.2 Long-Term Impacts - Strategic And Socio-Cultural Change: Very low correlations were found between responses for strategic change and socio-cultural change as identifiedin the results for Theme 4 on the long-term impacts of globalisation. However, while most managers agreed that both strategic changes and socio-cultural changes were imminent, there appeared to be very low correlation. This indicates that only a few managers regarded both to be concurrent or happening to the same extent. 

The literature by Perez (2017)indicated that changes related to technological improvements, supply chain fine-tuning, superior trade management, and better management of relationships with partners and vendors were some of the major operational changes firms were willing to achieve. Such changes needed support and push from the strategy end. Strategy tends to drive senior management towards allocating better budgets for technology or process improvement. For example, a strategy aimed at competing on price would try to buy better and cheaper technologies to reduce production costs. This indicates that strategic decisions and operational decisions are correlated strongly and cannot be considered in isolation. However, from the responses of the participants, there appeared to be lower, although positive, correlation between the two, which is an area under identified gaps in this case.

5.3.3 Data Security: Data security, which was identified by many respondents and,together with safeguarding consumer data against theft was an important consideration for all businesses with a global presence. The cross-border movement of products and services has increased the need for data and information to be exchanged and protected from being exposed to third parties.

5.3.4 Information Technology: Responses received from the study indicate that respondents regard ITas one of the most important enablers of globalisation. It is evident that the respondents regarded IT as an integral part of globalisation and that it acted as an enabler as well as being influenced by globalisation. However, they appeared to be confused about the direct and indirect impacts of globalisation on IT. Therefore, the increased importance of adopting newer technologies or investing in re-skilling workers to adapt to newer technologies needs to be ingrained in the organisations.

5.3.5 Agility: While many respondents identified agility asan important recommendation, it was still not considered to be prominent amongorganisations. Many organisations still depended on slow or even manual processes to run large organisations, which hindered and slowed down the process of scalability and growth across different industries.

5.4 CONCLUSION: This chapter summarised the data findings from Chapter 4. The key findings were discussed with respect to the literature review to identify the most important factors and toanalyse some of the other related factors or enablers that play an important role in shaping globalisation. The key findings were discussed with respect to the four themes of the questionnaire, to ensure a structured approach to analysing the research findings in relation to the literature review. This helped in identifying the gaps and key issues identified by respondents in comparison with the literature review.

The first issue identified related to the lower weighting respondents gave to stakeholder expectations. The second point was concerned with the lower correlations between strategic changes and socio-cultural changes. The third issue related to data security problems that seem to be choking the growth of many companies, resulting in huge losses. The fourth issue related to the need for increased adoption of technology. The last issue discussed related to the need for dynamicity and agility in company operations, which could help in achieving increased revenue and greater customer footfall.

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CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION ANDRECOMMENDATIONS

6.1 INTRODUCTION

This final chapter concludes the study with certain pointers. Throughout the dissertation, the discussion has revolvedaround globalisation, its causality and impacts on businesses. This section collates all the major researchfindings in relation to the literature review and makes some recommendations that are relevant to business leaders and other stakeholders. This chapter also includes one recommendation for policymakers to createa level playing field so that businesses can thrive. The recommendationsare followed by a discussion of the limitations of this research which would need to be overcome to develop more robust research in the future.

6.2 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES SUMMARY

The research aimed to study the different manifestations of globalisation across the various functions of management and to understand the effect of globalisation within the various functions of businesses,such as HR, sales and marketing and IT. The research objectives were aimed a studying the direct and the indirect effects of globalisation on business strategy. Finally, the research objectives (from Chapter 1)were also aimed at providing recommendations to businesses.

6.3 PRIMARY RESEARCH AND LITERATURE REVIEW DISCUSSIONS

The aim of the literature review was toidentify the manifestations of globalisation across the different operational areas of a business and its effect on the different activities of the business. The literature review also commented on the effects of globalisation across the world. This was followed by discussion on its effects on laws, outsourcing management, diversified culture and the resultant challenges.

The literature reviews highlighted how business strategyhindered the growth of many organisations amid increasing competition. The importance of technologies has been raised throughout the literature review as well as an explanation of the implications of globalisation for policies around technology.

Changing organisational roles, changing global strategies and the impact of technology at an organisation and business level have been emphasised in the literature review.

While the literature review was comprehensive and contained several important pointers and information, it still missed out on some important pointsthat were only raised during the surveys from the business leaders.

Another issue which has been a recent topic of discussion relates to policymaking by government and policymakers. In most cases, the challenges and hindrances faced by organisations in this age of globalisation different from those experienced before, hence the policies or rules are no longer appropriatefor providing justice or preventing loss in organisations.

Many organisations have lost their data to third parties or lost information safeguarding client information. To enhance their data security, many organisations have started investing in protection from cybercrime. However, the rules and policies of countries vary for these newer attacks or technologies, thereby hindering preventive measures from being taken by the organisation or the industry.

6.4 DATA ANALYSIS REINFORCING THE LITERATURE REVIEW KNOWLEDGE

The primary surveywas conducted among the business leaders to generate insights about the effects of globalisation on different management functions and company functions. The primary data provided many insights and, at times,complemented the literature reviews. Some grey areas in the literature reviews, although included in the primary survey findings remain insignificant.

Management functions were affected byglobalisation, with planning and organising resources two of the most important functions affected by globalisation. However, a lack of dynamic working rules and overarching organisational goals seemed to choke the growth of many organisations. Thus, changes in commanding functions were ranked lower by business leaders. Hierarchical organisational structures seemed to impede agility among organisations. The competition landscape has called for changes in the organisational structure.

Technological factors appeared to be the most prevalent factor in promoting globalisation. Many researchers also support technology, thus highlighting IT as important in the upcoming era. Areas of operations, logistics and transport, along with sales and marketing, remained prominent for organisations thriving in a globalised world. Long term impact requires a change in the technological landscape and the need for re-skilling of employees. Customer orientation also remains important. However, business leaders have identified data security and the need for agility as most important for success in a globalised environment. To be able to take effective decisions, business leaders have also highlighted the need for policy changes which sometimes remain reactive.

The dissertation helped in identifying certain issues and hindrances which must be taken into consideration so that the negative effects of globalisation on business strategymay be removed while the positive effects can be amplified.

One of the foremost issues arising from the responses was that, although companies are taking a customer-oriented approach, increased competition is forcing them to move away from being customer-oriented. While many companies have used ‘glocalization' to attract morecustomers, there are also instances where companies have failed to prioritise the socio-cultural changes of the organisation.

Data security has become one of the biggest threats for global organisations connected across the different countries and regions. While more companies are prioritising IT as their leading strategy, many have failed to recognise the correct identification of the technologies.

The need for dynamicity and agility has arisenfroma need for faster turnaround times for the go-to market of the products under consideration. The reactive and lackadaisical approach of policymakers remains a massive hindrance for organisations aspiring for exponential growth. This is due in part to a lack of knowledge, but also due to policymakers giving priority to other areas.

6.5 RECOMMENDATIONS FROM RESEARCH FINDINGS

The recommendations from this researchare two-fold: for businesses to understand the implications of globalisation and ways to remove the barriers to exponential growth; and for policymakers to act as strong enablers in mobilising businesses to embrace changes gracefully.

6.5.1 Recommendations For Businesses

Step 1: Performing market research

Market research has always been an important factor, but its importance is often undermined owing to its indirect relationship with revenue generation. However, for a company to survive and thrive, it should first understand the competition landscape, expected technological growth and ways to address future needs and customer demand. Hence,market research is gaining traction asacritical function. Increasingly,organisations are engaging third parties or consultant firms to help them take important business decisions.

Figure 6.1: Recommendations steps for the businesses

Step 2: Re-skill employees

Employees have always been at the core of any organisation and the most important resource for any business. Therefore, businesses should understand that employees need to be trained and re-skilled on a regular basis so that they remain relevantwhile accepting or embracing changes arising out of globalisation. This will help the company to enable its employees to become more creative and innovative, thereby creating a thriving working culture. Diversity training should also be given to equip organisations to incorporate diverse cultures from across the world. Employees should not only be taught to embrace the changes, but should also be taught to handle customers effectively,to keep their emotions in check and to be more pleasant.

Step 3: Organisation restructuring

The hierarchical structure among large organisations appears to slow down processeswhen approval is needed from numerous levels or when there are numerous levels of decision making. This should be minimised and organisations should be made as decentralised as possible. While many multinational companies have adopted this approach for quicker and faster decision making, some are also struggling to adapt to the new structure.

Step 4: Monitor and adapt to change in consumer taste and preferences

Because society is made up of customers, companies should not ignore changes in societal structure as they risk becoming irrelevant to the changing socio-cultural dynamics. An organisation should be able to scan the socio-cultural complexity of the place in which it is planning to expand or is operating and modify their behaviour accordingly.

Societal changes also give rise to changes in the environment, which has become an important concern for customers. Customers are demanding transparency across the value chain and sustainability across production line. Companies could address these changes by redefining their CSR and social strategies which would help the company to align its CSR and social policies with those of their global strategic objectives.

Step 5: Embracing technologies

Changes in customer demand and increasing competition have generated a demand for newer products and services. Emergent technologies could solve this problem by improving the efficiency of the workforce or by introducing automation across the different processes.

Of the prime importance in this context is the need to adopt technologies that provide better security against loss or theft of data, thereby ensuring data integrity. Increasingly, companies are investing in fortifying their technologies, thus increasing their competitiveness. However, market research should be conducted first to determine appropriate technologies for the business and should justify the claims of the research. This could be done by benchmarking industry leaders and understand their processes.

Step 6: Adoptingagility

Steps 1-5 should be dynamic and repetitive to bring about agility in an organisation. This will help organisations to incorporate feedback from stakeholders and modify behaviours until the correct course of action can be identified.

6.5.2 Recommendations For Policymakers

Businesses leaders need to be proactive and make many changes to steer their businesses to success, but their pathways should be made clear and free from hindrances. Thus, the role of policymakers is important in this context.

Policymakers should understand that thriving businesses boost the economy andtake steps to make the economy even more robust. They should be proactive enough to understand technological changes and changes in the competitive landscape. Thus, they should roll out policies and the laws that achieve a balance between the businesses and consumers. Policymakers should try to plug the gaps that seem to choke business growth in a globalised world, and thereby design processes for easing business growth.

6.6 LIMITATIONS

In all research, there are certain hindrances thatcannot be avoided due to the lack of resources or lack of understanding at the start of the research. There were some inherent limitations in this research and some derived limitations.

With respect to the inherent limitations, the first is the paucity of time as the whole dissertation needed to be completed within a timeframe of only three months (12 weeks), the first few weeks of which went into understanding the process and in developing the basic context for the research. More time would have helped in developing a robust framework and would have helped in collecting more data for making the research more comprehensive and meaningful. The second limitation was the cost constraints which prevented researchers from travelling to places to collect moreinformationin the field for primary interviews, to understand the underlying knowledge of business leaders.

The questionnaire was shared only with business personnel in the LinkedIn network with whom the researcher had direct or a second-line direct connection. Beyond this, the chances were of business personnel taking the time to complete the questionnaire were low. Several follow-ups had to be made to obtain the related data points.

The inherent bias of business leaders could not be controlled as all responses were mainly through survey in nature, and the researcher did not have a chance to interact with the business leaders. The time constraints forced the researcher to take a primary survey via a questionnaire and limit himself to only 100 personnel interviews. A greater number of data points could have been obtained and more parity brought into research findings along with greater homogeneity in the data points.

6.7 WAY FORWARD: AREAS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH

In all research, there are opportunities for improvement. This research presented several opportunities, but the most relevant was making the research more comprehensive. This research entailed gathering the survey responses of 100respondents within a timeframe of only 2-3 weeks. This research could be extended beyond the timeline of a few weeks to a few years.

Extending the timeline beyond a year would help in collecting dynamic data points and observing trends in the effects of globalisation. This would help in making the research moreuseful and relevant to the present-day world. Additionally, more time could be dedicated to searching the literature in a structured format. The time constraints prevented a structured search and the research literature was not as comprehensive as it should have been. However, if the search criteria included dedicated groups of analysts, consultants, academics and advocacy groups, it would allow the inclusion of a wide range of data points across the different groups of researchers.

Business leaders were chosen at random from the LinkedIn social media website and there was no parity in the choice of countries or regions from which the different leaders were chosen, and thus no definite conclusion could be made with respect to the different types of trends in each region. However, the research could be extended to the business leaders in different regions to introduce important information about regional trends and how different factors were affecting globalisation across countries.

The research could be extended beyond a timeline of only 100 personnel and extended to incorporatea greater number of personnel. More information from personnel would help to make the research more robust and would also help in gathering a greaternumber of data points. This would help in generating a greater number of insights. However, this dissertation could serve as a springboard for the other researchers who are planning to perform research in this field and could use it as a contextual reference for conducting their research. This research could also act as a base document for the other researchers who are trying to determine the effects of globalisation in a niche field, as this research is more generic in nature and is relevant across industries.

6.8 CONCLUSION

This chapter and helps bringsthe whole study to a logical conclusion. The summary of the research objectives sets the scene for the rest of the research. The literature review has been outlinedprior to discussing the formulation of the questionnaire. Insights were generated from the data analysis after collating the information and the insights were collected by surveying the business leaders. The issues identified in the research were being described in brief, which yielded recommendations for businesses and policymakers. After identifying the limitations, the researcher suggested the way forward.

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