Over the next few years, Italian companies and more generally all companies from Western countries’, are expected to increase their activities in emerging markets, regardless of the industry they are working in. Emerging markets are those that continue to grow at a rapid pace, even though in some cases growth could be affected by the global economic slowdown. Having knowledge of the local management style and being acquainted with the experiences of foreign firms already present in these countries may be critical in building the skills necessary to train new professionals which are supposed to be prepared to operate in these markets. In addition, having a basic understanding of the economic and managerial profile of some of the emerging markets is likely to be useful in the coming years when entering the local labour market.
Western companies in most industries will also look at the emerging countries as opportunities for growth.
ICRIM started investigating emerging markets to generate updated data and to support the teaching activities of its members. It created the Countries Focus with the following aims –
Firstly, to support the following learning objectives of the Countries Focus for International Management Course, including:
- allowing participants to understand the role and potential of these countries from an economic, institutional and geopolitical perspectives;
- analysing the behaviour of companies already operating in those areas;
- simulating the analysis that a firm (not yet operating in this area) should carry out when considering whether to enter the relevant market.
Seminars included speakers from the Faculty of the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore as well as company managers and experts from business and institutional organizations.
Secondly, the Countries Focus offers firms evidence and support on critical managerial and strategic issues, such as:
- Why some multinationals are far more profitable in emerging markets than others?
- How to face a nasty margin squeeze resulting from costs/debts in “home” currencies with sales in depreciating ones?
- How to select the correct market entry strategy in emerging countries?
- How to manage offshoring, inter-firm relationships and reshoring/backshoring?
- Whether western business models should be adapted when doing business in emerging markets?
- Whether specific industries more exposed to competition from emerging economies than others?
Finally, ICRIM’s Countries Focus aims to collect and organise references (in different languages) to become a preferential source of information for companies interested in the most relevant emerging economies. In doing so, ICRIM’s approach to International Economics and Management combines economic, managerial, legal and technical perspectives. As a result, we select papers and articles relevant to audiences with commercial, entrepreneurial and managerial interests in those emerging economies.
Focus Kenya
