Importance of IB 1. Earn foreign exchange : International business exports its goods and services all over the world.

This helps to earn valuable foreign exchange. This foreign exchange is used to pay for imports. Foreign exchange helps to make the business more profitable and to strengthen the economy of its country. 2. Optimum utilisation of resources : International business makes optimum utilisation of resources. This is because it produces goods on a very large scale for the international market. International business utilises resources from all over the world. It uses the finance and technology of rich countries and the raw materials and labour of the poor countries. 3. Achieve its objectives : International business achieves its objectives easily and quickly. The main objective of an international business is to earn high profits. This objective is achieved easily. This it because it uses the best technology. It has the best employees and managers. It produces high-quality goods. It sells these goods all over the world. All this results in high profits for the international business. 4. To spread business risks : International business spreads its business risk. This is because it does business all over the world. So, a loss in one country can be balanced by a profit in another country. The surplus goods in one country can be exported to another country. The surplus resources can also be transferred to other countries. All this helps to minimise the business risks. 5. Improve organisation's efficiency : International business has very high organisation efficiency. This is because without efficiency, they will not be able to face the competition in the international market. So, they use all the modern management techniques to improve their efficiency. They hire the most qualified and experienced employees and managers. These people are trained regularly. They are highly motivated with very high salaries and other benefits such as international transfers, promotions, etc. All this results in high organisational efficiency, i.e. low costs and high returns. 6. Get benefits from Government : International business brings a lot of foreign exchange for the country. Therefore, it gets many benefits, facilities and concessions from the government. It gets many financial and tax benefits from the government. 7. Expand and diversify : International business can expand and diversify its activities. This is because it earns very high profits. It also gets financial help from the government. 8. Increase competitive capacity : International business produces high-quality goods at low cost. It spends a lot of money on advertising all over the world. It uses superior technology, management techniques, marketing techniques, etc. All this makes it more competitive. So, it can fight competition from foreign companies.

Just as there are reasons to get into global markets, and benefits from global markets, there are also risks involved in locating companies in certain countries. Each country may have its potentials; it also has its woes that are associated with doing business with major companies. Some of the rogue countries may have all the natural minerals but the risks involved in doing business in those countries exceed the benefits. Some of the risks in international business are: (1) Strategic Risk (2) Operational Risk (3) Political Risk (4) Country Risk (5) Technological Risk (6) Environmental Risk (7) Economic Risk (8) Financial Risk (9) Terrorism Risk Strategic Risk: The ability of a firm to make a strategic decision in order to respond to the forces that are a source of risk. These forces also impact the competitiveness of a firm. Porter defines them as: threat of new entrants in the industry, threat of substitute goods and services, intensity of competition within the industry, bargaining power of suppliers, and bargaining power of consumers. Operational Risk: This is caused by the assets and financial capital that aid in the day-to-day business operations. The breakdown of machineries, supply and demand of the resources and products, shortfall of the goods and services, lack of perfect logistic and inventory will lead to inefficiency of production. By controlling costs, unnecessary waste will be reduced, and the process improvement may enhance the lead-time, reduce variance and contribute to efficiency in globalization. Political Risk: The political actions and instability may make it difficult for companies to operate efficiently in these countries due to negative publicity and impact created by individuals in the top government. A firm cannot effectively operate to its full capacity in order to maximize profit in such an unstable country's political turbulence. A new and hostile government may replace the friendly one, and hence expropriate foreign assets. Country Risk: The culture or the instability of a country may create risks that may make it difficult for multinational companies to operate safely, effectively, and efficiently. Some of the country risks come from the governments' policies, economic conditions, security factors, and political conditions. Solving one of these problems without all of the problems (aggregate) together will not be enough in mitigating the country risk. Technological Risk: Lack of security in electronic transactions, the cost of developing new technology, and the fact that these new technology may fail, and when all of these are coupled with the outdated existing technology, the result may create a dangerous effect in doing business in the international arena.

Environmental Risk: Air, water, and environmental pollution may affect the health of the citizens, and lead to public outcry of the citizens. These problems may also lead to damaging the reputation of the companies that do business in that area. Economic Risk: This comes from the inability of a country to meet its financial obligations. The changing of foreign-investment or/and domestic fiscal or monetary policies. The effect of exchange-rate and interest rate make it difficult to conduct international business. Financial Risk: This area is affected by the currency exchange rate, government flexibility in allowing the firms to repatriate profits or funds outside the country. The devaluation and inflation will also impact the firm's ability to operate at an efficient capacity and still be stable. Most countries make it difficult for foreign firms to repatriate funds thus forcing these firms to invest its funds at a less optimal level. Sometimes, firms' assets are confiscated and that contributes to financial losses. Terrorism Risk: These are attacks that may stem from lack of hope; confidence; differences in culture and religious philosophy, and/or merely hate of companies by citizens of host countries. It leads to potential hostile attitudes, sabotage of foreign companies and/or kidnapping of the employers and employees. Such frustrating situations make it difficult to operate in these countries. Although the benefits in international business exceed the risks, firms should take a risk assessment of each country and to also include intellectual property, red tape and corruption, human resource restrictions, and ownership restrictions in the analysis, in order to consider all risks involved before venturing into any of the countries. Dr. Sidney Okolo is a professor, consultant, strategist, and Africa expert. He is affiliated to several universities, the Managing Director of International Business Associates, a management consulting firm, and also the CEO of Global Education Support, an education assistance program. Among other things, he engages in all aspects of learning, knowledge, organization and human change. His focus is on leadership, management, entrepreneurship, profit engineering, human potential, excellence, achievement, business strategy, research and development. Product management, change management, conflict management, athlete management, marketing, business development and operations. He works with clients to adapt to change due to change in factors of production, technology, goods and services. He engages clients in training, retraining, development, skills enhancement, association, behavior modification, ways of thinking, and attitude adjustment. In addition to his work in the United States, his focus is also on developing countries in the continent of Africa, their leadership, culture, economic and market structure, community planning and development, and his created four letter word, "PIES", which stands for: poverty, instability, ethnicity, and sectarianism.