International business is a type of trade that involves commercial transactions between two or more countries operating beyond their national boundaries. In other terms, these are business transactions involving several nations, which are carried out at the international level.
As it would be observed, international business transactions are of great importance to participating countries in a number of ways. For example, they help in strengthening a country’s international relations with other countries in the world.
More importantly, they give countries a direct opportunity to market their products in the global markets, thus playing a key role in shaping their economic development.
This paper is about international business transactions and it revolves around two countries that have been successful in this type of trade. The two featured countries are United States and Saudi Arabia.
In fact, United States is one of the most developed countries in the world, in terms of trade and economy (Rugman and Collinson 35). At 9.8 million km2 in land area, the US is arguably one of the largest countries globally.
Currently, the country’s population stands at around 317 million people. United States is a major player in the global markets, and this is evident from its large business links with other countries across the world.
As a result of these commercial establishments, America enjoys one of the most successful economic relationships in the world.
USA is a major player in export transactions, and some of its major exports are transportation equipment, petroleum oils, pharmaceutical products, organic chemicals, and telecommunications equipment.
In terms of the imports, USA is the leading importer of commodities and products in the world. Some of their major imports would include refined petroleum oils, crude petroleum oils, automobiles, medicaments, and automatic data processing machines.
Most of the country’s exports go to Canada, while most of its imports come from China.
Just like other advanced nations, USA enjoys a wide range of industries and manufacturing companies (Rosenberg, Nathan and Rosenberg 68).
The largest industries in the country include the automotive industry, the retail industry, healthcare industry, pharmaceutical industry, and oil and gas industry. These industries and others that are not listed here serve as the backbone of the country’s economy.
As a notable participant in the international business arena, United States is a trade partner to many other countries around the world.
However, some of its biggest traders in terms of exports and imports are Mexico, Japan, China, Canada, and Germany, among others (Helpman, Melitz and Rubinstein 445).
The U.S. is currently the largest single economy in the world, with a Gross Domestic Product of $16.6 trillions according to the latest listings.
The other country that is featured here is Saudi Arabia, popularly known as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. With an estimated area of 2.1 million km2, the popular Arab State is said to be the largest country in terms of land area in the whole of Western Asia.
Currently, the country has an estimated population of about 29 million people comprising of the original citizens, illegal immigrants, and registered foreign expatriates.
Just like America, Saudi Arabia is a major player in international business, especially in transactions involving petroleum and oil-based products, which are said to have a heavy command on the country’s economy (Achoui 41).
Even though Saudi Arabia is incomparable with the U.S. when it comes to international business transactions, they are well recognized at the global markets for being a major importer and exporter of a wide range of products.
Currently, the Arabic state is ranked at position 19 among the biggest exporters, and position 20 among the biggest importers in the world.
Some of the major exports of the country are petroleum and petroleum products, petrochemicals, electrical appliances, construction materials, plastic products, and metal-related goods (Jasimuddin 61).
On the other hand, Saudi Arabia imports products such as motor vehicles, machinery equipment, foodstuffs, and coal products, among other things.
Just like the U.S., Saudi Arabia is also home to numerous industries, with some of the big ones including petroleum refining industries, oil industries, petrochemical industries, pharmaceutical industries, plastic industries, pharmaceutical industries, and cement industries among others.
As a recognized importer and exporter of vast products, Saudi Arabia has a large network of business partners from allover the world (Niblock and Malik 77).
Some of the major trading partners of the Arab State of Saudi Arabia include the UK, Japan, China, Thailand, Canada, and the United States. The country also has numerous trade relations with other surrounding Arabic nations such as Yemen, Iran, Syria, and Iran, just to mention a few.
Saudi Arabia enjoys a strong economic situation, considering its current GDP that stands at $160 billions. As it would be observed, the commercial sector in the country has grown rapidly over the past few decades.
This, however, has made the Arabic state the most powerful economy in the Arabic world. Based on these observations, there is no doubt that Saudi Arabia has a great potential in international business transactions.
Works Cited
Achoui, Mustapha. “Human resource development in Gulf countries: an analysis of the trends and challenges facing Saudi Arabia.” Human Resource Development International 12.1 (2009): 35-46. Print.
Helpman, Elhanan, Melitz Marc and Rubinstein Yona. “Estimating trade flows: Trading partners and trading volumes.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 123.2 (2008): 441-487. Print.
Jasimuddin, Sajjad. “Analyzing the competitive advantages of Saudi Arabia with Porter’s model.” Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing 16.1 (2001): 59-68. Print.
Niblock, Tim and Malik Monica. The political economy of Saudi Arabia. UK: Routledge, 2007. Print.
Rosenberg, Nathan. How the West grew rich: The economic transformation of the industrial world. New York: Basic books, 2008. Print.
Rugman, Allan, and Collinson Simon. International business. New Jersey: Pearson Education, 2009. Print.