Challenges are unexceptional in the field of business. Therefore, it is not surprising to meet and overcome challenges for skilled managers in global businesses (Mirabile, 2007). It is through these challenges that managers create a strong foundation for their business. Merrill Lynch Japan Securities is a company that has faced many challenges during its development.
In a bid to explore these challenges in the global businesses, I will evaluate Merrill lynch challenges and review the participation made by the host government toward the company. Merrill Lynch was operated by a young (less than 60 years) lady from America according to this case. Legally, CEOs should have an age of at least 60 years in Japan (Mirabile, 2007).
Additionally, there exists a cultural stigma that these CEOs should be men. Consequently, the age and gender of the CEO had a critical aspect that altered the normal functioning of managerial operations in Japan. Probably, the people were not willing to accept the new cultures arising from the American CEO. There are other aspects that arose with their geographic origin.
For instance, there was an issue due to the pronunciation of words when speaking to the natives and blames related to the failure. This factor generated a lack of trust and customer ignorance leading to low income and high losses. The Japanese were reluctant to expose personal information on financial status. Lastly, other companies copied their products after months of research and development and offered them at lower prices than the executors.
The case reveals that the Japanese government has a responsibility to set roles that regulate the operations of foreign investors — successful business assists to develop the country’s economy. Consequently, the government monitored the income of the company to prevent it from exploiting the citizens.
For instance, the government could not allow the citizens to share this company after making a loss of 100 billion yen. Additionally, the government evaluated the company and granted access to invest in the country. We cannot, also, forget to appreciate the protection that the government provides to the company against product execution. In this way, the company can retain ownership of the products made.
Also, Merrill had ownership of the client since the government had a state that refuted ownership of clients by the salesperson. Operational and strategic challenges that the company faced were related mainly to the customer. There was a need for trust and acceptance from the community. However, gaining this required implementation of long term commitment.
Also, Merrill Lynch was not able to communicate with other global private businesses across the globe. This was brought about by the failure of language fluency from employees to global businesses. Management of a lady was unique in Japan and required endurance to overcome the attitudes portrayed by the Japanese. Finally, the shifting of customers from the previous systems was tough.
For instance, Bird and Wong (2006) described that Yamaichi customers were not able to prefer Merrill Lynch even after hiring Yamaichi brokers. In conclusion, these are some of the challenges that global businesses encounter in their operations. The rise of Merrill Lynch into an established company was due to strong and effective managerial strategies that motivated workers and increased productivity.
We cannot, therefore, assume the fact that challenges are the tools of creating a company’s foundation. Therefore, fighting tirelessly and straining to overcome an issue in the management of the global business has to lead to the rise of Merrill Lynch efficiently.
References
Bird, W., & Wong, C. (2006). Good people key in Merrill Lynch turnaround. News on Japan, Business News, Opinion, Sports, Entertainment and More. Web.
Mirabile, L. (2007). International directory of company histories. Chicago: St. James Press.