International Management Essay paper

International Management (Doing business with the poor)

Before choosing the particular product for this project I made a short research in order to find out what are the biggest and most spread problems among the poor people in several different countries.  Except many other spheres of life I checked the healthcare and the statistics about the most spread diseases. I started with the US and it turned out that the ASHA panel estimated that 15.3 million new Sexually Transmitted Diseases infections happened in the United States in the year 1996, but this figure is much more pessimistic for the countries with the lower level of life (Alexander. Linda L.).

Speaking about China, where BOP consists of more than 900 000 million of people, venereal disease was almost eradicated by the Communists there. But unfortunately recently sexually-transmitted diseases have returned at alarming levels. The number of the incidents of syphilis increased from 0.2 cases per 100,000 in 1993 to 6.5 cases per 100,000 in 1999. According to one report sexually transmitted diseases increased 170 times between 1984 and 1994 and continue to grow at a rate of 20 percent a year and have contributed to the growing HIV problem (Jeffrey Hays).

In 2006, there were 174,596 reported case of syphilis, up 31 percent from 2005. Some specialists think the true number is 10 times higher (Jeffrey Hays). As for the statistics from African countries, the situation there is not better, than in China at all.

According to researchers at the University of North Carolina sexually-transmitted diseases are increasing in part because economic reforms and globalization “have led to income gaps and a cultural climate that favors re-emergence of prostitution due to a substantial majority of men and large migrant population of male workers” (Alexander. Linda L.). So we can make a conclusion that the problem which is already a great issue in China and other countries may become even more important for the USA.

So I think that we should find a way to make contraceptives more affordable for the poor. Here I want to mention the fact that such countries as China and India are over-populated and the governments are trying to reduce the birth rate, don’t allow poor families to have more than one or two children, so it means that the production, advertisement and distribution of this kind of product will be supported in very different ways. First of all the business may get some help with building the factories outside of the USA by the way of getting tax discount in China, for example.

Also the price of the product will be lower if local people work in the production of contraceptives for the lower salary then the workers of the same qualification in the USA. In such a way there will be also some support to the economics of this country as factories will give more jobs to the population. And then the part of the population in their turn will be able to purchase the products of the business they are working for for themselves. In such a way the business will be engaging in policy dialogues with governments and investing in infrastructure, which Bruce Jenks considers to be two of five most effective strategies for overcoming different constraints (Bruce Jenks).

Then the government will support adapting products by reducing the missing knowledge among the poor population. The statistics should be announced on the radio, TV, in newspapers and on other lower levels (for example the chiefs of the villages will have to gather a meeting, if people don’t read or have no access to the radio or television).

One of the problems mentioned by Bruce Jenks is limited market information (Bruce Jenks) and it should also be overcome with the help of the government, because the particular brand of the contraceptives will be advertised by the authorities and in such a way it will get more trust from the population. This kind of advertisement can cover almost all the BOP including the young groups of the population by enlightening them about the importance of the usage of the contraceptives every time.

In my opinion everything mentioned above will decrease the cost of advertisement, production, taxes paid to the government (especially if it is not the USA). In such a way the price of the product will become lower and more affordable for the poor.

Works Cited

Bruce Jenks. Doing business with the poor. Global Focus. The EFMD Business Magazine. Web. 15 Nov. 2010.

Alexander. Linda L. ”˜”˜SexuallyTransmitted Diseases in America: HowMany Cases and at What Cost?”. Web. 13 Nov. 2010.

Jeffrey Hays . Facts and Details. Diseases in China. Web. 13 Nov. 2010.