International business strategy (change Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words - 1

International business strategy (change - Essay Example with the global, national and industrial environment a business needs to change its internal structures and systems to gain the best of results from its operations. The changes in internal structures to attain this often affect organizational structures, systems of production, distribution and marketing. Smith & Graetz (2011) juxtapose businesses with organisms. They are in a population that includes other businesses which come together to form an industry. They have to build and maintain their areas of competitive advantage to survive and this is evident in the form of growth and the capture of market share. This is in the form of evolution, where the business finds new ways and methods of doing things to get the best of results and overcome competitors in terms of survival and profits. Porter (1998) states that change and innovation unfreezes and reshapes a business’ internal systems to enable it to attain and sustain competitive advantage. This means that change causes an organization to dismantle its existing systems and structures and then put in place new systems and structures to enable it to meet changes in its external environment in the context of strategic planning. Kurt Lewin identifies three stages that businesses go through to create and sustain change (Shapiro, 2010). At the first the organization needs to ‘unfreeze’. This involves the analysis of the external and internal environment and the identification of the need for change. This is followed by the sanctioning of the project by initiation with tope level management and core employees to be involved in the process. This is complemented by the need to examine and understand doubts and concerns. The second stage involves the actual change. At this point, the change is communicated to all the people concerned with it. The personnel in charge of the change need to work hard to dispel doubts and resistance. They then go ahead to empower the stakeholders involved in the actual change. From