1. Suppose you work at Microsoft in its Xbox video game console division. Microsoft has long targeted Xbox the advanced economies, especially in North America and Europe. Management would like to sell more Xbox One to emerging markets. What characteristics of emerging markets might make them attractive for sales of the Xbox? Identify the major risks and challenges that Microsoft might encounter in selling the Xbox One to emerging markets.
2. The Indian Tata Group competes in several business sectors; automobiles, chemicals, IT, power, steel, engineering, consulting, communications, consumer products, and hospitality, managing more than 100 companies across 80 countries and 6 continents. In 2007 Tata Steel became the sixth-largest steel company in the world when they purchased the Dutch-British steel giant Corus Group, for $13 billion, establishing a strong position in the global metal industry. In 2008 they acquired Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford for $2.3 billion coupled with Tata Motors’ latest unveiling, the Nano, the world’s cheapest car, thrust the holding company Tata Sons into the spotlight of emerging multinationals. While only 3% of Tata is held by the Tata family, they retain control with the help of other investors, among them state-owned financial institutions. In their international expansion modes of entry include strategic alliances with Daimler-Benz and Starbucks, to acquisitions of Tetley, Singapore's National Steel, and Eight O'Clock coffee, to joint ventures: between Tata Motors and Marcopolo, which initiated bus production for India; between Tata Motors and Fiat to build cars for the Indian and export markets; with Japan (shipping), in India (airport management, drug development, business and logistics centers, and hypermarkets); with Boeing to build aircraft components utilizing Tata's existing plants in India; and with Israel Aerospace Industries. Tata Group has factories in numerous emerging markets, including Kenya, South Korea, Malaysia, Russia, and Thailand. In accelerating their global challenger position, Tata Group has leveraged emerging market opportunities such as vast financial resources and access to capital on favorable terms, a strong corporate image, connections with high-quality business partners, a competitive cost structure thanks to the huge, low-cost Indian labor pool, and long-standing relationships with national and state governments in India. Discuss how the LLL framework is applied by the Tata Group.