Sample Reflective Essay | Reflective Essay Example on International Business Strategy

This is a reflective essay example written for an International Business Strategy module. It works through the module topic by topic, says what the student understood from each one, and states plainly which two topics were still unclear at the end. It is a useful pattern for any reflective brief that asks you to look back over a course rather than a single event.

If your brief asks for a reflection paper rather than a reflective essay, start with our fuller reflection paper example, which is the main guide on this site for that format. A second reflection on the same subject area, structured around a group project, is in our international business strategy reflection.

How Do You Write a Reflective Essay?

Take the syllabus in order and write one short passage per topic: what you understood, one example that proves it, and how confident you are. Use the first person. Finish with what the module changes about your next piece of work. Honesty about gaps is the part that most students leave out and most markers reward.

What a marker looks for in a module reflection, and what this essay does

Point of comparison	What a marker looks for	What this essay does
Structure	What a marker looks for One passage per topic, then a conclusion	What this essay does Takes the topics one at a time, from globalisation to types of innovation, and closes on what the module gave
Own words	What a marker looks for Each framework explained, not only named	What this essay does PEST, CAGE, Porter's Diamond, Yip's drivers, blue ocean strategy and VRIO, each in a sentence or two
Evidence	What a marker looks for An example or appendix item behind each claim	What this essay does Three appendix items, but the legal point in Appendix 1 names no market and no measure; the World Bank's rule of law indicator is the kind of evidence that would carry it
Honesty about gaps	What a marker looks for Says plainly what is still unclear	What this essay does Names Yip's drivers and VRIO as only partly understood
Sources	What a marker looks for The frameworks it names traced to their authors	What this essay does Seven works cited; Porter's Diamond and disruptive innovation are named without a source
Next steps	What a marker looks for A specific action for each weakness	What this essay does A three-row action plan whose fixes stay general: peer discussion, class participation, a better meeting time

The table sets what a marker looks for in a module reflection against what this essay does. Naming two topics it has not mastered is a reflective judgement, not a weakness, and a marker reads it that way. The marks this essay gives away are in evidence and sources.

What Does This Reflective Essay Reflect On?

This reflective essay is based on my learning and understanding of the module International Business Strategy. I will set out honestly what I understood of topics such as PEST analysis, the CAGE framework, transnational innovation and the VRIO model, to name a few. I will also discuss the examples that made each one clear to me, and say how the course will help me in future.

What Did the Module Teach About Globalisation?

That globalisation is best understood as connectedness across borders, and that it has costs as well as benefits. The introductory lectures paired it with urbanisation, and with the difference between an international strategy and a global one, a distinction that sounds small and turns out to shape every decision about standardising a product.

Through the introductory lectures, I understood globalisation and how it has increased the 'connectedness' of firms, markets, people, and information across borders. There is a mention of urbanisation and its dangers which I understood as intensive urbanisation can result in increased poverty, air pollution with heightened lead levels in city air, and a greater risk of flash flooding, among other things. I also learned something very new, which was the difference between an international strategy and a global one. As I understood it, an international strategy extends what already works at home into each new country and adapts the offer market by market, whereas a global strategy treats the world as one market and standardises the offer across it. Rugman (2001) argues that very few firms are global in that second sense, because most of their activity stays concentrated in one region, and that point changed how I read the case studies afterwards. Next, I learned about green enterprises. As I understood it, a green enterprise is a company that has a minimal negative impact or has the potential to have a good influence on the global or local environment, community, society, or economy, a company that seeks to satisfy the triple bottom line (Čekanavičius, et al., 2014).

How Are PEST, CAGE and Porter's Diamond Used?

PEST sorts the external environment into political, economic, social and technological factors. Porter's Diamond explains why one country's firms outperform another's. The CAGE framework measures the cultural, administrative, geographic and economic distance between two countries. Together they answer "should we enter this market, and how far is it from ours?"

I also learned about the business environment which as per my understanding includes consumers, competitors, stakeholders, suppliers, industry trends, regulations, other government actions, social and economic variables, and technical changes, and that it encompasses all those factors that affect a company's operations. In addition, I got to know that the Porter Diamond model outlines the elements that might lead to a competitive edge for one country or economy over another. I understood the PEST Analysis (political, economic, social, and technological) and its extended form, PESTEL, which adds environmental and legal factors, with the help of relevant examples (Appendix 1). The CAGE Distance Framework, as per my understanding identifies cultural, administrative, geographic, and economic distinctions or distances between countries that businesses should consider when developing international strategy. It can also be used to decipher commerce, capital, and information trends (Tokas & Deb, 2020).

What Are Yip's Globalisation Drivers and the VRIO Model?

Yip sorts the forces that push an industry to globalise into four groups: market, cost, government and competitive drivers. VRIO asks whether a resource is valuable, rare and hard to imitate, and whether the firm is organised to exploit it. The essay admits it only partly understood both, and it shows: it names three of Yip's groups and reads VRIO's O as ownership.

I also received basic knowledge of Yip's globalisation drivers from the lectures, though I didn't understand it very well. I interpreted it as saying that market drivers (common customer needs and tastes, the existence of global customers, and transferable marketing between different countries), cost drivers (scale economies, favourable logistics, and country-specific differences) and competitive drivers (competitors' global strategies and country interdependence) determine the pace of globalisation (Yip, 1994). I still require a better understanding of Yip’s globalisation drivers.

In addition, I comprehended that a blue ocean strategy is the pursuit of differentiation and low cost at the same time, in order to open up new market space and create new demand. It is about creating uncontested market space so that the competition becomes irrelevant, rather than beating rivals inside an existing market. It is based on the idea that market boundaries and industry structure are not set in stone and may be changed by the actions and beliefs of the firms in an industry (Kim & Mauborgne, 2005). The lectures on entry barriers showed me how they assist established businesses by preserving their market share and ability to create revenues and profits (Appendix 2).

I learned about core competencies or the resources and talents that make up a company's strategic advantages. I understood that the VRIO framework forms the cornerstone for internal analysis in the week 4 session, when we went over the VRIO Model (Knott, 2015). VRIO stands for valuable, rare, inimitable, and organisation (as in owned by the organisation). Even though I got a brief idea about the VRIO Model after referring to several articles, I feel that I am not very confident about the same.

What Is the Difference Between Shareholders and Stakeholders?

A shareholder owns part of the company. A stakeholder has an interest in how the company behaves, whether or not they own shares: employees, suppliers, customers, regulators and the community. Conflating the two is a common mistake, and separating them is what makes a corporate social responsibility argument coherent.

Business ethics, I believe, is a type of applied ethics or professional ethics that looks at ethical principles and moral or ethical issues that can occur in the workplace. It encompasses all areas of corporate behaviour and is critical to the organisation's success. Initially, I conflated the phrases shareholders and stakeholders. However, I now understand the distinction between the two. A shareholder is a person who holds shares in a public business, whereas a stakeholder is someone who is interested in the firm's performance for reasons other than stock performance or gain. These characteristics often imply that the investor is more concerned with the company's long-term success. A company's corporate social responsibility (CSR) must be met in order for it to succeed. CSR is a type of international private corporate self-regulation that strives to contribute to societal goals through ethically-oriented actions, according to what I learned.

What Types of Innovation Does the Module Cover?

The module separates three families of innovation that are easy to confuse: disruptive innovation, which makes an expensive product accessible to a wider market; the local, central and transnational split, which describes where the innovation work is done; and frugal innovation, which strips cost and complexity out of a product for a lower-income market.

I also learned about other topics like innovation and its repercussions, including disruptive innovation, local/central/transnational innovation, frugal innovation, and much more. This helped me distinguish between these kinds of innovation, which at first appeared to be interchangeable. I discovered that encouraging the creation of Transnational Innovation Systems has demonstrable benefits for the countries and regions involved, which may be related to the expansion of consumer, labour, and factor markets, more competition, expanded division of labour, and higher specialisation (Chaminade & Nielsen, 2011). In addition, I learned that disruptive innovation refers to inventions and technologies that make expensive or complicated products and services more accessible and inexpensive to a larger market. It necessitates enabling technology, a new business model, and a well-coordinated value network. Following that, I learned about Frugal Innovation, which is the process of decreasing the complexity and expense of a product and its manufacturing. In most cases, this refers to the removal of non-essential characteristics from a durable good, such as a car or phone, in order to sell it in underdeveloped countries. Finally, I understood that strategic alternatives are innovative, action-oriented solutions to the external environment that an organisation (or set of organisations) is confronted with.

What Did the Module Contribute Overall?

The module left the student with a set of tools and some corrections. The tools are PEST, CAGE and VRIO, which the student expects to use in the group project and later at work. Two corrections are shown in the essay itself: shareholders versus stakeholders, and the types of innovation. A third, strategic stretch, is named below and nowhere else, so a marker has nothing to credit.

An understanding of this module helped me learn about International Business Strategy and its advantages over time. IBS is of utmost importance because global exposure ensures a better grasp of various enterprises, markets, and cultures. The module has allowed me to comprehend how globalisation has enhanced global connectedness. This module also helped me clear several doubts and confusions like the difference between stakeholders and shareholders, strategic stretch, types of innovation, etc. which will certainly come in handy in the long run. Tools such as PEST, CAGE and VRIO helped me develop analytical skills that I can use in the upcoming group activity and in my career.

Appendix

Appendix 1: PESTEL Analysis Example

Where legal procedures are slow or enforcement is weak, it is harder for a company that intends to compete honestly to operate, so that market scores badly on the legal parameter of the PESTEL analysis.
Similarly, in a market where average incomes are low, the price of an Apple product puts it out of reach of most buyers, so opening a store there does not make sense. That is the economic parameter of the PESTEL analysis.

Appendix 2: Porter’s Five Forces

The threat of new entry is less in the case of petroleum and natural gas companies like Saudi Aramco and Reliance Industries, because entry requires huge funds, government support, key suppliers, licences, etc., which are hard for a new company to acquire.

Appendix 3: Action Plan

What Would a Complete Five Forces Appendix Look Like?

It would cover all five forces, give each a strength and a reason, and end with one sentence on what they add up to. Appendix 2 covers one force for one industry. Our worked version below takes Apple's smartphone business, the company Appendix 1 already uses, and rates each force by the wording of its line.

Porter's five forces for Apple in the smartphone market

Competitive rivalry

Strength 4 of 5

• Samsung and the Chinese manufacturers release comparable hardware every year
• The contest is over features, timing and brand

Threat of new entrants

Strength 1 of 5

• An entrant needs a chip supply, an operating system, an app ecosystem and a retail network before selling one handset

Bargaining power of suppliers

Strength 2 of 5

• Apple buys in volumes large enough to set the terms
• A single supplier of a critical component can hold a strong position for a time

Bargaining power of buyers

Strength 3 of 5

• One buyer has no influence on price
• Moving to Android costs little beyond transferring data, which the ecosystem is designed to make expensive

Threat of substitutes

Strength 3 of 5

• Tablets, laptops and wearables take over some of what a phone is used for without replacing it

• Competitive rivalry: high. Samsung and the Chinese manufacturers release comparable hardware every year, so the contest is over features, timing and brand rather than over whether a rival exists at all.
• Threat of new entrants: low. A new entrant would need a chip supply, an operating system, an app ecosystem and a retail network in place before it could sell a single handset.
• Threat of substitutes: moderate. Tablets, laptops and wearables take over some of what a phone is used for without replacing the phone itself.
• Bargaining power of suppliers: low to moderate. Apple buys in volumes large enough to set the terms, although the single supplier of a critical component can hold a strong position for a time.
• Bargaining power of buyers: moderate. One buyer has no influence on price, but moving to Android costs that buyer little beyond the inconvenience of transferring data, which is exactly what the ecosystem is designed to make expensive.

Rivalry is the only strong force. The two that Apple's position rests on, the barrier to new entrants and the cost to a buyer of leaving, both come from the ecosystem rather than the handset. That closing sentence, saying what the forces add up to, is what a marker looks for and what Appendix 2 does not have.

More reflective and study-skills samples are in our education samples, among them a personality assessment assignment that reflects on a DISC profile and closes with a dated action plan. Our reflection paper help covers reflective essays and reports; an analytical or argumentative essay on the same module goes to essay writing help. For an analytical essay on a related subject, read globalization in hospitality.

Need a reflective essay on your own module, in the first person and to your brief? Message us on WhatsApp with the module name, the word count and the deadline.

Sources and References

• Rugman, A.M. (2001) Viewpoint: the myth of global strategy. International Marketing Review. doi.org/10.1108/eum0000000006300.
• Yip, G.S. (1994) Industry drivers of global strategy and organization. The International Executive, 36(5), pp.529-556. doi.org/10.1002/tie.5060360503.
• Tokas, K. and Deb, A.K. (2020) CAGE distance framework and bilateral trade flows: case of India. Management Research Review. doi.org/10.1108/mrr-09-2019-0386.
• Knott, P.J. (2015) Does VRIO help managers evaluate a firm’s resources? Management Decision. doi.org/10.1108/MD-08-2014-0525.
• Čekanavičius, L., Bazytė, R. and Dičmonaitė, A. (2014) Green business: challenges and practices. Ekonomika, 93(1), pp.74-88. doi.org/10.15388/Ekon.2014.0.3021.
• Chaminade, C. and Nielsen, H. (2011) Transnational innovation systems. Estudios y Perspectivas 133. Mexico City: ECLAC Subregional Headquarters in Mexico (LC/MEX/L.1041). hdl.handle.net/11362/4914.
• Kim, W.C. and Mauborgne, R. (2005) Blue ocean strategy: how to create uncontested market space and make the competition irrelevant. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press. The authors’ definition: blueoceanstrategy.com/what-is-blue-ocean-strategy.
• LibreTexts (2022) Industry globalization drivers. In Fundamentals of Global Strategy (de Kluyver), section 2.4. biz.libretexts.org.