BUMA 

20043: International Business and Trade 

 Discuss the international business environment, political and economic environment, and the

legal and technological environment of global managers. 
 
Global Managers are responsible for managing business operations across diverse cultures and
time zones. They are the ones whom we consider as decision-makers, innovators, and
negotiators. As decision-makers, global managers review reports, analyze markets, and
determine a course of action. As innovators, they are the ones who create vision, generate new
ideas to improve products and services, test new methods, seize opportunities to transform their
vision into profits. As negotiators, they make deals, negotiate contracts, manage conflicts and
resolve them. In order to be effective and efficient, a global manager must be skilled and
experienced enough in their field. This mean to say that factors affecting the international
business they manage must be accounted for. Factors such as political, economic, legal and
technological factors. Global managers must be well acquainted with their international
business’ political and economic environment as well as their legal and technological
environment. 
 
An international business’ political environment considers the following factors: changes in tax
rates, policies and actions of government, political stability of target markets, foreign trade
regulations, among others. Moreover, the political environment is the government actions which
affect the operations of a company or business.  These actions can be present on several
different levels including the local, state, regional, national, and international level.  Those who
own businesses often pay close attention to these factors to deduce the way in which
government actions will affect their business. On the other hand, the economic
environment consists of external factors in a business market and the broader economy that
can influence a business. The said environment can be divided into the (1) microeconomic
environment, which affects business decision making - such as individual actions of firms and
consumers, market size which a business operates, demand and supply of the products and
services offered by the business, competitors, suppliers, etc. - and (2) the macroeconomic
environment, which affects an entire economy and all of its participants – such as interest rates,
taxes, inflation, currency exchange rates, savings rates, unemployment rate.

The term- legal environment- relates to the code of conduct of any company. It defines the legal
boundaries and scope of the firm. Wage rates, laws relating to age and disability discrimination,
and employment and environment laws and other laws that affects, directly or indirectly, a
business must be considered in determining the legal environment of an international business.
Having a good background about the legal environment of one’s business allows managers to
know their limits and boundaries before fully engaging themselves into the said business. Also,
the legal environment helps managers in making business decisions that are ethical and in-line
(in consideration) with the welfare of the society where it operates. While in assessing the
technological environment of an international business, both negative and positive impacts must
be identified before making business decisions that are meant to develop and improve the said
business. Technological change can bring about advantages and opportunities for businesses
such as fast and vast creation of new products and services, as well as improvements in
technological products and processes which increase productivity and reduce costs. However,
this technological change may also bring negative impacts to businesses like increase in
competition of businesses in the same industry.
References:

Lamson, M. (2018, June 20). New Global Managers: Tools and Tips You’ll Need to Be
Successful. Retrieved from Inc. com: https://www.inc.com/melissa-lamson/10-never-fail-
strategies-for-new-global-manager.html

Global Manager Job Description, Duties and Requirements. (2019, September 25). Retrieved
from Study.com:
https://study.com/articles/Global_Manager_Job_Description_Duties_and_Requirements.html

Grimsley, S. (n.d.). What is the Economic Environment in Business? Retrieved from Study.com:
http://198.23.153.33/academy/lesson/what-is-the-economic-environment-in-business-definition-
importance-factors.html

Larue, T. (2017, December 19). Political Environment of Business. Retrieved from enotes.com:
https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/explain-political-environment-business-612699

Mahadev, N. (2017, May 19). The Legal Environment of Business. Retrieved from airtract.com:
https://www.airtract.com/article/the-legal-environment-of-business-–-a-complete-guide