University of Delaware
1. In class we reviewed three firms in three different countries. The M/S Milad Nor Company in Afghanistan, Caritex in Bulgaria, and Obod in Montenegro. Each company was faced with different problems and issues. Please briefly summarize the similarities between the firms and their individual issues. How do the problems faced by these firms compare to problems faced by similar firms in more developed countries? a. Building a business is never an easy task add the uncertainty inherent in an emerging market, an undeveloped regulatory environment, and lack of access to reasonably-priced capital and the challenges become almost insurmountable. In spite of the odds emerging markets are full of examples of entrepreneurs that faced these challenges and gone on to create successful businesses providing benefits to their customers, employees, and sources of capital. Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs fail along the way "Obod" holding electrical appliances industry is situated in the town of Cetinje, in the south of Montenegro, 30 km away from Podgorica, the capitol of Montenegro. The overall financial and operational picture for OBOD is dismal. OBOD has not reported a real profit for 12 years and most of the revenue producing units do not cover their own expenses much less the expenses of the support units. The Company is out of cash and has very little raw materials available. OBOD is grossly overstaffed and existing employees are unhappy and unmotivated. Further, the primary product markets OBOD sells in are rapidly shrinking due to the ongoing political and economic difficulties in the region. In addition, international producers have entered the market with newer, more modern, and more efficient products than what OBOD offers. Given the present situation, OBOD is grossly overstaffed. An engineer from the horizontal freezer factory showed me an analysis prepared in 1989 for the number of workers needed for different levels of production. For an output of