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IF I HAVE TO START A BUSINESS I WOULD LIKE TO START THE BUSINESS IN BANGLADESH

Why I choose Bangladesh? I would like to start my business in Bangladesh because the most of the culture of Bangladesh are similar to the culture of Pakistan. Bangladesh was the Part of Pakistan .Bangladesh is gradually becoming an economically strong and financially settled nation. Many foreign investors are becoming interested in investing in the business sector of the country. Many companies and investors all over the world have chosen Bangladesh for investment purpose. The main reason behind this is the incentives and policies provided by the government. The Government of Bangladesh provides excellent facilities and incentives to the foreign investors. This is why foreign corporations are nowadays interested in business in Bangladesh. Reasons of Starting business in Bangladesh Following are reasons of starting a business in Bangladesh 1. Abundance of trainable and hardworking manpower at low wages not expected to increase substantially in the near future. 2. Attractive payback periods (3-4 years) on new projects leveraging the benefits of low wages in the export markets and relatively high prices for most of the goods/services in the domestic market. 3. Rapidly growing domestic market and potential access to the large South Asian Market. 4. Business opportunities in Bangladesh Some of the industries offering interesting opportunities for worldwide partners are found especially in garments/textiles; IT & IT related services and food products. However, other sectors in growth and/or in need for being upgraded would comprise: Clothing/Apparel/Garment/Textile Leather Frozen Seafood Jute goods Energy Telecom Construction Natural gas Electronic and Light engineering Health services Educational services Global staffing services. M Asghar 2K10/BBA/27

5. Special business opportunity for investors Bangladesh is best placed in the region for textiles and garments industry due to cheap labor and favorable trade status with the EU. Again, Government incentives for the spinning and weaving industries in the form of cash subsidy of the fabric cost to exporters sourcing fabrics locally. There is huge yarn and fabric demand supply gap in the RMG industries which is presently met by imports. Thus the potential for backward linkage industry is enormous Prospect for a huge textile industry capable to supply over 3 billion yards of fabrics a year to the export oriented garment industry has also been developed by the industry. Presently, about 85%-90% of this demand is met by import from countries like China, India, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Korea, Indonesia, Taiwan, etc. Fabric requirement is increasing at 20% per annum. This offers a tremendous opportunity for further investment. Cultures of Pakistan and Bangladesh Culture Religion Widely spoken & language Main staple (food) Pakistan Islam understood Urdu Roti (hand-made flattened bread) & daal/beef Shalwar & Punjabi(kurta) & shalwar & kameej agriculture Cricket and football(soccer), hockey and kabaddi Bangladesh Islam Bangla (Bengali) Rice & fish/vegetable Lungi & Punjabi & saree & shalwar kameej agriculture Soccer, cricket and kabaddi.

Dress for man & women Occupation for most people Sports:

Political Difference between Pakistan and Bangladesh Both countries have experienced the heavy involvement of the military in politics, but in the Bangladeshi army withdrew of politics in 1990, and continued to stay out. In Pakistan, where even today, when Pakistan has a civilian prime minister and an elected parliament, the army is universally acknowledged as the countrys political power controller. Economic Difference between Pakistan and Bangladesh Both countries could neither sustain economic growth rates anywhere near its potential, nor come close to meeting its poverty reduction goals. The only difference is Pakistan has produced impressive results at the macro level. But political and economic uncertainties continue to place

M Asghar

2K10/BBA/27

constraints on Pakistans ability to perform up to its potential where Bangladeshs economic future is clouded primarily by endemic poor governance. Social Development between Pakistan and Bangladesh Bangladesh has outstripped Pakistan in a number of important areas, including the key area of population growth. The fertility rate in Pakistan as recently as 2000 remained a high 4.7 births/woman, whereas in Bangladesh it had fallen to 3.1 births/ woman. As primary school attendance and participation in the work force Bangladeshi women are far ahead of their Pakistani counterparts. Communication Style of Bangladeshi People The communication styles of Bangladeshi people are indirect or implicit. They usually take longtime to know each other; they love to use rich and contextualized words. If someone take short time or direct approach in introduction, they considered as rude. Personal space is not a huge factor in Bangladeshi culture, they tend to stand or close (2-3 feet) when taking. Touch of same gender is common in Bangladesh usually in female. All of the friends and family members take along conversation period in meeting each other or taking via network; this approach happened because Bangladeshi believes in collectivism approach Business Structure in Bangladesh The business structure in Bangladesh is enormously hierarchical, both in Government & Private organizations. A chain of command is maintained from the top to bottom. Bosses are not willing to include employees in the decision making process or building ideas about any service or product. Even top level management does not conduct a business research about the new product or flavor in Bangladesh Political Attitude [Laws and Regulations] Political environment is one of the biggest dark sides for Bangladesh. Unlike other countries, Bangladesh has scored high in corruption so many times in the world ranking. Political unrest is a regular issue in Bangladesh by which all of the business entities [local & international] are losing their potential corporate opportunities. Laws and regulations are not effective to the emerging situations Global Competitive Advantages of MNC in Bangladesh Bangladesh can assure some competitive advantages in International Business. This advantage enables a company produce at lower cost and yields higher profit. The competitive advantages are as follows a large number of cheap labors. So that labor intensive project can be

M Asghar

2K10/BBA/27

implemented in Bangladesh easily. A large potential market. About 120 million people form a big consumer and industrial market. A weak competitive situation is prevailing in Bangladesh. Service sector like telephone is in a competitive advantageous position. Some sort of low cost raw materials are available like jute, fish, leather etc in Bangladesh. Recently introduced government regulations for the foreign investors. It allows to foreigners to have 100% ownership of businesses and promises foreign investors equal treatment with domestic capital. The government also allows foreign firms to obtain working capital loans in taka from local banks. Some Social and ethical Problems That I will face while doing business in Bangladesh (1) Managing the type of the government obtaining in a host country where subsidiary of an MNC is located (2) Relationship between home & host country (3) Host governments attitude towards foreign investment (4) Social problems of host country (5) International laws is weak in addressing social effects on business (6) Bribery & Corruption (7) Work practices & worker remuneration How I will Manage Social and Ethical Problems in Bangladesh There are some cultural, social, ethical and religious problems in Bangladesh and it may impact on doing business. Following are some suggestions for doing business in Bangladesh: At present, the government policy is favorable to MNC for increasing foreign investment. Joint ventures or fully subsidiaries companies can be established. MNC can business in garments, fish processing, tourism and some electronics sectors where the competition is not begun yet. Of course, religious and cultural aspects should be considered for doing business in Bangladesh. Most potential and profitable sector is hotel and tourism sector. Because Bangladesh has got the largest sea beach of the world as well as the finest mangrove forest named The Sundarbans and other tourist spots in the port city Chittagong. To Manage Cultural, Social and ethical problems I will take the following Actions Corporate Social Responsibilities Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR) is understood as the obligation of decisionmakers to take actions that protect & improve the welfare of the society (Bangladesh) as a whole along with their own interests.

M Asghar

2K10/BBA/27

Equal Opportunities for jobs to the local people and jobs training The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission regularly monitors company's hiring practices to make sure there is no discrimination in the hiring process based on ethnicity, sexual orientation, race, religion and disability. Compensation and Skills I will recommend compensation. While these recommendations may be based on a salary range for each position, ethical dilemmas arise when it comes to compensating employees differently for the same skills. For example, a highly sought-after executive may be able to negotiate a higher salary than someone who has been with the company for several years. This can become an ethical problem when the lower-paid employee learns of the discrepancy and questions whether it is based on characteristics such as gender and race. Respect basic human rights & freedoms Respect for the fundamental rights of all people, including people with disabilities, is an essential feature of any International Business Minimize any negative impact on local economies policies My projects and facilities can bring benefits to local communities I will not take any action that violate the Government of Bangladeshs local policies Transfer technology I will import sophisticated technology skills, knowledge, methods of manufacturing to boost up my production level in Bangladesh Protect the environment While doing the business in foreign country it is very important to protect the environment of that country. I will have to ensure the health and safety of the employees as well as the public who is living around my business operation. Consumer protection Consumer is the king of the market no matter what kind of business you are operating national or international you have to protect consumers rights the satisfaction of the consumer will be the vision of my business. Conclusions: It can be observed from the above discussions that there are some potentialities in doing business with Bangladesh. Despite the negligible problems I think there is an ample scope for the MNC to start business in Bangladesh. Present globalization process as well as the favorable government policy will be helpful to the MNC in this regard.

M Asghar

2K10/BBA/27