The Story of a High-Tech Entrepreneur in a Low-Tech World
DREAM DEFFERED:
THE STORY OF A HIGH-TECH ENTREPRENEUR IN A LOW-TECH WORLD
INTERNATIONALIZATION OF SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES
MIDTERM 2011
PREPARED BY: LAURA PLANTJE
PREPARED FOR: ERNESTO TAPIAS-MOORE
MARCH 9, 2011
INTRO:
Monique Maddy is a Harvard Business School graduate turned visionary entrepreneur who founded Adesemi Communications International. Adesemi was supposed to revolutionize the information technology sector in her home continent of Africa, by enabling thousands of lower and middle-income families access to affordable wireless communications services. Unfortunately for her, and Adesemi, their demise came six years into the venture, when they were forced to liquidate. This paper discusses several crucial categories of issues that should have been addressed during the internationalization of Adesemi, backed my theories developed in scholarly articles.
A) MANAGEMENT ISSUES:
Maddy knew right off the bat that she wanted to set up her business in a third world country, as she figured she capitalize on an untapped market. She was also some what of a philanthropist by nature, having worked for the UN, and fully supporting their mission for improving the quality of life for the unfortunates. She conducted thorough research as to where and how she would enter a foreign market. With her findings she decided to move forward into Tanzania because it seemed fitting because it was “aggressively privatizing its economy and vigorously courting foreign investments.” Her research however was not thorough enough. Somehow she overlooked the strict regulations on FDI and government policies. Her business model was built around the impression that she would be receiving commissions on all the calls that were placed each day on her network. Johansson and Vahlne state that psychic distance usually refers to the obstacles to information flows between countries due to differences in business laws, education levels, business language, etc. Even though
THE STORY OF A HIGH-TECH ENTREPRENEUR IN A LOW-TECH WORLD
INTERNATIONALIZATION OF SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES
MIDTERM 2011
PREPARED BY: LAURA PLANTJE
PREPARED FOR: ERNESTO TAPIAS-MOORE
MARCH 9, 2011
INTRO:
Monique Maddy is a Harvard Business School graduate turned visionary entrepreneur who founded Adesemi Communications International. Adesemi was supposed to revolutionize the information technology sector in her home continent of Africa, by enabling thousands of lower and middle-income families access to affordable wireless communications services. Unfortunately for her, and Adesemi, their demise came six years into the venture, when they were forced to liquidate. This paper discusses several crucial categories of issues that should have been addressed during the internationalization of Adesemi, backed my theories developed in scholarly articles.
A) MANAGEMENT ISSUES:
Maddy knew right off the bat that she wanted to set up her business in a third world country, as she figured she capitalize on an untapped market. She was also some what of a philanthropist by nature, having worked for the UN, and fully supporting their mission for improving the quality of life for the unfortunates. She conducted thorough research as to where and how she would enter a foreign market. With her findings she decided to move forward into Tanzania because it seemed fitting because it was “aggressively privatizing its economy and vigorously courting foreign investments.” Her research however was not thorough enough. Somehow she overlooked the strict regulations on FDI and government policies. Her business model was built around the impression that she would be receiving commissions on all the calls that were placed each day on her network. Johansson and Vahlne state that psychic distance usually refers to the obstacles to information flows between countries due to differences in business laws, education levels, business language, etc. Even though
References: Agarwal, James (2010). Cultural Issues when Internationalizing. Class notes from International Marketing, MKTG 467. Univeristy of Calgary. Maddy, Monique (2000). Dream Deferred; the story of a high-tech entrepreneur in a low-tech world. Harvard Business Review, pp. 57- 69. Figueira – de –Lemos, F., Johanson, J., and Vahlne, J.E., (2010). Risk management in the internationalization process of the firm: A note on the Uppsala model. Journal of World Business Johanson, J., and Vahlne, J.E., (2009). The Uppsala internationalization process model revisited: From liability of foreignness to liability of outsidership. Journal of International Business Studies. Johanson, J., and Vahlne, J.E., (2003). Business Relationship Learning and Commitment in the Internationalization Process. Journal of International Entrepreneurship 1.