Larson Inc. in Nigeria
Case Study
IMAN 601– Week 11
Kolade Zackius-Shittu
University of Maryland University College
August 4, 2009
Summer Semester, 2009
zackshittu@yahoo.com
Dr. Daniel E. Gilbert
Table of Contents
Table of Contents i
Executive Summary 1
Introduction 2
Company Background 2
Country Background and risk profile analysis 2
Doing business in Nigeria: the Larson Experience 3
Social Process Analysis 5
Larson’s SWOT Analysis 6
Weakness 6
Threat 7
Strength 8
Opportunities 8
Recommendations 9
References 10
Executive Summary
Developing countries are similar to emerging markets regarding the state of infrastructure development. Most governments of developing countries encourage foreign direct investment by promising various incentives such as tax relief, easy repatriation of funds, and so on. For instance, since Nigeria returned to democratic rule in 1999, the two successive government administrations have continued to intensify their campaigns for foreign direct investment. However, various economic indexes such as rate of development as expressed by GDP, population growth, corruption, fluctuating exchange rate of the local currency (Naira) to dollar, and so on point to the fact that investment in a developing country such as Nigeria may be a high-risk, low-yield.
Multinational Enterprises continue to seek for opportunities to utilize their international knowledge, expertise and competence to deliver solutions that are adaptable and amenable to the local environments where they can dominate as pioneers and gain appreciable market share. This strategy has succeeded in most developing countries including Nigeria. The story of the telecoms giant, MTN in Nigeria provides a testimonial to encourage other MNEs to look beyond short-term gains and develop solid long-term strategies for profitability while they continue to grow their businesses, leverage on relations and incorporate various societal changes into...