b.

Give and explain the advantages and disadvantages of international business and trade
among nations.
Advantage:

 Bigger variety of products for the local population – it enables a country to obtain
goods which it cannot produce by importing from other countries.
 Higher level of competition with decreasing prices – goods will decline in price
when they become widely available.
 Companies can expand their target market – By exporting your products and
services to the global marketplace, countries can develop more market share
and grow their business.
 Increased revenues – countries may be able to increase number of potential
clients. Each country can open up a new pathway to business growth and
increased revenues.
 Better risk management – focusing only on the domestic market may expose a
company to increased risk from downturns in the economy, political factors,
environmental events and other risk factors. Becoming less dependent on a
single market may help mitigate potential risks in your core market.
 Benefiting from currency exchange – a company may be able to export more as
foreign customers benefit from the favorable currency exchange rate.

Disadvantage
 Dependency on other countries - one disadvantage of international trade is that it
often implies a significant dependence on countries. The exporting country can
often dictate prices and the receiving country may have to pay those prices since
there may simply be a lack of alternatives.
 Local unemployment – Global trade may also lead to significant local
unemployment. While the economy of some countries may greatly benefit and
companies may be able to create high numbers of jobs, companies in other
countries may be significantly harmed by global trade since they might lose their
competitiveness, which in turn may lead to job losses in those countries.
 Small companies may go out of business – while big companies are often able to
profit from international trade since they are able to expand their economic
territory, small companies may not have this opportunity since they have limited
financial resources and expanding to other markets may be costly.
 Resource depletion – International trade also contributes to the resource
depletion problem. For the production of those goods, large amounts of natural
fossil resources have to be used, which may cause serious problems since at
one point in time, some of our natural resources may be entirely depleted and we
will no longer be able to use those resources for production purposes.
 Complying with international laws may be difficult – International trade also
implies the need to adjust business actions in order to comply with international
and foreign laws. While companies who only engage in national markets just
have to make sure to comply with local laws, companies engaging in
international trades also have to take into account several other regulatory
frameworks, which may be costly since the help of experts may be needed in
order to comply with those international regulations.