TATE & LYLE International Business Strategy Essay

TATE & LYLE International Business Strategy - Essay Example Over the years the company has become a multinational with acquisitions and alliances with similar agri-businesses, for example, from the USA, Canada, Belgium, and Australia. However, by the year 2000 Tate & Lyle began divesting itself of some of these acquisitions in a strategic move resulting from an unexpected reduction of profits. Tate & Lyle is increasingly diversifying into the manufacture of food additives and bio-materials like Sucralose and again beginning to reclaim its international expansion and globalization strategy (Case Study, Tate & Lyle.doc). More recent initiatives include ‘A joint venture with Du Pont to manufacture a renewable 1,3-Propanediol that can be used to make Sorona (a substitute for nylon)’ and the acquisition of ‘†¦ a small Dutch company called Hycail †¦ to manufacture PLA (polylactic acid)’ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tate_&_Lyle). While profits from sugar refining would be affected by price fluctuations of raw sugar cane in world markets, natural disasters, and currency exchange problems, the food additive side of the company is very much a value-added business and lends itself to a more stable regime in terms of profits. It is also an expanding market and unlike sugar where the market is saturated, open to competition for greater market share. T & Ls expressed new strategic vision is to develop ‘†¦ partnerships to create the world’s leading renewable ingredients business’ and to ‘... build a consistent portfolio of distinctive, profitable, high-value driven solutions in products and services for our customers’ (http://www.tateandlyle.com ). T & L’s former (not very successful) globalization strategy appears to have been designed following a top-down model of the classical business development type. This is formulated in the form of a pyramid with vision at the top followed by mission, goals, strategies, tactics and action plans below.