Businesses and International Strategy - Essay Example

Businesses and International Strategy 1. Introduction Businesses that intend to compete in the changing global environment need to craft out strategies so as to be able to anticipate and respond to the rapid pace of change. Hence the information needs are changing and becoming more complex and diverse. Timely, relevant information has thus become important for the growth of the company overseas. Information needs are changing in both developed and developing nations. The established markets in the developed countries have become more geographically integrated as they are establishing direct vertical links between the customers, suppliers and retailers (Craig & Douglas, 1999). This has made it necessary to conduct research across boundaries as it helps to identify regional and global market segments. As firms need to collect information from a broader and more diverse range of markets conducting research in developing countries has become essential. However, conducting market research in developed countries poses certain challenges. These challenges range from collecting accurate and updated data on existing behaviour patterns in a cost effective manner. Collection of data has become easier due to the technological advancement but also complex at the same time. The communications infrastructure enables data collection on a much broader and diverse scale. The removal of barriers between countries, the growth of regional and global market infrastructure and the increased mobility of consumers have exerted pressure to have an integrated international marketing strategy. The emerging economies are promising in terms of sales and expansion of the multinationals and hence conducting international market research in these countries is of paramount importance. Before entering these markets, firms have to collect information to assess potential oppurtunities and determine how to position, price, promote and place their product. International Marketing Research (IMR) has been defined as market research conducted either simultaneously or sequentially to facilitate marketing decisions in more than one country (Kumar, 2000). The process entails taking into account various market characteristics fro facilitating marketing decisions. The various components that are responsible for marketing the product can be traced. Marketing research is an important part of the marketing intelligence system as it helps to improve management decision making by providing relevant, accurate and timely (RAT) information (Aaker, Kumar & Day, 2001). To develop strategies information through market research becomes essential. Hence marketing research is an information input to decisions and not simply evaluations of decisions that have been made. Although international market research involves the same disciplines as domestic research there are some differences. The main difference in the process arises because of the political, legal, economic, social and cultural difference between nations and the results become difficult to compare (Kumar, 2000). The international market research process is much more complicated and the international market researcher faces problems that are different from those that a domestic researcher encounters (Aaker, Kumar and Day, 2001). Researchers have to be familiar with the problems that are unique to the conducting of market research within and across countries. IMR is complicated because of the necessity to ensure construct, measurement, sampling and analysis equivalence before any cross-cultural study is conducted. 2. Primary and secondary data The research process also involves identifying the sources of data, availability and comparability of data from different countries. Problems associated with collection of primary data collection across countries add to the complexity of the international research process. Any research is based on collection of primary data and secondary data. Secondary data are data that have been previously collected by some other person or agencies for a different purpose other than the problem at hand. It is the cheapest and easiest means of access to information. Secondary data helps to understand and analyze what primary data needs to be collected and hence examining secondary data is a prerequisite to collection of primary data. It also serves as a reference base against which the validity and accuracy of primary data can be compared. It saves the researcher in terms of time and money as a few hours or days in the library gives access to any amount of secondary data. The various sources of secondary data include government publications, periodicals and journals. It also includes publicly available reports from private groups such as foundations, publishers, trade associations, unions, and companies. In international market research secondary data pose two problems – the accuracy of data ad the comparability of data obtained from different countries. Primary research is a unique research carried out by the researcher. The investigation must conform to a valid research design. Primary data collection is carried out through case studies, focus-group interviews, individual interviews, experiments and surveys. Primary data collection is comparatively costly to collect as it involves actual research or survey. 3. Types of difficulties Elahi (2007) points put that there are two types of difficulties in collection of primary data and secondary data from developing countries – endogenous and exogenous. The endogenous difficulties are the inherent difficulties like the weakness of the institutional setup or weakness of the organizational setup. These difficulties can also arise out of lack of resources and infrastructure and the performance may not be up to the mark. Infrastructure for internal communication is poor and there is a lack of comprehensive and up to date directories. The legal frameworks are outdated and insufficient and there is lack of autonomy. The exogenous difficulties arise due to the inability of the civil society, of the establishments, the organization and the administration to part with reliable and timely data (Elahi, 2007). They want to hold on to data as there is an element of distrust that the data could be misused. The exogenous weaknesses are rooted in illiteracy and reflect the deficiencies in law and order. There are cultural constraints and infrastructural deficiencies. There are standards of maintaining and keeping data is if not up to the international standards which implies that there is low administrative coverage. In addition, social performance standards are low. The respondents too are not willing to part with data or cooperate with researchers; the government too does not provide support. The living condition of the people is not congenial and the society is heterogeneous. The option for secondary data collection is limited. The focus of research has to be improved in the developing countries because of the future growth potential. However, conducting research in these regions requires both an understanding and sensitivity to differences in the market environment along with the ability to deal with a lack of well developed market research infrastructure (Craig & Douglas, 1999). It has often been found that respondents experience difficulty in understanding the questions posed to them. Hence the challenges include low level of literacy and lack of familiarity with the stimuli or response formats. Hence the researchers need to be cautious not to directly transpose the same formats as used in the developed countries. The instruments have to be so designed that they can be readily understood by the respondents the instruments should also be devoid of cultural bias. The communications infrastructure for instance the telephone lines and the internet connectivity in the developing nations is lacking and hinders the research process. Interpretation of results could also be another constraint as it would depend on the socio-cultural background of the person interpreting the results. Their own culture and experience would influence the interpretation thereby giving a distorted result. This would require that indigenous researchers conduct the research on behalf of the international agency so that they can interpret the results in the local context. The international researchers also need to tailor research questions and adapt research instruments that are suitable to different environments. They should have the capability to generalize or interpret results based at a pan-cultural or global level. This requires skills in designing multi-site studies and addressing country-specific issues. Enhancement of ICT has enabled data-sharing arrangements through online linkages between agencies and establishment of common national databases. In fact the primary data collection activities by a National Statistical Office (NSO) need to be confined only to data items not covered by other agencies (Mohammad, 2006). Secondary data and administrative records are used for updating both the establishment frame and the economic databases but there has to be efficiency and ease of accessing such data. According to the Department of Statistics, Malaysia (DOSM), such collaborative efforts depend to a large extent on the commitment of all relevant agencies and such benefits are not expected to take place in the immediate future. DOMS has established an online networking system with all its branch offices but despite the effort challenges to persist in the system in collaborating with other agencies. Each individual agency in the developing countries is governed by its own rules and regulations, which limits them from sharing information. Each establishment should have a unique identifier which should facilitate the process of checking and matching but agencies differ as to how they assign identifiers. Information like description of activity, operational status, name, address and post codes are either incorrect or not provided at all. Besides, the data are stored in different formats and follow a different coding system. This requires manual checking making it difficult to access. The frequency of data collection also differs across agencies and this too limits the sharing and wider usage of data. A study was conducted by the World Bank in 1989 (Fields, 1989) to determine the changes in poverty and inequality in developing countries. Through such studies the World Bank aims to understand the opinions of the donors, policymakers and academics on who benefits from economic development and who suffers when the economy declines. The data for the study that was available to them was less than ideal. The number of years of data available for each country was limited. They wanted to use the Gini coefficient to determine the poverty level but these can be calculated based on at least three observations per country. The study could obtain only one observation for 14 countries and 8 observations for one country. Even the measures of poverty and inequality were based on estimated monetary income. This was found to be an inadequate measure because it could not capture informal sector income. Even when data was available it was found to be unusable. Hence when findings are based on such data the outcome is bound to be misleading. China has been the focus of business and the target of the multinationals in the past few years. It is now the world’s third most active nation, behind just US and Germany and ahead of Japan. There is abundance of literature available on the economic growth of the People’s Republic of China but very little primary research has been conducted. Secondary data is available but it is old, questionable or inaccurate (Hubbard, Adams, & Whittens, 2008). The market research industry has operated in China only for the past decade and secondary data cannot be trusted. Research in China is difficult due to five factors. First is its size, second is the rate of market change taking place in the country, third is due to the small size of the Chinese businesses (Hubbard, Adams, & Whittens, 2008). Fourth reason stated by the authors is that the regional companies and industries are fragmented and diverse and finally the individuals and businesses you usually unreceptive to queries. In China the information provided by the government, academic institutions, industry associations can be relied upon as they have gained the respect of others over time and they have been able to create a relationship on which research can be carried out (Hubbard, Adams, & Whittens, 2008). At the same time, solely relying on such data is also not advisable because their information may not be up-to-date. As far as secondary research is concerned there are overlaps in the data as the Chinese government is vertically organized and each industry’s ministry collects its own data. Difficulties arise in interpretation of responses and differences in answers due to the cultural and communication barriers. It is also very expensive to conduct a research in China. Response rates are low and the validity issues have to be kept in mind when conducting primary research in China. Even to conduct a study on obesity and overweight in preschool children in developing countries is a problem. WHO claims that there is global epidemic of obesity but the data to support such claim was not available especially from the developing countries. There is substantially less published information from developing countries for men than for women, even less for adolescents and school children, and least about preschool children (Martorell, Khan, Hughes & Grummer-Strawn, 2000). On the other hand there is a large amount of data available on the obesity in preschool children in these countries that has been collected through national surveys. Even though such data is available no analysis has taken place to assess obesity in the preschool children and to study the variation across nations. The international pharmaceutical companies face problems when they consider marketing their products in the developing countries. Family medicine which includes family practice and general practice does not exist in the developing countries (Sparks & Gupta, 2004). In fact the term itself is not known. Financial resources for family health care are limited in developing countries. Research conducted in developing countries may not be applicable to local circumstances, conditions and resources. Conducting high-quality local research is probably the most effective way of getting research findings into practice in developing countries. The poor resources and structures within the health services in the developing countries inhibit research in the developing countries. Research cannot be made a priority when the country is strife with war, corruption, famine and civil unrest. Suppose one wants to improve the health care services and wants to conduct a research on patients’ waiting times and person-centered consultations. This would not be given priority over the long queue for diseases like malnutrition, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and acquired immunodeficiency disease syndrome (AIDS), and tuberculosis. This would be considered a waste of effort and energy as healing is more important under the circumstances. Data collection has always been a challenge according to SIS (2008). Between 1990 and 1995 even when the electronic age had started and the world has begun to emerge as a global market place, the developing countries still conducted their business and research in their local language. The internet allowed the linking of data and flow of information between the developed and the developing countries. By 2000 there was increased demand for rapid global data collection and interpretation of data into intelligence. Taking a single data source for IMR can be misleading because the data is either not relevant or there is too much conflicting data. There may also be differences in definitions. This implies that secondary data needs to be rechecked. The national statistics may reflect a political angle and not give the true picture. For instance, they may even quote high birth rates just to justify the need for more secondary schools. The local situation like holidays has to be taken into account when conducting interviews or for collection of primary data. Collection of primary data in the developing nations is also not easy because most often the respondents have very little information about their customers and the trends. Only the senior people know what sensitive information is or have information about the suppliers and the supply chain. Customer interviews in the developing nations are not very helpful because they know very little about the suppliers and practically nothing about pricing and volume sales information. According to Heywood (2008) socio-cultural factors contribute to how market research can be conducted in different countries. These factors include the tendency to share information or withhold information, the willingness to participate, or to share opinions. Chinese are always suspicious when it comes to sharing information and this tendency is deeply rooted in their culture. However, in China, guanxi or network or connections can assist in collection of primary data. It is rooted on the principle that people draw on the connections to secure favors in personal relations. Other constraints that can arise in conducting research or in collecting primary data in developing countries is that interviewing consumers is considered a form of spying. There is a fear that surveys could step into politically sensitive areas or could reveal regional weaknesses. Because of this fear the government started implementing regulations to have a control over the market research. The government set up a State Statistical Bureau (SSB) whose approval as needed for the questions before primary data could be collected (Heywood, 2008). This proved to be a cumbersome process which held up surveys and the results delivery process was delayed. There are other rhetorical regulations regarding conducting market research but they are never actively applied. This condition prevails in most developing countries. China has more than 56 dialects and regional sets of customs apart from communist regulations that make the process of research frustrating for a researcher. Communication infrastructure is poor as telephone and internet penetration is slow and hence primary research can only be face-to-face or door-to-door interviewing, which can be time consuming and costly. There is lack of local skilled research staff and it is essential to have local staff as the language and culture poses challenges when foreign skilled people are used for conducting research. There is instability in sample source and tracking research in China is also difficult. 4. Cultural and communication barriers In conducting IMR cultural differences ij differing regions of the world have to be taken into account The cultural issues become very significant in China as two-thirds of the population live in rural areas and are still engaged in farming and agriculture (Hubbard, Adams, & Whittens, 2008). The people still believe in the Confucian principles and relationships are hierarchical. Hence to conduct primary research in China one would need an intermediary. Trust is essential and this can be transmitted through guanxi or relationship which means they would relate only with a trusted business associate and who alone can be the intermediary for the research. It takes several attempts to even get a meeting with the Chinese organization in the first place. Communication is another issue that hinders the collection of data or conducting interviews. Only one who is familiar with the local dialect, nuances of the language, their moods and expressions would be able to actually understand what they imply when they speak something (Hubbard, Adams, & Whittens, 2008). An intermediary would be able to translate the actual meaning to both sides. Suppose someone offers them a business proposal, even if they are against the proposal, they would externally keep saying let us have a look at it but to the intermediary they would convey their actual feelings. Now when both sides convey and confide their actual feelings, the role of intermediary becomes vital. It is very difficult to understand what the Chinese imply even when they talk something, explain the authors. Businesses rely on research before making an entry in a foreign country and when such research does not take into account the cultural differences it can lead to business failures (Steenkamp, 2001). The marketing theories have been developed in the western countries but these theories have to be validated and the models examined in other cultural settings also so that generalizations can be deduced. Such studies also help to uncover boundary conditions. Theories and approaches like cognitive dissonance, attribution theory, preference modeling, and individual choice modeling would need to be modified before they are applied in say collectivist cultures. Hofstede’s framework is generally used as he has defined and devised four dimensions of cultural variation - individualism/ collectivism, power distance, masculinity/femininity, and uncertainty avoidance. These are based on the fact that in every society gender and social inequality persist. Besides, uncertainties are inherent in social and economic processes. Many cross-cultural works in marketing have used country as the basic unit of analysis. This does not imply that culture and country are the same. Every nation does not only culturally homogenous societies. In fact the countries are separated from each other on the national-cultural level. Commonality and diversity both exist within a country. More than gender, education, age, and marital status differences exist in culture among the people. In fact the cultural effects at the country level have yielded many important and interesting insights bit when these have not been taken into account the results can be disastrous as cultural dimensions can be unlimited. Global research requires specialists and not generalists, according to Kumar (2000). The generalists would consider the world as a single market while the specialists would take into account the country and region specific factors that would govern the marketability of the product in those markets. 5. Ethical consideration for primary research People in the developing countries are vulnerable to exploitation by the researchers. The research funding is based on the needs of the funding agencies rather than the needs of these communities (Sparks & Gupta, 2004). Informed consent is never taken in developing countries before conducting a research. Especially in the case of research in family medicine, highly personal information needs to be disclosed by the people and hence an informed consent should be mandatory. 6. Overcoming difficulties in research Elahi suggests how to overcome these difficulties in the developing nations. Modernization of the work flow, of the performance and modernization of the statistical program can enhance outcome. What is also required is that the top management should be qualified professionals. Capacity building and training would add to the outcome and most importantly the statistical law should be modernized. The developing countries should participate in international statistical projects like ICP, ICT or health accounting. They should also join modern forms of data collection. Public-private partnerships have been found to be effective in overcoming the endogenous difficulties and the stakeholders and the media should be involved as well. The statistics should be put to better use and this requires improvement in the governance. Evidence-based policy making is required which can enhance the government effectiveness in reducing poverty in the developing nations. Capacity building of the statisticians should be given the highest priority. Data collection should be followed by strong analysis of the governments. 7. Current trends However the current trends suggest that it is possible to conduct market research effectively for marketers. Efendioglu, Yip and Murray (2003) conducted a research and collected primary data from China on development and acceptance of e-commerce in a developing country. They received 100 percent response to the 20-question questionnaire that was developed in English and translated to and administered in Chinese. They selected 252 participants and they received 252 responses. The unstructured portion of the questionnaire was followed by unstructured interviews to gain further insights. The objective of the study was to explore e-commerce associated concepts and infrastructure related to a developing country. They accomplished the purpose of their study which demonstrates that developing countries are open to research. Another study was conducted in Thailand to study Thai fruit and vegetable exports between 2000 and 2005 (UTCC, 2006). This study too like the e-commerce study in China, achieved success as far as data collection was concerned. Secondary data was collected from institute databases like Department of Trade Negotiation Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Agriculture of Thailand, Agricultural Information Centre, Agricultural Economic Office, The Government Public Relations Department (PRD), Ministry of Commerce (MOC), Bank of Thailand (BOT), and Ministry of Trade of Thailand (MOT). Primary data was collected by sending out 70 questionnaires to the Thai firms engaged in exports. The responses that were received were 60 questionnaires which is considered excellent. The questionnaires included questions pertaining to the national factors like elements like factor conditions, demand conditions, related and supporting industries, firm strategy, structure and rivalry, government, and chance (Porter Diamond Model). It also included international factors like five elements like power of buyers, power of supplier, new entrants, rivalry among player, and substitutes (Porter Five Forces Model). Questionnaires with five point rating scale were distributed and were sent by email or hand under recommendation by The University of The Thai Chamber of Commerce, Bangkok. This suggests that things have changed from what it was and it is possible to conduct studies. However these studies are independent studies and do not require or rely on official government data although they have to get the support and recommendation from the local government. Farrell, Laboissière and Pietracci (2007) of the McKinsey Group conducted a study in Brazil to assess Brazil’s offshoring prospects. They could determine that English language skills were weak in the country and the Brazilian workers lacked international experience. The study could also determine that Brazil’s offshoring infrastructure was top among the less developing nations studied by them. The study could also determine that the country’s telecom and network services bypassed those of India and China although the power infrastructure in Brazil was something to be worried about. The size of the domestic market for IT market services was huge and the country was well positioned to accept offshored business. The operating costs were low and the overall business environment was found to be moderately good. In nutshell, the study could determine all the finer points required to be assessed before others consider offshoring work to Brazil. This just goes to show that research has become possible and collection of primary data can be held. However, this is a private study and not by any government agency although international marketers or investors would rely on the findings of groups and consultants like The Mckinsey. IMR has to be conducted taking into account the local factors. For instance, in the Middle Eastern countries when the interviewers are male, the interviews with women have to be conducted in the evenings when the male members are back home from work (Kumar, 2000). In Latin countries tax evasion is prevalent and hence interviewers are suspected of being tax inspectors. In the developing countries telephone interviews pose another problem due to low levels of telephone ownership and poor communications in certain countries. In countries like India the telephone penetration is just one percent and hence telephone surveys are not considered the ideal method of collecting primary data. Even the Eastern European countries and the newly formed Common wealth of Independent States the telecommunication system is poor. However, the international telephone costs have come down and it is possible to conduct multi-country studies from a single location. Mail surveys too have limitations in the developing nations because of the absence of mailing lists, poor mail services and high levels of illiteracy. In Brazil 30 percent of the mail is never delivered and in Nicaragua all the mail has to be delivered at the post office. In countries where mail service is good and there is also high level of literacy, mail surveys are regarded as invasion of privacy which limits their effectiveness. Focus groups too have limitations in the less developed countries. The moderators need to be conversant with the local language and the nuances of the local culture. In most Asian countries there is collectivist culture and hence this has to be borne in mind. The time required to complete a research in the developing countries would be much more than in the developed countries. Language is the basic tool of communication processes and the languages reflect the culture of origins in the words. Language will be an important challenge for IMR, distribution channels, for dealing with banks and legal issues and when entering the international market. Communicating effectively in the regional languages is vital because less than 28% of the people of the entire European population can read English and the percentage is even lower in South America and Asia (Kumar, 2000). Getting translators or mediators is very expensive. A US toothpaste manufacturer tried to market its product in Latin America and promised the customers that they would be more “interesting” if they used the company’s products. What they did not know that “interesting” in Latin American countries is another euphemism for “pregnant”. Hence the cultural effect has to be minimized in international research process to get the best results. 8. Conclusion This paper wanted to explore the difficulties in conducting research and collection or primary and secondary data for the purpose of international market research. The study explored the market research scenario for the past few years and it has been found that the government infrastructure is lacking in most developed countries. Either the data is unavailable, or unreliable or not updated. Some have even mentioned that definitions differ within a country which can alter the findings. The data can hence be inaccurate or irrelevant as well. Secondly, while the governments are trying but they have not been very successful in linking data through network as in Malaysia. When an international marketer wants to enter a foreign country, he would decide the strategy based on the market research but when these data are inaccurate or misleading, the strategy too fails. Apart from the government drawbacks, there are other reasons why data collection is difficult in the developing countries. Cultural and communications barriers are the major challenges. The nuances of language differ across nations and even within the nation as in China which has over 56 dialects. Culture too prohibits the collection of data as people fear or become suspicious. Government regulations make it difficult to collect data as well. The government wants to hold on to data because of distrust or suspicion. The information and communications infrastructure being ppor in mist developing countries, international researchers are unable to conduct interviews from another country. Face to face interviews become essential but this requires engaging a local person to assist in the research process as they would understand the verbal and the body language of the respondent but this too is not always practical. The mediator would interpret and convey according to his interpretation apart from the time and cost factor. A few private agencies like The Mckinsey Group and some others who need to conduct surveys for educational purposes have been successful in conducting research. The developing countries also have a market research industry but the constraints continue to exist. As far as secondary data is concerned, data can be outdated, irrelevant and conflicting. Besides, the government may be reluctant to share data. In the case of primary research culture and language barriers inhibit the research process. Hence it can be concluded that it is difficult to collect primary and secondary data from the less developed countries. 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