Specifics of International Marketing - Essay Example

? INTERNATIONAL MARKETING College: International Marketing Over the last few decades, the business environment has expanded and organizations are venturing into the international markets to gather more customers for their products. While designing an international market entry mode is the best strategy to push business to the global environment, international markets are quite sensitive. An organization has to develop products that perfectly fit in the market environment to satisfy the consumers preferences and tastes. Additionally, international markets are characterised by a wide range of market forces that may limit the success of particular products that do not conform to the market forces. Some of the pertinent issues that may affect the success of a product in the market includes the skin colour of the people, their cultural aspects, and even their general attitude towards specific products. For instance, in Asia, the idea of a bright skin colour is a sensitive issue that influences the sale of beauty products. As such, organizations that consider entering the international market should be prepared to conform to these market forces to avoid the risk of opposition from their potential customers. Unilever is one of the organizations that have faced a market resistance from their sale of skin whitening products in Asia. International marketing strategy demands that an organization conforms to the ethical aspects of the new market to avoid igniting moods and emotions that may affect their operations. In the Asian market, there has been an upsurge of the demand of beauty products, a trend that has attracted many beauty product organizations to venture into this market. McDougall (2013, Para. 2) pointed out that Asia contributes to a large extent to the expanding beauty market that is expected to hit $19.8 billion by the year 2013. In Asia particularly, the market for beauty products has expanded due to the great desire of citizens to lighten their skin as a way of conforming to the notion that dominates in this environment that the bright skin is a symbol for superiority while darker skin symbolizes a suppressed person in the society. In China, India, Japan and Thailand, the people have learnt to associate light skin with beauty, youthfulness and success. Additionally, the demand has heightened due to the change of use of these skin lightening chemicals. Traditionally, these products were used for facial care yet currently the products are used for whole body care. Resultantly, the market is expected to grow rapidly for at least five years in the near future. Consequently, multinational organizations, such as Unilever, have identified this as a potential market for sale of beauty products. However, the organizations seem to have undermined the concept of consumer behaviour that Samli (2013, P. 2) regards as a giant market force in the 12st century business environment. Skin colour has been a controversial issue in the Asian society that has sparked a great debate on the definition of beauty in this market. The nortion that bright people are superior to the white people has lead to a vicious discussion as most activists regard this kind of attitude as an act of discrimination that must be eliminated once and for all in the society. One of the activists against colour discrimination, Nandita, has launched a campaign to declare that “Dark is beautiful” as a way of fighting this issue that has generated mixed emotions in this country (Daily News, 2013, Para. 1). Being a popular actress, Nandita has garnered a lot of public interest among the black people who have shown their support of the campaign to fight against colour and racial discrimination. This campaign is similar to the campaign in Senegal that declares that “Don’t Bleach, black is beautiful” to assert the public that beauty is beyond the skin colour. From this point of view, skin colour is a matter that is likely to influence the consumer behaviour in the Asian market and taking precaution is the only way to survive in this Market. Unilever in a multinational organization that has received criticism from the Asian market for heightening the notion that beauty can be associated with a bright skin. Chomchuen (2013), a writer of the Wall Street Journal, featured the Thailand public reaction an advertisement by Unilever that used a brown lady in its advertisement of a beauty products. A wide range of opinions was raised regarding the idea of Unilever to stick to the traditional notion of beauty as a mark of superiority in the Thailand society. This advertisement sparked a deep emotional reaction from the blacks who felt undermined by the advertisement regarding such as an advertisement as disgusting and unappreciative. Although Unilever managed to pull out the advertisement after this debate, the discussion was already promising a threat to customer attitude. On the other hand, some citizens justified the advertisement arguing that the advertisement was meant for skin lightening and using a light skinned girl was just remain within the scope of the product. Unilever Thai services explained the advertisement as one way of empowering the Thai people by marketing to them products that empower the black people to feel superior just like the brown people. In essence, the advertisement has split the consumer on the basis of their skin colour, a trend that may threaten the survival of this company in this market industry. Onkvisit and Shaw (2004, P. 56) point out that consumer behaviour is a powerful market force that every multinational organization has to consider while entering a new market environment. They identify colour as one of the cultural aspects that organizations entering into a multi-cultural society business organizations have to be conscious to avoid triggering emotional reactions that are likely to induce a negative attitude to their products (Tavassoli and Han, 2002: Kumar et al, 2013, p. 58). The idea of Unilever to provide colour-specific products has resulted served to split their customers a trend that is dangerous for the business growth. From the notion of Unilever to “empower” the citizens it indicates that the company expresses a high esteem for the white people and a low esteem for darker skinned people. While these products may be meant for the black people, expressing the notion that a dark skin is a deficiency of beauty is likely to attract a negative reaction from this customer segment. Aslam (2006, Pp. 15-30) in his research on international strategy points out that product must be fitted to the culture of the people to avoid generating emotions that are dangerous to the product flow in the market. This points to the ethical responsibility that organizations have to avoid offensive marketing that will impact negatively on the customers as as their organization. As the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of Unilver, it would be vital to consider developing neutral products that can target more customers in its Thailand branch. Czinkota (2012, p. 80) points out that products that heighten a cultural crisis that exists within an international market are likely to be rejected within the market. This implies that an organization should define new products for new environments to ensure that products are limited to a specific customer group. Brady (2010, p. 9) states that international cross-cultural management can be effected by effected if only the manager understands the consumer behaviour that influences the purchase of products. In the position of Unilver’s CMO, I would conduct a thorough market scanning before designing the products for sale in the Thailand market. To manage the colour crisis that exists in the Asian market, I would rebrand the products to ensure they are not colour specific. For instance, referring to the product as Citra “for natural beauty” and featuring a black and a brown lady in the advertisement would be imperative in attracting both dark and light coloured customers. In essence, this would ensure that products are not offensive to the dark people, which in turn reduces the range of target customers. In conclusion, international markets are defined by consumer behaviours that must be satisfied if an organization has to survive in the market. Colour, race, and traditions are diversities that must be accounted during the design of a product in a new environment. Markets such as Asia that are sensitive to colour stereotypes are likely to reject products that divide the people on the line of their natural colour. This seems to be the reason why Unilever’s advertisement of a skin lightening product resulted in a big social debate on the agenda of colour as a definition of beauty. As the Chief marketing officer of Unilever, it would be crucial to rebrand beauty products to express a colour-neutral taste in the Thailand market where colour crisis has become a social norm. From this perspective, it is recommendable that international organization develops products that conform to the market tastes, which are specific to each geographical location. Bibliography Aslam, M., (2006). Are You Selling the Right Colour? A Cross-Cultural Review of Colour as a Marketing Cue. Journal of Markting Communications, 12(1), 15-30. Brady, D., (2010). Essenstials of International Marketing. London: M.E Sharpe. Chomchuen, W., (2013). Whiter Skin Ad Campaign Spur Debate Among Thais. Wall Street Journal Czinkota, M. R., & Ronkainen, I. A. (2013). International marketing. Mason, OH, South- Western Cengage Learning. Daily News, (2013). ‘Dark is Beautiful’ Movement Takes on India’s Obsession with Whiter Skin.Available through: < http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/india-obsessed-white-skin-actress-article-1.1498783> Kumar, V, Sharma, A, Shah, R, & Rajan, B (2013), 'Establishing Profitable Customer Loyalty for Multinational Companies in the Emerging Economies: A Conceptual Framework', Journal Of International Marketing, 21, 1, pp. 57-80, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 11 November 2013. McDougal, A., (2013). Skin Lightening Trends in Asia Boosts Global Market. Available through: < http://www.cosmeticsdesign-asia.com/Market-Trends/Skin-lightening-trend-in-Asia-boosts-global-market> Onkvisit, S., & Shaw, J. J. (2004). International marketing analysis and strategy. New York, Routledge. http://site.ebrary.com/id/10205225 Samli, A. C. (2013). International consumer behavior in the 21st century: impact on marketing strategy development. New York, Springer. Tavassoli, N. T. & Han, J. K. (2002) Auditory and visual brand identifiers in Chinese and English, Journal of International Marketing, 10(2), pp. 13–28. Read More