Marketers Task in Different Countries - Research Paper Example

Marketer’s Task in Different Countries Globalization has changed the whole concept of international marketing. Because of the wrong interpretation of globalization many organizations were failed in their attempts to market their products in international market. The best example is the writing equipment manufacturer Parker Pen Company. They have adopted same marketing strategy for their pens everywhere in the world since they believed that the same equipment needs the same marketing strategy everywhere in the world. “Globalization requires many internal modifications like changes in philosophy concerning local autonomy, concern for local operating results rather than corporate performance, local strategies designed for local rather than global competitors etc.” (Marketing across cultures, p.194, n.d)Marketing strategies need to be tailor made not only for each country, but even for each states or regions based on the cultural, communal, political social and economical differences. The marketing campaigns need to be formulated based on the local community interests. In some community or region film personalities , sports personalities or politicians may be more popular compared to others and hence they should be utilized for the marketing purposes in that region. The marketing strategies adopted in cities like Amsterdam, London or Kualalumpor must be different based the difference in culture and attitudes of the population there. For example, David Beckham may be a good brand ambassador in London whereas the same may not be said about Amsterdam or Kualalumpor. In these regions the marketing people must identify the popular celebrities to make them brand ambassadors. Moreover the cultural communal differences also the marketer must consider. Kualalumpor is a city filled with majority of Muslims whereas in the other two cities Christians are dominant. Marketers need to study the buying habits of these different cultures based on their economic backgrounds before developing the right strategies for these cities. Four phases of international marketing involvement “There are 4 phases of international marketing involvement; which are no direct foreign marketing, infrequent foreign marketing, regular foreign market and international marketing.” (4 Phases Of International Marketing Involvement, 2009) No direct foreign marketing The company may not involve in the direct marketing activities in this strategy. Still their product will be available in overseas countries through the channels of distributors or wholesalers. The distributors or wholesalers have the right to market their products everywhere in the world if their agreement with the manufacturer does not prevent them in doing so. But in some cases the manufacturers specifically put terms regarding the selling of their products with the distributors and wholesalers. Infrequent foreign marketing In this type of marketing the company may market their products depending when there are temporary surplus of the production. The company may not be producing the products for the international market. But because of less demand or economic crisis sometimes their products may not move properly in the domestic market which may result in accumulation of product. In such situations the company may be forced to enquire the possibilities in foreign market. They will not continue their international marketing once their products were sold out. Only for a temporary adjustment the companies will engage in infrequent foreign marketing. Regular marketing In this type of marketing the company manufactures products with the intention of marketing them in domestic and the foreign market. These companies will study the domestic and international demands of their product and based on that they will adjust the production capacities of their manufacturing units. Sales of their products in international markets may be treated as a bonus by these companies. For example, Proton the Malaysia national carmaker also setting up sales subsidiaries in Europe market and Proton major sales are still come from domestic market and also Proton production plant are only in Malaysia. .” (4 Phases Of International Marketing Involvement, 2009). International marketing In this type of marketing the companies mainly target the international market for their products. Such companies will set up their own production plants in the target countries in order to reduce the transportation cost of their product. For example, Nokia has established many manufacturing units in India like countries in order to target the heavily populated Indian cell phone industry. Toyota, Ford, Suzuki like car manufacturers also has set up different manufacturing units in India after watching the stable growth of Indian economy which may result in increased sales of their products in Indian market. Conditions that have led to the development of global markets Most of the poor countries have immense natural resources which can be converted to useful products needed for the international community. But they were unable to exploit these resources because of their lack of infrastructure facilities or expertise. These resources can be better utilized if the foreign participation is allowed in those countries. Moreover these products may not be needed in the domestic markets where as it may have immense value in international markets. For example, consider the case of gulf countries. The discovery of oil resources in this region has contributed to the immense economic development of these regions. They are utilizing the foreign technology to drill out oil because of lack of domestic expertise in this field. Earlier, most of the domestic people in the gulf regions were lived in miserable conditions. Most of the people were fishermen before the invention of oil resources. Once they realized the growth potential after the discovery of oil, they were ready to invite foreign participation to explore this oil wealth and hence they became rich now. The modern generation has identified the usefulness of collective efforts for growth and they realized the need of international marketing for the economic developments. The surplus production may not be a problem for countries who engaged in international trade. China has adopted bulk production policies in consumer goods manufacturing, aiming mainly at the international markets. China will never become prosperous if they limit their focus only at their domestic market. Even though they have ideological difference with the concept of globalization, they are supposed to be the number one contender for the award of utilization of international market. Most of the left countries have criticized the concept of globalization since they perceived globalization and international trade as the strategy of capitalist countries to exploit the wealth of poor countries. The current economic crisis happened in capitalist countries like America and England has revealed the meaninglessness of the above argument. In fact the countries like India and China has escaped from the economic recess with fewer damages compared to other rich developed capitalist’s countries like America and Britain. Most of the countries have realized the importance of collaboration in economic development which resulted in opening up their domestic market for international organizations. A costly product in one country may be available for half of the price from China. For example, an American DVD player may cost $ 500 in their domestic market where as a Chinese DVD player with the same facilities may be available for $250 in American markets. The consumers are always interested in getting the product for cheaper prices as far as possible. The development of global markets has provided the consumers the opportunity to compare the facilities of foreign products with their domestic ones based on the quality and price. They were able to get products at affordable prices and hence the international community has welcomed the development of global markets. Difference between the current account, balance of trade and balance of payments (100 words) “The current account balance is defined by the sum of the value of imports of goods and services plus net returns on investments abroad, minus the value of exports of goods and services, where all these elements are measured in the domestic currency. In layman's terms, when a country's current account balance is positive (also known as running a surplus), the country is a net lender to the rest of the world. When a country's current account balance is negative (also known as running a deficit), the country is a net borrower from the rest of the world.” (Moffatt, 2009)“The balance of payments, or balance of international payments, is an accounting statement of the economic transactions that have taken place between the residents of one country (including its government) and the residents of other countries during a specified time, usually a year or a quarter” (EASTMAN, 2009) “Balance of trade is the difference between a country's imports and its exports. Balance of trade is the largest component of a country's balance of payments.” (Balance Of Trade – BOT, 2009) Balancing of balance of trade and balance of payments Balance of trade is always depend on the currency value and hence it can be varied based on the fluctuations of the value of currency. Balance of payment on the other hand always balances because it is not affected by any economic crisis or money value problem. Balance of payment is an accounting transaction and hence it should balance always. For example, suppose that India has imported nuclear fuels or equipments from America at cost of 1 million American dollars two months before. Two months before one dollar was equivalent to around 50.50 Indian rupees. In other words two months before India was in debt to America by an amount of one million American dollar equivalent to Indian rupees 50500000. Now the dollar value has come down against Indian rupees. It is around 49.5 rupees/dollar. At present the Indian government is in debt to America by an amount of Indian rupees 49500000 only. In other words Indian debt has come down by an amount of rupees 1000000 because of the decrease in dollar value. In accounting terms India still indebted to America by an amount of $ 1million which will never changes whereas in practice India’s debt has come down. Way in which a country can overcome an unfavourable balance of trade A country can reduce the balance of trade only through increasing the exports and reducing the imports. In order to increase the export the country’s infrastructure and productivity in all the major income areas such as agriculture and industrial revenues need to be increased. A country need to be self sufficient as far as possible in order to reduce imports. Higher volume of imports will increase the debts of the country where as the higher volume of exports will bring more revenue to the country and the unfavourable effects of balance of trade can be reduced. Marketing implications in a country with a stable population and a country with a growing population Japan can be considered as a country with relative stable population rates compared to other countries because of the strict family planning programs implemented. On the other hand India is a country where the population is still growing immensely irrespective of the control measure taken. Same marketing strategies cannot be applied in these two countries because of the difference in demands of goods and services. For example in India the demand may increase rapidly where as in Japan the demand may be increased gradually. It is better to start manufacturing units in India for a foreign company like Toyota or Ford to capitalize on the ever increasing demands of cars in Indian society. On the other hand it is not advisable for Ford or BMW to establish more manufacturing units in Japan since the demand progress is slow. Cultural analysis for a potential market The marketing campaigns need to be formulated based on the cultural aspects of the potential market. In some community or region film personalities or politicians may be more popular compared to others and hence they should be utilized for the marketing purposes in that region. The Football crazy people of England can be utilized effectively for the marketing of consumer goods by selecting the football legends for the advertising purposes. Consider a case in which a cricket player of India, Sachin tendulkar, utilized as a brand ambassador for the marketing of a product in a country like Somalia where nobody knows anything about either cricket or Sachin. Sachin may be better brand ambassador for India because of his immense popularity in Indian community. The idea of selling same product using the same marketing strategy may not work everywhere since the product may be the same, but the market may not be the same. Top marketing executives of the target country also should be the locals who know the market well. It is foolishness in appointing an American at the top of the marketing department of car manufacturer Ford in India. Academic brilliance and the expertise based on the American culture may make the American managers successful in their country, but same thing may not be correct in Indian atmosphere. . The top officials must have the total knowledge about the locality in which he is working with respect to the social, economical cultural, legal and the political factors and hence a local at the top position is essential for a company going for overseas projects. Only the local people will be aware of the local trends and behaviors of the consumers. It is difficult for an American to succeed in Indian conditions because of the differences in language and culture. In India people often says “Namaste” to wish others while in America people may wish others with a “Good morning or Good evening” Moreover in India people are using warm hugs to convey their regards to others whereas in America people are shaking hands to convey the same. These cultural aspects will be better known to a local than a foreigner and hence for overseas mission, the locals must be utilized. Parker pen failed to recognize this principle. Cultural shock encountered by foreign students when they first came to the UK (400 words) I have interviewed some students who came to UK for higher studies. They told me that they had some shocking experiences at first in England. Most of the them were brought up under traditional Indian family system where the father and mother considered as Gods. But in England they failed to recognize such strong relationships in family. More over in the UK society people are leading some kind of mechanical life compared to Indian society in their opinion. In India people are keen in building relationships while in England they failed to observe such keenness in making friends. The freedom enjoyed by youths in England has surprised my Indian friends at first when they came to UK. The dating like free association observed between the youths in England was hard to digest for my Indian counterparts. Moreover irrespective of the religious difference in England and India, these students failed to observe strong belief in religion or God by the English society compared to the Indian society. The English society is entirely different from Indian society in language, cultures, environment and body languages. Even the gestures are different in Indian and English societies. In India people often says Namasthe to greet others while in England good morning, good evening, take care like words to convey the regards. Shaking hand is a custom in England in order to express a warm welcome or a gesture while in India bowing the head with both hands holding together is a common gesture. References 1. Marketing across cultures,(n.d) Retrieved on May 6, 2009 from http://www.sam.sdu.dk/undervis/90434.E04/Spoergsmaal_til_Case_Tekst_Parker_Pen.pdf 2. 4 Phases Of International Marketing Involvement, (2009) Retrieved on May 6, 2009 from http://www.essayclub.com/term-papers/4-Phases-International-Marketing-Involvement/7214.html 3. EASTMAN H.C. (2009), Balance of Payments, Retrieved on May 6, 2009 from http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0000475 4. Balance Of Trade – BOT, (2009) Retrieved on May 6, 2009 from http://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/bot.asp 5. Moffatt Mike, (2009) What is the Current Account?, Retrieved on May 6, 2009 from http://economics.about.com/od/thecurrentaccount/f/current_account.htm Read More