Internationalisation and Global Marketing - Essay Example

Reflective Portfolio Table of Contents Internationalisation and Global Marketing 3 Culture and Cultural Difference 3 Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility 5 Political and Legal Environment 6 Self Reflection 6 Reference 9 Appendix: Journals 12 Internationalisation and Global Marketing Global marketing includes the entire process of producing, planning, promoting and placing the product of the company in an international market. Efficient global marketing involves the capability to propel the organisation to the subsequent level, if they are done correctly. For example, McDonald’s makes sure that the taste of Big Mac remains same in each country; however it varies some items on its menu as per the local tastes. Starbucks also amends their menu to fit the local tastes (Marketing-School, 2012). Multinational corporations are those companies which operates in various nations but manage their business from home country (Kumar, 2013). Any company which derives one-third of its profits from outside operations i.e. operations outside the home nation is regarded as a multinational corporation. Multinational corporations bring various opportunities to companies, customers and countries (Li and Wang, 2010; Andersson and Forsgren, 2000). Internationalisation means to design a product or services in such a manner that it can meet the requirements of customers in various countries. There are various types of entry strategy to enter in the global market such as franchising, joint ventures, etc. Under franchising, the franchiser sells the intangible property or goods and insists on the rules for running business (Jensen, 2003). The advantage of franchising is that it reduces the risk and costs of establishing the enterprise. The disadvantage is that it may forbid movement of revenue from one nation in order to encourage operations in another nation (Forte and Carvalho, 2013). Joint venture is an agreement between the parties in which they concur to develop new assets and a new entity by making contribution of equity. The advantages which are received from adopting the mode of joint venture are that it minimises the political risk as well as share risks and costs with the partner. The company also benefit from the knowledge of local partners. The disadvantage is that shared ownership may result in conflict (Merchant, 2008). Culture and Cultural Difference Globalisation has resulted in the spread or reach of products, language and customs around the world. It has allowed the people to access various services and goods which are not accessible previously. Some prominent examples of globalisation are Coca-Cola, KFC and McDonald’s all over the world (Cole and OKeefe, 2000). While globalisation leads to openness of various cultures, it also results in deterioration of inimitable cultural differences. It is increasing the gap between poor and rich. Globalisation has both the negative as well as positive impacts on the national culture. The difference in the culture can be best explained through Greet Hofstede dimension’s on the cultural difference. The model of Hofstede includes six dimensions of culture. The dimension of power distance signifies the level to which the inferior members of community expect and accept that authority is distributed unevenly (Rao, 2013). Second element is collectivism versus individualism. Individualism states that individuals are bothered about themselves only whereas the collectivism explains that people care about their colleagues and other members in the community (Migliore, 2011). Femininity versus masculinity explains that the feminity nation or individuals are those who give preference to modesty and show care for the quality of life, while masculinity represents inclination for assertiveness and heroism for success (Najera, 2008). Fourth dimension is the uncertainty avoidance which explains the level to which the individuals feel uncomfortable with ambiguity and uncertainty (Migliore, 2011). The short term versus long term orientation states that every community has to maintain or uphold some connections with its past in order to deal with confrontation of present and future. Sixth element is restraint versus indulgence (Migliore, 2011). Indulgence symbolises the society which includes people who have fun and enjoy their lives to their fullest, whereas, restraint represents the society where the people follow the strict norms of the society (du Plessis, 2010). For example, Germany is high on uncertainty avoidance which signifies that the German people feel threatened by unknown situations. They show less courage to face the ambiguous situations and therefore depend highly on the experts to come out of the problem (Hofstede, 2015). On the other hand, in the United States, the dimension of uncertainty avoidance is low which signifies that the people are less concerned about the uncertainty and ambiguity (Baker and Carson, 2011). The positive impact of globalisation is that it has allowed individuals to understand and accept the cultures of other countries. It is increasing the accessibility of foreign products and meeting the demands of consumers (Forte and Carvalho, 2013). The younger generations are embracing the attitudes and cultures of the Western society (Globalisation, 2015). Globalisation also has positive impact on the education of people. It led to the cultural diversity and also the diversity in preferences and tastes, which assure huge demand for the products (Duncum 2000). Globalisation also includes the negative impact on the culture of people. It can be better explained with the example of Wal-Mart and McDonald’s. When Wal-Mart moved into a community, within some years only other retailers are placed out of the market (Goodman, 2007). It signifies that internationalisation is eating the small businesses and impeding their operations. Due to the globalisation, people are losing curiosity in their local culture and are attracted towards western culture (Balko, 2003). People who prefer fast food generally favour McDonald’s over small restaurants of fast food. In this way, it is affecting the operations of local fast food shops (The Financial Express, 2014). Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility Business ethics are defined as the moral principles which direct the way a company behaves. It is a type of professional ethics or applied ethics which examines the ethical problems which take place in a business surrounding. It applies to entire aspects of the business conduct as well as is pertinent to the behaviour of individuals. Every organisation should take into consideration the significance of ethics by recognising the ecological and regulatory issues and culture in different nations (Huhmann and Conner, 2014). There are various benefits of using ethics in business such as it offers businesses a competitive advantage. Generally, customers show their trust toward those companies which are ethical in their practice and also remain loyal towards them. Therefore, it helps to draw more customers and ultimately it results in increased profits and sales (Peterson, 2013). The companies who are involved in ethical practice, they make their workforce to stay for a long time in business as well as decrease labour turnover, which leads to increase productivity. Ethical practices assist in attracting investors by keeping the stock price high. In this way, they are protecting their company from takeover (Rossouw, 2002). There are many companies who employed wrong means to increase their profits by involving themselves in unethical practices. Unethical practice leads the businesses to run in loss and they have to face various criticisms along with losing the customers. General Motors have also been alleged of embracing defective ignition key in their vehicles. It has been observed that there occurred 13 deaths and 31 accidents because of the faulty keys in their vehicle (McDonald, 2014). Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is regarded as one of the most prominent ethical theory. CSR is referred to the practice of business which entails contributing in initiatives which promote the society (Businessnewsdaily, 2015). The importance of CSR is that it helps the companies to remain transparent in their actions. Leveraging corporate social responsibility can reinforce trust and loyalty of consumers. It assists the corporations to increase consciousness of their brands as well as to link with a variety of customers in the manner they want and ultimately promote positive actions. For example, Starbucks Corporation has produced guidelines of “Called Coffee and Farmer Equity” practices which guarantee that they are supplying sustainably developed as well as processed coffee by means of considering the social, environmental and economic aspects of the coffee production (Businessnewsdaily, 2015). In addition, international companies should identify the political and legal environment of every foreign market. Political and Legal Environment There are many political and legal factors to which every business have to comply. The political and legal factors which may have an impact on the operations of the business are fluctuation in tax rates, corruption level, trade control, employment law, environmental law, safety law, etc. The political condition of a nation affects the economic setting and the economic setting adversely affects the performance of business. So, the business needs to comply with the political and legal laws. If there is political instability in particular nation, then it affects the operations of company especially if the company is functioning internationally (Zouhaier and Keffi, 2012). The company which does not comply with legal law have to face various criticisms. In China, KFC is alleged of using improper proportion of antibiotics in the chickens. It will adversely affect the health of the Chinese people (Wall Street of Journal, 2012). In India also, it has been criticised for making use of chemicals in the chicken served by them. Therefore, the companies are required to comply with the legal and political laws by considering the health and safety of customers. The companies should deal with the political risk by purchasing the political risk insurance. Government should pass laws in order to safeguard the interest the workforce (Zouhaier and Keffi, 2012). Self Reflection I have learnt this subject to work out on my career path which will influence me to make use of the strategies of internalisation. The learning will assist me in the future to use local specification of the market in order to develop the business activity. What I have learnt from the management of global marketing is that multinational corporations must change their way of management and should change their organisational structures in that way only. The final goal of the companies should be to improve their present position and to take benefit of the opportunities which are prevailing in the international marketplace. I also came to know that Multinational Corporation provides several benefits to the customers and countries but it also includes several disadvantages. It has been analysed that they take advantage of their monopoly power and charges high price from the customers just for making profits. However, it helps the companies to take the benefit of tax advantage. Understanding the benefits of multinational companies will help me in my career by providing me the knowledge of the key advantages of working in the global companies. An individual gets high salary while working with multinational companies as compared to local counterparts and it also helps to generate more jobs. Besides this, I came to know that it affects the earnings of customers by playing on their power of monopoly. As a part of my study, I have learnt the significance of internationalisation and the benefit of entry strategy in terms of global marketing strategy. I came to know that globalisation is having positive as well as negative effect on the local cultures. It is making us aware of the different cultures existing around the world and at the same time hampering our local cultures. It is increasing our accessibility towards the foreign products and meeting our demands. It has been explored that the youngsters are following the culture of Western society in every aspect and it is considered as good as well as bad in context of local culture. The good part is that it is enhancing our education system and the negative part is that it is eating the business of local retailers. It is spreading the American customs and thus hampering the local customs around the world. The module helps me to understand that global marketing or the globalisation creates more opportunities for the companies which are situated in less industrialised nations to tap large markets across the nations. The theory of cultural difference helped me to examine the specification of various cultures. Understanding the concept of business ethics helped me to understand the benefits of applying ethics in real life practice. My inclination to analyse the ethical norms of the communities has encouraged me to choose this subject. Each business should take into consideration the significance of ethics by recognising the regulatory issues in different nations. I recognised that the decisions of business are most frequently related to complex circumstances which are neither fully unethical nor ethical. What I understood is that we have to manage the probable divergence of interests, false promises, incorrect utilisation of resources as well as the mismanagement of the contracts, while working in an organisation. It has been observed that the companies which are committed to the long term success realise and recognise that generating a culture where ethical conducts are encouraged and rewarded is the final key towards survival as well as growth in the near future. I have learnt that the political as well as legal aspects of every business are very important while operating in different countries. Every business is required to comply with the legal and political law. Various aspects of the government regulation can have an effect on the business. Managers should find how forthcoming laws can have an impact on their activities. The module helped me to understand that the political atmosphere can result in major loss because the political aspects have the authority to change the results. The company which does not comply with legal law have to face various criticisms. The legal and political factor like difference in the democratic policies influences the government spending. This ultimately has an effect on the economy because a high level of the government spending most frequently fuels the economy. So, it can be understood that political as well as legal factors does not only affect the companies but also have an effect on the nation’s economy. Reference Andersson, U. and Forsgren, M. (2000) In search of centre of excellence: Network embeddedness and subsidiary roles in multinational corporations. MIR: Management International Review, 2(1), pp.329-350. Baker, D.S.and Carson, K. D. (2011) The Two Faces of Uncertainty Avoidance: Attachment and Adaptation. Journal of Behavioral and Applied Management, 12(2), pp.128-141. Balko, R. (2003) Globalisation & Culture [online]. Available from: https://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/162/27607.html [Accessed on: 23rd May 2015]. Businessnewsdaily. (2015) What is corporate social responsibility [online]. Available from: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/4679-corporate-social-responsibility.html [Accessed on: 25th May 2015]. Cole, M. and OKeefe, R. M. (2000) Conceptualising the dynamics of globalisation and culture in electronic commerce. Journal of Global Information Technology Management, 3(1), pp.4-17. du Plessis, A. J. (2010) INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT: AN OVERVIEW OF ITS EFFECT ON MANAGERS IN GLOBAL ORGANISATIONS. Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research In Business, 2(4), pp.178-192. Duncum, P. (2000) How art education can contribute to the globalisation of culture. Journal of Art & Design Education, 19(2), pp.170-180. Forte, R. And Carvalho, J. (2013) Internationalisation through franchising: the Parfois case study. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 41(5), pp.380-395. Globalisation. (2015) Globalisation vs. Local cultures [online]. Available from: http://www.globalization101.org/globalization-vs-local-cultures/. [Accessed on: 23rd May 2015]. Goodman, D. J. (2007) Globalization and consumer culture. The Blackwell Companion to Globalization, 2(2), pp.330-351. Hofstede. (2015) Germany [online]. Available from: http://geert-hofstede.com/germany.html [Accessed on: 25th May 2015]. Huhmann, B. A.and Conner, S. L. (2014) Promoting business ethics through annual reports. Journal of Financial Services Marketing, 19(1), pp.17-28. Jensen, N. M. (2003) Democratic governance and multinational corporations: Political regimes and inflows of foreign direct investment. International organization, 57(3), pp.587-616. Kumar, N. (2013) Managing reverse knowledge flow in multinational corporations. Journal of Knowledge Management, 17(5), pp. 695-708. Li, L.J. and Wang, X. (2010) The Strategy of Talent Localization in Multinational Corporations. International Journal of Business and Management, 5(12), pp. 216-219. Marketing-School. (2012) Global Marketing [online]. Available from: http://www.marketing-schools.org/types-of-marketing/global-marketing.html [Accessed on: 25th May 2015]. McDonald, C. (2014) GM Faces Uphill Climb After Recall. Risk Management, 61(5), pp. 4-5. Merchant, H. (2008) International Joint Venture Configurations in Big Emerging Markets. Multinational Business Review, 16(3), pp. 93-119. Migliore, L. A. (2011) Relation between big five personality traits and Hofstedes cultural dimensions. Cross Cultural Management, 18(1), pp.38-54. Najera, M. (2008) MANAGING MEXICAN WORKERS: IMPLICATIONS OF HOFSTEDES CULTURAL DIMENSIONS. Journal of International Business Research, 7(2), pp. 107-126. Peterson, E. A. (2013) Compliance and ethics programs: competitive advantage through the law. Journal of Management & Governance, 17(4), pp. 1027-1045. Rao, A. N. (2013) Understanding the Role of Power Distance in Global Outsourcing Relationships. International Management Review, 9(1), pp.5-18,87. Rossouw, G. J. (2002) Three approaches to teaching business ethics. Teaching Business Ethics, 6(4), pp.411-433. The Financial Express. (2014) Globalisation a boon or bane for developing countries? The Financial Express. [Dhaka] 28 Apr 2014. Wall Street of Journal. (2012) KFC faces criticism in China [online]. Available from: http://www.wsj.com/video/kfc-faces-criticism-in-china/D52C630B-DFF5-437C-92A3-8B6EF84ADA86.html [Accessed on: 23rd May 2015]. Zouhaier, H., Keffi, M. K. (2012) Interaction between political instability and investment. Journal of Economics and International Finance, 4(2), pp.49-54. Appendix: Journals Week 2: Definition and Benefit of Globalization In this lecture and seminar, I have learned definition, benefits and criticisms of the globalization. Globalization has become an attractive term encouraging public discussions that frequently cannot be correctly identified. In time, globalization has had different definitions. Mazilu (2010) believes that globalization is a phenomenon of the compression of time and space, which also includes certain aspects of social relations. It does not only consist of entire economy, but also contain fields and geographical areas. In other words, globalization may be described as the growth of associations around the world (Mussa, 2003). It entails the amalgamation of the world politically, culturally, socially and economically due to which distance getting closer in each field (Mussa, 2003). There are some benefits that globalization offers such as widening worldwide exchanges, reinforcing mutual understanding among nations, growing culture and education, encouraging scientific cooperation among countries and assisting cultural attainments of individuals around the world. It encourages the method of transformation and the enhancement of the national culture (Cox, 1996). Though, these conditions also bring a negative impact on the country. The disadvantages brought by globalization cannot be ignored such as the gap between poor and the rich has become wider and the culture has collision and conflict (Kobrin, 1997). So we should keep a positive attitude towards it and should avoid disadvantages at the same time. Reference Cox, R. W. (1996) A perspective on globalization. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner. Kobrin, S. J.(1997) The architecture of globalization: State sovereignty in a networked global economy. New York: Oxford University Press. Mussa, M. (2003) Meeting the Challenges of Globalisation. Journal of African Economies, 12(1), pp.14-34. Mazilu, M. (2010) Globalisation, Where?. European Research Studies,13(1), pp.189-200. Week 3: Trading blocs Nowadays, globalization results in shrinking the world by removing boundaries associated with distance, nations and cultures (Fox, 2001). Our shrinking world is becoming a reality because of the unprecedented, rapid and complex developments, which are taking place in the global convergence of information, communications and interconnection technologies (Legrain, 2002). A nations competitiveness in the global economy of the 21st Century is derived from cutting-edge technological innovation, fully recognized by a robust knowledge-based economy. Failing this, competitiveness is achieved by low-wage economies by utilizing existing technology. At the same time, trading blocs are based on the globalization. World Bank data (2011) shows the classification of economies in terms of lower-income economies, low-income economies, high-income economies and upper-middle-income economies. According to Schott (1991), flourishing trading blocs can be categorized by the following factors: geographic proximity; similar levels of per capita GNP; political commitment to regional organization and similar or compatible trading regimes. The three main trading blocs according to their integration levels are: the Association of South East Asian Nations, North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and European Union (EU). In the year 1996, the 15-member EU has a joint gross domestic product (GDP) of 7.58 trillion dollars with a population of over 371 million consumers (World Bank, 1996). As compared with the EU, NAFTA is an integration of a lesser kind. It has formed a free-trade market of 378 million people with a GDP of 7.68 trillion dollars, slightly exceeding the size of the EU (World Bank, 1996). Therefore, trade blocs with extensive differences in the national income face troubles with redistribution of employment and income. While the geographic proximity assists in communications and transportation, it does not at all times guarantee success mostly among the developing countries. Reference Fox, J. (2001) Chomsky and Globalisation. New York . Icon Books. Legrain, P. (2002) Open World: The Truth About Globalisation. Abacus. Schott, J.J. (1991)Trading blocs and the world trading system. World Economy, 14(1), pp. 1-17. The world bank data.(2011) based on world bank data[Online]. Available from: http://data.worldbank.org/ [Accessed on: 19th February 2015]. Week 4: Multinational Corporation Multinational Corporation means a company base in a particular country to set up subsidiaries or branches in the world and engage in the internationalization of business activities through foreign direct investment (Berg and Holtbrugge, 2001). For example, Tata motors acquired companies in abroad to get their hands on valuable technologies and obtain valuable brands to expand distribution in new markets. There is no doubt that multinational corporations are lean, efficient and competitive. The more market share they have, the stronger international competitiveness they own (Aghion and Tirole, 1997). While, Boddewyn (1995) comes to the conclusion that a multinational company recognizes parenting advantage through regional differences, global scale and scope efficiency, leveraging worldwide innovation and learning within its global organization and global risk diversification. In addition, it can help improve the corporate governance and change the way enterprises operate. For example, in order to expand in other emerging markets, Tata motors decided to export an upgraded version of vehicle to Europe. Whats more, multinational corporations can provide funds for technical renovation of state-owned enterprises and accelerate the pace of industry up gradation (Hamilton and Kashlak, 1999). However, other people point out that some national corporations are not allowed to master core technology introduced from abroad. It leads to national corporations’ dependence in international specialization. Besides, the weave of cross-border purchase has weaken the depth of macro control and caused a great damage to national wealth (Bartlett and Ghoshal, 1989). Reference Aghion, P., Tirole, J.(1997) Formal and real authority in organizations. J Polit Econ, 105(1), pp.1-29. Bartlett, C. A. and Ghoshal, S. (1989) Managing Across Borders: The Transnational Solution. Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA. Berg, N., Holtbrugge, D.(2001) Public affairs management activities of German multinational corporations in India. Special Issue On International Management, 30(1), pp.105-119. Boddewyn, J. J. (1995) The Legitimacy of International-Business Political Behavior. The International Trade Journal, 9(1), pp.143-161. Hamilton, D. H. and Kashlak, R. J. (1999) National influences on multinational corporation control system selection. Management International Review, 39, pp.167-189. Week five: Culture I have a general recognization of culture through the study of this week. There are different definitions of culture. According to Plewa (2009), culture is an important part of the society and is necessary for its existence because it connects people together. Culture constitutes the food, music, literature and arts of a society. However these are just the cultural products followed by the community and cannot be described as culture. However, according to Kroeber & Kluckhohn’s (2005) opinion, culture comprises of implicit and explicit patterns of behaviour transmitted and acquired by symbols as unique achievement. While, Hall (1976) defines cultures as the “total accumulation of beliefs, customs, values, behaviors, institutions and communication patterns that are shared, learned and passed down through generations in an identifiable group”. For the purpose of the cross-cultural studies, culture is described as the collective patterns of interactions and behaviours, effective understanding and cognitive constructs which are learned by means of a socialization process (Burton, 2009). These patterns recognize the members of a cultural group along with differentiating those of another group. In fact, according to Clark and Mark’s (1990) view, the features of culture are: it can be learned, transmitted from one generation to another; subject to modify; is ethnocentric; based on symbols; is integrated and is also adaptive. Reference Burton, D. (2009) Cross-cultural marketing. Routledge. Clark, T. and Mark, J. (1990) International marketing and national character: a review and proposal for an integrative theory. 54(4), pp.66–79. Hall, E. T.(1976) Beyond Culture. Anchor Press. Kroeber, A & Kluckhohn, C. (2005) Culture: A critical Review of Concepts and Definitions. New York: Random House. Plewa, C. (2009) Exploring organizational culture difference in relationship dyads. Australasian Marketing Journal, 17 (1) pp. 46-57. Week six: Difference of food culture between China and Western countries A countrys food culture was influenced by globalization forces, but these forces were not covered with local culture (Henderson, 2014). International and domestic culture can coexist and merge. Food is also proved to be an important heritage worth of protection. Furthermore, food is a tourist attraction which affords insights into local culture (Henderson, 2014). There is a great difference between Chinese and Western diet culture. Chinese people pay more attention to taste whereas the Western people pay more attention to “humanist” culture i.e. scientific diet and nutrition (Rollins, 1995). Here describes the three differences between Chinese and Western diet culture. The first difference is dining atmosphere. Chinese people prefer to toast each other and also urge others to drink more in a lively atmosphere. On the contrary, Western people usually eat food quietly without talking. Second is the difference of tools used by them while eating. Chinese people like to use chopsticks, while Western people prefer to use fork and knife. Also, there are differences in the choice of food between two regions. In the morning, Chinese people will have some noodles, whereas Western people like to have a cup of milk, an egg and a hamburger. From the above comparison, some great differences are found between Chinese and Western people. Personally speaking, we can’t say which one is better because different nations prefer different cultures. The differences of food culture will allow people to enhance mutual understanding. At the same time, it will also allow to enjoy different feelings from different food. It will promote the inter-culture exchanges, supplementation and integration (Colford, 2002). Reference Colford, M.(2002) Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture. Library Journal, 127(8), pp.48. Henderson, J. C.(2014) Food and culture: in search of a Singapore cuisine. British Food Journal, 116(6), pp. 904-917. Rollins, P. (1995) Popular Culture: East and West by Isaac Sequeira (Book Review). Journal of Popular Culture, 28(4), pp. 274. Week 7: Cultural difference and Muslim Cola The importance of goal of this week is to compare different schools of cross-culture such as, Hofstede’s five dimensions and Hall’s Low and High Context Cultures. Then we need to understand the difference between global brands and global products and to identify the characteristics of culture-bound and culture-free products. Nowadays, most of the brands are trying to convince foreign consumers about their services and products that they surpass cultural barriers. At the same time, some products such as TV or phone functions the same way but the marketing sectors like drink, food, media and the arts are more culturally specific (Tagliabue, 2002). However, introducing a new food product to a new country, as done by Weetabix is complicated if existing flavours are not respected (Tagliabue, 2002). Some analysts deem that organizations like Mecca and Qibla will quickly fizzle out, because their initial success is due to publicity. This is a likely scenario. All these cola firms face same problems which are up against the world’s most valuable brand i.e. Coca-Cola. If the business for Muslim Cola gets excessively big then coke will merely buy them up, just as it did with Thumbs Up in India (Majidi and Passariello, 2003). These Muslim Cola companies should target a wider audience because the Muslim Cola can appeal to non-Muslim countries. They can improve visibility through publicity and marketing, such as advertising, packaging design and branding. If I would be the CEO of Pepsi-Cola then I would have offer products according to the wants and needs of customer. Reference Majidi, N. and Passariello, C. (2003) After Iraq, Cola wars heat up [Online]. Business Week. Available from: http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/apr2003/nf20030417_5930_db039.htm.[Accessed on: 27th March 2015]. Tagliabue, J. (2002) They Choke On Coke, But Savor Mecca-Cola. New York Times, 12. Week 8: Ethical and Socially Responsibility of Koodo I read the article about Koodo mobile in the Canadian cell phone market. Koodo is a subsidiary of Telus, but they set up as a separate business unit. Koodo is facing some challenges, such as in mid 2009, almost all customers on the market knew that Koodo and Telus were linked together. The result was that they were losing customer goodwill. Koodo must make a plan to resolve this problem or to recognize this fact. If the issue will be recognized by Koodo and if they sign up a new contract without fees, the company will obtain customer’s appreciation and satisfaction. Next step is the competition with other two brands i.e. Rogers and Bell. Koodo need to promote new meal to attract old customers and new customers. While, government slightly deregulated the field and new players are coming, Foodo need to keep the old decision which defines “say no to big Billification, loose that chubby belly, fat free mobility is here” (Lloyd, 2008). Koodo branded itself as a low-cost cell phone provider, doing away with the hidden charges and customer inflexibility and get rid of the system access and 9/11 fees (Horn, 2013). However, at Telus, they need to understand their clients’ needs and increase connections with their customers (TELUS, 2015). It will help them to reduce their cost structure and enhance their position in altering market conditions. Their goals include a stronger competitive position, improved customer experience as well as an improved capability to retain and draw the best talent (Anonymous, 2014). In 2013, Koodo reached out to the South Asian community with in-language online as well as print campaigns in Hindi and Punjabi and more lately through television and films. In addition, Koodo supports the social transformation with Koodonation, which is an online hub which connects busy persons with non-profit organization by means of micro-volunteering. At the same time, TELUS also supports charities which are working for the people who are suffering from breast cancer. For the 2013 Pink campaign, TELUS teamed with the Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation (QBCF) and Rethink Breast Cancer in order to create an offer in support of women with breast cancer (TELUS, 2015). This article with normative viewpoints for socially and ethically responsible marketing shows some suggestions for enriching the practice of the marketing ethics. Trust is the base for the effectiveness and efficiency of the market system, and it is cherished with high moral standards. References Horn, J.(2013)Cause + Action Awards.Strategy, p. 22. Lloyd, J. (2008) KOODO WORKS UP A SWEAT. Marketing, 113(10), pp. 12-13. TELUS. (2015) Our customers:How we’re meeting the diverse needs of our customers[online]. Available from: http://about.telus.com/community/english/about_us/company_overview/diversity/our_customers [Accessed on: 16th April 2015]. Anonymous.(2014) BRAND DOCTOR: PATIENT: TELUS. Marketing,119(3), pp.46. Week 9: Political and Legal This week the sessions have introduced the questions of political and legal aspect of PESTEL analysis, two main types of law that affect global marketing. The legal systems utilised by the countries around the world vary dramatically (Yüksel, 2012). The earlier British colonies follow the tradition of common law of the United Kingdom, whereas most other Western countries make use of the civil law system that began with the Romans (Lin, 2006). Saudi Arabia and Iran use religious law whereas centrally planned economies make use of bureaucratic law. Most companies are comfortable considering the political climates in their home countries (Lin, 2006). However, a company from one country to another country opens the marketing need to adapt the local and law. Political: 1. Business barriers 2. Government approach for eye sight 3. Healthcare business rules and regulation reception 4. Intellectual property protection 5. does South Korean government allow dump 6. Qualification for laser eye operators 7. Health insurance 8. Tariff 9. Security management and sale management 10. Equipment 11. Trading 12. Trademarks 13. Foreign currency exchange 14. Fixed assets and shares 15. Stability of government Legal: 1. Legal litigation 2. Intellectual property protection 3. Employment law- opening law 4. Insurance requirements 5. Intellectual property protection 6. Employment law- opening law 7. Tax 8. Tax on health procedures 9. Health system 10. Trading law 11. Qualification of conducting laser eye surgery 12. Patents 13. Bribery 14. Piracy 15. Equipment There are three major types of political risk such as the operating risk, transfer risk and ownership risk. Ownership risk includes the risk of property lives and intellectual property such as in war torn countries. Operating risk includes the risk from political activities interfere with common operations of a company-- 2011 Egyptian riots and the current situation in Eastern Ukraine. Transfer risk takes place when companies want to transfer capital or profits between countries. Optimax’s major risk is skilled labour. If they want to attract investor from other countries, they need to protect themselves from changes in the political environment. Firms should constantly monitor the political situations in those nations in which they function by consulting with local workers and where suitable, firms should specialize in political risk evaluation. Reference Lin, H. (2006) Ethical Applications of Technology in HRD: A PEST Analysis and Implications. 19(4), PP. 91-105. Yüksel, I. (2012) Developing a Multi-Criteria Decision Making Model for PESTEL Analysis. International Journal of Business and Management, 7(24), PP. 52-66. Week 12: Global Marketing Context This week the sessions have introduced the Global Marketing Context. The environment of global marketing is described as those variables, which are mainly out of the control of organisation but it must account for those factors only within which it conducts its operations internationally (Lee & Carter, 2012). Global marketing context includes four parts: internal context, business context, external context and customer context. Globalization is the key feature of the international business context. Furthermore, internal context includes the company, marketing intermediaries, supplier, customers, publics and competitions. At the same time, external context includes economic forces, demographic forces, natural forces, political forces, technological forces, and cultural forces. ‘Globalization is all about increasing mobility across frontiers. It includes mobility of commodities and goods, mobility of communications and information about services and products and mobility of people (Held And McGrew, 2000). Globalization seems predictable, but it also incvcludes controversy. The debate on globalization will continue as people tries to make sure that the advantages of global trade offset the costs and expenses for all nations, not just the selected one. Despite the pervasive influence of globalization, it is hard to pin down one definition on which everyone will agree. The key features of globalization include one world, intensive and rapid flows, cross border flows (such as products, finance), not just economic one. Due to globalization, the international dimension of business has become a key challenge to institution, governments and organizations (Hill, et al, 2008). This assists in explaining why the area of international management and global business is becoming more significant within the academic setting. Reference Held, D. And McGrew, A. (2000) The Global transformations reader. Cambridge, UK, Polity Press. Hill, C., Cronk, T. And Wickramsekara, R.(2008) Global Business Today. Sydney, McGrew, Hill. Week 13: World Economic Forum Every year there is a World Economic Forum held in Davos, Switzerland which discusses the global context of business. This week we have two aspects: One is an interview with Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba and other is a report of global risks of 2015. Globalization is a materialization of an international village in which there will be a nation less state noticeable by the union of consumer needs that go beyond cultural and political boundaries (Hollensen, 2007). Global marketing is “marketing on a worldwide scale reconciling or taking commercial advantage of global operational differences, similarities and opportunities in order to meet global objectives” (Ghemawat, 2007). The company needs to pay attention towards global risk including political risk, country risk and exchange risk (Friedman, 2005). According to Jack Ma’s opinion ‘a company needs a well environment and should focus on status of women’ (World Economic Forum, 2015). It was discovered by researchers that most of the Americans believe that women have the right qualities to become leader. So we can assume that many top positions are occupied by women in his company. However, stakeholders’ interests are also important, such as increasing the employee satisfaction (Friedman, 2005). He considered that employee’s satisfaction is important for a company as improving employee’s satisfaction will create a comfortable working environment for employees. The best way to a company’s success is to make the employees feel that they responsible for it and it will help to retain more employees. Reference Friedman, T. (2005) The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Globalised World in the Twenty-first Century. Allen Lane. Ghemawat, P. (2007) Redefining Global Strategy: Crossing Borders in a World Where Differences Still Matter. Harvard Business School Press. Hollensen, S. (2007) ‘Global Marketing- a decision- oriented approach.’ Prentice Hall. World Economic Forum. (2015) annual meeting [online]. Available from: http://webcasts.weforum.org/widget/1/davos2015?p=1&hl=english&a=62866 [accessed on: 16th May 2015 ]. Read More