Vermont Teddy Bears Difficulties while Internationalizing Business - Case Study Example

The paper “Vermont Teddy Bears Difficulties while Internationalizing Business" is an informative version of a case study on marketing. Internalization is also known as global marketing. Almost two decades ago, the term internationalization did not exist. Today, this term is very essential if a business is to realize its full potential as well as its survival in a highly dynamic business world. If a company like Vermont Teddy Bear fails to go international, it is at the risk of losing its business to its competitors who will have greater experience, offer its products at a lower cost, offer better products and in the long run offer more value to the customer.

The importance of a company like Vermont Teddy Bear going international is that it is in a position to survive in a more powerful motive and explore opportunities abroad. Industries that were a few years ago operating at a national scope are now dominating with several global companies. Global Marketing or internationalization basically refers to all those marketing activities that emphasize on: opportunities for transferring of brands, ideas and products, reducing the inefficiency costs as well as duplication of efforts among regional and national subsidiaries, improving on the linkages among the several national infrastructures ultimately leading to development of a global marketing infrastructure and finally, for the emergence of global customers (Jin 2011).

The international business is faced with several new and first changing developments. As companies like Vermont Teddy Bear is deciding to go global, then it has to address several factors for it to succeed in global commercial trade. It is important to know the kind of difficulties Vermont Teddy Bear is likely to face in internationalizing its business. This is not just about making their product unique and attractive but responding to the fast-growing competition from all business sectors. The rapid technological changes have to lead to immense challenges in marketing which have made the atmosphere of global making to be like a wild horse that has to be tamed with a lot of flexibility. Among some of the most important challenges that Vermont Teddy Bear will be faced with include foreign regulation issues, cultural issues, typical economic issues and cost issues (Marketing Everywhere 2011).

1.1 Culture
According to Jin (2011), Culture refers to the entire heritage of a particular society transmitted either by literature, word or any other form. It encompasses all habits, traditions, art, religion, and language. It reflects all aspects of a person’s environment including their customs, beliefs, morals, and habits that are learned from others. These elements of culture send indirect or direct messages to consumers in regard to selecting goods and services. It is for this reason that Vermont Teddy Bear must understand the culture and especially in the international market. Language is one of the crucial elements since most of the culture finds its way to society through spoken language and therefore in several ways, language embodies the society’s culture. Knowing the culture of a particular society is, therefore, the key to understanding their culture. Communicating globally is greatly influenced by the existence of many different languages.

In order to overcome the language barrier, Vermont Teddy Bear will have to draw to the main conclusion in regards to the impact language has on good marketing globally. To begin with, Vermont Teddy Bear has to adjust its communication program so as to design its marketing message to suit the languages used by its customers. Secondly Vermont Teddy Bear knows that the foreign language may indicate varying levels of motivation or different categories of thinking patterns on the part of their customers. The impact of religion on marketing globally becomes more real when one compares one religion to another. Vermont Teddy Bear marketers will need to actively search all possible influences even if they are not obvious. Educations greatly influence people's outlook, motivation, and desires and the fact that the education system differs from one country to another makes consumers be very different. Moreover, education not only affects the prospective customers but also shapes the potential workers or employees for the business and the foreign companies overall. This greatly influences competitive behavior and business practices.

The role of the family greatly varies from one culture to another and so do the roles of each and every family member. From one culture to another, we find varying family sizes, women employment as well as other factors that may of great interest to the global marketers. In particular, a family is a major reference group and is always considered as an essential determinant of the purchasing behavior of a consumer which is important to note for a marketer. Customers in the global community are influenced by different things when responding to an advertisement where some value for freedom have, a reward for effort while others take an entrepreneurship approach while others decide to avoid individualism like a plague. If a company decides to ignore culture, this could result in a mediocre response to the company’s product promotion as well as have a negative international image on the company.