International Marketing 1 - Essay Example

The processes followed in the host country are exactly similar to those in the home country. The top management views domestic methods and human resources as the most efficient and superior in overseas markets. An export department controls overseas markets at home and the marketing staff comes from home country. This approach is associated with attitudes of national arrogance and supremacy. It best suits small firms that are just entering international market or firms where relative volume of overseas sales is insignificant making product modifications uneconomic (Wind, 1973).

Polycentric management orientation (host country orientation) on the other hand according to Wind is the opposite of ethnocentrism. The term polycentric explains a company’s often-unconscious supposition that each country in which it does business is unique. The directors consider the foreign market too difficult to understand. It holds the philosophy that local human resources, who best understand national market conditions and strategies, are best suited to deal with local market. This is due to national differences and the need for local responsiveness.

Home country products are also adapted to meet local needs. However home country managers remain dominant in the head office. Each subsidiary develops its own distinct and independent business and marketing approaches. This approach is best for larger firms and it is characteristic of multinational companies. Regiocentric Orientation management, which Wind also calls a regional orientation, is an attitude that recognizes the significance of national and cultural variations but perceives them as most important at the regional level.

The assumption is that the regional workers know their market better and instead of having many representatives in various countries, they can serve an entire region for economies of scale purposes. A regiocentric company views different