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Importance of cultural diversity in foreign business
Importance of cultural diversity in foreign business
Cultural diversity and the implications of international marketing
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⦁ Introduction:
In internationalization, the most challenging decision faced by the company to choose between standardization and adaptation in its operations, products or services. It has been one of the important and most popular research topics since 1960s to understand whether standardization is better or adaptation for marketing mix in international marketing. The increasing role of international expansion of business across the borders has also increased the focus of companies towards the international marketing strategies. It is also a biggest challenge for companies to better understand the different needs and choice of customers due to the huge differences among the cultures from various nationalities. This leads to the dilemma in the mind of marketers to understand which strategy is effective and good - standardization or adaptation. There is a significant impact of standardization or adaptation on all avenues of business such as research & development, structure, marketing mix, production, finance and marketing mix. The attitude of a company towards the culture of a particular country in which it is going to enter or start its operations decides to choose between standardization and adaptation. Consider the different views and arguments for each standardization and adaptation, this essay critically analyze which strategy is better to choose for international marketing.
⦁ Discussion:
The proponents of standardization approach in international marketing views the globalization trends as a facilitation of technological uniformity, greater level of similarity, and higher convergence of consumer preference, taste, and needs. The growth of international communication channels also facilitate the standardization including th...
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...d i.e. to use a mix of both the strategies. Some academic experts also presented the same arguments which stated that the company should use standardized tactics and adapting others to difference market is necessary. Such authors believes that both the standardization and adaptation are nothing but a matter of degree to use in international marketing strategy. Also McDonald strategy is the best example of such arguments where the company has globalized it brand but localized its marketing strategies. Considering the success of McDonald I would strongly recommend that a right balance of standardization and adaptation is need to ensure good growth and success in international marketing. Hence it can be concluded that if a company wants to be successful at global level, then it should include elements of both standardized and adaptation approach in its marketing mix.
Although companies may focus their internationalisation on one of the three strategies, chances are that they will try to have a combination of two of them. Following are some challenges that commonly arise from the combination of
McDonalds also uses diversification in its global marketing. McDonalds recognizes that different countries have different values, customs, and tastes. Therefore, McDonalds satisfies these diverse global tastes by diversifying the menu according to each country’s unique preferences. This added diversification tactic, allows McDonalds to stay competitive in a global market. Examples of McDonalds globally diversified menu would be that McDonalds offers an exclusive beefless menu to its customers who live in India. This is because eating beef in India is sacrilegious. To meet the tastes of customers in India, McDonalds created new offerings such as the “Pizza McPuff” and the “McVeggie.” McDonalds considers the cultural tastes in every country it opens its doors
Rapid globalization, companies keen to spread out internationally companies is faced by a very critical question of whether to standardize or to adapt its product or services. Global marketers have been trying to conclude with a particular answer to this great dilemma. Over the years as modern industry has developed, to standardize or to adapt has become a very important defining decision for the marketers. Each has its own pros & cons but to choose the right is a tough choice to make, it needs a thorough analysis and understanding of the market and only then a decision could be arrived .This essay will critically try to understand and analyse the various arguments of standardization and adaption so as to arrive at which is more appropriate in the modern international marketing scenario.
If the organization has to establish itself globally then it totally depends on its organization culture and structure (Kogut.et.al.,1993). Organizational structure defines the smoothness of the flow of idea among themsleves and will generate multinationality among the organization which will help them to work as network of plants worldwide (Kogut.et.al.,1993). There matrix organizational structure which consist of brand teams, managers, chief regional officers and other plays an important role in helping them to stand gloabally (Jones.et.al., 2005). Another limitation, our team could think was certain luxuries product which L
In conclusion, it can be said that global marketing has been emerged very rapidly in recent years. It has provided various opportunities for the companies to expand their business to the other regions of the word. However, there remain certain environmental issues that need to be considered before entering in to the desired region. These issues can be resolved with designing the strong global marketing plans and strategies, the data for which can be gathered through conducting global market research. Despite numerous issues, one can easily say that globalisation has reduced the global reach of the organizations as well as customers. It would not be wrong to conclude that
Vignali, C. (2001). McDonald’s: “think global, act local”--the marketing mix. British Food Journal, 103(2), pp.97--111.
The standardisation versus adaptation debate is an old one in international marketing, as the discussion timidly started more than eight decades ago, in the 1920's, was generalized in the 1960's and continues until today (Vrontis, Thrassou & Lamprianou, 2009). Standardisation and adaptation are two diametrically opposite marketing philosophies, which both have strong advocates and the debate wasn't limited to the academic world, but it also expanded to the real, business world. In other words, it is not only a theoretical dispute, but a real strategic choice for every business that operates in an international scale. Everyday companies all over the world need to make the decision to standardise or adapt their products, their price policy or their promotion methods in order to be successful.
When we consider “Customizing Global Marketing (John A. Quelch and Edward J. Hoff)”, we should check which strategies are used; adaptation or standardization. When we analyzed the case, we see that 7- Eleven made adaptation strategy in Taiwan. Because, there is not enough space in stores to apply standardization strategy. In U.S., 7 – Eleven uses so much space in stores, but they cannot have similar conditions in Taiwan. Therefore, they are used adaptation strategy to this conditions and they are designed their stores again. Another reason is applying this strategy is that Taiwan culture.
Samiee and Roth(1992) emphasizes the conceptualized of standardization has been in the different ways. Like the same strategy can be used in all markets. or it can be mean the same marketing strategy can be adopted in the both market which are the domestic market or foreign market (Cavusgil,1993)
Incorporating cultural influences into our marketing strategy will be critical moving forward in the global market. To have an effective global marketing strategy, we must consider these cultural influences in the country where the new product is being advertised and it must be understood that their citizens’ choices about purchasing the product is based on these cultural stimuli (Hunt 2016).
In week five we learn about the importance of globalization and how it can help your company’s profits grow. There are many things to look at when selling globally as different cultures need to be looked at differently when making a marketing strategy. If you understand how to market your products to different cultures in different countries you can take advantage of the profits that can be made through globalization.
Therefore, marketing strategy formulation becomes a pre requisite for developing marketing mix of a company. Many times this important step is missed out by the company or they fail to understand the importance of this step. This study has been undertaken with the view of making realize the importance of marketing strategy formulation and make people understand what is this formulation step. Also it was interesting for me to observe how a newly established company devises its marketing strategies. I have chosen this company in particular because of two reasons. Firstly, it is newly established so it perfectly serves the objective of my report. Second, it has been able to gain some marketing even before launching its products in the market so
International Marketing, at its simplest level, involves the firm making one or more marketing mix decisions across national boundaries (Jobber, 2010). At its most complex level, it involves the firm establishing manufacturing facilities overseas and coordinating marketing strategies across the globe (Jobber, 2010). There are various reasons for going global, some of which are: to find opportunities beyond saturated domestic markets; to seek expansion beyond small, low growth domestic markets; to meet customers’ expectations; to respond to the competitive forces for example the desire to attack an overseas competitor; to act on cost factor for example to gain economies of scale in order to achieve a balanced growth portfolio. The methods of market entry that could be used are indirect exporting (for example, using domestic –based export agents), direct exporting (for example, foreign –based distributors), licensing, joint venture and direct investment. I found this par...
As it concern marketing Mix, there is two schools of thought. Those who believe and support standardization believe that the world became an entity and became quite similar when it comes to the consumer and think that there are not variations across markets and country when it concern consumers wants requirement and needs, that customers have the same demands. Levitt (1983) argue, by implementing a standardization process, creating a unique strategy for the whole global market would create stability with the customer and lower the cost for the company. Selling the same thing, at the same price, everywhere around the world, when adapting to the market internationally would affect the price.
Today, many companies have concern deciding whether using a truly global marketing approach is correct for them. There is a slight trend back in the direction of localization due to new proficiencies of customization made imaginable by technology, the cyberspace, and new production methods. “Mass Customization” is now “Mass Production.” In today’s domain, the consumer does not constantly respond to a “one size fits all” tactic.