Managing Across Borders for Globalization - myassignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theManaging Across Borders for Globalization. Answer: Introduction: Globalization has supported the companies to expand their business at global level. The companies try to set up their business in the international market so that they can cover large masses of customers and thus enhance their business as well as revenue. Globalization has made this easy for the companies to go global (Aaker and McLoughlin, 2009). It has been analysed that the nature of market and culture at different countries is very different. Thus, the companies have to make a strategic choice of standardization or adaptations in the international market, if it wants to settle their business at the international land. Standardization strategy allows the company to be standard with their products and the strategies that has been used at the parent country by the company and using the same within the international market. On the other hand, adaptation strategy is the strategy that allows the organization to adapt the local market culture and alter the traditional or original strate gies or products of the parent company according to the host country. This is the situation where the company has to take decisions over marketing and the product strategies that have been implemented in the different part of the world for expansion of the business (Turnbull and Valla, 2013). This essay mainly focuses on developing the understanding of different aspect of adaptation straggles and the process of adapting the same in the international market. The discussion follows with various techniques that have been used in adaptation strategies in terms of market and the products. Managing across borders is the term used to manage the international market. The process of selecting one of the marketing strategies is followed by the companies who want to operate in international market. Following the whole process allow the company to adapt one of the strategies. Adaptation strategy is basically used by those companies who wants to have local touch in their products and wants the p eople to feel the connection with the brands (Cateora, 2008). It has been analysed that adaptation strategy provides many benefits to the companies such as localization and connect to the local people, better customers satisfactions, good relations with the customers and the foreign government etc. In addition to these benefits, some of the disadvantages have also been faced by the companies if it adopts the localization strategy. Some of the disadvantages are loss of actual identity of the firm; more time and effort is required to analyse different market and developing different strategies, high cost etc. the discussion below decreases the topic in detail and provides the understanding of various aspects of adaptation strategies in global market. International market: As the term suggests, international market is the market that is in the foreign country. Marketing in international land is the very common trend that has been found in the businesses these days. Many researchers have been taken place and are still in progress with regards to the understanding of purchase behaviour and demands of the people in different countries (Terpstra, Foley and Sarathy, 2012). International marketing is also defined as the process of identifying the demands of the customers across the boundaries and fulfilling them with some of the strategies. The companies have to take global decisions in terms of marketing to the international land by making variations in some of the marketing mix elements. Companies tend to face many challenges in case if international marketing regarding the strategies to adopt (Soares, Farhangmehr and Shoham, 2007). They generally have two choices, standardization and adaptation. Factors that affect the choice of strategy: The alteration in the marketing mix elements of the company for international marketing is required because of the differences in various factors across borders. Some of the factors that drive the change in marketing mix elements are: Language: language is the very important factor that drives the change in the original strategy of the company in terms of marketing in international market. This is because different countries have different native languages (Doole and Lowe, 2008). It is not possible for the organizations to advertise their products in the same parent language in all over the world. Taste: for the companies which deal with food products, it is very difficult to serve every international market with similar products. This is because the taste and the choices if the people in different countries are different. Culture: It is a known fact that values and culture of the people in different countries are very different. Thus, serving each and every market with the similar products and by the same strategies cannot work at every place (Pappu, Quester and Cooksey, 2007). Consumer habits: As far as the consumer behaviour and the habits are considered, it has been analysed that it is not necessary that the products for that is very popular in one country could be popular in another company as well. This is because of the change in consumer habits and their behaviour to purchase the products. This let the organization change the price, products and the marketing strategies. Economic factors: different countries have different type of economic level (Griffin and Pustay, 2012). It is not necessary that every country can afford to buy the products in high price and thus the companies have to later their products quality as well as the price level according to the economic conditions of the country. The localization school of thought: The localization school of though is also called as adaptation school of thought. This suggests that there should be non-standardized advertising approach in the international market. It talks about the different advertising campaigns that have been formed by the companies for different markets even in the similar country or in international country (Zhou, Wu and Barnes, 2012). The school argues that there are different people in different country as well as different people in the similar country according to the region. It has been analysed that when the localized strategy is applied in terms of deciding the marketing plan then it is necessary to take into account the differences in the market type and sixe of different places. Localization or the adaptation strategy for each and every place should have the local touch in them so that the people of that place can feel related to that products or service (Cadogan, 2012). The differences that majorly needs to be considered are cultur e, language, demography, economy, beliefs etc. it has been recommended to all the MNCs by the experts that they should choose the adaptation or the localization strategy because it is very important to overcome the cultural barriers that exists at every place. It is not possible that single marketing campaign can attract the customers of all places (Vrontis and Thrassou, 2007). This school of thought generally considered the differences at the places but fails to acknowledge the similarities and homogeneity of the market at different places. This suggests that the companies can use the standardized strategy only when the market is similar. This requires the companies to conduct the market analysis before deciding over the marketing strategy or before releasing any of the products (Griffith, 2010). This is because the places with similar market conditions and taste of the customers can be served with similar market strategies. Adaptation as customers orientation strategy: Adaptation strategy is about changing the different aspects of the products and services according to the international market needs. It provides the benefit of meeting the different needs of the different market all over the world. This allows the companies to have greater achievement of customer satisfaction (Chung, 2009). Developing products requires a process be followed. In this process, the stage of product development needs the alteration according to the differences at the different places that needs to be served by that product. There are many factors that support h strategy of adaptation over the strategy of standardization. The factors are the government policies of different places, condition of consumption and consumer behaviour. Most of the companies believe in adapting the strategies and altering their marketing mix. There are many examples that can be studied to have an idea about the difference in strategies of the company at different places. For example, Nokia is t he firm that sell its products with low cost strategy in Africa. This is because the consumer buying power of Africa is low as compared to other countries (Turnbull and Paliwoda, 2012). On the other hand, Nokia serves the people with smartphones like Lumia which are of high price to the places like North America and Europe where the buying power of the consumers is high in nature. McDonalds also uses the strategy of adaptation in order to serve the international market. The company believes in analysing the market and the taste of the people before entering the same. As the McDonalds men is considered it started its operation by serving Hamburgers to the people and succeeded. But, when the company enters the country like India, it takes different approach. The failure of KFC in India at tits initial sate suggests that McDonald should come with some of the veg burgers in India in order to attract the customers because most of the people there are vegans. This suggests that adaptation strategy of the company was customers oriented. It has been analysed that the change in the strategy of the company is the response to the changes in the market of the place. Adaptation strategies at different place also help the company to reduce the risks of failure. This is because; it is using different strategies at different places. One of the strategies can fail but all the strategies cannot be failed. Causes of adaptation strategy in marketing mix: Marketing mix contains the elements of the market such as products, price, place and promotion. Below discussion argues about the cause that drives the changes in the elements of the marketing mix when the adaptation strategy has been implemented: Product: the various causes that drive the changes in the products of the company if adaptation strategy has been implemented are government regulations, habits of the consumers, difference in culture and standards of the products. This is because it is required by the company to follow different regulation set of the respective government at different places (Zhou and Li, 2010). The consumer habits can also be different and thus affect the type of products that can be used by them. As far as the strategy of Nestle in considered, it released various range of Kit Kat in Japan. This is because the bar got very famous and popular in the country. Dominos and Dunkin Donuts are more examples of the companies that make alterations in the r products in order to serve different markets according to the relevant culture and choices. Price: different markets have different profit and sale volume. This this creates difference in the consumer power of buying things (Chhokar, Brodbeck and House, 2013). It needs to be considered by the multinational companies in ore to set the prices at different places or market at international level. Place: Place involves the factors such as nature of the market, characteristics of the customers of that place, laws and legislations etc. these factors drives the companies to make the changes in choosing the way or the location from where the products needs to be distributed. Promotion: there are different ways in which the customers can be attracted towards the products. Thus, it is required by the company to make changes in the marketing and promotional techniques to serve different markets (Tempel and Walgenbach, 2007). In this process, the company needs to consider the market conditions and the type of the customers. Benefits of adaptation strategies: As far as the benefits of adaptation strategy is considered, it has been analysed that there are many benefits of the strategy. Some of them are discussed below: Customer satisfaction: As discussed that adaptation strategy is the strategy that allow the organization adapt the local touch of the place where the products needs to be released or marketed. This helps in making connection with the customers (Steers, Sanchez-Runde and Nardon, 2010). As the customers feel related to the products, they will definitely be satisfied with the products. If there is no relativity between the products and the customers, then it will be difficult for the company to sell the products in that market (Michaels, 2008). Reduction of failure risk: as adaptation strategy helps in serving each and every market with different strategies, it reduces the risk if failure of the strategy. One strategy can be failed but all cannot be failed. In case of standardization, the similar strategy is used to different market and thus there is high risk of failure at every place. Rapid response to changes: It has been analysed that adaptation strategy helps in changing and altering the original strategy or the products of the company so that the local market needs can be fulfilled. This enables the company to respond to the changes that occur in the market rapidly (Ghemawat, 2007). This is because the company has already made the strategy and the products according to the needs and environment of the international market. If there are any changes in the market then it will be easy for the company to adapt such changed in the strategies as well. Effective communication: This is the most obvious benefit that can be achieved by the companies using the adaptation strategy in the international market. This is because of the company is adapting the localization strategy; it can easily communicate with the local people of the place (Deresky, 2017). Standardization strategy allows them to communicate in the uniform manner at all places. It is not necessary that every country can have same level of understanding and thus becomes difficult to deal with the market. Good relationship with foreign government: implementing the adaptation strategy also helps in developing good relationship with the foreign country government. This is because, in the adaptation strategy; the company generally follows the regulations formed by the international government and also have the local touch in their products. Ease of access: It is also one of the obvious benefits that can enjoy by the companies adopting the localization strategy. Drawbacks of adaptation strategy: Low speed of implementation: It has been analysed that adaptation strategy is the strategy that requires the companies to conduct the analysis of different market and their culture in order to about the same. This requires a lot of time for the company to implement such changes at every place (Knight and Landres, 2013). The process of gaining the knowledge of different market takes a lot of efforts and time and thus the market strategy also delays. Standardization strategy can easily be implemented as only on strategy has to be implemented at every place. Compromise with the core competitive advantage: adaptation strategy is implemented to the large scale in different countries with different variations. These variations results in loss of original identity of the company (Davis, 2007). As far as the brand like NIKE is concerned, it has been analysed that the major identity of the company is dynamism and active life style. As the company market its products with the slogan called Just Do It. There are possibilities that the company can lose its identity at different places if the localization touch is being imposed on the strategies of marketing at different countries (Jones, 2007). Conclusion: This report concludes that there are two types of strategies that can be used by the companies at international market. One of the strategies is standardization and another one is adaptation strategy. There are different factors that affect the decision of choosing the relevant strategy to serve the market. Some of the factors are language, culture, customer behaviour etc. Adaptation strategy is most popular and has been used by many companies now a day. Adaptation strategy is the strategy that deals with making the alterations in the original strategy of the company in consideration with the differences in the different market. The major elements that are been altered by the company in the adaptation strategies are product, price, place and promotion. These are the marketing mix elements that need to be changed according to the condition and the situations at the international market. There are many benefits of using adaptation strategy that can be enjoyed by the company such as loc alization and connect to the local people, better customers satisfactions, good relations with the customers and the foreign government etc. In addition to these benefits, some of the disadvantages have also been faced by the companies if it adopts the localization strategy. Some of the disadvantages are loss of actual identity of the firm; more time and effort is required to analyse different market and developing different strategies, high cost etc. References: Aaker, D.A. and McLoughlin, D., 2009.Strategic market management: global perspectives. John Wiley Sons. Cadogan, J.W., 2012. 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