chaPter 1 • IntroductIon to Global MarketInG 27
available. after a successful launch in the United States, Starbucks rolled out Via in Great Britain, Japan, South Korea, and several other asian countries. Starbucks also recently introduced its first coffee machine. the Versimo allows Starbucks’ customers to “prepare their favorite beverages at home.”
● Diversification: Starbucks has launched several new ventures, including music CDs and movie production. next up: revamping stores so they can serve as wine bars and attract new customers in the evening.7
to get some practice applying table 1-1, create a product/market growth matrix for another global company. IKea, LeGo, and Walt Disney are all good candidates for this type of exercise.
Companies that engage in global marketing frequently encounter unique or unfamiliar features in specific countries or regions of the world. In China, for example, product counterfeiting and piracy are rampant. Companies doing business there must take extra care to protect their intellec- tual property and deal with “knockoffs.” In some regions of the world, bribery and corruption are deeply entrenched. a successful global marketer understands specific concepts and has a broad and deep understanding of the world’s varied business environments. He or she also must understand the strategies that, when skillfully implemented in conjunction with universal marketing funda- mentals, increase the likelihood of market success. and, as John Quelch and Katherine Jocz assert, “the best global brands are also the best local brands.” that is, managers at global companies understand the importance of local excellence.8 this book concentrates on the major dimensions of global marketing. a brief overview of marketing is presented next, although the authors assume that the reader has completed an introductory marketing course or has equivalent experience.
Principles of Marketing: a review as defined in the previous section, marketing is one of the functional areas of a business, distinct from finance and operations. Marketing can also be thought of as a set of activities and processes that, along with product design, manufacturing, and transportation logistics, comprise a firm’s value chain. Decisions at every stage, from idea conception to support after the sale, should be assessed in terms of their ability to create value for customers.
For any organization operating anywhere in the world, the essence of marketing is to surpass the competition at the task of creating perceived value—that is, a superior value proposition—for customers. the value equation is a guide to this task:
Value = Benefits/Price (money, time, effort, etc.)
the marketing mix is integral to the equation because benefits are a combination of the product, the promotion, and the distribution. as a general rule, value, as the customer perceives it, can be increased in these ways. Markets can offer customers an improved bundle of benefits or lower prices (or both!). Marketers may strive to improve the product itself, to design new channels of distribution, to create better communications strategies, or a combination of all three. Marketers may also seek to increase value by finding ways to cut costs and prices. nonmonetary costs are also a factor, and marketers may be able to decrease the time and effort that customers
7Bruce Horovitz, “Starbucks remakes Its Future with an eye on Wine and Beer,” USA Today (october 22, 2010), p. 1B. 8John Quelch and Katherine Jocz, All Business Is Local (new York: Portfolio/Penguin, 2012).
tabLe 1-1 Product/Market Growth Matrix
Product orientation
existing Products new Products
Market Orientation Existing markets 1. Market penetration strategy
2. Product development strategy
New markets 3. Market development strategy
4. Diversification strategy
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