Difference Between Interrelationship Culture And Marketing Strategy

Literature Review

Friedman first characterized glocalization as the ability for given way of life to retain it’s importance in how it fits the accepted standards in the society when it experience other robust society beliefs and values. According to Friedman, (1999) glocalisation is a practice undertaken by companies to satisfy the interest of the local customers in a specific country. As companies grow and seek to develop a global brand, the idea of glocalization is necessary to command different markets in specific countries. Glocalization, is achieved either through standardization of the concern products to fit the required needs of customers across the globe. The process of customizing the products to meet the specific consumer needs in the niche markets is referred to adaptation.

Global marketing is more intricate than global advertising on account of the rate of more perplexing factors, such as; difficulty in increasing positive data, diversity of geographic areas, strategies, and contrasts in environmental variables. According to Kothari,(2012) global marketing is a process of identifying goods and services that consumers around the globe need and afterward providing them at the correct cost and place. In the international market this the process is the same as the local marketing, yet with some critical adjustments to reflect the changing consumers want and needs in the new markets

U.S. specialist Theodore Levitt contended that because the world is getting to be institutionalized and homogeneous, organizations should market similar products similarly in all nations (Levitt, 1986). Innovation, asserted Levitt, makes needs and preference join all through the world. Global market managers are tasked to reduce the cost of production and marketing cost by standardizing the physical attributes the marketing products and strategies adopted.. Different analysts say that standardization is only one of numerous methodologies to enter global marketing effectively. They contend that standardization strategy is not the best strategy and encourage smaller firms to adjust to indigenous cultures while enhancing their advantage to gain local markets.

Consumers needs across national markets are diverse and never satisfied. Customers demand products that satisfy their tastes; social, political, legal, and economic factors. This, therefore, influence customer preferences and companies worldwide. Moreover, Product standardization is more probable when countries share a similar level of economic development. Many years of economic excellence have driven Indian shoppers to pick worldwide brands, for example, Ford (Keegan and Green, 2014)

The debate over standardization versus adaptation of marketing strategies in global markets has seethed for quite a few years. This argument has by, and mainly occurred at the total level to incorporate every one of the four key strategic areas of the marketing mix consisting of price, product, promotion, and place combined (Prakash1 and Singh2, 2011).

Standardization and Marketing Mix Analysis

Standardization implies offering the same product in different countries markets. The benefit of standardization is low cost, like planning, manufacturing and distributing the same item across nations probably reduces the cost of investment. However, offering similar products across nations might not be desired due to the different political environment, natural environment, market conditions, competition and technological. As customers of various nations have diverse necessities, a standardized product might not be satisfactory to all consumers (Roger J. Calantone et al. 2004). Consequently, product standardization refers to how much the physical qualities or traits of a product and its packaging contrasts over national markets

 Even though customizing products for various markets increases the cost of production and marketing, the customized products will probably fit the requirements of a large number of consumers across the global markets. This, therefore, will improve the sales margins of the company which improves the gross profits and market share as well. For instance, Procter and Gamble’s Oil of Olay skin lotion has a distinctive sort of products in various global markets to appeal to different needs and desires of the customers. The different researcher has concluded that instead of changing the product language and attracting consumers of products in different countries across the globe, there is a need to find an optimal solution between standardizing and adapting to the specific market (Dhar, 2006).

Global marketing managers ought to address issues on how to price the products, how to sell the products, and how to covey those products to the customers. These strategies are referred to as the 4p’s in marketing in marketing planning. According to Wall and Rees, (2004) global marketers face more complicated issues and decisions about marketing mix as compared to the domestic marketers. 

Global marketing managers often identify the best approach that can suit the marketing of the products in the different global markets. The strategies chosen by the managers depends on the extent been met. An ethnocentric approach markets the products in the global markets using the same approach as it is done locally. A polycentric approach markets the products in a customized marketing mix strategy that meets each target market needs. A geocentric approach adopts a standardized marketing mix that is used across all the markets across the globe (Griffin and Pustay, 2005).

Differentiating between standardizing and adaptation of global marketing is vital. Standardization of global marketing is an overall advertising approach where similar marketing mix and approaches are used in all organizations globally (Armstrong and Kotler 2008). Coca-Cola organization is an example of a company with a standardized product that has been accepted universally by the consumer. Adaptation is the second global marketing technique.  According to Armstrong et al. (2008) adaptation strategy in marketing is an approach that incorporates the cultural factors in the market for the product marketed. Market adaptation is deemed expensive in the marketing of products to the relevant market because of the complexity of the demands in the market as well as the industry needs. For instance, Nokia and Samsung have tweaked their cell phones for all their key markets (Armstrong et al. 2008).

Standardizing versus Adapting the Marketing Mix

Companies that desire to excel in the marketplace must think globally and act locally. This allows companies to adapt to their marketing mix. Firms entering the global markets thus have the option of adopting either standardized approach to the marketing mix or a localized approach by responding to the country or regional differences. Hence, an essential choice that managers have to deliberate concerning their international marketing strategy is the extet to which they should adapt their global marketing mix or standardize (Bishopton, 2018).

Adoption of elements of the marketing mix in global markets varies because the satisfaction to the customer needs also varies across global markets (Alimien? and Kuvykait?, 2008). Consequently, marketing mix characteristics are seen at different points of a continuum of  standardization of a product  and service where it is hard to implement different country pricing as compared to standardization. Corporations ought to consider the continuum of adapting or standardizing products by considering the elements of marketing mix whether they are applicable to adapt or standardized. Companies that standardize in the marketing mix  are faced with advantages and drawbacks. Every company choose standardized marketing strategy because it yields greater sales volume, lower production cost which enhances greater profitability and global image (Nyukorong, 2014).

Companies should not strive for standardization strategy and globalization activities. The main argument is that standardized products are simple for some markets while it is complicated for other markets. Moreover, the struggle for globalization activities by corporate can harm their existing networks of the company activities which in eventually suppresses entrepreneurship (Keegan and Green, 2014).

NESTLÉ

Conclusion

Glocalisation has enabled companies to expand their markets across the globe. Through glocalization, Nestle and Coca-Cola companies have attracted a global market that has contributed to their success in the beverage industry. The study found out that through adaptation, the companies have adopted the culture across the countries where they operate and incorporated the needs of the products marketed. Though debate continues on the issue of standardization and adaption strategies of global marketing, several advantages and disadvantages of both strategies still features. Global brands such as Coca-Cola and nestle were one’s local brands as they penetrated through several local markets and gained acceptance from the consumers. Therefore, the process of glocalization is a journey. Several scholars have alluded to the fact that global products enjoy economies of scale due to significant market share. However, companies incur huge investments and expenses in the standardization of products to meet the global standards. The complexities in the marketing mix that is applied by companies to meet the specific customers need in different locations is cumbersome. Each marketing mix requires keen analysis due to different cultural factors, social factors, demographic factors, legal factors, political factors, and natural factors. Throughout this study, it is evident that Coca-Cola and nestle company has succeeded in their global marketing mix strategies to fit different market segments. However, the global market is dynamic which calls for continuous market analysis.

References

Alimien?, M. and Kuvykait?, R. 2008. ‘Standardization/adaptation of marketing solutions in companies operating in foreign markets: An integrated approach’, Engineering Economics, 1(1), pp. 37–47.

Armstrong, K.L., 2008. Consumers of Color and the” Culture” of Sport Attendance: Exploratory Insights. Sport Marketing Quarterly, 17(4).

Bishopton, M. I. 2018. ‘Adaptation Of Marketing Strategy Of Multinational Companies On Foreign Local’.

Calantone, R.J., Tamer Cavusgil, S., Schmidt, J.B. and Shin, G.C., 2004. Internationalization and the dynamics of product adaptation—An empirical investigation. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 21(3), pp.185-198.

Dhar, S. 2006. ‘Case Studies on: Growth Strategies – Vol II’, I. Available at: https://www.ibscdc.org/businesscasebooks-pdfs/Growth Stratiges Vol. II.pdf.

Friedman, L. and Furey, T., 1999. The channel advantage: going to marketing with multiple sales channels.

Keegan, W. J. and Green, M. C. 2014. Global marketing.

Kotler, P., 2008. Armstrong, gary. 2008. Principles of Marketing, 11.

Levitt, T. and Levitt, I.M., 1986. Marketing Imagination: New. Simon and Schuster.

Mittal, P.A., Jain, V., Modani, N., Kothari, R. and Agrawal, A., International Business Machines Corp, 2012. Method and system for conducting online marketing research in a controlled manner. U.S. Patent 8,234,146.

Nyukorong, R. 2014. ‘Interrelationship between Culture and Marketing Strategy?: Multiple Case Studies from the Netherlands’, 6(26), pp. 84–95.

Prakash1, A. and Singh2, V. B. 2011. ‘Glocalization in Food Business: Strategies of Adaptation To Local Needs and Demands’, Asian Journal of Technology & Management Research, 1(1), p. 21.

 Wall and Rees, 2004. Misconceptions of culture in cross-cultural business and management studies. International Journal of Management Concepts and Philosophy, 3(4), pp.349-361.

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