Critical Analysis of Standardization and Adaptation in International Marketing

At its basic understanding, international marketing engages the firm in making one or more marketing mix decisions across national boundaries. At its complex level, it involves the firm in establishing

The article is divided into four parts. First part focuses on the traditional perspective on international marketing strategies focusing on the dichotomy between standardization and adaptation. The second part examines key assumptions underlying the philosophy of global standardization. The third part focuses on the constraints to implementation of global standardization. The last part of the article concludes on the bases of its review that a more general approach is suitable which incorporates various degrees of standardization or adaptation strategies. It is an important article as it concludes that an effective global marketing strategy does not guarantee the marketing of standardized products and global brands worldwide. It might work for some companies but cannot work for all.

Doing business in such different countries ask you to be flexible and need to be able to adapt quickly to the local demand and cultural differences. Your strategy has to be adapted to the ethical standards, cultural norms, but also the way the business is going locally. In others world, the company has to localize its distribution and marketing strategy to the requirements of the local market.

When starting an internationalization process, companies must take into account that they will have to adapt their products and marketing process in order to get the attention of customers in the new market.

The Coca-Cola Company is the world’s leading beverage company, with markets in over 200 countries and over 1,100 brands under their portfolio. The company was founded in 1886 and is currently headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. This paper seeks to explain the impact of globalization on the standardization versus adaptation decision using examples from the Coca-Cola Company’s performance and strategies since their inception as a company.

In today’s world of constant change and technological advancements, it is imperative that marketers stay up to date and ready to tackle and challenges. Companies are battling neck to neck in order to make sure the products they offer are available and in the consumers mind. Not only do they have to be concerned about the local target audience. Now the reach is worldwide and the target audience can be a eclectic mix of races and cultures that demand the same product in many different ways. So the challenge faced by marketers is how to satisfy that audience. Looking a various examples, it is clear that while this is an attainable goal, it is not easy. Marketers can

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

When it comes to conducting international business, there are many additional factors that play a role that organizations need to take into consideration compared to how they conduct business in their local countries. Although the magnitude of the effects of these additional factors differ based on the products and/or services a given organization provides, it is almost always the case in which such organizations need to adapt to the local market, even if marginally so. That said, there are certain situations

With respect to product, standardized marketing differs from its opposite extreme concentrated marketing as products are introduced to a foreign country without any change*. Although the strategy is

When external marketing becomes increasingly more important and successful for the business, they will begin seeking new sources of growth and profit. New countries serve as new markets, thus international marketing begins. International Marketing is approached by concentrating product and promotional strategy to a given foreign market. Furthermore, an international marketing firm has polycentric orientation with emphasis on product and promotional adaptation in foreign markets whenever necessary. They make strategic decisions that are tailored to suit the cultures of the foreign countries. The company may establish an independent foreign subsidiary in each and every foreign market it services ­ such efforts are also called multi-domestic

Globalisation rapidly changes marketing environment and marketplace become more competitive. It is no longer enough for company to be driven by product and technology without building customer relationship (Kotler, Adam, Denize and Armstrong 2009). Moreover, “business success is not determined by the producer but by the customer” (Drucker 1973 cited in Kotler et al. 2009, p. 4). Thus, in order to achieve organisation’s goals, marketing management needs to be flexible to adapt continuously changes of the environment.

The term ‘Marketing mix’ is said to have first been used by Borden (1965). The term ‘Marketing mix’ was derived from the lone P (price) of microeconomic theory (Chong, 2003). The marketing mix is a business tool often used in marketing and by marketers. The marketing mix is important when trying to determine a product or brand 's offer, and is often identified with the four P’s which are; price, place, promotion and product (McCarthy, 1964). Kent (1986) describes the four P’s as “the holy quadruple...of the marketing faith...written in tablets of stone”. The four P’s can also be further developed into the seven P’s in service marketing, to approach the difference in the nature of services (Booms & Bitner, 1980). One of the main reasons why

The debate of international advertising for global brand between standardization strategy and adaption strategy has existed for the last few decades. Nowadays, many famous brands want to expand their market over the world, thus become global brands due to the development of globalization and technology. Many brands already successfully become global brands through right advertising strategy. In the process of advertising, the global brands need to create a consistent image and deliver their unique message to target markets. Therefore, the advertising way and content of Global brands is essential to achieve this goal. As a result of this, standardization or adaption adverting strategy is an important decision of international marketing and really essential to the success of global brands.

The most challenging decision that a company may face in internationalization is the degree of standardization or adaptation in its operations. The question of standardization or adaptation affects all avenues of a business’ operations, such as R&D, finance, production, organizational structure, procurement, and the marketing mix. Whether a company chooses to standardize or adapt its operations depends on its attitudes toward different cultures. These attitudes are defined by three orientations toward foreign culture: ethnocentric, polycentric, and geocentric.

Debate the issue of global versus adapted products for the international market. A recurring debate exists relative to product planning and focuses on the question of standardized products marketed worldwide versus differentiated products adapted or even redesigned for each culturally unique market. Those with a strong production and unit cost orientation advocate standardization and others, perhaps more culturally sensitive, propose the policy of a different