Standardization/Customization Debate in Global Marketing

International marketing or business is uniquely different from the local market because the product price, place and promotion is vastly different from what is been offered to local customers (Johansson, 2000) With the emergence of the information technology, cross border marketing has never been a distant dream. However, it has never been easier even for giant multinational companies to face challenges that come in international business. The biggest challenge comes from the culture which varies from country to country.

Customers want to unbundled services associated with products so that they can purchase only the support that they specifically need.

The purchasing goods & services have throughout the years begun to lead to a new perception of consumer relationship and in ways businesses conduct their operations. Not only is a business concerned with the buying and selling of goods & services but to further maintain that relationship with their customers to correlate between both parties. As this being the prime functionality of businesses, each business must differentiate themselves with other businesses offering different and wholesome services, which overwhelms their competitors, thus adding their own individualistic value to the marketing

Customer experience is defined by interactions between a customer and an organization throughout their business relationship. An interaction can include awareness, discovery, cultivation, advocacy, purchases and service. 50% of customers use a company more frequently after a positive customer experience (Brookes,

services that cater to the customer’s unique needs. They offer both their commercial and residential

Let’s start with the importance of personalized customer service. The goal is to create a personal touch with the customers. Starting with the simplest way of giving the customer a personal touch may be to greet the customer by his name. Furthermore, a more complex method would be for our staff to call the customer in the morning and encourage them to get to

Identify at least two other competitors in the same industry, and explain why you prefer your selected brand over the competitors.

The service encounter experience determines future levels of service and profit generated by the organisation. It is where emotions of the service user and the customer service representative meet in real time; most people judge service quality within the first few moments. Service is often described as ‘emotional labour’, because it demands service personnel to engage their emotions in their work in a way that a production line role does not. The science of customer service treats customer satisfaction as a function

| |a product they require and receive and appropriate level of service to go with|

The authors supply a road-map of types to people who see 1to1 marketing since the key to promote dominance; (1) identify your customers, (2) distinguish them from what they want and from their value for you, (3) interact together, and (4)) personalize your product or service to satisfy their independently expressed demands. This is how the 5 "I"s Five "I"s: Identification, Interaction, Individualization,

So what does this mean? From the first phone call to our last interaction with the customer we want them to feel as this has been the best experience possible. It begins with our face of the company. That could be a greeter at the front door, or our team member answering a phone call. At that initial point of contact it is our goal to invite the customer in to a friendly, knowledgeable, and accommodating atmosphere. Secondly, we want all internal customers to assist our external customers with any help or guidance they need without making them feel as if they have inconvenienced us. Listening to our customers will help improve the customer experience and lead to quicker solutions. Finally, we want our customers to not only come back, but to promote our business through word of mouth. That is where we will gain our economic advantage. It’s 5 times harder to get a new client than it is to get repeat business from an existing client (Sivers).We need to utilize all aspects of customer service to not only retain the customers we do have but also to create an experience that invites new customers to our store.

The extent to which a product's perceived performance matches a buyer's expectations. Customer might be

Marketing concept believes that for a company to achieve organizational goals, it depends on determining the needs and wants of the target market. It takes an outside-in approach. Marketers practising this concept recognise that customers are always the first priority of the organization and they aim on complete customer satisfaction. This requires an integrated marketing effort, that is, team work between different departments within the organization. For instance, team work between the marketing team and the academic team of UCSI University. The marketing team will be in-charge of the promotion of the academic programmes available in UCSI University while the academic team will have to ensure and maintain the quality of the programmes and courses offered.

One significant challenge to business success in this rapidly changing global economy is that many business are focused on efficiency and economic of scales. Just like the example provided by Michael H. Hugo on Chapter 1, many companies are focused on lowering operating cost as much as possible. This is causing for executives not leave any room for unpredicted changes limiting the company’s ability to respond to customer’s changing needs.

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.