Essay on Whirlpool

Whirlpool is the world’s largest producer and marketer of small and large home appliances such as mixers, food processors, washing machines, refrigerators, air conditioners, etc. Whirlpool also has a long standing relationship with Sears, which sells Whirlpool products under the brand name Kenmore. In addition to its North American presence (both manufacturing and sales), Whirlpool also has a strong presence in Mexico, and Europe. Being the largest producer in the world has helped Whirlpool to compete on lower costs through economies of scale and through its Global Procurement Organization (GPO). In addition, its large networks also help in

Today’s world is facing strong influence of globalization in each and every aspect of our lives. It is expressed through: free trade agreements, foreign direct investments, international trade, facilitated movement of labour, capital and resources, as well as a strong competition that eventually gives more power to customers. In addition, it resulted in the economic boom of the developing countries, with substantial dominance of China that mainly benefit from their massive labour force, its low cost and high comparative efficiency. This phenomenon has impacted all industries around the world. In particular, furniture production is going through a trend of moving to China that “in 2002

Today, firms have to deal with a global marketplace; marketers have no other choice. Participation in global marketing has begun to shift from a mere “option” to an imperative. The world is becoming more homogeneous. Distinctions between national markets

The first recommendation for this firm is to adopt a global policy and try and explore new markets so that market growth and market share can be expanded. In case of a firm entering an international market, it requires to analyze the nature of the market and suitably form its marketing strategies in alignment with its business strategy and decide whether it is more beneficial to adopt a global approach or use a strategy that is customized to suit the needs of the local customers.

Whirlpool Corporation is the largest global manufacturer of home appliances (Innovation at the Pace of Life, 2016). Although, Whirlpool is globally the largest manufacturer, they do not dominate all markets as they do in North America. In North America, Whirlpool’s strength lies in a strong and vast brand portfolio, consisting of seven brands (Fettig, 2016). In 2006, the United States Department of Justice approved the acquisition of Maytag Corporation by Whirlpool (Henriques, 2006). The acquisition served a two-fold purpose, seating Whirlpool in the number one market share position in North America and adding strong brands such as Maytag, Jenn-Air, and Amana to the portfolio. A series of acquisitions is accelerating growth for Whirlpool and ensuring global market leadership. Whirlpool acquired Italian manufacturer,

"Whirlpool Corporation is a global manufacturer and marketer of major home appliances, with annual sales of over

12. Please return the cost of capital to 9%. Sigma squared is the variance in the rate of return of the project. The calculations for the variance are in the first table of worksheet 2. Determining sigma squared is one of the most challenging tasks in calculating the value of a real option. In this example, we suggest asking managers for their best and worst case estimates of the benefits, given the expected benefits taken from worksheet 1. Just above the table, there is a percentage number for the range surrounding the expected returns, which starts at 20%. This says that the worst estimate is 80% of the expected, and the best is 120% of the expected.

Hill, C. (2011). International business, competing in the global marketplace. (8 ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Irwin.

Based on my calculation and the assumptions from the case text, I would recommend this project. It can provide an 82.98 million positive economic value to Whirlpool Europe. However I do have a few concerns. The forecasting and calculations are based on large quantity of assumptions, and some of them are pretty optimistic, such as the 25% percent increase in unit sold. Thus, the actual result of this project is subject to a volatility based on the accuracy of the date and forecasting provided in case.

Seeing the opportunity, Mr. N.R. Dongre and his company filed for an application for registration of trademark ‘Whirlpool’. Thereafter, when the registration application was published, Respondents 1 & 2, under the banner of TVS Whirlpool Ltd. opposed the granting of registration of the trademark. However, the Assistant Registrar of Trade Marks dismissed the claims of TVS Whirlpool Ltd on the following grounds:

In the United States, the cooking industry is a mature market with high penetration, therefore, replacement product is significantly important to the industry. The United States has three major manufacturers for domestic production; Whirlpool, General Electric, and Electrolux. The appliance industry is changing and become more competitive with the influence of Asian competitors, specifically, LG and Samsung is importing appliances into the United States. Subsequently, in January 2016, a Chinese manufacturer, Haier, bid for the purchase of General Electric Appliances, finalizing the contract, Monday, June 6, 2016 (Thompson, 2016).

The world offers significant business opportunities for every company, however, opportunities are accompanied by significant challenges for managers. Managing global operations across diverse cultures and markets represents a big challenge and opportunity for companies. To compete in the global market and be successful, companies must learn the strategies, policies, norms and technology necessary to conduct international business. The opportunities for global expansion are numerous, and attaining success is a matter of developing the right strategy to win local markets and its consumers.

Companies can decide to go global or to enter international markets for various reasons, and these different objectives at the time of entry that enable the business to produce different strategies and the performance goals, and even forms of market participation.

As trade increases hyper-competition grows forcing organizations to go global. By a company going global it requires them to rethink strategy and reform (Ananthram and Pearson, 2008). Global organizational structure is the way a company aims to merge local preferences with global strategy. The definition of global strategy is “strategic choices that have the characteristics of being globally uniform or integrated,” (Yip et al., 1997) such as standardization of products, uniform marketing, and competitive moves, but all globally (Townsend et al., 2004; Zou and Cavusgil, 2002; Bayraktar and Ndubisi, 2014). Global strategic strategy is a way to adjust to globalization. Globalization is “the economic and social process by which economies and communities grow inextricably interdependent “(Jhirad et al., 2009). The recent financial crisis (Das, 2010), large amount of poverty, and climate change are all problems that show how the world is globally connected because all countries impact each other (Jhirad et al., 2009).

In light of the above findings, since there are obvious problems found in Whirlpool¡¦s international business strategy, it is recommended that Whirlpool should refine its strategy as follow: