The Global Green Consumer

The Global Green Consumer

           

             Globalisation around the world – has been one of the most hotly-debated topics in international economics over the past few years. Rapid growth and poverty reduction in China, India, and other countries that were poor 20 years ago, has been a positive aspect of globalisation. But globalisation has also generated significant international opposition over concerns that it has increased inequality and environmental degradation. The most common interpretations of globalisation are saying that the world is becoming more uniform and standardized through a technological, commercial and cultural synchronisation coming from the West.  These perspectives equate globalisation with Westernisation.  However, there are other assessments that argue from viewing globalisation as the process of hybridisation, which gives rise to a global melange.

 

Discussion

            Globalisation is a term frequently used by many but is vaguely defined. One finds trouble in even finding two authors who defines globalisation in the same, exact way.  But even that being the case, there is no denying that global markets, in particular emerging ones, offer attractive potential. For many organisations it is the only approach for growth as existing markets mature with few chances for profitable opportunities. As global markets open through the increasing use of the Internet and with improved supply chains, it is likely that there are many untapped segments around the world that would open to a multinational company, regardless of the industry. More and more, the world is becoming an available global market place. To stop marketing activities at one’s home-base borders is not only arbitrary, but also short-sighted. International marketing is often defined largely in terms of the level of involvement of the company in the global marketplace, and export, multinational and global marketing are most widely considered. Multinational enterprises (MNEs) develop international marketing strategies in order to improve corporate performance though growth and strengthening their competitive advantage. However, MNEs differ in their approach to international marketing strategy development and the speed and the progress they make in achieving an international presence. The United States (along with other leading Western powers) has claimed a commitment to human rights and has challenged other countries on human rights issues, but this posture is hypocritical given its own dismal historical record on the implementation of such rights (2000).

            Cross-border segmentation refers to the idea of ensuring that all the needs of the customers will be addressed through the process of dividing the marketing strategy to different sectors. Potential customers can be allowed to purchase products which suit their taste. Global Green Consumer can be defined as a company which caters to environmental and ethical needs of its consumers.

            Furthermore, the contents of controversy in contemporary globalisation can be roughly summarised as follows. Globalisation is not a spontaneous process. Rather, it is a strategy deliberately pursued by a tiny group of people striving for world domination. This group, comprising the world’s financial and entrepreneurial elites, lacks any national or cultural identity and is indeed anonymous. It is nevertheless powerful, as it has at its disposal both the vast financial resources and the contemporary technological means of domination (primarily, mass communication technologies). It not only runs the transnational corporations that are instrumental in creating the ‘new economic order’, but also manipulates a number of organisations that are instrumental in implementing the ‘new political order’ (primarily, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). To achieve their strategic goal, the proponents of globalisation have to degrade nation states, which is impossible without eliminating national cultures.

 

            Moreover, not everyone views the growing trend toward greater international economic integration as a positive development.  Anti-globalists perceive international institutions such as the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank as one-world entities that place business priorities over human rights, labor standards, and environmental protection.  Technologically driven globalization is an engine of growth and creates many new opportunities, but it displaces relatively inefficient firms and their workers in the process; and it causes environmental and social upheaval.

           

            These unintended consequences of progress, heightened global competition, and greater efficiency are at the crux of the controversy.  At the same symposium in Wyoming where  presented his paper,  Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, addressed the issue in his remarks:  “Globalisation as most economists understand it involves the increasing interaction of national economic systems.  Of necessity, these systems are reasonably compatible and, in at least some important respects, market oriented.  Certainly, market-directed capitalism has become the paradigm for most of the world, as central-planning regimes have fallen into disfavor since their undisputed failures around the world in the four decades following World War II.  But there remains an active intellectual debate over the elements of capitalism that are perceived as most essential for a productive and civil society. . . . .   The conceptual battleground has moved far from the stark terms of the earlier capitalist-socialist confrontations. . . . .  The debate has now shifted to the nature and extent of actions appropriate for governments to take in order to ameliorate some of the less desirable characteristics that are perceived to accompany unfettered competition.”

            Due to the fact that the world is slowly awakening to find that people are suffocating in materials that are no longer organic, movements that advocate for more environmental and health friendly products are well underway. Because of these movements, people are now into using environmentally friendly products. Because of the rise of the demand for these products, and the move on globalization, many companies are taking steps to address these needs not only in their locality but around the world as well.

According to  (2006), the most successful global businesses are aggressively building their global strategies around these themes: (1) increased market access because of the opening up of markets in China, Central and Eastern Europe; (2) increased market opportunities because of the deregulation of many markets, such as the financial market and privatisation of state-owed utilities; (3) greater uniformity pf  industry standards, encouraged, for example, by the European Union; (4) sourcing of products and components initially, but more recently services, too, from a wider range of countries, particularly those emerging markets with a high ratio of skills to cost; (5) more globally standardised products and services, particularly in areas of new technology, but increasingly in more culturally sensitive product areas, such as food; (6) common technology used in many more markets, particularly in areas of information technology, when there is a high cost of research and development that must be recovered through sales in many countries; (7) similar customer requirements leading to transnational customer segments, resulting from increased communication and travel; (8) competition from the same organisations in each major market and thus interdependence of markets; (9) global organisation strategies that increasingly treat the world as one market, among several other themes.

Marketing is a universal activity that is widely applicable, regardless of the political, social and economic systems of a country. However does it nor mean that consumers in all parts of the world must or should be satisfied in exactly the same way (). This is largely the effect of globalisation to the formulation of international marketing strategies, the insertion of the adaptation of such strategies to the particular country in which the MNE operates. Consumers from various countries are significantly different due to varying culture, income, level of economic development, and so on. Therefore, consumers may use the same product without having the same need or motive, and in turn may use different products to satisfy the same need. () addressed the issue of globalisation suggesting that the quality of management processes explains why some global marketing strategies fail while others succeed, contrary to conventional wisdom that management processes for global marketing should not be highly centralised and standardised since not enough attention is paid to the inputs of local management and the learning process across the different markets. Some studies investigate the linkages between standardisation of marketing and other functions such as sourcing, manufacturing, research and development, and find such linkages to be important. The ability to carry out global marketing strategies also depend upon comparative management attributes.

            An example of a globally expanding market is the company of Marks & Spencer. Marks and Spencer has been regarded by many as a legendary retailing organization both their management style and its individual leaders have been acknowledged as exemplars of practice (2002).  (1974) described Marks and Spencer as a managerial giant in the western world and that  (1985) noted that Marks and Spencer has been widely recognised as one of the best managed companies in Europe as far as management excellence of the firm is concerned along with the consensus being almost total in the trade and specialist circles.

            During the year 1998, the situation had somewhat altered and that the company began to experience a decline in its sales, profits and market share. Its once legendary reputation has been reduced at both home and abroad as it has been fined by the French courts and severely criticised for its attitude and behaviour towards its workers and that Marks and Spencer’s effective management faced major problems and adhere failure in the business as the issue of the problem address directly to their management and that such effectiveness in the business are amiably in question.

            Marks and Spencer, otherwise known as M & S, is one of the largest British retailers with 150 stores in 30 countries, including about 130 franchise businesses operating worldwide. It is one of the most popular and noted clothing chains in the United Kingdom. It also caters to the food industry, being a multi-million pound food retailer as well. Other than food and clothing, they also sell footwear, gifts and home furnishings. Under the trademark, St. Michael, it has a chain of 294 across the United Kingdom, but it has 450 stores in Britain as well. Most of the company’s overseas branches and chains are franchised locally, or franchised by the local businessmen from the locality. The United States of America’s Brooks Brothers and King Super Markets are owned by Marks & Spencer. Direct mail assists the company greatly in meeting the demands of many of the customers both locally and abroad. Direct mail meets the company’s core objective of giving consumers easier and better access to a broader list of products. Financial services for customers are provided through the help of the group’s financial services that may comprise of amount cards, life insurances and unit trust management. Retailing, in 2000, accounted 96% of the fiscal revenues (2007).

International retailing form of the defining factors that contribute to the success of Marks & Spencer. International retailing business includes 3 major areas, the Far East, North America and Europe. Around 2001, Marks & Spencer operated around 125 franchise stores located in 26 countries.

Marks and Spencer’s past was characterised by a long and continued success, which led to an overwhelming belief in the company’s management paradigm (2002) of management was of fundamental importance and had bred a culture, which was resistant to change. Further a study by (2002) revealed that interviewees reported that past success bred arrogance, conceit and a sense of invincibility. Centralized management systems combined with complex and bureaucratic reporting structures not only resulted in poor communication but more importantly the management board became distanced from external environment and the emerging realities of changes in consumer needs, wants and shopping habits.

            Sustaining advantage is the key to the survival of the organisation, Marks and Spencer had developed culturally embedded core competencies that ranged across the value chain. Due to the company’s ethos as well as the increased rates of pay, the company attracted a higher calibre of sales staff which was deep rooted into the psyche of the organisation. All of these competencies were extremely difficult to imitate and were key to the company sustaining its advantage (1996).

 

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