Research Topics: Globalisation Strategy

Critically Assess the Extent to which Globalisation has Produced Convergence in Comparative Employment Relations

Introduction Globalization can make or break a country. It is the development of rapid integration of countries and that is happening through greater foreign trade and foreign investment. It opens doors to a wide range of employment because of diversity and the unstoppable advancement of technology, for example. The latest wave of economic globalization on manufacturing employment in developing countries is hugely increasing. It revisits the classic debate on the effect of external influences of industrialization in developing countries in the wake of recent changes in the global economy. Thus, economic globalization provides the manufacturing of employment mostly in developing countries. Wave of Mutilation The rapid growth in world trade, foreign direct investment and cross-border financial flows is a sign of increased globalization of the world economy (2004). The worldwide wave of economic liberalization driving these changes has raised significant apprehensions about the implications of globalization for employment and job inequality. Unemployment and job inequality will inevitably increase in both industrialized and developing countries; and a country on the verge of globally competing and moving forward could shield themselves from the ill effects of the all-consuming rat race that an emerging global labor market implies. The main manifestation of the increasing “globalization” of the world economy is the kind and level of jobs being offered worldwide. This phenomenon primarily was the result of a worldwide wave of economic liberalization–the lowering of tariff and non-tariff barriers to international trade, the encouragement of foreign investment, and the deregulation of financial markets (2006).  In addition, the technological developments have magnified the effects of this liberalization by reducing the costs of transportation and communications, hence expanding the scope and volume of goods and services that can be traded internationally. Moreover, economic liberalization has underpinned the globalization of the world economy, which reflects a radical change in attitudes towards economic policy. In democratic societies, this clearly represents a voluntary shift in political attitudes. The people having a wide range of jobs to choose from have them affected their work attitudes and attitudes politically. But whether democratic or not, the government have embraced the view that freer trade, investment and financial flows will be the most effective means for ensuring material prosperity. At the same time, however, there is a significant current of apprehension over the implications of globalization for employment and income inequality. On the face of it, this is difficult to reconcile with the voluntary shift towards a more open world economy in democratic societies, which are also the only countries where the apprehension is voiced. Nevertheless, this can of course be understood as part of normal democratic debate. There are, besides, some objective grounds for the apprehension. As with all far-reaching economic transformations, globalization generates losses as well as gains (1996). The Result of Globalization The problem of increase globalization appeared to have a wide gap between earnings of the skilled and unskilled workers in a country. Many less skilled workers and experienced worker have also lost their jobs as a result of globalization. On the positive side, globalization has led to high employment creation in the informal sector compared with the job lost in the formal sector due to the increasing number of private firms. Most of the jobs created in informal sectors are insecure despite there higher pay compared to wages in the formal sector. There is the need for training and re-training of employee in order to assist them in maintaining their jobs and keep up with the prevailing movement of globalization. Conclusion Effective employment policies means that help can be given to those displaced as a result of globalization while at the same time providing greater mobility towards new growth areas for a globally challenged job seeker. Measures specifically targeting people affected by trade liberalization can be useful in certain circumstances, particularly where job losses are rigorous in declining regions. However, such specific measures have their limits and sometimes actually hinder progression. This is why effective public employment services and a sufficient level of unemployment benefits are needed. The argument that globalization, in the long-term and at the end of the day, will benefit to everybody, sounds odd in the ears of someone who has just lost her job because of globalization. The nature of structural change which is accelerated under globalization, is something that destroys and creates jobs, but not in the same location or sector and not for the same workers and increasingly not in the same country, ironically. Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Critically Assess the Extent to which Globalisation has Produced Convergence in Comparative Employment Relations

Introduction Globalization can make or break a country. It is the development of rapid integration of countries and that is happening thr...

THE GLOBAL FIRM AND THE GLOBE

THE GLOBAL FIRM AND THE GLOBE Introduction             Xerox and BMW are one of the biggest names in the international market. The first developed many people to understand their product synonymous to copying.  The second floated in the international market with focused on the high- end market.  Sometimes, a layman could think that such companies are formidable and existing without problems and difficulty.  They have the reputation, financial capabilities and technology.  Who would think that their international scope can affect their operations?             As the book acknowledged, “there are no guarantees of success” (2003).  Every now and then, decisions are made to counter the effects of hyper-competitive marketplace.  Eminent in the global business environment, companies who dare to get involved should expect higher risks, more problems and complex analysis as an offset to boundless possibilities to create competitive advantages and above average returns.              For example, Xerox was confronted with several lapses.  Its 1970s research facilities that developed first models of personal computers and other important technologies of today were invaded by other companies.  As a result, it did not benefited form its first-mover advantage from this line of products.  Another was its failure to succeed in entering the financial services due to lack of synergy into its technology-based products.  On the other hand, at the opening of the new millennium, BMW automobiles faced challenges to export more of its luxurious cars to the awaken economy of China and created concern to develop manufacturing plants in view of competitive automobile industry.  Behind this pursuit of the large market of China are world top brands like Toyota, DaimlerChrysler, Ford and GM.              In consideration of these facts, this paper will identify challenges firms meet in the hyper competitive conditions being international corporations, discuss different cooperative strategies that can minimize difficulties and maximize potentials, and finally, explain the role of strategic management leadership in the implementation of these strategies.                        The Challenges in the Global Market and International Competition             In the desire of companies to obtain advantages by operating to other countries, it enters a different environment that puts its resources and core competencies at high risks.  There are many challenges a firm will encounter in the highly competitive market from the pre-operation until it is already magnetized by the market. Price and Quality Positioning              In the global market, domestic and foreign companies will be the fierce competitors of a firm.  They can usually fight and gain the market in terms of price or quality.  They can use price strategy that is a result of improved primary and secondary activities that ultimately minimize cost, and therefore, provides more price control.  On the other hand, differentiation strategy relates to the ability of the company to transform their product with added value that customers can see a premium in it, and therefore, the latter are willing to pay also at a premium price.  Basically, the target market of price strategy is low-to medium- end customers that are price sensitive while differentiation is high end and customers who are after luxury goods or services.                The challenge of a firm is to develop a strategy that can fit into its culture and system.  The difficulty arises as there are also available focused strategies for products which target a specific market segment.  In addition, price and quality positioning can also be combined to exploit both the underlying advantages.  In the case of Southwest Airlines, it integrates four important areas for a business: price, customers, service and employees.  It offered point-to-point and less traffic service flights, kept price of almost 20% less than other competitors, provided free-overnight stay in the firm’s agents homes and maintained employee motivation.              The inability of the firm to pinpoint the best strategy that can stimulate competitive advantage for its resources, capabilities and core competencies can undermine its value, reduce efficiency and loose profitability.  The decision to select certain strategy is not an easy task.  The initial phase is to scan the specific foreign market’s background in its important aspects through PEST and SWOT analysis, competitors and available support intermediaries.  Then, such factors will be subjected to a firm’s internal features.  One wrong consideration may take away potential or aggravate problems and difficulties.  At the time of operation, contingency plans and its implementation is necessary that can even call for a change in the strategy already identified.              The difficulty converges on the question of flexibility of the strategy.  Since global companies are situated in a complex environment, to be able to be successful and maintain it, a firm should be flexible enough to counter the effects of competitor sudden moves, legal restrictions and economic recessions.  Not to mention that it should also its own undetermined internal problems that could originate instantaneously.  Establish First Mover Advantage and Create New Know How                 Aspects of price and quality are only one-half of the strategy available to the firm.  For the biggest technological breakthrough of the inception of information technology and computer age, innovation and speed-to-market are the two most crucial strategies for a firm.  They can create core competencies from the capability of a firm to create and develop innovative products to satisfy the fast and ever-changing customer needs and tastes.  eBay’s delayed response to Yahoo! Japan’s enter to online auction market service in the country resulted for only a tiny 3% market share against Yahoo’s 95%.              Although can serve a dramatic positive turn-over for a firm, first mover advantage and ability to create new know how set drawbacks and constraints that a firm cannot sustain, if not, survive of its implementation.  It requires huge financial budget to build facilities for research and development and customer awareness through advertising.  A successful technology does not dictate success in this strategy.  It will be less appreciated by the market if other companies have substitute products at competitive price.  Almost as expensive as the individual firm’s net worth, strategies dedicated for hi-tech product innovation are high risk.  This is the reason why multi-national companies are not encouraged to deal with the complexity and cost of producing hi-tech products.             The challenge is not only stemmed on cost factors, it also asks the question of corporate willingness to continuously operate in a dynamic way and invest in ventures that success are not eminent.  Creating and upgrading a certain product through extensive research every now and then establishes continued learning of the human capital, systems improvement and technological change.  The company culture may not hold such characteristics that hinder its participation in the industry even if it has financial capability to do so.  Protection/ Invasion of Established Products and Geographical Markets             Creating a product and successfully situating it in a specific market completes the duty of manufacturing and sales departments.  However, protecting the added value found on the product and interested market segment is a corporate consideration.  Being a first-mover and earning profits from it in a sustainable manner is a result of a firm’s conviction to patent its product design and continuously improving its usability for the appreciation of the customers.  It also needs some advertising to remain active in the competitive landscape.              In the contrary, a firm can exploit the competitor’s advantages that can be seen in its products and market through invasion of some aspects of them.  It can range from simple counter-advertising to a more aggressive product imitation.  The latter is defined as adoption of a competitor’s innovation that oftentimes can be priced relatively cheaper but limited in product features and durability.  It is effective to offer in a low-end, non-critical market.  Sometimes, product and market invasion can be achieved by attracting and importing employees from competitor’s workforce.  The process is generally prohibited when caught, but if successful, it not only entails imitation but the true formula, process and technique of creating the competitor’s product.             Thus, the challenge is a two-way process: offensive and defensive, that oftentimes overlaps each other.  A firm may admit it invade product features to protect its market share.  In one way or the other, the processes involve financing for official patent or trademark, advertisement and promotions, research and development, and possibly employee importation.  More importantly, a firm should also possess loyal and dedicated employees to ensure zero knowledge-spill which is not easy to generate because of individual goals and monetary drives.    International Strategies Needed to Face the Challenge             To aid a firm in its pursuit to internationalize, there are theoretical strategies that can manage these challenges and mitigate its adverse effects when a firm was hit unprepared.  Strategic Alliances             One business analyst said, “If an aerospace company is not good at alliances, it’s not in business.”  This is what United Technologies had epitomized as it created cross-border alliances with aerospace firms in Japan, China, Spain, Taiwan and Brazil to manufacture and produce the S-92 helicopter.  In 2000, the S-92 alliance also formed a strategic relationship with Canada’s Cougar Helicopters to aid it in its testing, offshore operations and product launching.  Because of this, as one official of United Technologies argued, the S-92 would top in its class in terms of cost and performance.              Strategic alliance is a form of cooperative strategy in which firms combine some of their resources and capabilities to create competitive advantage.  It helps companies to develop a product and launch it into the international market efficiently.  It is a timely response to counter the effects of the complex and rapid changes in the global market.  To be able to build T-92, different firms from different countries devoted their resources and competencies in building the main cabin section, engine, hydraulic lines, cockpit, fuel system and other necessary parts.  By doing so, they minimize the time of the manufacturing process and prevent overhead costs of machines used to manufacture engine, electrical and body parts separately.  Such is very costly, if not impossible, when done individually.                           However, these advantages of shared success are not hazard-free.  Partner firms may fail to make available their perceived competencies when needed, alliance contracts could suggest provisions that might be unbearable to a specific partner or a one may take advantage to exploit the resources of the other as an investment fuel.  All of these can create distrust and ultimately leads to disbandment and failure of the strategic alliance.  To avoid this, partners should exemplify value for one another.  There should be equality observable in formal contracts and determinable through monitoring.            International Diversification             The move of Hewlett-Packard to merge with Compaq Computer Corporation developed a multipoint competition to defeat the IBM dominance in the industry.  They have been able not only to coordinate their strategies and efforts in PCs, servers and other services but also to join the process of taking away some of IBM’s market share.  This kind of international strategy is called related diversification.  This entails sharing of knowledge, resources and competencies to create economies of scope and market power.  As the merger caused two firms to share activities and exploit the best within them, it doubled their efficiency and market influence.             On the other hand, unrelated diversification was the strategy Cedant Corporation used to succeed as a diversified service conglomerate.  In 2001, the corporation increased its revenues by 90% year-on-year and gained 100% rise in its share price because of the implementation of its strategic growth plan.  Its focus is rapid growth by buying strong and effective brands which made it enjoy a relatively low capital requirement for having a certain brand that can equate to growing returns and strong financial flows.  Its portfolio includes hotel, real estate, tax preparation, mortgage origination, rental cars and other rental services.              Diversification can also impede success with partly same reasons as strategic alliances that it involves trust with partners.  Sharing activities with other company can create corporate knowledge disclosure.  Because of this, it places the core competencies of a partner in high risk maybe not that useful when already known by the other.  Also, a firm possessing unrelated businesses requires efficient internal capital allocation and restructuring of such businesses to fit into its system.  It is important that a firm with diversification strategy must realize opportunities and accept some failures because of increase in corporate size.     Acquisition             Acquisition is an instrument the diversified firms used to implement this strategy.  It involves the buying firm to control or own 100% of the interest from another with the intent to make the acquired firm a subsidiary.  In 2001, Boston Market had sales of over 0 million and showed continues profitability since it was acquired by McDonald.  The acquisition resulted to the conversion of Boston Market restaurants to other types of bistro and exploits the strategic location in which the former company was situated.              The advantages can be derived are synonymous to diversification because it is an element of the latter.  The important issue to note is the adversity it carries.  Acquisition does not always involve bidding wherein every interested firm can participate and have equal success to own the auctioned business.  TMP Worldwide though if had agreements with HotJobs.com but experienced takeover by Yahoo! because of million difference in offered price. Also, the failure to maximize the competencies of the acquired firm might lead to the case of Amgen.  The pharmaceutical firm acquired Immunex that resulted to very similar activities that were shared which basically increased the economies of scale on one hand but defeating the more important synergy on the other.  Because of this, Amgen had a hard time recapturing its substantial acquisition costs on the event that it had minimized costs but also minimized its potential.   The Role of Strong Strategic Leadership in Global Strategy Implementation             Many corporations believed that sound management and leadership produced a well-communicated strategic mission to employees that encourage acceptance and will in the pursuit of strategic intent.  General Electric’s Jack Welch and Apple Computer’s Steven Jobs have helped their firms to establish reputation and be known in its industry.  In line with this, strong management and leadership have its drivers and barriers that dictate its adoption by the firm.   Drivers to Strong Strategic Leadership             In United States and United Kingdom, there is a need to ensure the interests of top-level managers and shareholders are similar.  To be able to achieve this, there is a need to prioritize above all things, manager’s pay, election of board of directors and monitoring measures for comparison.  Since leadership needs to follow the organizational objectives and set-aside self-vested interests, the scenario tends to organize and focus actions that make it easy for directors and managers to formulate and implement strategies.             In addition, evidence suggests that well-functioning organization because of leaders being a model can create competitive advantage for the individual firm.  Marketing and sales department are not against the efficiency coursed by the production team.  Managers are there to explain new policies and settle disputes if any.  They serve as guides and examples that believe in the positive benefits to the firm of full participation with less departmental conflicts.              Lastly, effective governance is also the interest of nations because successful and visionary firms can expand and create jobs and ultimately give out several social contributions.  Most countries like Brunei provide free-education to the youth, which in the future can possess the capacity to lead and direct a firm, is the result of the countries’ indirect but vital concern to the business management and leadership. Barrier             On the contrary, there are wise but selfish managers who hold back strategies that oftentimes lead to failure.  Managerial pursuit to propose and implement diversification and acquisition strategies may underestimate their real corporate purpose because of underlying intention to save their position or elevate into higher ones and increase compensation because of broader responsibility.  One of the biggest business failure in US, Enron’s fall in 2001 was molded by the poor ethics of its top executives and board of directors particularly the lack of credibility and transparency of financial records.   Conclusion             Strategy is defined as ‘an integrated and coordinated set of commitments and actions designed to exploit core competencies and gain competitive advantage.”  In the global participation of a firm, strategies become more complex, perhaps indefinable; because of several circumstances it should consider in a fast but prepared manner.  I believe that a firm going outside its nation’s borders should not only shoulder risks but must also learn to calculate and analyze it.              The discussions of about international business environment enumerating some challenges, some solutions to them and the role of strong strategic leadership in the implementation of such solutions proposed a system of thinking that could be applied by an interested and already international firm.  The organization needs to identify and scan the industry and competitors to cite possible difficulties.  The process can segregate relevant international cooperative strategies for study until such time that one or hybrid strategy is formulated.  From the period of implementation, monitoring and evaluation, managers’ active participation at all levels will serve as the blood that will circulate and maintain the mind-set needed to gain success in such strategies at the lowest staff-level positions.             Yes, I agree with the statement that all management teams should understand and implement the formulated strategies.  Managerial debates that consume time and money and employee confusion because of unresolved and hanging issues are avoided.  It is a fact that managers are responsible to uphold organizational objectives and guide employees to appreciate such.  By unanimous approval of managers, strategic management is an easy endeavor to deal with and every strategic plan can be quickly accepted for fast results.                                                                                                                                                                                     Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

THE GLOBAL FIRM AND THE GLOBE

THE GLOBAL FIRM AND THE GLOBE Introduction Xerox and BMW are one of the biggest names in the international market. The first ...

The Movies Central Station (1998) and City of God (2002) and the Popular Culture in Brazil

The Movies Central Station (1998) and City of God (2002) and the Popular Culture in Brazil   Introduction The film is a masterpiece tackling the most controversial beliefs regarding life and reality (or even abstract thoughts). Truly, this makes the film even more compelling. It presented claims and arguments that question the grounds of man’s existence as well as the possibilities of a multi-dimensional world. It wittingly disrupted the distinction between fact and fantasy as the movie transcended the audience to cross socially and culturally defined beliefs. The movie lures the viewers to think outside the confined notions of reality and existence by illustrating possible impossibilities. Even though film do not have an interactive audience in terms of acting as compared to theatre (2001), it could be said that there are billions of people who watch films. They find their personalities in the portrayals of the characters and relate their life experiences to the plot of the particular movies. Also, they empathize and sympathize with the fate of the characters. Viewers delight when the characters in which they can associate themselves with are in good condition after a series of hardships and troubles. They are distressed when the character they adore dies or loses the fight ( 1990). These are among the several reasons on why viewers who see the influences behind and surrounding filmmakers can more clearly and fully understand why films are presented in such ways. In this epoch of globalisation and modern technology, it is apparent that the need of the mainstream film audience is constantly changing and demanding. The viewers are no longer constrained with what they see on the screen but they also possess enough knowledge to comprehend and even argue with the messages that the medium provide. As the world develops, the processes inherent to humans also change. Movie viewing and its related processes are not left off. Thus, today’s viewers already know what makes a good or bad film, or ‘smart’ or ‘dull’ film basing on their predetermined set of standards and guided with their own knowledge on what constitutes a great cinematographic masterpiece. This paper discusses how the directors of the films City of God (2002) and Central Station (1998) portrayed popular culture under globalisation perspective. Also, it aims to identify any remaining memory of Cinema Novo – a movement among Brazilian filmmakers in the second half of the 20th century and guided with the principle “a camera in the hand and an idea in the head”.   City of God (Cidade de Deus): Brief Facts   - Fight and you’ll never survive… Run and you’ll never escape.   City of God is a story of place, Cidade de Deus, a poor housing project started in the 60′s that became one of the most dangerous places in Rio de Janeiro by the beginning of the 80′s. The story was related by Buscapé () yet he is not the real protagonist of the film. He is not the one who makes the story moves on. He is not the one who makes the decisions that will determine the main chain of events. Nevertheless, not only his life is attached to what happens in the story but it is also through his perspective of life that we understand the humanity of a world apparently condemned to endless violence (2002). The film was directed by Fernando Meirelles.   Central Station (Central do Brasil): Brief Facts                                                             – He was looking for the father he never knew. She was looking for a second chance.               This film is about a poignant journey of a former school teacher – Dora (), who make her living through writing letters for illiterate people, and a young boy – Josué (), whose mother has just died, in search for the father he never knew. The film’s title was derived from its local, the main train station, Central do Brasil. It is a road film shot in Rio de Janeiro and the sertão of northeast Brazil (2005). The film was directed by Walter Salles.   Both films were selected to represent Brazil in the Academy Award Best Foreign Film category ( 2005). The worldwide exposures of these films in several international film festivals brought home sweet laurels for the country. In other areas where these films gained prominence, the lasting effect is plain and absolute. It could be said that these films are perfect illustrations of the real occurrences that are hidden in the middle of impoverish areas. The exposition of the reality is seen on the eyes of an artist and for the sake of art. However, the symbolic messages being relayed by such films bring awareness on what is really happening in the popular culture of people in the epoch of globalisation particularly in Brazil.   Globalisation Globalisation in its literal sense is a social change, an increase in connections among societies and their elements due to, among others, the explosive evolution of transport and communication technologies ( 1996). The term is applied to many social, cultural, commercial and economic activities. Depending on the context it can mean, it can be: (a) closer contact between different parts of the world (globalisation of the world, global village), with increasing possibilities of personal exchange and mutual understanding between “world citizens”, (b) or (economic globalisation), free trade and increasing relations among members of an industry in different parts of the world (2000). Globalisation technique in film analysis is the application of the concepts related to globalisation. This technique is general in scope and offers an extensive range of application. Thus, film critics must determine the extent of application of the concepts of globalisation in connection to the content and interpretation of film’s real meaning. Modern film critics today ideally use globalisation approach to persuade viewers of different origins to watch a specified movie. The universal applicability of the film’s theme is the basic element of analysis. Popular Culture in City of God and Central Station Generally, film is a medium of a “broader global patterns and frameworks, especially the communication industry as an integrated interacting whole” (1997). It provides a giant mirror that serves as a reflection of the values, the half-truths, and the ideals of the society and its people (Whetmore, 1997). Universal emotions such as fear, love, disappointment, etc. have been experienced by people are shown in films – yet artistically presented. It could be a total ruin, complete love, paralyzing fear, or savage violence. Through film, it blows up these emotions until they become “larger than life” ( 1997). Because of film’s popularity and universality, many people use films as an agent of communication, education, learning, and entertainment. The feeling of audience and resemblance of existence is the basic element of cinema without which there is no art of filmmaking. The complex, artistic whole and elements are facilitated by a number of linkages with the artistic cultural experiences of the society (1994). Film is an externalization of what is real in life. As stated earlier, people relate and learn from it. It is a medium of entertainment, communication, and instruction. Also, viewers resort to movies as means of diversion and amusement. On the other hand, film is used as a means of symbolic exposition of the ill-troubles of the society. In the films City of God and Central Station, the manifestation of societal problems and consequences that are abounded were shown together with their effects in the lives of people – direct or indirect. The makers of these films showed the popular culture of Brazilian people and how do they cope up and deal with such. The debate on the nature of the popular already pacified over the decades. This is due to the emerging conventions in filmmaking and its whole surrounding industry. The introduction of innovative mechanisms not only on the theoretical applications but also to the practices paved way to more development in the worldwide cinema. In Brazil, according to  (1995) the idea of popular cinema was introduced in the early 60s and was resuscitated in 1974 by Nelson Pereira dos Santos’s “Manifesto for a Popular Cinema”. This was written to come with the release of his Amuleto de Ogum. The manifesto promotes the affirmation and defence of Brazilian popular culture through cinema. The popular culture in Brazilian cinema is defined as the spontaneous cultural expression of people ( 1995). This popular culture is seen on the vast marginalized majority of the Brazilian population. As mentioned by dos Santos, there is natural importance to celebrate this culture because “it is different from other superficial, elitist cultural forms that follow antiquated, colonized models”. In City of God, the popular culture was expressed to defend popular political ideas. As to this case, the political convention often appears sporadically, as mere consumer objects isolated from their cultural, social, and filmic environment. There are many features in the plot that becomes clear only when discerned across a large body of ideas. City of God highlights the diversity and richness of illuminated areas like the image of Brazil as exposed by Hollywood films. It is a fact that Brazil is a prolongation of the west, and Brazilian cinema is traces its roots in western culture ( 1995). The cinema in Brazil witnesses and describes many national vicissitudes. Thus, the director of the film City of God portrayed popular culture as a part of history and national identity. In the period of globalisation, the history and national identity are merged with foreign attributes. Due to the intervention of various factors and forces, the original features of a certain culture are mixed up with some elements of a foreign culture. In City of God, the director showed the relationship of popular culture and globalisation in the encounters present throughout the film’s narrative. If taken part by part, there are numerous instances that depict how the world and its people cope up with the challenges of staying alive. In terms of national identity, City of God is good for anything for it tells the story of the hidden reality and helps people to finally take a look at “God’s” town, to those who live in the midst of violence and on the edge of the law. And so, people can look at themselves: Brazilians… the outlaws (  2002). Conversely, the director of Central Station presented popular culture in a manner that is not limited in Brazil alone. According to its director Walter Salles, it depicts how industrialization created a huge wave of internal migration that, in turn, brought chaos to the cities, unprepared to accommodate so many new arrivals (). He added that “Central do Brasil” aims to talk about this country searching for its own roots. In the perspective of globalisation, Central Station was a struggle to discover, rediscover, and protect the own heritage of Brazil. Although some migrant principles, practices and individuals are affecting the established history, it is apt that the Brazilian community must protect its national identity. Similar to City of God, it is also a quest of history and identity – both on self and national aspects. According to  (1999), “You not only will be moved, but will realized that there is a different Rio, that we always are shown as glittering with carnivals and not the poverty and squalor of some of its regions.” The film brings new understanding to the human race and culture. The processes and practices of globalisation truly affect the recent lives of people. With this belief, Central Station and City of God are presented using the idea of semiotics in globalised form. Thus, both films illustrate Brazilian popular culture depending on the sensibilities of the viewers. Interestingly, Central Station and City of God are comparatively good films for they brought gratification to viewers, artistic in their own sense, mentally and socially challenging, commercially viable, and engaging to the known standards of film production. The viewers differ in taste and perception of what is a good or bad film. What is a good film? A clear purpose, good script, unity of elements and technical presentation, commercial viability, and entertainment value constitutes a good film. The presence of a purpose in creating a certain film is the most basic consideration that a filmmaker must bear in mind. What is his/her intent – to inform, entertain, earn, etc.? With the identification of the specific intention, the filmmaker will have a clearer visualisation of the next steps to complete the entire process. A well-written, researched, and prepared script equates to a good story and theme. The universality of the theme may serve as a unifying agent in a wide array of viewers. To have a satisfactory crafted film, there is the presence of unity in terms of its elements and technical superficialities or presentation. Since filmmaking is not just an art but also a form of business, it must be commercially viable and profitable. Lastly, whatever the intent is, the entertainment value of the film must be highly sustainable. As an example, the classic Steven Spielberg’s E.T. (Extra Terrestrial) released in 1982 is considered a good film due to the fact that it convened the standards identified above. The portrayal of the directors of what are a mind-boggling challenge. In this aspect, mass culture is trying to copy the cultural forms of advanced capitalist nations. Also, popular culture as the culture of the oppressed, subaltern classes that creates an imaginary and ideal future is under obstruction. Historically, the Brazilian popular film has provided a space for the expression of the cultural values of Brazil’s lower classes (2004). In both films, City of God and Central Station, the distinct identity of the Brazilian environment is the viewpoint of popular experiences that provide access to different forms of cultural expression, rather than as simply mass manipulation. The cultures of the marginalized people are categorically defined in different ways yet intercede into one adjacent idea – coping up. Poverty is the common denominator that dictates the people’s way of life. For survival is very important, the individual desire to get even with the harshness of living in the shanty area (in City of God) and the unknown (in Central Station) is manifested in the people’s own ways of doing things. On anthropological point of view, focusing on the way film uses cultural practices that exist prior to or outside the mass media is palpable. The thought of national identity in films links with the past and with a different kind of popular culture. In terms of national identity,  (2004) has argued that Brazilians are relatively sure of what they are not, but struggle to agree on a definition of what they are.  has said that this notion of the ‘popular’ arose as a consequence of the emergence of the culture industry and a market of symbolic national goods in Brazil since 1970s. Since then, the ‘popular’ in Brazil has ceased to be first and foremost linked to the traditional cultural forms of the popular classes or the project of popular liberation, but instead to the products of the culture industry (1988 , 2004). The exposition of the directors in relation to popular culture and globalisation was still connected with the Cinema Novo movement. Cinema Novo shares with Soviet film in the 1920s, Italian Neo-Realism, and the French nouvelle vague, a penchant for theorizing its own cinematic practice (1995). Relating this three film movements to Cinema Novo, they represent more than a simple parallel and constitute concrete historical influences as evidenced in frequent allusions by the Brazilian directors. Furthermore, the unusually close link between theory and practice in Brazil derives as well from a number of other convergent factors like the generally abstract and theoretical bent of intellectuals in Latin countries. Guided with the principle “a camera in the hand and an idea in the head”, both films are the product of a keen observation of an artist eyes as well as idea in the head then eventually recorded in a camera. City of God and Central Station presents facts, realities, and other existing incidences about Brazil and its people in general. These things alone can explain the connection of Cinema Novo and its memory. Moreover, people in different habitat of meanings perceive a variety of implication in the same creative work and their perceptions of meaning tend to change as the time passes by – may it be in terms of symptomatic meanings or ideology (explicit or implicit) ( 1999). These meanings are to some extent relative, but a film sets parameters to interpretations of such, and some of these interpretations are vulnerable by members of the audience. Meanwhile, film analysis and criticism plays one principal purpose – to evaluate the overall quality of a particular film. In today’s contemporary standards, it could be theorised that the presence of award-giving institutions are helpful to viewers and film related people especially in determining the aspects that needs further development and the parts that need to be maintained. Award-giving bodies qualify or can also intensify the views of more legitimate and credible film critics. Like all mass media, film has two component parts that serve as basis in film analysis – the form and the content (1997). These alone may determine how directors may portray the idea they want to incorporate in their films (like popular culture). All in all, the concept of film and its audience is very essential to every individual that consider film as a portrayal of reality. However, today’s film industry is facing several great challenges that are headed for radical transformation (1998). Like the film itself, the industry and its people will undergo further dimensions in terms of technological approaches and developments. The Brazilian cinema is one of the most active and widely respected in Latin America. It may constantly continue its intelligent and innovative means of illuminating popular culture amidst the era of globalisation and international cooperation with traces of the memory of Cinema Novo that remains to be one of the biggest leaps in the country’s film history.     Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

The Movies Central Station (1998) and City of God (2002) and the Popular Culture in Brazil

The Movies Central Station (1998) and City of God (2002) and the Popular Culture in Brazil Introduction The film is a masterpiece ...

Strategies in Action

Introduction               A good Marketing strategy would be necessary for an organization planning to venture into global trade. It will allow an organization to concentrate and focus its limited resources on much more greater opportunities to increase sales and to achieve a competitive advantage among competitors. Marketing strategy serves as the very fundamentals of a Marketing plan. Marketing plan; on the other hand; contains a specific set of actions required for an organization to successfully implement a certain Marketing strategy. For instance: “an organization introduced to the market a low-cost product to attract consumers. Because of this low cost product, the organization can then establish a certain relationship to the consumers. The organization can then introduce a new high-margin product that enhances the consumer’s interaction with the low-cost product that was recently introduced”. Marketing strategy will be most effective when it is an organizations main corporate strategy, defining how the organization will attend to different customers, different prospects and knowing the competition in the market arena for success.             Three types of business   Sole trader or sole proprietor         A sole proprietorship means that a person does business in their own name and that one person owns that business as well (the word “Propriety” means owner). A sole proprietorship, or just simply proprietorship, is one type of business which in legal terms has no separate existence from its owner. Meaning, that the law does not make a difference between the property that belongs to the owner, and the things that belongs to the business, which are called assets.  Hence, the limitations of liability enjoyed by other types of business; which are a corporation and partnership; does not apply to sole proprietorship. Also there is no difference between the money that the owner owes people and the money that the business owes people, which are also called debts. In short, all debts of the business are debts of the owner as well. A sole proprietor business does not pay corporate taxes, but the owner of the business pays personal income taxes on the profit made by the business. A sole proprietor must register a “Trade name” or “Doing Business As”.  A business with a legal name or a registered name will allow the proprietor to open a business account with banking institutions.             A sole proprietorship business has some advantages: The owner of this kind of business has better control of the business itself in general and better business administration is possible since there is only one owner, decision making will be quick because there is no need to consult others; there are also no legal formalities in terms of forming or dissolving a business; a sole propriety has a lot of freedom from government regulations. Every form of business ownership has some sort of government regulation to follow, but in general, this form of business has the least. For example: a sole proprietorship reports its income and deductions using just a simple one or two page tax return form, while a partnership or corporation are required to submit a tax return composing of several pages in length and also a quarterly and an annual payroll tax return; in addition, all the profit of a sole proprietorship business go directly right to the owner. On the other hand, some disadvantages of this type of business are: businesses in sole proprietor type will likely have a hard time in raising capitals since share of the business are personal and cannot be sold; it is also sometimes difficult to apply for a bank finance, as sole proprietorship cannot grant floating charge which in jurisdiction is a sine qua non (originally a Latin legal term for “without which it could not be”) of bank financing; hiring of employees may also be difficult. This form of business have unlimited liability, therefore, if the business is face with a legal case, the owner or the proprietor is personally liable; business in this form is also uncertain, because as soon as the owner decides to stop the business, or the owner eventually died, the business then suddenly ceases to exist.; another disadvantage of this form of business is that as the business becomes successful, risks that accompanied the business tends to grow. A Partnership               Is a type of business that has between 2 and 20 partners that owns the business respectively, in which partners shares all the profit or losses of the business in which all have invested. A legal agreement should be signed, if two or more people are planning to start a partnership business. The agreement must include these points: if the partnership ends, what happens to the assets of the business. For example: the tools and the furniture; how will the profits be shared by the partners. For example: one partner works everyday on the other hand another partner only works three day a week. They would not share the profit equally because the other works more than the other; if one partner wants to leave the partnership. By having a legal agreement that includes these points, the interest of all the partners will be safe. Every time a new partner joins, the entire partner must sign a new agreement. Each of the partners can write their own contracts for the partnership, but they must ensure that it is a valid legal contract. Like in a sole propriety, the laws do not recognized any difference between the partnership’s assets and debts, and the partner’s personal assets and debts. Also the law does not recognize any difference between different partner’s assets and debts. In some countries, they considered partnership a nominate contract between individual who, agreed to form an enterprise, cooperates and contributes to the company, by combining  property, knowledge, activities and to share its profit equally. A partnership can also be considered as a legal entity; different legal system had reached different points on issue; because partners involved have a partnership agreement, or a declaration of their partnership. A Partnership type of business is often favored by many over corporations because of taxation purposes. In a partnership business dividend tax is eliminated. The most basic and known form a partnership business is General Partnership. In this kind of partnership, all the partners personally take part in managing the business and also personally liable to its debts. Other forms which developed in other countries is the Limited Partnership (LP), in this partnership, certain “limited partners” they don’t actually participate in managing the business in exchanged for limited liability for the partnership’s debts; and the other form of partnership is Limited Liability Partnership (LLC), in this form, all partners have in some degree of limited liability in the partnership. There are also Private Limited Companies which are one the most common type of company that limited liability refers to the “Shareholders” who owns the company as they have purchased company shares. Shareholders are only liable to the amount they owe on the shares they purchased (this referring to guarantee). These companies are often run by families. There are 50 persons allowed in private limited companies.         A Close Corporation               A Corporation is considered to be an artificial legal entity (technically, a juristic person) which, even though have a number of natural persons or other legal entities, has a separate legal identity from them. Unlike a Company who has directors or shareholders, or a board member or chairperson; a close corporation are owned and managed by people called “Members”. A close corporation can only have 10 members. The law sees a close corporation separate from its members. This means that unlike in sole propriety and a partnership, all the assets and debts of the business belongs to the close corporation, all the assets and debts of each of its member corporation have nothing to do with the close corporation. As a legal entity, the corporation receives legal rights and duties. These rights are: the ability to sue and be sued (access to court); Rights to common treasury (rights to hold separate assets from its members); the right to hire agents (the right to hire employees); the right to have a common seal (rights to govern its internal affairs); government and courts can also add other rights. Granting of additional rights to corporations is often very much controversial. Stewart Kyd, the author of the first treatise on corporate law in English, defined a corporation as “a collection of many individuals united into one body, under a special denomination, having perpetual succession under an artificial form, and vested by the policy of the law with the capacity of acting in several respects as an individual, …” (A treatise on the law of corporations, 1794, p.13) The Modern Business Corporation; a type of corporation presently dominant; and in addition to a corporations legal rights, has three legal characteristics: Transferable share (membership can change without affecting the corporations legal entity); capacity for perpetual succession (this means that despite the withdrawal of any of its member, the corporation can possibly exist); and limited liability (members have limited responsible in the corporation in terms of debts). Corporations may also be formed fir local government (municipal corporation), charitable purposes (non-profit corporation), or for political, religious, or government programs (government-owned corporation). As a generic legal term, a corporation can be any group that has a legal personality.   Why Go Global             Companies tend to globalize to conquer new marketing grounds. There is actually no agreed starting point when did globalization began. Globalization in general refers to as the increasing integration of capital, goods, and services to the world market.             Globalization, in order to develop, uses three forces; Migration (the human or the work force), international Trade, and capital integration of financial market. There are some factors that can affect globalization. A company going to a global market without proper knowledge of what lies ahead, is suicidal. A country’s culture should be given consideration and thoroughly studied before venturing in global market. One interesting way to evaluate culture is to consider the people’s sense of humor. A person should ask himself these questions; is it self-effacing? Does it insult other culture? Is it innocent? Does it promote racism? This can provide an insight in to what approach to consider when tackling international cross-cultural issues. A company planning to go global should be prepared to whatever obstacles and challenges that accompanied this goal.              A country’s geographical information should also be given consideration, because by doing so a more precise plan on marketing plan can be develop. Knowing China’s geographical information would be very handy when it comes to marketing strategy. It would be easy to formulate plans on logistics. Meaning more products can be market on every part of the country. More part of the country would be available for market.             Knowing all these factors doesn’t mean it will eventually prevent any more conflicts to occur, but it will absolutely reduce the probability that a conflict can occur. Still the best solution to avoid such problems is to take intermediate actions to solve them. Solving a problem immediately can avoid the possibility for the problem to grow.  Once a problem occurred a proper and ready-made solution should be done. Factors in entering foreign market               There are certain that may affect a company in venturing into the global market. These factors should be considered in order to operate in global trade smoothly. A company’s direct investment is needed in order for a company to operate in the global market. The company should have enough money to invest. In a corporate industry where money is the fuel for progress, a company that have enough resources can male it big in the global trade. Money is resources, without these resources to invest, it would be impossible to pursue the global market; Joint venture (often abbreviated as JV), is formed between two or more parties that agrees to undertake economic activities together. Both parties involved in this agreement, agreed in both contributing equity, they then share the enterprise’s revenue, expenses, and control of the enterprise; Licensing, in order to avoid legal case, licensing is necessary in all type of business. Especially in venturing into foreign territories, it is important to furnish all legal aspects before conducting business; by these means the company can operate their business without flaw. Exporting is marketing a certain product globally or in other word, it is sending goods for sale or exchange to other country abroad.           Importance of business strategy               It is important for a company to have a god business strategy. By managing a company’s strategy a specific objectives, policies, and plan will be developed that will help the company in achieving its goals. This will provide an overall direction for the company. A good strategy should be appropriate for the company’s over all resources, environmental circumstances, and the company’s main objective in general. It also should match the company’s strategic advances to the business environment that the company faces. A good strategy must also integrate the company’s goal, policies, tactics, and values. Future trends should be given consideration too because this will enable the company to adapt in future marketing trends, this way the company can adapt to changed and not be left behind. Having a set of plans for a company is necessary. These will determine the goals and objectives that they want to achieve in the present and in the near future. This will set a standardized and focus outlook on the business. By having a strategy, the “how”, “why”, and “what” will be easily solved. Also future problems and conflicts that may arise will easily given solution because a pre-develop solution will be promulgated. It will also allow the company further development in the future, easy adaptation to new processes, technology, and market demand.        Types of Marketing Strategies               Every marketing strategy is unique, each beneficial in different kinds of business. Each strategy is and can be reduced into generic marketing strategy. Strategies based on market dominance in this scheme, company’s are classifies according to their market share or their dominance in the industry; Porter Generic strategies, are strategy that is based on the dimension of strategic scope and strength of the company. Strategic scope refers to market penetration, on the hand strategic strength is the company’s sustainable competitive advantage; innovation strategies, deals with the company’s new product development and business innovation; Growth stage, in this strategy, the question, “How should the company grow?” should be answered. The most common answers are; horizontal integration, vertical integration, diversification, and intensity; marketing warfare strategy/warfare-based strategy, that try’s to withdraw parallels between business and warfare; it applies military strategy to business situations. Unlike in a Warfield, the enemies to consider in the business field are the competitors.   Key Steps towards a Strategic Plan   Vision             The first step toward a strategic plan is to have a realistic vision for the company’s business. A good strategy plan should be able to visualized future trends to come. A strategic vision should consider future products, processes, customers, markets, staff, location, etc. Mission             This indicates the purposes of the business. The nature of the business is also expressed in terns of mission. For example: “designing, developing, manufacturing, and marketing a specific product line to meet the needs of a specific customer group through a certain distribution market in a particular area.”  This indicates what the business is about. We can say that a company is specializing in marketing a certain product, to a certain group of consumer, in a certain location. Values             Values govern the operation of the business, its conduct, and its relationship with the society, the customers, its supplier, employees, and the local community. Objectives             This is what the company wants to achieve in either for short or foe long term. Objectives should also relate to the requirements and to the expectations of all the members, including the employees. Objective should reflect to the main reason why the business is running. Strategies             Are the rules and guidelines by which all the objectives and mission may be achieved. Strategy can also cover the business as a whole which can include diversification, acquisition plans, and organic growth. Or strategy can also be related to the primary matters in business key functional areas. Goals             Goals are specific objectives to be achieved on a time-based measurement or in a specific time set. Goals should be realistic and achievable. Programs             These are what set out the implementation plans for key strategies. Program should cover resources, time-scales, deadlines, objectives, performance targets, and budget as well.     Conclusion                         Before venturing in global trade, a company should have people that are equipped with proper knowledge of the territory that they are planning to venture. A global trade is something that is not easily won. There are obstacles; there always will be; but being ready to this will give an advantage to the company. Proper knowledge of what to do in other territory would be handy. There are factors or aspects which will benefit in a company’s success in global trades. Knowing these factors and knowing how to solve them will give a company edge in global trade.             A good marketing strategy should be formulated, this will be the company’s standard in achieving market competency. A through understanding of the foreign market that they want to venture in should be done this will ensure knowledge to the markets economic status, consumers, culture, political and government, and competition. Of course, knowledge and experience will also play a big role.                                       Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Strategies in Action

Introduction A good Marketing strategy would be necessary for an organization planning to venture into global trade. It wi...

EFFECTS OF GLOBALISATION TO INTERNATIONAL MARKETING STRATEGIES

EFFECTS OF GLOBALISATION TO INTERNATIONAL MARKETING STRATEGIES INTRODUCTION 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. This paper focuses on the effects of globalisation to international marketing strategies with reference to PepsiCo, the parent company of Pepsi-Cola and Frito Lay. GLOBALISATION AND INTERNATIONAL MARKETING The different strategies in different markets helped the company have an initial feel of the different markets. The different strategies also helped the company have a better understanding of how the market works. The different markets help in introducing to the company the cultures and characteristics of the markets thus it became educated with how to adjust in the different setting. Lastly the different strategies helped in making sure that the company encounters lesser problems while starting up a new market. By using different strategies the company has not committed anything that will give it more problems. In developed countries it is somewhat easier to enter because they usually have fully developed communications, distribution and transportation systems, to name but a few facilitating factors. In contrast, developing countries require a more flexible approach, since they tend to be more jealous of their national prerogatives and less advanced in their infrastructure. But their sales potential is, nevertheless, quite substantial. It can be tapped successfully, if the MNE is willing to adapt. 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.   PEPSICO PepsiCo Inc. is a major producer of carbonated soft drinks, other beverages, and snack foods. Its beverage division, Pepsi-Cola Company, bottles and markets several popular brands of soft drinks in the United States and throughout the world. PepsiCo also owns Frito-Lay Company, the leading snack-food maker in the United States. PepsiCo is based in Purchase, New York. PepsiCo’s soft drink products include Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, and Mountain Dew. Other beverages include Lipton Brisk and Lipton’s Brew iced teas, All Sport athletic drink, and Aquafina bottled water. Frito-Lay products include Lay’s and Ruffles Potato Chips, Fritos and Doritos Corn Chips, Chee-tos Cheese Snacks, Tostitos Tortilla Chips, Rold Gold Pretzels, and Grandma’s Cookies (2001). PepsiCo’s leading soft drink, Pepsi-Cola, and its chief rival, Coke, have dominated the soft-drink market for decades, although Pepsi has traditionally remained behind Coke. In 1950 Coke outsold Pepsi by 500 percent worldwide. But Pepsi’s aggressive advertising campaigns aimed at young consumers and major bottling and marketing deals made Pepsi a close rival to Coke by the 1980s. PepsiCo has also enjoyed great success with its canned and bottled Lipton brand iced teas, earning higher sales than the Coca-Cola Company’s Nestea products. Also, in the United States, Pepsi had virtually an even market share with Coke in the mid-1980s, when the Coca-Cola Company changed the formula for Coke. However, as Coke regained popularity worldwide in the late 1980s and into the 1990s, it again became the global soft-drink leader. In 1996 Pepsi-Cola International, PepsiCo’s international beverage production and marketing division, suffered difficulties in Latin America, one of its most important markets. The company was particularly hurt by the loss of a bottling plant to the Coca-Cola Company in Venezuela (2001).   Market Entry Just three decades ago, the competitive environment of the carbonated soft drink (CSD) industry was based on a recognition of and implicit acquiescence to the dominance of The Coca-Cola Company. Beginning in the 1960s, however, Coca-Cola’s dominance has been increasingly challenged, particularly by Pepsi-Cola. The new competitive environment is well publicised and intense. The Cola Wars were declared and the battle continues. Pepsi-Cola and Coca-Cola are widely recognised as being two of the premier marketing companies in the world. A great variety of new products and package types have been introduced. Celebrity advertising has been raised to a new level. Coca-Cola even changed the formula for Coke. These and other developments in the CSD industry came about from major changes in strategy by Pepsi-Cola and Coca-Cola. To some extent these strategic changes arose from Pepsi’s challenge to Coke’s dominance of the industry. In addition, several factors external and internal to the industry have been important catalysts for these changes. Rather than simply reacting to a changing competitive environment, PepsiCo and The Coca-Cola Company have created and implemented strategies that turned the new environment to their advantage (1993).             The above-mentioned standing of the PepsiCo firm in the current globalisation trend implicates several things. One, that PepsiCo has already shown ability to adapt to the changes that globalisation demands from a major MNE, and their recent marketing strategies lay evidence to that. Second, that even though it is the case, PepsiCo has yet to see further development in the formulation of their global marketing strategies in the face of increasingly stiffening competition in the industry. International marketing strategy programmes, in order to fully serve the needs of the MNE under reference, should have the sensitivity to adapt their marketing to the respective countries that it is operating in.     Marketing Mix of PEPSI CO. FOR HOME COUNTRY MARKET (4Ps) Part of a marketing strategy is the utilisation of the marketing mix.  The marketing mix principles is controllable variable that is why it can be adjusted on a frequent basis to meet the changing needs of the target market and other dynamics of marketing environment (McCarthy, 2004). In relation to marketing plan, marketing mix includes both short term and long term strategies makes for a more profitable marketing mix. Long term strategies build brand/company responsiveness and give sales returns a permanent, gradual increase. Short term strategies generate a fleeting, instantaneous returns increase by giving buyers a spur to purchase. By employing both long and short term strategies, the company can attend to direct sales goals while creating business reputation and goodwill ( 2004).   Product As cited in company background, the main product of the PepsiCo are softdrinks and beverages which was distributed to their home market (i.e. USA). These products are available for customers. Through Diversification, PepsiCo is able to cover all food and beverage alternatives.    Pricing In US, one of the advantages of PespsiCo is when it comes to its pricing tactic.  In order to be known into the market place, the company provides its target market with an affordable cost while providing them a high quality products and services.  The company gives the customer and client a price that is enough and matches the quality of their products.   Placement/Distribution To be known in the market place, the product was distributed directly to its clients and consumers. Basically, PepsiCo products are all available in any convenient stores, supermarkets and food stores in USA.  Customers can also avail PepsiCo products through vending machines and outlets in USA.   Promotion/Communication To promote the company and its product, the company uses TV/video advertisements, print advertisements and the concept of e-marketing. Mall and event tours were also imposed by the company to reach their local consumers. These promotion and communication strategy will tend to meet the consumers form different places everywhere in USA, especially those target markets or the consumers in the working place.    Marketing Mix of PEPSI CO. TO HOST COUNTRIES (4Ps) Product As previously discussed, the main product of the PepsiCo are softdrinks and beverages which was distributed worldwide. These products will be available for the customers anywhere to host countries (i.e. China, India and Europe). Through Diversification, PepsiCo is able to cover all food and beverage alternatives.  Its beverages alone are not limited to carbonated drinks but also, ready to drink teas, orange and fruit juices, mineral water and through the recent acquisition of Quaker Oats, isotonic drinks.  Once, it had only catered to salty snack foods, but today, it also caters to sweet snack foods through ready to eat popcorn and healthy alternatives through Quaker Oats.  This provides a wide variation of choices for consumers who may opt for a tasty food or healthy food lifestyle.  PepsiCo also began acquiring quick fast-food restaurants and services such as Pizza Hut, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Taco Bell (all of which remain dominant in each respective market). These restaurants were also used as a means to capture customers into drinking PepsiCo’s beverages.  At the same time, PepsiCo continues to acquire products such as 7UP, Lipton, Aquafina and Mug, and restaurants such as California Pizza Kitchen, East Side Mario’s, and Chevys Mexican Restaurants.  Celebrities such as Michael Jackson, Ray Charles, Billy Crystal, Shaquille O’Neal, Andre Agassi and Madonna appeared in their many advertising campaigns, boosting sales. The products are different in other competition in a way that the company maximises quality but minimise the cost to be affordable for all types of consumers.  Through the use of demographics and psychographics, all needs and demands of target market will be known by the company in order to provide the customers in the utmost time.  The products are available at the stores worldwide.      Pricing Similar to their local strategy, the advantage of the company is when it comes to its pricing tactic.  In order to be known into the market place, the company provides its target market with an affordable cost while providing them a high quality products and services.  The company gives the customer and client a price that is enough and matches the quality of their products.   Placement/Distribution To be known internationally, one of the strategies that the product utilises is on a joint venture with distinguished distributor of beverages and food services. The company also utilises the so-called e-marketing to be known globally.   Promotion/Communication To promote the company and its product, the company uses video advertisements, print advertisements and the concept of e-marketing. These promotion and communication strategy will tend to meet the consumers form different places everywhere, especially those target markets or the consumers in the working place.              From the capabilities of PepsiCo, they should launch a new commercial that focuses on the new “PEPSI FOOD GOOD: I LOVE IT EVEN MORE!” theme. It should show visuals and verbal encouragement in making the customer knew the quality of the Pepsi products for them to love it even more. The trick here is that the commercial should look like it favours the new features of Pepsi products more than the products of the competitors. In addition, Pepsi products must also employ its traditional advertisement strategy which includes famous celebrities and athletes to be involved in the commercial like the Pepsi commercial with no less than Beyonce Knowles to endorse Pepsi products (PepsiCo Inc. 1996). The key is to emphasise the product options and then let the public decide. The new advertisement should be more focused in encouraging the customers, specifically youth and adults. Here, a joint advertisement of all the Pepsi products in one commercial would be more interesting. The advertisements should be distributed through flyers, or should be featured in newspapers, magasines and through the websites. Television commercials should be shown on teen shows and adult shows. While radio advertisements should be aired on general radio stations and not on stations specialising on a certain genre. Poster on the new advertisements should also be placed in different areas, specifically stores and roads through bulletin boards where it can be easily seen. There should also be distributors of the flyers on selected public areas. Although, these promotional tools that is use to promote the Pepsi brands can be considered as one of the strength of the company, the marketing department is still aware that they must used other promotional or communication tools to sustain their competitive position. In addition, the market nowadays has been greatly influenced by the modern technology such as the internet (1993).  With this, the marketers must be able to adapt with these changes and utilise another marketing technique or communication tools which is adjusted to the changes and trends in the market place, i.e. the Integrated Marketing Communication.             In terms of sponsorship, this can also be integrated with the internet for enhanced efficacy. For this purpose, the internet may serve as a vehicle to support or create the company and augment the involvement of its core audience. Retail can also be improved through the internet by means of certain online features which caters to product stock availability or locations of store outlets or branches. In this case, retail experience is enhanced by increasing customer coverage as well as reducing stress and frustration involved in retail shopping.   Forces of Globalisation of Markets The several macro factors, which affect the global market and the business organisations are important to assess and examine for they can largely determine the success of the business organisation in the market. Pepsi Co must be able to have skills in developing new products and innovating new technologies to cope with the changes happening in the society today. Along with developing new products, Pepsi Co must also produce effective marketing strategies to provide solutions to the challenges that they face. In addition, it will also be necessary to anticipate problems and plan, in case a specific problem comes their way. This would help the company prepare and come up with alternative solutions for easy implementation of plans.   PESTLE ANALYSIS Just three decades ago, the competitive environment of the carbonated soft drink (CSD) industry was based on a recognition of and implicit acquiescence to the dominance of The Coca-Cola Company. Beginning in the 1960s, however, Coca-Cola’s dominance has been increasingly challenged, particularly by Pepsi-Cola. The new competitive environment is well publicised and intense. The Cola Wars were declared and the battle continues. Pepsi-Cola and Coca-Cola are widely recognised as being two of the premier marketing companies in the world. A great variety of new products and package types have been introduced. Celebrity advertising has been raised to a new level. Coca-Cola even changed the formula for Coke. These and other developments in the CSD industry came about from major changes in strategy by Pepsi-Cola and Coca-Cola. To some extent these strategic changes arose from Pepsi’s challenge to Coke’s dominance of the industry. In addition, several factors external and internal to the industry have been important catalysts for these changes. Rather than simply reacting to a changing competitive environment, PepsiCo and The Coca-Cola Company have created and implemented strategies that turned the new environment to their advantage (1993). Although Pepsi Cola attacked Coca-Cola’s dominance and achieved near parity with Coke in bottled soft drinks, both Coke and Pepsi have benefited from fighting the Cola Wars because the battle between them has stimulated continuing growth in an industry regularly pronounced by the experts for many years to be on the verge of maturity (1993). As the industry existed in the early 1970s, the reasons for predictions of impending maturity were not difficult to see. The apparent limits of the human stomach argued strongly against further significant growth of per capita consumption of soft drinks. Certainly, substantial growth in sales of the limited number of products offered by Pepsi and Coke appeared unlikely (1993). The competitive advantages of the two industry leaders were built on delivering a few unchanging, high-quality products through a distribution system that, although complicated, was effective. In the face of the predicted maturation of their domestic market, the prudent course appeared to be a holding action in the United States, with attention and resources shifted to offshore markets and diversification a classic cash cow strategy. New strategies, such as joining the parade of product modifications and introductions of other food manufacturers, and bringing what had long been a very effective independent distribution system in-house, required basic major modifications of the competitive advantages of Pepsi-Cola and Coca-Cola (1993).  Such strategies appeared to be bet-the-ranch propositions. Nonetheless, Pepsi-Cola and Coca-Cola took the bets. Each escalated the Cola Wars to new forms of pricing and promotion, and each launched a great number of new products, including new versions of their flagship brands. Finally, each company undertook a fundamental change in its distribution system from networks of independent bottlers to company-owned bottling systems. The result of these and other new strategies has been a continued, rapid expansion of Pepsi’s and Coke’s domestic sales. The limits of the human stomach have not yet been found, and all other liquids, from coffee to water, face continued competitive pressure from Pepsi and Coke (1993).   IMPACT OF GLOBALISATION TO INTERNATIONAL MARKETING STRATEGY OF PEPSI CO. Globalisation plays significant role and effect to International Businesses. Pepsi has company extensive promise to milieu in providing secure and vigorous environment for the employees and for the community. Actually, Pepsi is devoted to scheming, creating, upholding and operating amenities that guard the people in terms of physical resources. As part of globalisation changes and international approach of the company, Pepsi is committed in reducing the crashing of business in environment through protection and recycle ways and use of energy programs in promoting dirt free air also water and decrease landfill squander as stated in universal system of conduct as based on subsequent environmental philosophy such as the following: Ø  The business industry is mannered by fulfilling the appropriate laws and system and provide secure and vigorous milieu Ø  minimise the collision of Pepsi business on situation through techniques that are publicly accountable and systematically base and efficiently thud like for example materials recycle ways and maintenance Ø  mounting program that encourage dirt free air as well as water and power conservation and the decrease of land wastes Ø  through sustaining programs that inform and educate as well as motivate Pepsi employees to help preserve good atmosphere Ø  By assisting together with diverse business organisation in finding answers for diminishing pollution problems and the back-up process applied to ecological policies Pepsi is able to offer service required by the customers and the employees are motivated to optimise input and obtain practice in diverse areas of operation like for instance, if Pepsi decided to surmount the international market so there can be options the company will come across and it is important that the management of Pepsi should choose marketing strategy that is suitable for their products and services being offered for the Pepsi company to be more competitive as there can be stabilisation of political as well as economic power as there is the providing of needed environment encouraging to marketing activities as well as overseas investments. Likewise, culture is imperative feature in understanding Pepsi’s market status as the company operate effectively for universal position as to how business culture will pressure Pepsi’s market efficiency for their success and or failure. Furthermore, in terms of promoting the Pepsi’s services and products, Pepsi Company can use certain media advertisements like TV or print and be open to concepts of e-marketing as Pepsi’s strategy will be inclined to assemble consumer preferences of the services being offered and products provided. Henceforth, today’s international market is being characterised by extremely spirited business organisations as they are all vying for customer loyalty. MNC’s has faced with the challenges in maintaining very own competitive perimeter and be able to live on and be successful in the global market like Pepsi. Thus, marketing strategies for the company are to be cautiously designed and executed and be able to augment the decisive goal which is company development. Despite economic as well as technological situation in terms of making  it possible sometimes for Pepsi to make a pivotal shift as there is the ideal indication in encouraging strong product brands and services within a large consumer market as it must be considered for Pepsi company business to attain an easy step to realise the value of the targeted market by looking into the personality and lifestyle of people in strengthening Pepsi’s profit and sales for a stable hold-up of global marketing as the huge capacity of Pepsi’s market can possibly sham certain obstruction in acquiring winning marketing strategy from within its market niche’. The marketing plan and strategies for Pepsi is not complete without having attention and consideration to valued and loyal customers as customers will play a crucial factor of marketing planning agenda of the Pepsi company in addressing reasonable sanctions for productivity and development as well as customer preservation as Pepsi company can utilise in gaining critical market strategy advantage over its competitors for the survival of growing spirited environment (1999). Pepsi should evidently recognise the targeted element and stakeholders as to which marketing strategy should be directed (2002). The large span of Pepsi’s market process can pose obstacle for using better marketing strategy as there can be selection of potentialities in relating Pepsi’s sound marketing strategy as worldwide advertising is indescribable as the taking in of technological barriers for its operation in cutting across customers of diverse social status as Pepsi should look for better avenue of executing strategic and effective market campaigns for the its products and services  opportunity resulting to favorable business and marketing outcomes and amicably Pepsi will pull towards the interest of target viewers and increase product loyalty as well as the services as made available. (1997). In addition, Pepsi company are needed to identify dissimilar factors that can affect entrance assumption into global marketplace as Pepsi had emphasised such strategic utilisation of technology and planned administration system as well as well-built and spirited executive structure for the key reason as to why MNC’s have been successful in certain marketing venture of giving value for products and services as crafted internationally (2004) Therefore, Pepsi has build a status name around in the world for their marketing success in soft drink business market as well as in food snacks industry as done by generating healthy environment for customers while keeping its veracity even if Pepsi is facing rigid competition from Coca-Cola but, Pepsi is balanced to give Coke specific encounter for the future that can be possible through a novel branding strategy to be applied by Pepsi in handling in striking exit from marketing gathering as Pepsi products should struggle for consistency in giving out best shot of its market strategy formulation.   CONCLUSION Over the last few years, the importance of international marketing has increased as globalisation has increased the range of possible opportunities for proactive organisations with aggressive growth strategies. To develop the capabilities of MNEs such as PepsiCo to make effective strategic marketing decisions, they need to have the ability to understand the changing dimensions of the market in which they operate and the impact this has on their competitive advantage. They need to be able to challenge the traditional thinking and develop an innovative culture through learning and knowledge management in order to re-orientate and reformulate competitive strategies, in order to sustain their advantage in the market. They must have the ability to appraise strategic marketing decisions and assess strategic options with regard to the potential return on any investments made. Finally, to sustain competitive advantage over time, companies need to develop innovative marketing solutions that enhance an organisation’s competitive position whilst delivering superior value to the customers and shareholders. A competitive market system creates incentives for firms to vie for large market shares. Sometimes one firm is so successful in this fight, it acquires a dominant position in a market. From the firm’s point of view, a large market share is good. After all, dominance implies power and control. It creates a real potential to increase profits. From society’s point of view, however, dominance may not be quite so desirable. For the power that goes with dominance can be acquired and used in a number of ways. While some of these ways may promote economic welfare, others might reduce it. If the reductions are large and long-lived, people may want to reconsider whether dominance should be affirmed in all cases ( 1998).The company is expanding its markets on countries it has not yet completely conquered like some parts of Asia. Some parts of Asia is currently controlled by coca cola their rival company. Pepsi Co is continuously doing the best it can to match or exceed their competitors reach.  The company is using everything available to reach more markets and outdo their rival. By having different markets more options can be used by the company. PepsiCo’s leading soft drink, Pepsi-Cola, and its chief rival, Coke, have dominated the soft-drink market for decades, although Pepsi has traditionally remained behind Coke. But Pepsi’s aggressive advertising campaigns aimed at young consumers and major bottling and marketing deals made Pepsi a close rival to Coke by the 1980s. The company is continuously reaching places it has not reached before. It is conducting expansions to reach new territories and increase its profitability and clients. The company uses new branches and subsidiaries in different countries to have more territories and reach more people more. These branches have been oriented and trained regarding company policies and procedures. It also uses different expansion techniques so that no problem occurs.       Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

EFFECTS OF GLOBALISATION TO INTERNATIONAL MARKETING STRATEGIES

EFFECTS OF GLOBALISATION TO INTERNATIONAL MARKETING STRATEGIES INTRODUCTION Globalisation is a term frequently used by many but is vagu...