Page 224 - Marketing the Basics 2nd

216 Marketing: the Basics
CRITICAL qUESTIONS
1 Compare and contrast the benefits of using (a) domestic- based export agents (b) licensing agreements, (c) cooperative organizations, (d) joint ventures, (e) the Internet, (f) foreign direct investment.
2 It is a basic rule of marketing that the product must be tailored to satisfy customers. Given the diversity of cultures and regional variation within them, why is it that some products like Big Macs for example are the same everywhere in the world? Is the Big Mac the exception to the rule, or a sign of things to come?
3 We have talked about how marketers are experimenting with new tools such as buzz marketing. How can a buzz marketing strategy work in a global market? Should local or global taste- setters be used? Or both? Why?
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING
Geert Hofstede and Jan Gert, Culture and Organizations: Software of the Mind, New York, McGraw-Hill, 2006. A fascinating book that looks at the differences across cultures.
Martin Gannon, Understanding Global Cultures: Metaphorical Journeys Through 23 Nations, Thousand Oaks, CA, Sage, 2003. An easy to read, entertaining book that has some quite useful messages for marketers. He uses metaphors to help you understand the cultures of 23 nations around the world. A good airplane book.
Kersi D. Antia, Mark Bergen and Shantanu Dutta, ‘Competing with Gray Markets’, MIT Sloan Management Review, Cambridge, MA, Fall 2004, volume 46, issue 1, pp. 63-69. An excellent article which takes a useful pragmatic approach to this important international marketing issue.
Kiefer Lee and Steve Carter, Global Marketing Management, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2009. A good, big textbook if you need one.