Page 239 - Foundations of Marketing

206 Part 3 | Customer Behavior and E-Marketing

Going Green

Cummins Achieves Global Competitive Advantage through Green Products

Cummins Inc., a multinational manufacturer of commercial- As international requirements become more strin-
ized truck engines, has been able to capture market share gent, particularly in places such as the European
and become the industry’s leader in the United States. While Union, the company has ideally situated itself to gain
several rivals, such as Caterpillar Inc., have abandoned the market share with its top-quality engines. For instance,
U.S. market for truck engines due to the Environmental Cummins is exploring alternative technological solutions
Protection Agency’s more stringent environmental air qual- to stricter environmental requirements by developing
ity control regulations, Cummins’ engines have become a truck engine that runs on natural gas. It also manu-
the standard for which all others are measured. Unlike its factures its own emissions aftertreatment technology,
competitors, Cummins views tougher environmental regula- used to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in its engines.
tions not as a threat to productivity but as an opportunity While other companies have floundered with the intro-
to increase the sustainability and quality of its products. duction of stricter air regulations, Cummins’ commit-
This approach has allowed the company to be sensitive to ment and ability to customize its engines to regional
national requirements and investigate new ways to custom- environmental regulations has allowed the company to
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ize its engines, parts, and services on a regional basis. succeed and flourish.

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European antitrust regulators argued against its merger with Germany’s marketplace orga-
nizer Deutsche Börse. The regulators felt that the merger would give the company too much
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power in the marketplace. Like the United States, other countries allow some monopoly
structures to exist. Consider Sweden; their alcohol sales are made through the governmental
store Systembolaget, which is legally supported by the Swedish Alcohol Retail Monopoly.
According to Systembolaget, the Swedish Alcohol Retail Monopoly exists for one reason: “to
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minimize alcohol-related problems by selling alcohol in a responsible way.”
A new breed of customer—the global customer—has changed the landscape of interna-
tional competition drastically. In the past, firms simply produced goods or services and pro-
vided local markets with information about the features and uses of their goods and services.
Now, however, not only do customers who travel the globe expect to be able to buy the same
product in most of the world’s more than 200 countries, but they also expect that the product
they buy in their local store in Miami will have the same features as similar products sold in
London or even in Beijing. If either the quality of the product or the product’s features are
more advanced in an international market, customers will soon demand that their local mar-
kets offer the same product at the same or lower prices.

Technological Forces
Advances in technology have made international marketing much easier. Interactive Web
systems, instant messaging, and podcast downloads (along with the traditional vehicles of
voice mail, e-mail, and cell phones) make international marketing activities more affordable
and convenient. Internet use and social networking activities have accelerated dramatically
within the United States and abroad. In Japan, 99 million have Internet access, and more than
41 million Russians, 61 million Indians, and 389 million Chinese are logging on to the Internet
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(refer back to Table 8.1 ).
In many developing countries that lack the level of technological infrastructure found
in the United States and Japan, marketers are beginning to capitalize on opportunities to
leapfrog existing technology. For example, cellular and wireless phone technology is reach-
ing many countries at a more affordable rate than traditional hard-wired telephone systems.

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