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very good idea of the degree of product modification that may be required
to achieve market success (Woods, 2001). But the question is: ‘What is

the product?’ A product or a service is the solution to the customer’s
problem, and helps the organisation to achieve its objective. But the
company must examine what the customer wants to buy. Levitt (1983)

mentions that what customers want when they buy a 0.25 inch drill is
actually 0.25 inch holes! So the drill itself is only a means to an end. The

product itself is normally sold in the domestic market already, but key
questions are whether a standard product can be sold internationally or to
what extent it should be adapted to meet local requirements.

7.4 Standardisation v adaptation

Standardisation is common for office and industrial equipment, computers

and certain consumer products, such as toys. However, more and more
lifestyle brands can be standardised and be successful depending on the

uniqueness of the product offering – such as Bionade (Trueman, 2007).
However, some differences may need to be made because of language,
business procedures or consumer taste. Many products are subject to

considerable local variation. Nestlé, for example, had 560 brands in 1995,
but 250 were unique to individual countries and only 19 were marketed in

over 50% of the countries in which Nestlé operates (De Chernatony and
McDonald, 2002). Therefore, companies may need to change their
product in relation to change in the surrounding environment as well as

consumer tastes and demand. Product invention is a strategy adopted by
firms in advanced nations to support and sell their product to less

developed countries. In other words, a product is developed to meet the
needs of an individual market. For example, when Trevor Bayliss saw a
programme about AIDS in Africa, he invented a clockwork radio that would

help the news about prevention to spread to areas that do not have
electricity and where people cannot afford batteries. Despite many

rejections from multinational companies, Bayliss persevered, and his staff
who have physical disabilities make 50,000 radios per month at BayGen
in South Africa.