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 globalization 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 organizations 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 MARKETINGG


 


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).


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 publicized and intense. The Cola Wars were declared and the battle continues. Pepsi-Cola and Coca-Cola are widely recognized 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.


 


SWOT ANALYSIS


The main advantage of Pepsi Co against its competitors is its growing popularity and being more known throughout the world. The different entry strategies help the company be known to more people. This people relates about the products to people they know then this spreads to more people and the company gains a higher degree of popularity, it then gains more clients  and more income. The main disadvantage of the company against its competitors is it not having a tested brand name. It may be becoming popular among other people but for traditional soft-drink consumers they would rather have the rivals’ products. The company has not yet has a strong brand name that when people talk about soft drinks people still will mention coca cola. The company has not yet established and created a deeper niche in the industry. This event can still happen in the future if the company focuses well on its products.


In Europe the entry strategy used by the company is putting certain branches in there. Since Europe is a large place the company has to put branches in the said market to ensure that its products reach more people. The said market is known for its passion for football and because of that the company has to take advantage of this by using promotional materials related to that sport in this market. In the Philippines an entry strategy that is used by Pepsi Co is it conniving with convenience stores. The company provides their products, promotional materials, and related equipment to the different convenience stores found in the country. By doing this the company and its products are known to more people. More products become more available to more people. The company gets to have a more positive identity to the people at the same time the income of the company increases. The company has used Licensing strategies in China. In Licensing people/ businessmen from china can be involved in the sale of Pepsi Co’s products. They acquire the permission to sell Pepsi Co’s products in their own way. They are provided the company’s products and some of its promotional materials. In this situation the company and the licensee shares the earnings of the sale of the products. The income acquired from selling the products is divided between the company and the licensee. By using Licensing in China the company gets to have an idea of how the market works in this specific country.


 


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 publicized and intense. The Cola Wars were declared and the battle continues. Pepsi-Cola and Coca-Cola are widely recognized 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).


 


CONCLUSION


Over the last few years, the importance of international marketing has increased as globalization 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.



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