Cultural awareness is key in any international business activity. Cultural divides should be accounted for in marketing, negotiations, product design, and other important decisions. One must analytically consider the best way to promote a product given the target audience. It is argued that differences among cultures can be explained according to four dimensions of culture: 1. Individualism – “I” […]
Following Google’s threat to leave China, the International Herald Tribune reports that many foreign companies confirm growing hurdles to doing business in China. Complaints range from intellectual property theft to pressures to source locally to blunt breeches of contracts by joint venture partners. There are allegationns that many of these practices are not just due […]
Amsterdam-based brewer Heineken announced that it will acquire the beer operations of Mexican Femsa through an all-share transaction. The hope is not only to strengthen some of Femsa’s brands in Central and Latin American markets, but also to build out the premium market for Heineken’s own brand. And yes, as usual, there’s talk of cost-saving synergies.
German toymaker Steiff, famous for its teddybears and other stuffed animals, announced that it will pull out of the Chinese market soon. Like many other companies, Steiff entered China (in 2004) in an effort to reduce costs and remain competitive with its range of high-quality toys that are often more collectors items rather than toys. […]
As the German paper Handelsblatt reports, Volkswagen intends to increase it’s marketshare in India from currently less than 2 percent to about 10 percent. Ambitious plans, especially when one looks at the competitive environment. Although Volkswagen will be introducing the base model of its new Polo at just under 7,000 Euros, its competitors are still […]
Volkswagen just announced that it will acquire a 20 % stake in Suzuki of Japan. The move is expected mainly driven by VW’s intent to increase its presence in the Asian market for small trucks.
Something may have gotten past me, but does Chrysler really have a lot of wiggle room for experiments on their customers? It’s recent commercial for the Chrysler 300 features former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, former Polish leader Lech Walensa and is a call for freedom for Burma’s Aung San Suu Kyi. The commercial is an […]
As reported earlier (on this blog and elsewhere) Chinese automaker SAIC will enter into a 50:50 joint venture with GM to sell small cars and light trucks in India. There’s not only the GM angle to this move. Viewed from the SAIC angle, memories from the recent past arise. In 2004, SAIC purchased a majority […]
How is this different? Well, this blog tends to report on how things go WRONG in international markets. Here’s a video from FT.com that talks about how to get your marketing RIGHT in India: http://www.ft.com/cms/a5dd621a-e39d-11dc-8799-0000779fd2ac.html?_i_referralObject=4747400&fromSearch=n
Over the years General Motors (GM) has become China’s second largest automaker, mainly through a 50:50 Joint Venture with Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC). This is an achievement for which GM should command a lot of respect as joint ventures with Chinese partners have been known to be tricky at times. Now GM has just […]
German carmaker Daimler announced that it will move part of its C-class production to Alabama. Besides Germany, the C-class has already been produced in two other countries for a while – South Africa and China. The facility in Tuscaloosa, Alabama that so far has specialized in Daimler’s M-, GL- and R-class vehicles. When the production […]
Martin Coles, Starbucks’ top exec for international markets resigned and will be replaced by John Culver. This year Starbucks closed more stores than it opened, but for 2010 it looks at opening 200 new stores internationally. Given the limited success in some markets in the past (such as Austria or Australia), the hope may be […]