根治多动症偏方:Global brand power for an organisation
Global brand power for an organisation
Introduction
The essay focuseson effects of developing global brand, such as impacts on production, positionand promotion in individual target country, the challenges from variouscultures and customer behaviour with some successful and unsuccessful examplesof famous global brand organisations. First, the essay discusses the balance ofstandardisation and customisation for product and brand when organisationsconsider launching globalisation. Second, the essay explains development ofglobal brand may bring more benefits for organisations through economics ofscale. Moreover, cultural differences may make the organisations hard todevelop their global brand, such as language barriers, customer value, variouscustoms and legal reasons. Finally, the tendency of developing global brand,such as building global brand leadership and effective global brand managementteam, is presented.
The world isbecoming more international with the development of high technologies, such as informationtechnology. A few years ago, people did not hear of global village. Nowadays, peopleuse different products from all over the world. These products could be manufacturedand distributed thousands of miles away. Competition is becoming more intensebetween various commercial organisations. Commercial organisations need toattract new customers and retain existing customers to fight against competition.One of various ways is through brand. If organisations want to gain their salesand profits from non-domestic markets, the goal of organisations could beachieved through global brand.
Globalisation is amajor problem which organisations face when they consider developing globalbrand. The main arguments for globalisation focus on the point of view that theworld is not only becoming smaller but also becoming similar. People’s needsare basically the same. The development of world culture is formed by globalcommunications, such as the activities of multinational organisations. Theworld culture is motivating people to become the same. It should be noted thatthe landscape of global brands is changing, especially concentrating on youngerconsumers. The reason is that generally increased consumers mobility, bettercommunication capabilities, and expanding transnational entertainment optionsand lifestyles are dramatically becoming more and more similar in different countries(Keller 1998). Example, a teenager in
Randall (2000)loosely defined global brand is basically the same product or serviceeverywhere, with only small variations, such as Coca-Cola and McDonald’s. Theyvary their products to be suitable for local customers’ tastes. However, thevariations are not very great. Coca-Cola Company only changes the sweetnesslevel for Coke. McDonald’s adds local tastes to their menu, such as addinglocal sauce. Furthermore, global brand includes the samebrand identity, values, the same positioning and the same marketing mix(Randall 2000).
It is obvious thata global brand has several advantages, such as the status and prestige ofcompany, maximising market benefits, reducing advertisement costs. According toMotameni and Shahrokhi (1998) summarised Posten’s argument, there is no betterway to build value for organisations and global consumers than to build astrong brand. It is crucial to consider different brand effects at global levelwhich drive consumers to purchase.
After the organisationmakes a decision to develop its global brand through global marketing programs,are these marketing elements, such as same positioning, same package design,same pricing schedule, and same distribution plan, the most effective andefficient for the development of its brand in every country?
Generally speaking,global brand impacts on organisation’s products and services. Thus, it isuseful to consider that products and services are standardisation or customisationat a global level. Aaker (1991) summarised Ted Levitt’s viewpoint, which is thatthe tastes and styles all over the world are becoming more homogeneous becauseof the spread of TV, Internet and other technologies. Keller (1998) also summarisedTed Levitt’s viewpoint, which is that companies need to learn to ignoreregional and national differences if the world is one large market. However, othercritics think it is necessary to point out that even McDonald’s does not standardiseits product (Keller 1998). McDonald’s and Coca-Cola are famous examples ofglobal brands. As a famous global marketer, McDonald’s, has also modified andadapted its successful menu to develop overseas markets. McDonald’s providesbeer in
On the other hand,global economies of scale could give unbelievable competitive advantage to organisationsthrough global brand so that local competitors’ brands can not respond quickly.For example, Gillette is one of the companies which has successfully developedglobal brand. According to Gillette Company’s estimate, 1.2 billion people useat least one Gillette product every day. Gillette Company enjoys the benefitsfrom huge economies of scale by selling a few types of products to every singlemarket. The basis of developing global brand is that the domestic product isnot assumed to be introduced to another country (Kotler and Keller 2006). Many companies have tried to launch global brandwith a world product which is required some adaptations. However, Randall(2000) supported Levitt’s viewpoint to argue that economies of scale couldactually overcome preferences of local market by making single and standardisedmodel to offer value of money for consumers. Nevertheless, the argument needsto be tested in every market of real world because organisations will take arisk if the market preference is not clear. It is essential to balance betweentaking into account all different consumers’ preferences and ignoring themcompletely. Therefore, transforming a brand into a global brand needs to suitseveral basic requirements. Randall (2000) summarised, firstly, the brandshould have obvious competitive advantage which is distinguished from othercompetitors. Secondly, the cost will be raised to a new level as soon as globalsales are reached through global brand. Then, the organisation has to consideraffording such costs to fight against local brands and other global brands fromother organisations. Finally, there must be a segment which is so big enough tosupport the development of global brand in each target country.
Global brand hasan effect on the position of product. A global brand’s positioning may vary inevery country. Normally, the global brand’s position is influenced by economy, expenditurelevel and culture of target country. For example, McDonald’s seems to be thesame brand all over the world. McDonald’s uses the same name, appearance andproducts with not great variation, however, the consumer’s perception aboutMcDonald’s in the
Furthermore,global brand also impacts on the promotion of product. Then, organisations haveto consider some normal factors to make some variations in order to develop itsglobal brand because of legal reasons in different parts of the world,different pronunciations in different languages. If the global brand has notbeen made variations, the standardised brand will lead to lose the original brandessence. For instance, Diet Coke is changed and called Coca-Cola Light in
Development ofglobal brand will be challenged by different customer behaviours from variouscountries. Customer behaviour is dramatically different from various markets oftarget countries. The following data reveals the different results of customerbehaviours about annual beverage consumption. One of the highest consumption ofcarbonated soft drinks is in the
On the other hand,the culture of the target country gradually influences customer behaviour sothat the development of global brand will meet obstructions. Customers do notappreciate brand essence so that they are not satisfied with products andservices. For instance, Walt Disney launched the Europe Disney theme parkoutside
Moreover,organisations have to meet great challenges, such as customer loyalty forglobal brand. Customers’ brand loyalty problem will be enlarged at globalmarket level. Global brand of the organisation meets a real challenge not only fromother global brands but also the brands of local competitors. Accordingly, theorganisation has to take into account how to identify, attract and retain amarket in each country because it is difficult to assess customer loyalty for aglobal brand. Palumbo and Herbig (2000) agreed Alden’s viewpoint and claimed brandswith a global image can get their competitive power and value from customers’improved self-worth and status by purchasing of brand. The reason is thatcustomers may purchase certain global brands to reinforce their self-worth andstatus in a specific global segment so that customer loyalty for global brandis reinforced. However, customer loyalty for global brand can be improved byorganisations to create awareness and image for their brands (Palumbo andHerbig 2000).
Otherwise, organisations can get higher prices or higher margins fromdeveloping global brand. Aaker and Joachimsthaler (2000) claimed an organisation can help enhanceshareholders’ value through launching global brand and building global brandleadership. They thought global brand leadership is not only global brand butalso organising for brand leadership. Such an organisation really needs aneffective global brand management team because developing a global brandstrategy will coordinate and balance the brand strategies of individual targetcountries, utilise an organisation’s human resource, culture and allocate theresources of building global brand (Aaker and Joachimsthaler 2000). Therefore, Aaker and Joachimsthaler (2000) argued that anyorganisations which are seeking to build or improve their global brand andglobal brand leadership and relationship have to assign managerialresponsibility for developing global brand and carry out their grand globalbrand building programme with best practices in individual target countries. Forexample, the relationship which Procter & Gamble Company built was that ithas restated its core purpose of improving the lives of its consumers, andSamsung Company talked about creating brilliant products and services tocontribute to a better global society, namely, to human society all over theworld (Clifton 2003).
Conclusion
One organisationgets more market share and profits through developing global brand although itwill meet a lot of problems. In the near future, any organisation which want tolaunch and improve their global brand need to understand similarities and differencesin the global branding landscape. Furthermore, it is useful to balance globaland local control, balance standardisation and customisation of product andbrand and consider key elements of global marketing for any organisation (Kotlerand Keller 2006). In addition, the tendency of developing global brand is to buildglobal brand leadership and focus on building effective global brand managementteam which is necessary to launch global brand marketing programme.
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