During the 20th century, the number of firms that took on the decision to be international started growing. In the international/ foreign markets these firms need to get their products to customers located in different areas, each one characterized by several specific factors. However, for the purpose of this thesis the factor of culture has been analyzed; how the international companies are influenced by cultural differences in the foreign markets? Do these differences influence the marketing strategies i.e. to standardize or adapt? To answer these questions, the researcher collected data using two ways; first the director of an Italian SME company (Kamflex Europe) dealing with the manufacture of valves was interviewed with a specific focus on its activities in Dubai and Egypt, markets that are considered culturally distant by the company. Secondly, data were collected from an MNC (Unilever) comparing its home culture (UK) with the one of two culturally distant foreign markets, Vietnam and Brazil, and analyzing the influence these cultural differences have on the choice of the distribution channels in these foreign markets. An analysis of the obtained data suggested that cultural differences influence companies’ strategy based on; 1) the company size, with MNC that can both adapt their distribution channels to the local culture and standardize the marketing strategies, concept known as contingency perspective, and SMEs that don’t get influenced by local culture since usually they are not physically present in the foreign markets. 2) the type of business, with B2C companies that must pay high attention to cultural specificity and they must adapt to the local distribution channels while B2B companies are not influenced by the cultural challenges. 3) the type of channel, since E-commerce was found not to be influenced by cultural differences.
Nel corso del XX secolo, il numero di aziende che hanno deciso di internazionalizzarsi è iniziato a crescere. Nei mercati internazionali/esteri, queste aziende hanno bisogno di portare i loro prodotti a clienti situati in aree diverse, ciascuna caratterizzata da differenti specifici fattori. Tuttavia, ai fini di questa tesi è stato preso in considerazione il fattore culturale: come le aziende internazionali sono influenzate dalle differenze culturali nei mercati esteri? Queste differenze influenzano le strategie di mercato adottate ossia standardizzazione o adattamento? Per rispondere a queste domande, il ricercatore ha raccolto i dati in due modi: in primo luogo, è stato intervistato il direttore di una PMI italiana (Kamflex Europe), che si occupa della produzione di valvole, con riferimento alle sue attività a Dubai e in Egitto, mercati che sono stati considerati culturalmente distanti dall'azienda. In secondo luogo, altri dati sono stati raccolti da una multinazionale (Unilever) confrontando la sua cultura d'origine (UK) con quella di due mercati esteri considerati culturalmente distanti, Vietnam e Brasile, e analizzando l’impatto di queste differenze culturali sulla scelta dei canali di distribuzione in questi mercati internazionali. L'analisi dei dati ottenuti ha suggerito che le differenze culturali influenzano la strategia delle aziende sulla base di: 1) la dimensione dell’organizzazione, con le grandi aziende multinazionali che possono decidere se adattare i loro canali di distribuzione alla cultura locale o standardizzare la strategia di marketing, concetto conosciuto come “contingency perspective”, e le PMI che non sono influenzate dalla cultura locale poiché nella maggior parte dei casi non sono fisicamente presenti sui mercati esteri. 2) Il tipo di business, con le aziende B2C che devono porre grande attenzione alle specificità culturali e adattarsi ai canali distributivi locali, mentre le aziende B2B non sono influenzate dalle sfide culturali. 3) Il tipo di canale, in quanto è stato rilevato che l’e-commerce non è influenzato dalle differenze culturali.
INTERNATIONAL FIRMS APPROACHING CULTURALLY DISTANT MARKETS: MANAGING MARKETING CHANNELS (PLACE)
TUMUSIIME, AUGUSTINE
2017/2018
Abstract
During the 20th century, the number of firms that took on the decision to be international started growing. In the international/ foreign markets these firms need to get their products to customers located in different areas, each one characterized by several specific factors. However, for the purpose of this thesis the factor of culture has been analyzed; how the international companies are influenced by cultural differences in the foreign markets? Do these differences influence the marketing strategies i.e. to standardize or adapt? To answer these questions, the researcher collected data using two ways; first the director of an Italian SME company (Kamflex Europe) dealing with the manufacture of valves was interviewed with a specific focus on its activities in Dubai and Egypt, markets that are considered culturally distant by the company. Secondly, data were collected from an MNC (Unilever) comparing its home culture (UK) with the one of two culturally distant foreign markets, Vietnam and Brazil, and analyzing the influence these cultural differences have on the choice of the distribution channels in these foreign markets. An analysis of the obtained data suggested that cultural differences influence companies’ strategy based on; 1) the company size, with MNC that can both adapt their distribution channels to the local culture and standardize the marketing strategies, concept known as contingency perspective, and SMEs that don’t get influenced by local culture since usually they are not physically present in the foreign markets. 2) the type of business, with B2C companies that must pay high attention to cultural specificity and they must adapt to the local distribution channels while B2B companies are not influenced by the cultural challenges. 3) the type of channel, since E-commerce was found not to be influenced by cultural differences.È consentito all'utente scaricare e condividere i documenti disponibili a testo pieno in UNITESI UNIPV nel rispetto della licenza Creative Commons del tipo CC BY NC ND.
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https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14239/9418