Foreign Market Products and Services

Question: Discuss about the Foreign Market for Products and Services. Answer: Introduction: The customers opinion on the overall superiority, value and quality of the products and services of a company is referred to as the perceived quality. It takes into consideration, the overall features, dependability, stability, goodwill of the products and services. Thus, it looks after both the intangible and tangible characteristics in deciding the quality of an organization (Beneke et al. 2013). It affects the revenue margins, power and goodwill of brand name, share of market, equity of brand, profitability and returns on investment. Hence, to enter the foreign market, a company needs to take care of the above mentioned factors affecting the perceived quality. Thus, before entering into the market on global basis, the customers views and perspectives must be taken into consideration. It is the customers judgments and views which will decide the future of a company, whether it will continue, in the upcoming years (Assaker et al. 2015). Globalization refers to the economical conditions and financial abilities which allow an organization to develop and grow, to enter the international markets. Globalization is effective towards increasing the number of opportunities for companies as they compete on a large platform. The globalized markets provide numerous advantages; a company can attain finances from a company in the market to buy raw materials from another company (Baylis, Smith and Owens 2013). Starbucks had remained a successful company in the local market, which made the management realize the importance of its expansion globally. Starbucks had expanded effectively from the year 2003, in the international markets. The world became familiar with the effect of Starbucks and was welcome in a very warm manner. But, the globalization was criticized in the case of Starbucks. The major problems faced by the company were: The name, logo of Starbucks was copied by its rival companies. It had to take steps in order to differentiate between the original and copied ones. There were disagreements in the prices quoted by different organizations in different regions across the world. It faced huge challenges and difficulties while entering the market of Europe, but slowly it transformed itself to fit the demands of the European markets. Though there were huge amount of criticisms, it was due to globalization that Starbucks have landed up to such a position (Latif, 2014). Diversification is a major challenge, as new products might not be accepted by the public. But, to accept challenges with huge growth and development was the main aim of Howard Schultz (Lemus et al. 2015). Starbucks was long known for its foam drinks like espressos and lattes but slowly it moved towards other drinks and food items. Starbucks accepted the fact that people do not drink so much of coffee per day that will lead to its expansion. Thus, it decided to diversify itself by recognizing and identifying the requirements of the consumers. It started providing breakfast dishes, pastries, lunch, snacks and other healthy food items. Also, the complimentary food was provided with coffee and tea which has increased the revenue and status of the organization, all across the world (Leavy 2016). As a junior member of the company, one must focus on the basic requirements of the customers. A company must have the potential to grow its earnings and improve the lives of the millions who stand below the line of the pyramid. The checklist should consider the following while starting of evaluation procedures (Parker et al. 2015): Awareness of Product Whether the product is known and understood by everyone using, or those who are going to use the product? The awareness should be made by proper communication channels and campaigns. Accessibility of the Product Whether the product is easily available? What difficulties are being faced by consumers in conquering the products and services of the company? Affordability of the Product Whether the products and services are affordable for the local and BOP people? Availability of the Product Even when there is ample of production, the products are unavailable. One must check, whether the goods are available as per requirement? What are the reasons of non availability? Design of Product Whether the design is attractive? Whether the design fulfills the requirements of the consumers? Whether any redesigning is required for the product before it is made available to the public? Immediate value of the Product Whether the product or service will acquire an immediate response and value from the local public? Thus, the development process must be strong and efficient to meet the needs of the target public. Communication process for the Product How does the advertisement and communication process attract the target customers? Whether the process requires revising? The mindset and strategies must change and refinement must occur accordingly to attain stability and growth of the company. Thus, the above guidelines must be identified and implemented for meeting the potential of a BOP market segment. The micro packs of shampoos and soaps were offered by Companies such as Unilever and Procter Gamble. The initiative was undertaken to assist the group of villagers, to manage their budgets and income (Angeli and Jaiswal 2015). Thus, they proved their ability to meet the social objectives of helping the low income people, along with the economic objectives like earning huge profits. Thus, it strengthened my view that it is not exploitation, when both the parties benefit from the marketing policies. As per my opinion, the lower level consumers must be extended with the lower interest rates, to help them in purchasing the essential and durable consumer goods. The company must be competent enough to meet the financial, social and sustainable requirements, to grow and develop in the market. The justification can be done only when, the lending of lower interest rates encourages the efficiency and revenue earning capacity of the company. The companies can remove the poverty from the country and provide wealth to the lower level groups. This above can be done by the act of promoting corporate social responsibility. For example, tobacco usage could hamper the health of the consumers. In order to help them divert to the consumption of better available goods, the prices should be increased. Thus, the economic growth can be improved by such steps undertaken by the companies. References Angeli, F. and Jaiswal, A.K., 2015. Competitive dynamics between MNCs and domestic companies at the base of the pyramid: An institutional perspective.Long Range Planning,48(3), pp.182-199. Assaker, G., Hallak, R., Gursoy, D., Yolal, M. and Lee, T., 2015. Perceived service quality and its effect on value, satisfaction and destination loyalty. InThe 5th Advances in Hospitality Tourism Marketing and Management (AHTMM) Conference, Beppu, Japan, 18-21 June 2015.(pp. 179-182). Washington State University. Baylis, J., Smith, S. and Owens, P., 2013.The globalization of world politics: An introduction to international relations. Oxford University Press. Beneke, J., Flynn, R., Greig, T. and Mukaiwa, M., 2013. The influence of perceived product quality, relative price and risk on customer value and willingness to buy: a study of private label merchandise.Journal of Product Brand Management,22(3), pp.218-228. Latif, M., Gulzar, H., Bukhari, S.R. and Sameen, S.N., 2014. Starbucks sustained during economic crisis.International Journal of Accounting and Financial Reporting,4(1), p.307. Leavy, B. (2016). Effective leadership todaycharacter not just competence.Strategy Leadership,44(1), 20-29. Lemus, E., Von Feigenblatt, O.F., Orta, M. and Rivero, O., 2015. Starbucks Corporation: Leading Innovation in the 21st Century.Journal of Alternative Perspectives in the Social Sciences,7(1), pp.23-38. Parker, O.N., Krause, R. and Covin, J.G., 2015. Ready, Set, Slow How Aspiration-Relative Product Quality Impacts the Rate of New Product Introduction.Journal of Management, p.0149206315569314.