The marketing mix a company uses is likely to be the same regardless of witch country or region it operates in. Discuss.
The marketing mix is an effective tool that businesses use to sell their products. As Chambers and Gray described in the Business Studies: "The marketing mix refers to those elements of a firm's marketing strategy which are designed to meet the needs of its customers."(Chambers &Gray, 2008, p72). Marketing mix is consisted by four elements: product, price, promotion and price. Those "4Ps" influence the market significantly, which may decide success or fail of a company. So, a company should use a suitable marketing mix strategy to extend its market. As to the global market, does an international company use the same marketing mix in different countries? The result is no. This essay is going to discuss why an international company uses different marketing mix in different countries.
Products are the core competence of a company, which may varies widely in the world wide. Many factors lead to this phenomenon like culture and habits of people in a region. For example, when IKEA extended to the American market, it encountered a big challenge. There was little market to its standard range furniture (Grant & Jordan, 2012). Because the American liked to buy furniture from high-end retailers who would give good after-sale services which was not offered by IKEA at that time (Grant & Jordan, 2012). In addition, products' change is more obvious in supermarket business. Carrefour made a lot effort on products to adapt to Chinese market. It integrated "wet" markets cater for Chinese shoppers who like to buy fresh food daily (Charles, 2014). As a result, an international company needs to adjust its products in order to cater to people's life styles and customs in different country.