There are numerous considerations that companies face when they market their brands globally. Advances in communication, transportation, and other technologies have made the world a much smaller place. Today, almost every firm, large or small, faces international marketing issues. All will have to answer some basic questions when considering globalization; what market position should we try to establish in our country, in our region, and globally? Who will our global competitors be and what are their strategies and resources? Where should we produce or source our products? What alliances should we form with other firms around the world?
In addition to these considerations, and in our data driven business environment, importance is placed on how companies develop and manage information about important marketplace elements. Marketing research initiatives are designed to assess the firm’s marketing information needs, develop the needed information, and help managers to use the information to gain actionable customer and market insights. Simply put, marketers need limited amounts of the right data at any given time to make these decisions.
Mary Kay: Building a Brand in India
This case describes the market entry into India by Mary Kay, Inc. At the time of the case, Mary Kay, Inc. was one of the largest direct sellers of skin care and color cosmetics in the world. The company’s brands are sold in more than 35 markets on five continents.
The video supplement provides you with an opportunity to explore different aspects of its global operations in the context of the entry into India. Specifically, you are asked to: (1) define what type of global company it is; (2) describe the global market-entry strategy used by the company to enter India; and (3) decide whether or not Mary Kay is a global brand.
This case addresses global marketing organizations, global market entry strategies, and global branding. You should consider the company’s expansion plans not only into India, but the entire region of Asia and other international markets.
Sources
Kerin, R. A. & Hartley, S. W. (2017). Marketing. (13th ed.). New York, New York: McGraw-Hill Education.
Unit Learning Outcomes
ULO 1: Consider the environmental forces that shape global marketing efforts.(CLO ‘s 2 & 5)
ULO 2: Differentiate between standardization and customization when companies craft global marketing programs.(CLO’s 4 & 5)
ULO 5: Assess how marketing managers position products in the marketplace and the impact of these decisions (CLO’s 1, 4 & 5)
Explore Mary Kay’s global branding campaign “Discover What You Love (Links to an external site.)”
Explore Mary Kay’s marketing success over its 50 year history: “Fifty and Fabulous—Mary Kay Continues to Experience Record-Breaking Growth During Golden Anniversary Year (Links to an external site.),” Marketwired, July 25, 2013
This case describes the market entry into India by Mary Kay, Inc. At the time of the case, Mary Kay, Inc. was one of the largest direct sellers of skin care and color cosmetics in the world. The company’s brands are sold in more than 35 markets on five continents.
This case addresses global marketing organizations, global market entry strategies, and global branding. The video supplement provides you with an opportunity to explore different aspects of its global operations in the context of the entry into India.
Based on the information provided above as well as your research, put yourself in the position of a marketing consultant brought in to Mary Kay to formulate a set of well-developed and supported recommendations for expanding the brand into a specific international market other than India (specify which country you are focusing on). You will be presenting your recommendations to the company’s senior leadership team. Your recommendations should be based on a critical evaluation of the effectiveness of its prior marketing strategies. The recommendations should be logically presented, well-supported, and thoroughly vetted.
State your country. Your analysis should focus on:
ULO 1: Consider the environmental forces that shape global marketing efforts for this country. Include COVID-19’s impact on Mary Kay’s business model.
ULO 2: Differentiate between standardization and customization when companies craft global marketing programs for this country.
ULO 5: Assess how marketing managers position products in the marketplace and the impact of these decisions for this country.
IMPORTANT! Your grade for each weekly thread discussion will be determined by your analytical, integrative, problem-solving and critical thinking skills demonstrated by your posts and by your positive responses to the posts of your classmates. There is no minimum or maximum in terms of the word count; however, the response should explicitly address all required components of this discussion assignment. Your response should integrate external resources, which should be consistent with APA writing style and format (6th edition) and reflect higher level cognitive processing (analysis, synthesis and or evaluation).
Peer Responses
It is important that marketing administrators become comfortable receiving and giving constructive criticisms, since this is an important component in one’s professional growth and development and a core competency for leaders. You will be expected to read the initial posting of at least TWO peers, and then provide constructive criticisms to their peers’ initial postings. You should highlight strengths as well as opportunities for improvement:
Point out what you perceived to be the strengths of the initial posting along with supporting rationale.
Identify specific opportunities for improvement with regard to the content in the initial posting. Furthermore, you should provide supporting rationale for your stated position, as well as concrete suggestions and guidance intended to strengthen the effectiveness of the content.
Peer responses should be typed directly into the discussion thread and not attached to a posting. For these responses, outside sources should be used to support the content within the postings, proper in-text citations and correctly formatted references should be prepared consistent with the APA (6th edition). The list of references should be physically positioned at the end of the postings.
