International Marketing Issues. Проблемы международного маркетинга, страница 19

11) What are cultural universals?

12) What is meant by a culture's "primary message systems"?

13) Assume you are analyzing the Mexican market for cosmetics. Show how you would construct a "map" of how Mexican culture would affect demand for your products.

14) Aside from the examples given in the text, what are some possible "international cultures"?

Follow-up Activity

In groups 2-3 students consider the differences and similarities in cultural patterns between your country and neighboring countries, e.g. Belarus vs. Russia, etc. Present your findings in class in the form of presentations.

Text 5. SOPA

1. Read the text and make up a plan of its contents.

In November 1981, Milton Shayer, managing director of SOPA, was faced with the problem of developing a new product strategy. SOPA, Sociedade Productora de Alimentos, Ltd., was formed by the Campbell Soup Company in 1978 to enter the Brazilian market. Campbell, an established part of the American culture, had dominated the American soup market for decades with its familiar red-and-white labels available in every food outlet. Over the years, it had moved into a number of foreign markets with careful planning and a consistent record of success. Campbell had never withdrawn from a market anywhere in the world.

In the mid-1970s Brazil appeared to be a promising new market for canned soup. Consequently, in 1978 Campbell joined forces with a Brazilian-owned meat producer, Swift-Armour Industrla e Commercio, to form SOPA. Campbell invested $6 million for a 65-percent interest in the new company, appointing Philip Beach as managing director. Mr. Beach decided to enter the Brazilian market with a limited line of soups. The line consisted mostly of vegetable and beef combinations and was offered in extra-large cans to serve the particular needs of the Brazilian market. Larger average family size and a preference for soup as a regular part of the diet dictated the need for a larger unit of sale.

Information about Brazilian soup consumption habits was obtained through a market survey in the southern city of Curitiba. The results were exciting to SOPA management. The respondents indicated that soup was a regular part of the Brazilian diet rather than an occasional diet item as is true for most United States consumers. The market potential seemed very promising.

The new product line was launched in 1979 with considerable fanfare and initial success. The initial advertising budget of $2 million gave the product almost immediate recognition in the marketplace. Packaging retained the Campbell red-and-white label adapted for the Brazilian market. The well-planned and coordinated introductory marketing campaign received two awards from the advertising industry. Sales grew rapidly, and SOPA sold over 200,000 cases of soup in the first year. However, this market success was short-lived. Repeat sales failed to materialize at a successful level. At the end of the first fiscal year, the company had suffered a loss of $1.2 million. In May 1981, production was sharply reduced.

In November 1981, the new managing director, Milton Shayer, set himself the task of determining what had gone wrong so that he could decide the direction of future marketing strategy. At that time SOPA's production was restricted to packaging soup for lunch programs in the Brazilian schools. He first learned that the potential market for SOPA’s soup products had been greatly overestimated because the market survey had been restricted to a single city in the temperate south. It had become apparent that in the tropical northern provinces per-capita consumption of soup was lower. In addition, canned soup was not acceptable to the Brazilian home-maker as a regular part of the menu. Canned soup is a finished food product ready to dilute, heat, and serve, with no creative input from the home-maker. A psychologist retained by the company discovered in a series of in-depth interviews that Brazilian homemakers did not feel they were fulfilling their role if they did not serve a soup they had made themselves. They were perfectly satisfied to use the dehydrated packaged soups, such as Knorr and Lipton, because they used these products as a base with addition of ingredients of their own. They saw the SOPA product only as a useful item for the emergency shelf. This explained why initial sales were so good. Once the pantries were stocked, the repurchase demand was very low.