A Study On Barbie Global Market Marketing Essay

A Study On Barbie Global Market Marketing Essay International marketing is the performance of a companys product and services to consumers in more than one nation to produce profit. It is one of the most vital elements of marketing functions to trade their companys products or services internationally rather than locally. This brings more advantages and benefits the organization itself as well as the country. However, trying to trade internationally influences by many factors and cause difficulties. And it is the task of these companies to study these factors prior in order to initiate business or trade with other countries effectively. These factors include the culture, economic and political factors. This essays discussion base on the case study, Barbie: The American Girl Goes Global. Barbie is worldwide brand name invented by Ruth Handler defining as a small scale anatomically improbable modelled plastic figure of a human being especially a childs plaything and collectable dolls. It is the brand name for Mattel Inc., the organization for producing these toys and dolls. Barbie effectively starts its operation and selling out of its products at the American Toy Fair in New York City in 1959. Since then, Barbie become popular and operate effectively due to its increasing sales and revenues thus earning high profit compare to other American toy markets. Therefore, Mattel Inc expands its marketing situation and trade internationally where Barbie is currently selling out in more than 150 countries. These include European countries, Middle East, India and Japan. Therefore, this writing will discuss how Mattel Inc. deals with different culture issues, economic environment and political factors in these different countries in trying to market its products, the American Barbie doll. Throughout the given case study, it was basically talk about how different culture affects Mattel in trying to sell Barbie in the above mentioned countries. Culture is the acquired knowledge that people use to interpret experience and generate social behaviour (Keegan Green 2003). Each country has its own culture values and different from one another. And because Barbie trade worldwide, Mattel tend to carefully study the culture environment in those countries and analyze culture issues arise. The cultural issues of these countries affected the selling of Barbie can be reflected from different things. These include the language use, the religion involves, the social behaviour and the traditional dress code of each country. However, some economic issues and political factors appear to influence its international trading. Barbie is a worldwide brand and they first entered the US market for selling their products because it was the place of founder. Since then, Ruth Handler realizes the importance of children then decides to produce Barbie to motivate her daughters dream of her future. These products were three dimensional adult female dolls using by children to play with and it was popular in America because they initiate with high amount of sales of total 351,000 dolls at $3 each for the first year on the market. This occurs because Mattel identify its target market such as the group of children up of 1 to 11 years old and they fully satisfy their needs for toys made of plastic and long lasting rather than the first available dolls were made of paper and cardboard. However, moving to other countries cause Mattel to create changes on Barbie according to culture issues of each county to make effective. For instance, Mattel was successfully launched in India at 1995 because they make changes of Barbie appearance according to local taste of painted with a head spot and dressed in a sari but still the universally recognize Barbie. When moving to Middle East, culture factors in these countries are very strict and Barbie face difficulties in trying to sell their products in these countries because they face opposition on religious and social grounds. Women in these countries including Iran and Egypt have very strict dress code. They are not allowed to expose any part of their hair and due to Islamic law they have to completely cover their body and only their eyes are shown. But the appearance of these female dolls highly affected their culture values because Barbie female doll illustrate the opposite side of their dress code. This causes parents and religious leaders to more strange reactions with the culture values represent by Barbie and Ken and they believe Barbie is seen in the Middle East where modesty matters as something of a tramp. Therefore, Egypt government exist with setting up government agencies for producing local dolls aimed to provide Islamic alternative to Barbie and trying to eliminate the image of Barbie in their nations. These dolls called Laila were making in accordance to the local taste of Egypt people and their culture because local toy producer believe Barbie is more dangerous than an American missile. Laila also produced according to recommendation from the Arab league department for children suggested that there is cultural gap when an Arab girl plays with a doll like Barbie because the average Arab girls reality is different from Barbie. Thus Mattel face more challenges and more competitive market place due to Laila because they appeared in local taste using Arab costumes for decorating and designing their quite and serious looking doll. Meantime, Iran has its own local doll producer, Sara and Dara still to compete against Barbie. These dolls apply the same situation as Egypt in producing with the local culture taste by featuring traditional clothing, headscarves and are available with family members thus reinforcing the importance of family for Iranian children. Meantime Sara and Dara are to provide an Islamic alternative to Barbie. However, Mattel did not attempt to stop there though they are forbidden but continue fight against Sara and Dara. And thus still able to operate successfully by gaining high revenues with high profit due to higher price with approximately 7 times the average monthly salary. Though that Mattel faced tough position in Egypt and Iran but still continue to struggle against local competitors. Facing the challenges of competition, Barbie has been losing market share to Susi the Brazilian local dolls made by local company, Estrela. This company has licensed to distribute Barbie throughout Brazil. Brazil is the best chance of successful marketing for Mattel because they account 37 percent of the countrys annual sales earn from toys market. Additionally, Brazil is one of the largest countries in South America in according to its rich economy, population and geographic territory. Unfortunately, the selling of the Susi dolls increase more than the Barbie sales in terms of cultural values. The Susi dolls were designed as an image of the Brazilian girls and reflect values as a true Brazilian girl and every Brazilian is proud of it rather than showing what they want to be. So instead of helping distributing the Barbie doll all over Brazil, the Barbie face a strong competition cause losing of their market share to Estrela the company that produce the Susi doll. Distributing Barbie throughout the Asian countries, Mattel faces great difficulties overcome the worlds second largest toy market, Japan. In terms of economic environment, Japan has high, favourable and competitive economic situation. Japan is a high income country, the second largest economy in the world and has large industrial capacity. And thus, Japan and the United States face strong and big challenges to compete each other because they have similar economic situation. Therefore, during its first 20 years of operated in Japan, Mattel realised that it is the most difficult situation a company faced because of their complex distribution system. Additionally, Mattel attempt to face strong competition from local brand and local competitor. For example, Mattel enters into marketing without studying the Japanese requirements for foreign investor to sell out their products. And thus, selling out Barbie in Japan has only a limit success because Japanese girl didnt know what the product is and it didnt work, commented by the Chief Executive Officer of mid 1990s, Josh Amerman. With that issue, a problem of low sales rise then Mattel joins with Takara, a Japanese toy specialist in order to make a difference for the Japanese to understand their product. They then join forces with Bandai, the largest toy company in Japan to sell their products legally after terminating relationship with Takara due to license disagreement. Moreover, a cultural fact appears that the Japanese has valued their dolls seriously because of their strong cultural tradition with a heritage of over 800 years and ceremonial importance. Consequently, Mattel started to cope with the Japanese culture in a view of the fact stated but they then discovered that the Japanese girls has preferred the local American Barbie is the best and the most well known. Mattel then dropped forces with Bandai and operates its own marketing office then introduced the American Barbie to Japan and they experienced a success with Long Hair Star Barbie as one of the top-selling dolls in Japan. These cultural factors helps increase the amount of Mattel global marketing. Fortunately, Mattel rejoined with Bandai once again and forming marketing, sales and product development to overcome the complex Japanese distribution system thus reducing operating expenses. Efficiently, a rise of 10 percent in the international revenue indicates from the 31 percent of Mattels total revenue as according to the good performance of Mattel marketing and their share to the international revenues. This effect of International Marketing helps Mattel improves the increasing of revenues and their shares. In conclusion, Barbie is fun and huge success story. I suggested that every company attempt to trade internationally and marketing their products worldwide must consider the culture issues, the economic situation and political factors of that foreign country in related to chosen products to trade. This led them to make their decisions and reflect the required changes to make on their products in relation with foreign country interest. As we can reflect from the above discussion, Egypt and Iran have very strict culture at how women dress up which not allowing them to expose any part of their body. But Barbie exists with the opposite site of their belief causing high risk in trying to sell out their dolls. Unfortunately, some situation may not affected by the culture issues. As in Europe, Barbie generate success because there was an average of 5 Barbie dolls at the childrens toy collections because Mattel adopted pan European approach to the Western European market. And thus, acting C hief Executive Officer Ronald Leob recommended that Barbie believes that the company will proactively adapt its products to local tastes, economic conditions and pricing rather than viewing the rest of the world. REFERENCES Textbooks: Keegan, W.J., Green, M.C (2005).Global Marketing (4th ed.).Upper Saddler River, N.J.:Prentice Hall Kotab, M., Helen, K. (2008). Global Marketing Management (4th ed.). Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley Websites: Barbie Doll History Invention of the Barbie Doll, Retrieved on 14 September 2009 http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/barbiedoll.htm Culture of Iran, Retrieved on 14 September 2009 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran#Culture Culture of Iran, Retrieve on 14 September 2009 http://www.cultureofiran.com/ Doing business in Brazil, Retrieve 09 September 2009 http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/country/brazil/doing-business-brazil.html Doing business in India, retrieve 09 September 2009 http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/etiquette/doing-business-india.html Japan Economy, Retrieve 14 September 2009 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan#Economy Japan Government and politics, Retrieve 14 September 2009 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan#Government_and_politics

Bottled Water Essay

Water a very important part of our daily lives. We use it for many things but most importantly we drink it. So want it flavor, some want it cold others want it from the bottle some don’t care is long is they get six cups a day. What it comes down to is where we get it from. Do you buy it at a store or do you just use the tap at home. Some reasons why you should buy it are convenience and safety. Tap has it’s positives as well like it is healthier and better for the environment. Here are the arguments for both sides and there counter arguments. Bottled water convenience helps out a lot of people around the world. When we need to get water to a shelter or to a third world country the easiest and best way is bottled water. It is always there and has a good shelf life. It was there to help people from Hurricanes to Blood drives. It is easily transportable and accessible. The convenience of bottled water also helps people more likely to drink water in the amount they need and as a substitute for other drinks like soda. Bottled water is also safer to drink because it is easier to recall if there is something wrong with it. They are always testing and sampling the water and if something is wrong they know what batch is bad and where it went. It is easy to get the water back and ship out safe water to where ever the recall was. In some places bottled water is the only thing safe to drink. When disasters strike or a tap water system is not in place bottled water is the safest thing you can drink. Tap water is a lot healthier for you than bottled water. It is tested more and has more regulations than bottled water. With more regulations the water has less harmful chemicals and therefore more healthier for you. Tap water like bottled water is regulated by the FDA. While they are both regulated by the FDA tap water has more regulations and more testing than bottled water. Being that tap water is distributed to everyone practically free it has to be better regulated for everyone’s well being. Tap water is also better for the environment. This makes it better for you. With less plastic being used there is less toxins and water being produced. People who drink tap water usually just use a metal bottle and re-use it all the time. Tap water does not come in a container of plastic it comes from your faucet. Using a re usable container like glasses pitchers and re-usable water bottles does far less damage to the environment than plastic water bottles. Even though we can re-cycle plastic it doesn’t mean that it is really helps the environment. Most water bottles don’t even get recycled they get tossed in with all the other trash that does not get recycled. One is safer one is healthier. One helps out people in crisis while the other causes less damage to the environment as a whole. Bottled and tap water both have their benefits. Both have there purposes and are beneficial to society. Bottled water is convenient and safe while Tap is better for the environment and healthier. So open the cap or turn on the faucet and drink up. Cause we all need it.

The War Of The World War I - 1523 Words

It’s been over a century since Austria declared war on Serbia. The assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand, in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914, sparked a war that was to end all others. It clearly did not. Countless wars and conflicts have been fought since, each evolving into something different than the last. As a result, modern warfare has evolved into something completely different than that of a century ago. Although war is fought for fundamentally the same reasons, warfare, as it is practiced today, is different from that of World War I. This is primarily due to the rise of counterinsurgency operations, the focus on air superiority and the use of technology, such as unmanned aerial vehicles, which have led to the decline of mass army against army war. Characterized by the declaration of war, the amassing of vast battlefield formations, and the use of new technologies, such as the machine gun and airplane, World War I was the epitome of conventional war. The myriad o f alliances across Europe in the early 20th century allowed military leaders to carefully craft offensive plans of war focused on the weaknesses of known enemies and designed to swiftly defeat opposing military forces. For example, Germany’s Schlieffen Plan â€Å"assumed that the Reich could only win a two-front war by crushing France before Russia could mobilize.† Capitalizing on the lightly defended French north, a result of France’s assumption that Belgium’s neutrality would not be violated, andShow MoreRelatedThe War Of The World War I902 Words   |  4 Pages War has been a terrible part of the human existence since the beginning of time. According to historians there has been only 268 years of peace out of the nearly 3,500 years that civilized humans have existed (Hedges). That is a staggering statistic showing how deep-rooted war is in the minds and hearts of people. So while war itself might be inevitable the outcome of any given conflict is a nything but predictable. There are many different elements that come into play during combat but perhaps theRead MoreThe War Of The World War I1501 Words   |  7 Pages It’s been over a century since Austria declared war on Serbia. The assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand, in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914, sparked a war that was to end all others. It clearly did not. Countless wars and conflicts have been fought since each evolving into something different than the last. As a result, modern warfare has evolved into something completely different than that of a century ago. Although war is fought for fundamentally the same reasons, warfare, as it isRead MoreThe War Of The World War I1341 Words   |  6 PagesWorld War One is considered to be one of the most important events in modern world history. Lasting four years and resulting in large numbers of casualties, the war represented a total war in which nations devoted all of the resources at their disposal to th e war effort. Before this time, wars were fought by trained armies sent to fight on a battlefield, and had little impact on the lives of civilians not involved in the fighting. However, during World War One, governments controlled the economyRead MoreThe World War I Is War1653 Words   |  7 PagesWorld War I is war famous for European nations fighting against themselves. It began to take shape when countries like France and Germany beginning to form their own allies. It all started with the powerful Austria-Hungary wanted to have Serbia as part of their own empire. However a group of Serbian nationalists known as Black Hands dislike the idea. So they wanted to send a message to the Austria-Hungary government by killing Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Gavrilo Princip, member of the Black Hands,Read MoreThe War Of World War I1419 Words   |  6 PagesWorld War One, also known as the First Word War, The Great War and The War To End All Wars took place in Europe from 1914 to 1918. Being a soldier In World War One would have been one of the most dangerous, yet exciting things that a man could have ever done. The war would have put a tremendous amount of physical demands on soldiers, and yet they had to keep fighting even though deep down they knew that they were only small when compared to the grand scheme of war. World War One consisted of threeRead MoreThe War Of The World War I1279 Words   |  6 Pagestreaty that finished World War I was agreed upon by Germany and the Allies at the Palace of Versailles in Paris. The main three Allies showed their interest: British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, French Premier George Clemenceau and US President Woodrow Wilson. The Great War had crushed Europe. Limitless territories of north-western Europe were diminished to almost nothing; French and Belgian towns and towns had vanished from the map without any trace of existence. The war destroyed EuropeansRead MoreThe War Of The World War I Essay1544 Words   |  7 Pages changes. The world had only just recently gotten out of the Great Depression which lasted for over ten years. Also, after the â€Å"War Guilt Clause† of the Treay of Versailles was signed in 1918 to end World War I, most of the blame for the war was awarded to Germany. This caused tension to build up over the next twenty years and due to a random act on Poland by Germany, World War II was declared. World War II lasted from 1939 until 1945 and was seen as one of the bloodiest wars the world has ever knownRead MoreThe War Of The World War I1456 Words   |  6 Pagesamongst potentially antagonistic states; Unfortunately, what statesmen had not imagined was that the world had to witness to the slaughter of the First World War to achieve such dream. However, precisely because of the the devastation and chaos caused by the war, the establishment of a general association of states was crucial, and needed to be constructed as quickly as possible. In addition, as World War I pointed out a fundamental flaw in The Balance of Power System, therefore, its malfunctions couldRead MoreThe War Of World War I1328 Words   |  6 PagesIt is the year 1944, the year when the U.S joined the war of World War 2. It morning and you are on a battleship. You are on the landing hangar with everyone who will go to battle. The three captains rally up everyone in your group including you. One of the captain said,â€Å"Today it will be the symbol of how Germany started to fall apart†. The other captain would say ,â€Å"That right, there will not be any mistakes or we would give them an opportunity to spread far and wide and they would get even moreRead MoreWorld War I As The War1771 Words   |  8 PagesEnd All Wars knew World War I as the War. This massive war involved thirty-two countries but a country that had a very important role was Russia. In the beginning two sides formed, the allies and the central powers. Russia was the first to mobilize its army because it came to the aid of its ally Serbia after the assassination of their Archduke Franz Ferdinand by a terrorist group from Austria-Hungary. In result of Russia mobilizing it’s army, Germany, who was in support of Austria-Hungary, declared

Rules and Usages for Reflexive Pronouns in English

Reflexive pronouns are used much less often in English than in other languages. This explanation provides an overview of reflexive pronoun use in English with explanations and examples. English Reflexive Pronouns Here is an overview of reflexive pronouns matched with subject pronouns.   I: myselfyou: yourselfhe: himselfshe: herselfit: itselfwe: ourselvesyou: yourselvesthey: themselves The reflexive pronoun oneself  is used when speaking in general about a situation. An alternate form is to use the reflexive pronoun yourself to speak about people in general: One can hurt oneself on those nails over there, so be careful!You can enjoy yourself by simply taking the time to relax.   Reflexive Pronoun Use Explained Use reflexive pronouns when the subject and the object are the same with reflexive verbs:   I enjoyed myself when I was in Canada.She hurt herself in the garden.   Here is a list of some of the most common reflexive verbs in English: to enjoy oneself:  I enjoyed myself last summer.to hurt oneself:  She hurt herself playing baseball last week.to kill oneself:  Killing oneself is considered a sin in many cultures.to market oneself as something:  Hes trying to market himself as a consultant.to convince oneself:  Peter tried to convince himself to move on with his life.to deny oneself:  Its a bad idea to deny oneself the occasional scoop of ice-cream.  to encourage oneself:  We encourage ourselves to learn something new every week.to pay oneself:  Sharon pays herself $5,000 a month.to make oneself something: George makes himself a sandwich. Reflexive Verbs That Change Meaning Some verbs change their meaning slightly when they are used with reflexive pronouns. Here is a list of some of the most common verbs with changes in meaning: to amuse oneself to have fun aloneto apply oneself   to try hardto content oneself to be happy with a limited amount of somethingto behave oneself to act properlyto find oneself to learn about and understand yourselfto help oneself   to not ask for help from othersto see oneself as something/someone to think about yourself in a specific manner Examples She amused herself by playing cards on the train.  They helped themselves to the food on the table.  Ill behave myself at the party. I promise!   As an Object of a Preposition Referring to Subject Reflexive verbs are also used as the object of a preposition in order to refer back to the subject: Tom bought a motorcycle for himself.They purchased a round trip ticket to New York for themselves.We made everything in this room by ourselves.Jackie took a weekend holiday to be by herself. To Emphasize Something Reflexive pronouns are also used to emphasize something when someone insists on doing something on their own rather than relying on someone else: No, I want to finish it myself!   I dont want anyone helping me.She insists on talking to the doctor herself.   She didnt want anyone else talking to the doctor. Frank tends to eat everything himself.   He doesnt let the other dogs get any food. As the Agent of an Action Reflexive pronouns are also used following the prepositional phrase all by to express the subject did something on their own: He drove to school all by himself.My friend learned  to invest in the stock market all by herself.I chose my clothing all by myself.   Problem Areas Many languages such as Italian, French, Spanish, German, and Russian often use verb forms which employ reflexive pronouns. Here are some examples: alzarsi:  Italian / get upcambiarsi:  Italian / change clothessich anziehen:  German / get dressedsich erholen:  German / get betterse baigner:  French / to bathe, swimse doucher:  French / to shower In English, reflexive verbs are much less common. Sometimes students make the mistake of translating directly from their native language and adding a reflexive pronoun when not necessary. Incorrect: I get myself up, shower myself and have breakfast before I leave for work.  She becomes herself angry when she doesnt get her way.   Correct: I get up, shower and have breakfast before I leave for work.She becomes angry when she doesnt get her way.