Recommended Strategy for Yogurt land if it Continues its International Expansion

Marketing and Strategy: Case Study
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Recommended Strategy for Yogurt land if it Continues its International Expansion
Yogurtland is a yogurt franchise company that initiated, the now synonymous, self-serve concept. It has established franchises at very friendly and convenient locations across over 20 states in the United States and other countries (Kim, 2010). The franchise offers its customers the freedom to mix and match their own flavors and toppings. It was founded in 2004 and has its headquarters in California. It has set its sights on other global markets having already set up shop in Japan, Guam and Mexico.
The best option for Yogurtland, as it continues its international expansion, would be to embrace the adaptation strategy in its marketing mix. The adaptation policy espouses the notion of customization. Most scholars identify adaptation with the fundamental basis of distinguishing the environmental factors, for instance, language, customs, race, climate, tastes and preferences, whenever a company is entering a new market (Carpenter, & Dunung, 2012). However, factors such as attitudes, values, tastes, customs, needs, might be more difficult to ascertain. Therefore, multinational companies, like Yogurtland, must find a way to adapt to these new and strange markets. International presence requires that a company adjust their marketing strategies, for example, their distribution and selling patterns so that they can match the demands of the new market. Yogurtland would need to alter its marketing mix so that it can fit into the prospective market’s tastes and preferences. Considering such markets may be harder to predict, it is important they maintain an adaptive strategy. Different markets have varying and non-identical customer requirements.
Non-durable consumable products like yogurt are particularly sensitive to differences in a country’s habits, preferences and tastes. This makes it very likely that such food products would need alterations corresponding to the different markets. Take, for example, Kentucky Fried Chicken, which has differentiated its chicken offerings per the tastes and preferences of its different markets—although keeping its original taste and brand. Other companies like Unilever, which produce fast moving consumer goods also adapt their products in consonant with the needs and requirements of the new marketplace. Flexibility, in part, will enable Yogurtland to have access to new markets and additionally give it the potential of developing a brand that customers are loyal to.
As regards the overall strategy, the suitable option would be the multi-domestic strategy. Such a strategy will enable Yogurtland to maximize on the responsiveness of the new market. This strategy will decentralize decision-making and give the local franchises the power to create products and services that are optimized to their specific markets (Jeyarathmm, 2008). Especially for Yogurtland, where the flat-world theory proposed by Thomas Friedman is not applicable, a multi-domestic strategy would be much more suitable since it enables local franchises to adapt as the need arises.
The multi-domestic strategy is focused on competition within each country as its ...