U.S. Firms in Developing Nationsations Essay

Name:
Tutor:
Course:
Date
Marketing Practices Used By U.S. Firms in Developing Nations Should Differ From Practices Used In the Developed World
Introduction
There are significant differences among nations that influence consumer behavior and marketing, depending on the environment. This affects demand creation, demand activation, or demand generation, influencing market trends or behaviors. Many experts argue that, marketing practices used by U.S firms in developing nations should be different from the practices used by developing nations considering facts like economic, legal, political, and cultural differences. This essay illustrates the four different factors that affect the attitude, values, consumer behavior and market efficiency across different nations, elucidating the need for different marketing practices for different countries (Tarun, Krishan & Jayant, 87).
Marketing Strategies in the U.S
In any marketing practice, understanding the target population, their expectation and how to approach them is of significant importance. Consequences of not doing so is likely to generate resistance, eventually reducing the benefits expected. However, marketing practices that are developed based on the existing factors receive warm reception and can extensively be effective if adopted. Contrary to this, many countries rely heavily on U.S. marketing practices, which seem to have conquered the world. Many people believe that U.S. marketing practices are ‘a one size fits all,’ because for decades, American firms have been considered to be the best managed firms globally. For example, Apple, IBM, McDonalds, and Wal-Mart among others, are among the many icons in business worldwide. Their managers are top ranked due to their marketing skills that are considered exemplary to other firms with similar visions of succeeding within their market niches (Tarun, Krishan &Jayant, 2005). Owing to their global performance, it can be misinterpreted to mean that marketing practices used by such firms, mostly based in U.S, can equally be used anywhere including developing nations. Many firms have started thinking globally, similarly adopting global best practices in managing business operations. Multinational firms are eyeing markets in East Europe, Latin America, and Africa.
Due to globalization, accelerated by technological advancement, such markets have experienced favorable conditions encouraging firms to pursue greater profits. Exports in these markets are flourishing because of the four factors pertaining to economic, legal, political, and cultural aspects. Firms have taken advantage of these factors to make adjustment in coming up with marketing strategies. This was not witnessed before because global markets were initially restricted to Western businesses. U.S firms, in developing countries, are catching up with this trend. There has been increased need to develop different strategies in marketing; different from the ones they use back home. U.S firms have recognized the difference in such markets. For example, Levis products are found all over the world, but there representation is different in different regions. In the U.S, Levis products are marketed as practical products while Levis in Africa, they repr...