Internet Exercises


1			Imagine a product that was initially introduced into the Japanese market. Later the product was tested in Scandinavia and Greece before it was rolled out across Western Europe and Britain. Most recently, the product debuted in the U.S. where it quickly gained popularity and stole 15% of the market from the company that had dominated the market since 1989. The product is manufactured using a new global manufacturing system that allows the company to make product changes almost instantaneously—in fact, the U.S. version of the product was reconfigured four times in just seven months! What product are we talking about? No, not some high-tech product designed for an elite group of customers, just disposable training pants for toddlers. America’s Proctor and Gamble (P&G) is cleaning up the world market among those in the potty training stage. The company is beating out market leader Kimberly-Clark in the effort to keep babies’ behinds clean and dry, and in the process proving that the U.S. is not the only place for successful product development. P&G had attempted to gain market share in disposable training pants years before, but because of poor design and high production costs the company could not make headway into the market. Then in 1999, P&G unveiled a new design into the Japanese market—a market where half of the diapers purchased are the pant style. The product proved to be more appealing than the Kimberly-Clark brand, and P&G moved on to introduce the product to Europe and the U.S. Go to the P&G web site (www.pg.com) and explore the company’s operations both in the U.S. and abroad. P&G’s strategy to product development and marketing involves delegating much of the responsibility for those tasks to major subsidiaries in Japan and Europe. Discuss how that strategy helped the company in the world of potty training. What advantages does this strategy give P&G over rivals such as Kimberly-Clark? What are the disadvantages of the strategy? P&G’s triumph in training pants is just the latest in a string of success stories in product development that takes place around the globe. The company used a similar strategy to become a global market leader in dish detergent. How can companies that do not have P&G’s global R&D compete with P&G? What can P&G learn from its experiences in training pants? Source: "Dueling Diapers," Fortune, 2/17/03, p. 116.




2			Ad executives developing a commercial decide on a mosh pit scene at a rock concert. The target audience—teens sporting earrings, belly-button rings, and pony tails. Sound familiar? Maybe, if you live in the North America or Europe. However, in Asia, a mainstream teen focus group found the ad too rebellious and unruly, and Coca Cola scrapped the campaign. This is just one example of what many companies are finding out—that though they may look like their Western counterparts, Asian teens are more conservative at heart, and require a different advertising approach. It seems that societal approval and core values are still important to youths in Asia, despite their exposure to global youth culture via such avenues as music television, product advertising, and movies. While Theodore Levitt may have extolled the virtues of standardization, companies are realizing the importance of thinking and acting locally—especially where Asian teens are concerned. Go to Coca Cola’s web site (www.cocacola.com) and also the MTV (www.mtv.com) or Much Music websites (http://www.muchmusic.com/). Compare the sites’ content in North America, Europe, and Asia. What differences do you see? What similarities are there? What conclusions can you draw from your analysis? What are the implications of your findings for companies? How could the more conservative outlook of Asian teens affect their buying patterns in the future? In your opinion, will there be more convergence in buying patterns as the teen population ages into their 30s and 40s when compared to a similar aged North American population? Why or why not? Source: "Selling to Singapore’s teens Is Tricky," The Wall Street Journal, 10/4/02, p. B2.

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