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			Dumping. Dumping is like the term terrorism - if they are an asset of the United States, they are "Freedom Fighters", - if they are against the United States, they are "Terrorists". Dumping is the term when it happens to you, .... but when you do it to other people, it is just "competitively exporting". It is a sensitive issue and virtually every one of the OECD member countries does it. The main motivation of politicians is to get re-elected. Many politicians have to support legislation that will allow them to get re-elected. A number of business sectors and industries, such as dairy products, clothing, steel, wood products, etc. have all been involved in dumping and these are sectors in which a lot of votes can be won or lost by the politician vulnerable to that business in her/his constituency. As a result of the recent WTO negotiations (Doha round on agricultural subsidies) failing, it is predicted that dumping will be done in many places and by many companies in the next few years. Canadian Government Agencies involved in Dumping: Canada Border Services Agency http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/ "The CBSA is responsible for providing integrated border services that support national security priorities and facilitate the free flow of persons and goods" Review the CBSA site to ascertain some of the recent cases where the Canadian government determined that goods were "dumped" in Canada, and subsequently enacted tariffs on those goods. Some examples are written about on http://www.witiger.com/internationalbusiness/dumping.htm

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