Global vs. Local Marketing. An Analysis of the Usefulness for Global Companies (PDF)

Seminar paper from the year 2016 in the subject Business economics - Offline Marketing and Online Marketing, grade: 1,0, The FOM University of Applied Sciences, Hamburg, language: English, abstract: This seminar paper evaluates the dimensions of standardized global marketing and local marketing for global companies by starting with a short insight into globalization and global firms in general, followed by an illustration of the global-local dilemma, that forces a decision on the choice between selling the same product across all boundaries and the implementation of local marketing strategies in order to respond to regional differences. The term paper continues with an explanation of local and standardized global marketing, exemplified by the global players McDonald's and Apple and concludes with a comparison of both approaches.

The debate on standardization and adaptation in marketing has sparked a debate for decades. Dating back to Levitt, who is one of the leading advocates of the standardization approach in marketing, many other researchers followed Levitt's argument about the homogenization of consumer markets. However, critics of this thesis argue, that just a just a few products can be easily standardized in a global manner. Kotler argues that national marketing can't be simply extended to an international level as consumer behavior significantly varies depending on the country. Today, virtually every major company is forced to compete in the global market. And global marketers need to navigate through diverse cultures that go along with unpredicted rules and differences. Companies that are taking their business global and aim to successfully sell their products and services in foreign markets face many challenges. The most challenging decision in this progress is the degree of standardization or adaptation in the firm's operations. Many companies have understood the importance of global activities.