PRODUCT STANDARDIZATION V/S ADAPTATION AND FACTORS

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M.COM First Year Tutor Marked Solved Assignment

Course Code : IBO – 02
Course Title : International Marketing Management
Assignment Code : IBO-02/TMA/2019-20
Coverage : All Blocks

IBO – 02 International Marketing Management Solved Assignment for 2019-20

Q4.) Differentiate between product standardization and adaptation in international marketing. Evaluate the various factors of standardization and adaptation, and suggest the conditions under which each of them is suitable.

Ans : In international marketing, the marketers are required to come up with a decision as to whether they are going to standardize the product or to modify the existing products which is one of the challenging decisions that they have to make. And this decision can make impacts on the organization in terms of the Research and development expenses, finance, production, organization structure, procurement, marketing mix etc. And the decision as to which to choose depending on the attitudes towards the different cultures. So in this article, we are going to cover these two concepts so that you can have an idea about the two concepts in depth.

Product standardization :

Product standardization refers to the process of maintaining uniformity of products and services sold in different markets or in other words setting identical characteristics for a particular good or a service.

For an example, if a particular company comes up with the decision of standardizing the product then the product is being manufactured using the same materials, same processes and even sold under the same name.

In the process of standardizing a product, there are certain guidelines to be used and such guidelines should be followed by the company who is willing to standardize the product and the guidelines will be applicable to one organization or to one industry and will be conformed in the national level or international level.

Product adaption : 

This is a strategy mostly used by Multi-National Companies(MNCs). This product adaption refers to the process of modifying the existing products in order to reach to each market. There are several product adaption strategies that an entity can use such as product, target market, package and design, ingredients, language, culture, religion etc. That means in terms of target markets, packaging and designs, ingredients, languages, culture and etc the organizations need to come up with different ways so that they can cater different markets in a way where the customer needs and requirements are addressed.

Eg: The way the Red bull product is being sold in China and North America are different from one another. Because the label of the Red bull which is being sold in North America consist of red and silver for which the red bull stands for action and the silver background stands for the youth spirituality and spirit. Whereas in China the label is in red and gold for which the red color stands for good luck and the gold color stands for wealth and happiness.

At the same time when the shampoo of Dove is being sold the Dove company use different packaging to reach different markets. To Islamic countries they use a girl with a scarf and to the other countries which are not Islamic, a girl without a scarf is used.

Factors of Standardization and Adaption :