Assignment Sample on M26197 International Marketing
Introduction
In the recent business environment, the organisations are not being restricted into their national boundaries in order to increase the consumer base along with obtaining competitive advantages as well. International marketing is the principles that are being utilised by the organisation in order to sustain and position the business in the international country. In this context, it is important to strategize the business process before expanding. Furthermore, the report is based on ITC’s Japanese Flagship award winning restaurant “Edo ” that is expanding its restaurant chain in the UK marketplace. Thus, the organisation needs to consider certain elements during the expansion that will be portrayed in this report effectively.
Company background
As it is already mentioned, that Edo is an award-winning restaurant mainly held by ITC Limited, which reflects the capabilities of the organisation along with highlighting the demands of it as well. Edo brings the ancient and marvellous legacy of the city Tokyo which allows the restaurant cum bar to be efficient with its taste and services (TripAdvisor, 2021). The restaurant chain has found to be providing several authentic dishes such as Sushi, Crisp Tempura, Sashimi, Bento meals and many more. Adding to this, the organisation has also witnessed a classic interest in Wines, Whiskies and Desserts. Furthermore, the restaurant is found to be highlighting the dining style that is inspired by Izakaya Style. In this recent situation of Covid-19 pandemic, the restaurant has taken care of the health and safety of the consumers as the staff are temperature checked which is a great initiative incorporated by the organisation to reduce the spread of virus (TripAdvisor, 2021).
Cultural issues to be considered by Edo in the UK
Distinctive cultural differences can be supported between the UK and the Japanese market, which are likely to be considered by ITC limited in order to efficiently expand Edo across the UK market. In order to highlight the considerable cultural issues and aspects, Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory has been undertaken.
The theoretical interpretation pays attention to highlight valuable consequences related to national culture. 6 different dimensions are evaluated in this regard including the aspects of power distance index, individualism and collectivism, masculinity and femininity, uncertainty avoidance index, long-term and short-term orientation, restraint and indulgence and others (Beugelsdijk & Welzel, 2018). An organisation is likely to consider these dimensions in order to comply with the operational market culture.
The present context highlights the expansion of Edo across the UK market. Serving as an award-winning restaurant, Edo should be attentive to consider the valuable instincts of the British market culture in order to conceptualise successful business expansion and growth. The topmost concern, in this case, reflects low power distance in the UK market, which is supportive to minimise relational inequalities. With a score of 35, the UK market culture looks forward to establish equality whereas the Japanese culture has highlighted a borderline hierarchical society (Hofstede-insights, 2021).
Apart from that, the Japanese market culture is reflected to be a collectivistic society with a score of 46. In this aspect, the Japanese consumer culture can be highlighted by undertaking a collectivist approach where the UK market usually follows an individualistic approach. This attribute is likely to be considered by Edo with regards to modify their offerings according to the UK consumer culture. Moreover, Japan has achieved a score of 95 in masculinity where the UK obtained 66. It reflects comparatively similar cultural aspects with the recognition of achievement and success in the masculine culture. On the other hand, a comparatively high uncertainty avoidance index is not used in Japan where the UK has obtained low uncertainty avoidance with a score of 35 (Hofstede-insights, 2021). It highlights the societal cultural difference between the UK and Japan market about efficiently deal upcoming uncertainties in the market. Another cultural difference between the UK and Japanese markets recognises the existence of indulgence culture where the UK market usually follows restraint culture. It highlights the cultural difference between the UK and Japan where the UK market usually obtained strong control of the impulses. With regards to the mentioned evaluation, ITC’s Edo might face cultural differences with the maintenance of equalities, individualism, low uncertainty avoidance, and restraint culture.
However, the UK restaurant industry had experienced a 33% downfall during the previous year with the sudden emergence of covid-19 outbreak (Lock, 2020). This downfall is estimated to be recovered by 2024 with adequate business growth over the industry (Lock, 2020). In this regard, another cultural preferences of the UK consumers can be reflected in the rapid growth of the organic food markets. In accordance with the organic market report, the UK organic market is generating a value of £ 2.79 billion in the current times after experiencing 12.6% growth in sales during the previous year (Minchin, 2021). The report has also highlighted the UK consumers’ cultural preference with regards to emphasis on organic foods due to which industry has been experiencing its highest growth rate across 15 years time period. This cultural trend of the UK consumers should be covered by Edo as an integral part of successful in expanding their services in the UK market.
On the other hand, Edo, a sub-brand of ITC Limited also provides the option of online delivery and shopping for potential consumers. This attribute might be supportive for the brand to witness increasing consumer attraction in the UK market by complying with the current market industrial trend.
Suitable market entry method
Several types of market entry modes are there that allow the organisation to expand their business in the foreign market in an easiest manner. As demonstrated by Adomako et al. (2021), a home country’s business environment is much more different then the host country. Even, there are several different methods of business dealing and activities that need to be understood first by the business entities before expanding (Ali & Anwar, 2021). As it is already mentioned in the above segment that there is a requirement to understand the cultural issues as well before expanding. Therefore, market entry modes are also one of the considerations that should be incorporated before entering into the host country for business. As suggested by Adomako et al. (2021), in this relation there are several different types of market entry such as Licensing, Exporting, Joint Venture, Franchising, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), Piggybacking and Wholly Owned Subsidiary. However, in terms of considering Edo as a restaurant chain, the Joint Venture market entry method is being considered for expanding the business in the UK’s marketplace.
Joint Venture means to sell the products in a country through creating another company (Suseno, Yusuf & Kurnia, 2021). Joint Venture is found to be an attractive market entry mode that will eventually help Edo to flourish into the UK marketplace. In this context, Edo can effectively use the infrastructure, reputation, and local knowledge of the other company, which will eventually allow it to get the perfect market insight within a shorter period of time. Along with this, from all the other market entry methods, Joint Venture will allow the company to effectively control the market, which helps in rapid expansion in the host country (Walker, Bhargava & Bamford, 2021). Through the local knowledge of the foreign partner company, the cultural issue will get reduced, as that organisation is already operating their business in the UK. Therefore, with their knowledge of reputation Edo can easily build their customer base without any hard efforts.
In this relation, the suggested foreign partner in the UK can be considered as Nando’s, which is popular for its fast- casual dining services will allow Edo to present itself under the recognition of them. Along with this, through Joint Venture, Edo will have the opportunity to expertise its services in the host country along with gaining access to the modern technological innovation as well. One of the most interesting advantages of Joint Venture is it allows the expanded company to share the risks with the foreign partner which reflect that the financial pressure will be lower than the other market entry modes (Walker, Bhargava & Bamford, 2021).
Recommendation for changes
In terms of expanding into the UK market, ITC’s Edo needs to conceptualise three different changes as an integral part of coping with the UK market culture. These changes are recommended below on behalf of Edo based on which the company might be able to remove the cultural differences between them and the UK market.
Product development and improved pricing strategy
In respect to the consideration of suggested market entry mode, product development is essential to attract more consumers and to improve sales and revenue. Through product development, Edo can target new markets along with new consumers as well (Cheng et al. 2021). Moreover, it will also allow the restaurant to increase their market share in the marketplace of the host country. Furthermore, it is also recommended that Edo needs to improve their pricing strategy as well. Joint Venturing with Nando’s will provide a better insight of the marketplace and through the information, the restaurant chain can easily improve as per the requirements and demands of the consumer. Through an effective pricing strategy, Edo can penetrate the market along with improving brand recognition (Victor, Nathan & Fekete-Farkas, 2021). It is suggested that Penetration pricing strategy can be developed by Edo to attract more consumers along with strengthening the position in the market efficiently. Furthermore, through penetration pricing strategy, Edo can successfully attain a long-term benefit along with high adoption and distribution in the marketplace.
Product diversification
Product diversification is highly recommended for Edo with regards to comply with the UK market consumer tastes and preferences. The Japanese award-winning restaurant is suggested to include organic food products within their menu in order to positively influence the consumer purchasing behaviour in the UK market. Moreover, successful product diversification can also provide the company with a wide range of options to mitigate the current market demands (Stadler et al. 2018).
The UK consumers are usually notified to focus on a healthy and nutritious lifestyle. With regards to this concern, Edo is likely to disclose health awareness through offering organic food products. Apart from that, ITC is already noticed to provide a strong commitment towards sustainability by considering economic, social, and ecological welfare (ITC Portal, 2021). In this case, extended commitment to sustainability can be supportive to enhance the restaurant accountability over the UK market consumers. Based on this feature, profound future growth might be achieved by them by efficiently serving across the UK market.
Empowerment of integrated marketing communication
ITC limited is already noticed to have their active presence upon social media channels and platforms. With the consideration of online shopping and delivery options, ITC is recommended to create an advanced and attractive digital presence across different social media platforms like Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and others. This integrated marketing communications strategy might be beneficial for efficiently communicating with the target audience for Edo throughout the UK market (Duralia, 2018). Moreover, the restaurant can also undertake the option of considering celebrity endorsement as an integral part of achieving increasing consumer attraction in the UK market. This profound campaign should recognise a strong message and commitment from the organisational perspective about the provision of preferred products as per the UK consumers’ cultural preferences. The consequences of product diversification as mentioned above might also be supportive in this context with the delivery of diverse menu options where the Asian food tastes might also be offered.
Conclusion
As per the framework of the entire report, it can be concluded that international marketing is essential for business growth. However, considering the possible threats and challenges of the country is also one of the important segments that should be considered by the organisation before expansion. The following report is based on “Edo” and its expansion in the UK. In this relation, the possible cultural issues are being discussed above that are not similar to Edo’s previous operating countries. Moreover, Joint venture has been selected as the effective market entry mode that will eventually help Edo for expansion. Furthermore, there are several different sets of recommendations as well that should be incorporated by the organisation for better and successful business expansion.
References
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Ali, B. J., & Anwar, G. (2021). Marketing Strategy: Pricing strategies and its influence on consumer purchasing decision. Ali, BJ, & Anwar, G.(2021). Marketing Strategy: Pricing strategies and its influence on consumer purchasing decision. International journal of Rural Development, Environment and Health Research, 5(2), 26-39. <https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3837579>
Beugelsdijk, S., & Welzel, C. (2018). Dimensions and dynamics of national culture: Synthesizing Hofstede with Inglehart. Journal of cross-cultural psychology, 49(10), 1469-1505. <https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0022022118798505>
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Hofstede-insights, (2021). COUNTRY COMPARISON [Online]. <https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/japan,the-uk/>
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Minchin, J., (2021). Organic sector booms in the UK as online sales increase by a third [Online]. <https://www.newfoodmagazine.com/news/137823/uk-organic-market/>
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