Introduction
Country risk and strategic planning involve measures to be taken to ensure that a business venture is successful and all probable risks have been managed and kept at bay. In this case that is given; the country under scrutiny is India whereby the marketers want to market their products in the country. The product to be marketed is an AMP energy drink.
Competition
Taking an overall look at the market, Pepsi has already ventured into the market and set up over 36 bottling plants in the country. This is the first risk in the market as it means that they already have a stronghold and an upper hand in the market. AMP energy drink marketers can still enter the market and be successful. Research is the backbone of every business venture (Kotler and Armstrong, 2009). For AMP to be successful, they will have to research their rival, how their product is being consumed across the country, and why the people prefer it as opposed to other drinks. Conducting a market survey and research will enable AMP to know what strategies to use for example in marketing the products, pricing, etc. in this case therefore, the ideal pricing strategy to use would be competitive pricing whereby they will set their prices a little bit lower than those for Pepsi.
Secondly, a cost differentiation strategy would be an ideal marketing strategy whereby, since AMP already has a defined market-the soft drink market, then they should strive to give the best and most skilled services to their customers based on uniqueness and professionalism.
Exchange rates
As for the problem with exchange rates, the good news is that risks involving taxes are minimal, but the bad news is that all companies especially foreign investors should know how to convert the currencies used in India, as this will help them ascertain if they are making profits or not. This will be achieved through carrying out a thorough study on India’s economic status and the performance of the rupee in the world market (Fletcher and Crawford, 2011).
Physical Challenges
From the survey, India does not have a very established infrastructural development. This has been a challenge even to Pepsi in marketing and distribution of their products, and AMP soft drink should look at it from the line of being an advantage to them. The reason is that Pepsi has not fully exhausted the potential and actual market since some areas are generally inaccessible. For this reason, the best strategy to be used by AMP soft drink marketers would be to set up fully self-sufficient bottling plants in inaccessible places as this will ensure that even with the places’ inaccessibility, the markets in these places are being served.
This is also a good marketing strategy other than just a distribution strategy because when people see e bottling plant (where products will of course be cheaper), they will be obliged to buy the products from AMP. India is a country that is very loyal and they will want to buy products that they believe are produced by themselves, since most of the staff members will be hired from the immediate community. Hiring staff from their community will also improve the region’s economic status and for this reason, it will be easier to gain favor from the community, as we give back. In marketing, this is referred to and viewed as a win-win situation (Hill, 2009).
Conclusion
Due to the development and urbanization of almost all the regions in India where everyone especially the youth is trying to copy the Western lifestyle, it will be easier to market our soft drink there as the market will be accommodative of us (Douglas and Craig, 1995).
References
Douglas, S. & Craig, S. (1995). Global Marketing Strategy, New York: McGraw-Hill Inc. Print.
Fletcher, R. & Crawford, H. (2011). International Marketing, 5th Ed, Frenchs Forest: Persons Australia. Print.
Hill, C. W. (2009). International business. Competing in the global marketplace. 7th ed. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill. Print.
Kotler, P. and Armstrong, G. (2009). Principles of Marketing. 13th Edition. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Print.