International Marketing Research Methodologies to Integrate China
Research Objectives
The main purpose of the paper is to define consistent and successful marketing strategies and methodologies for integrating top-selling products from XYZ Inc. into the Chinese market. It also seeks to identify the main challenges and constraints that the company might face and how sales and pricing approaches can help overcome those problems.
In addition, the research aims to set the priorities with regard to the consumer’s expectation, communication channels, and product requirements to work out efficient market strategies that a Western company should implement to penetrate the Chinese market. The paper will heavily rely on practical experience, observation, as well as theoretical frameworks applied to promote new products to China. Overview of cultural, economic, and political background is also crucial for successful marketing solutions.
The paper will focus on previous surveys revealing cases of marketing of Western companies, as well as on exploratory studies in China. Specifically, specific articles will be considered to analyze the interviews, cases, and experiences of consumers, managers, and entrepreneurs in China to define which approaches and products can be effectively promoted in China.
Defining Effective Research Methodologies
While exploring the Chinese market, much concern should be connected with marketing and sales approaches. Cross-cultural differences are considered to be among the major challenges for foreign companies to market a particular product in the country. Within this perspective, the primary emphasis should be placed on the marketing mix strategy, general business strategy, and relationship marketing. All these areas should contribute to improving relations with Chinese consumers and the successful launching of a new product (Rui & Jing, 2011).
While analyzing a marketing mix strategy, the studies rely on the general sales manager and new product development approaches. The latter attains much importance to the main factors of product innovation. Based on Chinese data samples, as well as on longitudinal studies of joint ventures, it has been revealed that product innovation is affected by both external and internal factors. In addition, such aspects as organizational support, strategic orientations, and strategic decision comprehensiveness are among the most important ones while building a marketing mix strategy (Rui & Jing, 2011).
Sales management is on the current agenda because integrating promotion as one of the four Ps is the most critical condition for successful marketing in China. Aside from product innovation, promotion is also among the key conditions for exporting a new product to the Chinese market. Because Chinese businesspeople view marketing as a general sales technique, the product development strategies are specifically oriented on developing effective advertising and promotion approaches. Within this context, our company should also consider this element as the core for penetrating the Chinese market.
As per general marketing strategies implemented within the Chinese marketing context, the discussion should focus on the company’s ownership structure, along with government regulation, which is considered the key driving force creating a favorable marketing environment in China. In other words, to market a new product in China, XYZ should integrate a strong positive connection between the company’s performance and market orientation, which is composed of three elements – competitor orientation, customer orientation, and technological advancement (Rui & Jing, 2011, p. 10). These results are based on interviews with Chinese top managers.
Finally, the top managers should pay particular attention to relationship marketing because of the peculiarities of business relations and attitudes in China. The point is that China belongs to a relation-oriented society where business relations and managing networks are vital for marketing success. A philosophy of establishing favorable and fruitful relations between a buyer and a seller should be at the core of the company’s strategic thinking.
More importantly, relational marketing is based on trust because it contributes greatly to business performance (Wong & Leung, 2001). In particular, this dimension should cover such areas as social exchange, service marketing, business-to-business market, strategic alliance, and IMP group.
Aside from the above-presented strategic solutions, the company should give attention to the importance of entry strategy because it enables to foresee possible liabilities and environmental risks associated with foreign marketing. In particular, ownership share arrangement can significantly reduce environmental risks and eliminate investment uncertainties (Rui & Jing, 2011, p. 15). In addition, the identified strategy provides a favorable platform for knowledge transfer, which is of paramount importance for promoting cross-cultural experiences and eliminating related challenges (Rui & Jing, 2011). Finally, the entry strategy is beneficial in terms of venture management and balance entry costs.
Justifying the Identified Marketing Strategies
All the above-identified strategies combined in a consistent framework should be at the core of our marketing approaches while promoting a top-selling product to the Chinese customers. In this respect, focus on governmental support and ownership issues, the emphasis placed on promotion and product innovation, trust practicing, and entry strategies implementation should form a unified approach fostering successful integration.
To begin with, ownership strategies are paramount because, unlike Western consumers, the Chinese target audience is more concerned with issues of privacy protection. Further, extreme interest in high-tech introductions enhances the firms’ chances to launch a product with a set of unique technological functions. High intellectual property rights protection also comes to the fore because the Chinese companies are concerned with R&D investments in the emerging markets. Product quality is also the main condition for fruitful cooperation within the Chinese business environment provided the company intends to establish long-termed relationships. Such an approach will also help XYZ Inc. gain the trust of the Chinese business partners.
Aside from marketing strategies, it is imperative for XYZ managers to pursue the philosophical foundations of Chinese marketing because trustful and reliable relations are much more important than the product conception. What is more significant is that our company should attain cultural importance to relationship marketing because the Chinese companies highlight relational ties for promoting necessary adaptations.
Using such a marketing technique can provide our company with a competitive advantage. Emphasis placed on interpersonal relations and individual characteristics demonstrates a harmonic orientation and justifies ethical principles pursued in a business environment. These approaches are not applied while cooperating with Western companies. Finally, entry management can also improve cross-cultural exchange and foster knowledge transfer between the two cultures. Moreover, it can identify other peculiarities of the Chinese market and provides a better picture for introducing effective advertising and promotion campaigns.
References
Rui, W., & Jing, S. (2011). Business Marketing in China: Review and Prospects. Journal Of Business-To-Business Marketing, 18(1), 1-49.
Wong, Y.H., & Leung, T. K. (2001). Guanxi: Relationship Marketing in a Chinese Context. US: Cengage Learning.