MKTG 1110 WEB
Case Study 2
Is Mary Kay an international, multinational, or transnational firm? According to the definition of transnational firms: a transnational firm views the world as one market and emphasizes cultural similarities across countries or universal consumer needs and wants rather than differences. Mary Kay is doing just that; they are adapting their product according to the wants and needs of India. They are using the same type of products that they are using in China, just tweaking some of the products a little here and there to fit the needs of women and men in India. Along the lines of transnational firm the global marketing strategy would be put in place; which is the practice of standardizing marketing activities when there are cultural similarities and adapting them when cultures differ. Moving into India, Mary Kay has, in the case, changed their marketing strategy a little. They have put out into the media their story as a way of describing their culture and their message or image. They have also taken to giving out extensive material for the sales representatives to study up on, since the brand is new to India and their citizens, as well as 2-3 days of extensive training on the product. All of this in a whole is why Mary Kay is considered a transnational firm. The global market-entry strategy used by Mary Kay, in the case of India, is a direct exporting approach. Mary Kay invested millions of dollars to sell their domestically produced products from warehouses inside India. The company does not use intermediaries when it comes to sending their products to India, though you could consider their employees intermediaries since they are the ones selling the product in India. Since there are no intermediaries, Mary Kay has the benefit of gaining the most profit from their sales in India, and now that they are planning on investing further to create more warehouses to distribute product they are able to gain even more profit.
Cited: "GCI Magazine." Mary Kay Expands in India. N.p., 27 June 2012. Web. 13 Feb. 2015. "Mary Kay | Official Site." Mary Kay | Official Site. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Feb. 2015.