In 2001 telecommunications leader Ericsson and the Sony Corporation joined forces to establish Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications. Because of this joint venture, Sony Ericsson recognized sales of over seven billion dollars in the first year. This was mainly because the combined mobile phone business company now offered a range of mobile communication products that went far beyond the simple mobile phone technology of its time.
Marketing
Marketing, more than any other business function, deals with customers. Creating customer value and satisfaction is at the very heart of modern marketing. Marketing is the delivery of customer satisfaction at a profit. Sound marketing is critical to the success of every organization--large or small, for profit or non-profit, domestic or global. Large for-profit firms such as Sony use marketing. This is where globalization, technology, and ethics come into play.
Global Marketing
The world is shrinking rapidly with the advent of faster communication, transportation, and financial flows. Products developed in one country are finding enthusiastic acceptance in other countries. In fact, international trade is booming. Since 1969, the number of multinational corporations in the world 's fourteen richest countries has more than tripled. According to Business Week, written by Gail Edmondson, "many U.S. companies have long been successful at international marketing: Coca-Cola, McDonald 's, IBM, Xerox, Corning, Gillette, Colgate, General Electric, Caterpillar, Ford, Kodak, 3M, Boeing, and dozens of other American firms have made the world their market. And in the United States, names such as Sony, Toyota, Norelco, and Mercedes have become household words" (Edmondson, G., 2000).
Globalization has become the increasing tendency of the world to act as one market. Technological advances in travel and communications are the driving force behind market globalization. For instance, new communication technologies, such as the
References: Edmondson, G. (2000, August 28). See the world, erase its borders. Business Week, pp. 113-114. Ericsson. (2004). About Ericsson. Retrieved February 20, 2005 from the World Wide Web: http://www.ericsson.com/about/ Ericsson. (2004). Technologies. WCDMA. Retrieved February 20, 2005 from the World Wide Web: http://www.ericsson.com/technology/ Gray Matter India. (2004). Smartphones. White Paper, pg. 8. Retrieved February 21, 2005 from the World Wide Web: www.greymatterindia.com/downloads/Whitepaper_Rise%20_of_Smartphones.pdf. Mescon, M., Courtland, B., Thill, J. (1999). Business Today, 203. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall