ctions for The importance of an organizations’ management orientation

Question description

Complete each topic!

TOPIC 2: Actions for The importance of an organizations’ management orientation

A company’s management orientation drives much of its global strategy. This is discussed more fully in Module 1 under the ‘Overview section’, and to refresh your memory, the various management orientations are:

Ethnocentric management orientation, least likely to aggressively pursue international opportunities, or market the same product in the same way to any foreign market that may want it. They do not adapt for the foreign market.

Polycentric management orientation, most likely to pursue just about all foreign opportunities and adjust their product mix to uniquely serve the various foreign markets. Very cost inefficient but sometimes necessary if local markets have truly unique needs.

Regiocentric or geocengric management orientation, a more middle of the road approach to global expansion whereby the company looks for global markets (people with similar characteristics) and then expand into those countries where there is sufficient numbers of potential buyers with the similar needs.

Is one orientation better than another? Not necessarily.

UMUC, for example, is a global university, yet it has a distinctly ethnocentric orientation. The service it offers in the United States is the same service it offers worldwide. It does not customize its courses depending on geographic location. Also, it does not make other adaption concessions, such as offering courses in different languages—always English.

Should UMUC be more proactive to the needs of adult learners all over the globe?

In UMUC’s case, its core product is a US higher education. Practically, it cannot adapt its product to different cultures, since that would create a nightmare of accreditation issues and logistics.

However, there is still great demand for a US education overseas, so the ethnocentric orientation is proper in this case. This orientation translates into marketing strategy and the way the products and services are delivered. UMUC has a standardized approach to its marketing. It works now because demand for higher education is high.

Should the competitive environment cause UMUC to lose market share, then that might spark a conversation to change its management orientation.

Conversely, truly global companies tend to have a geocentric approach. That doesn’t mean a certain company operates in every country, but the company operates wherever it can meet customers’ needs with its marketing mix. Car companies are good examples of geocentrically oriented companies.

TASK: What about your company or organization? Whether it is global or not, it follows a management orientation. What is it? How can it help or hurt your company’s efforts?

If you are not working or your company isn’t a global company, select one that is familiar and ask your professor if you can use it.

Use at least one (1) reference and interact with at least one (1) classmate.

TOPIC 3: Pretend you are the global marketing manager for Diet Coke. What factors in the global marketing environment do you think will most impact the marketing of your brand. Just pick one factor and defend your answer