Tyden Brammall

Mike Arevalo

MKT/421

February 27, 2012
Stephanie Jensen

Tyden Brammall

Tyden Brammall is an organization that is in the process of trying to become the largest and most successful security seal provider in the world. Owned by a private equity firm it has been transformed from a United States manufacturer to a global company by expansion, merger, and take over. As the worldwide expansion has progressed it has encountered many if the issues raised. Items such demographics, infrastructure, global interdependent, and inferences such as culture. The other issue of ethics and working within different political systems such as the one in China and the effect of the tech revolution and the ease that it has made operations that much easier.

Global Interdependence and Cultural Differences

Tyden and the equity firm have gambled much on the value of global interdependence. The company requires all division to be able to support each other with sales being in Europe, Latin America, and the largest market the USA. Manufacturing is centered in China and the Far East with a small assembling procedure in Latin America. This interdependence and support of each is essential to the operational success of the organization. As a global manufacturer each and every division must know its place and support each other. The other side of the coin in having a global company that depends on each other is the fact cultural difference play such a part in how well companies run. These differences must be accepted and adjustment made into the procedures of the organization, while not losing the identity of the parent organization. There has to be a teaching of what the differences are from Latin Americans to Chinese, the subtle nuances that each culture has and how things are expressed and accepted. Having the right liaison between parent and global division is a key as that one person can be the conduit to teach and prep and bring acceptance rather than division to the organization.

Infrastructure

Demographics and infrastructure are items that can affect marketing as well but in a delivery or distribution channel way. Without a substantial infrastructure Tyden could not bring to market its products across the board as the market channels especially in the larger markets was a direct one so it had to be supported and marketed so that credibility would not be lost. Demographic did not have a great affect except as to perception of strength of a product as different cultures or demographics look at products with a skewed eye. The biggest factor in my opinion is infrastructure as for a worldwide market player to be competitive it needs to be there, in order for it to support the divisional sales or market forces and plans.

Political Systems and Ethical Responsibility

Marketing in different political systems can be a minefield as a USA based organization has to deal with a number of different restrictions, In Mexico many of the competitors used gifts which in reality were bribes to the different customers government officials are even more prevalent than others. Working and marketing in communist countries is also a substantial different environment as the consumer base is different and is not a free market economy. Political systems can also curtail different market plans as some of the options are illegal. Also some marketing plans which contain gifts can be done by host country marketers but not by expats due to the legal ramifications in the USA. Marketing in different countries other than the USA has many ethical and legal obligations and due to the parent company being USA based one has to always adhere to the ethical and legal responsibilities of the USA. There have been many examples of product dumping and marketing those products which didn’t meet the legal responsibilities in the USA as far as quality or side effects or even performance. Companies have an ethical and legal responsibility to maintain the same standards as any and all marketing plans that are used in the USA this also lends to the credibility as the United States usually maintains the best standards in the world. Companies must meet legal and ethical responsibility to become good global citizens.

Tech and the Effects

Tech has change the world in every facet that you can think of. It has made the global business operation and communication an instant and easy type to the point that as I did could be living in the United States and maintaining and running a business based in 26 different countries. With the advent of the tech boom working in a virtual office is no longer the difficult issue it was before one can run a global company from the local Starbucks office. Tyden senior management was never in an office they would spend short times but for most the positions required to be on the go from country to country. Tech has made the world smaller and more manageable so implementing and monitoring a marketing plan is now as easy as when you managed in the United States alone. Tech has been the great facilitator when it comes to marketing as research and data that took weeks and months to get before are now available in minutes not hours. Having this allows for marketing and sales to react in an almost instant manner. Has this tech boon been a godsend in the worldwide environment yes it has.

Foreign Practices

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, while being a tool that stops the cheating in other countries can and does hamper marketing especially in a host country when your competitors can and do practice gifts to customers. At the same time a United States based company cannot especially when you put the orange jump suit test which in simple terms is if I do give a gift will it land me in jail back in the USA. At Tyden this was always a concern as we did deal in countries where this practice of giving gifts was rampant in some market sectors. So, while an ethical and reasonable law it can and does hamper marketing in some foreign and political systems and smart marketers need to find was around it.

Conclusion

As can be seen the complexities of working in a world wide global company can be daunting and at some time almost impossible. Tyden strived to work and overcome this by product positioning and the best marketing resource it had the management team and the point of sale managers which represented the company as no marketing plan is any better than the people implementing it. Tyden used hit to the maximum as in some cases where it could not use gifts as others did the credibility of the people was all that allowed the marketing plan to succeed. Marketing encompasses many facets just as all these many facets affect marketing and the implementation of it. Global marketing as can be seen from the issue covered here is a complex world with many pitfalls yet just as many solutions.