Know-How Exchange : Strategy

Don't fight with prize because this is the force of your competitor. Find your strengths and fight with them. Example: Give special services, different ways to deliver your products, increase the variety of products, and so on. Remember that they are other ways to be different, instead of prize, like innovation or service.

Bye,

Juan Carlos

I agree with Juan's response that MNCs / organized players should focus on their strengths, which typically include premium brands for an international segment, availability in foreign countries (where consumers vacation and increasingly shop), technical/breakthrough innovation (as opposed to fine-tuning innovations by local players), etc. Thanks to the internationalization of channel members (and centralized buying centers), economies of scale should attract them too. These factors should enable an MNC to gain a foothold in the market. Still, it is important to realize that consumers will continue to be drawn to both global ideas ('solutions for a small planet') as to regional selling points that set them apart (eg the European Union integration has made many citizens to feel both more 'European' and more 'local' at the same time). Therefore, I believe an MNC will have to adapt to local tastes (eg. by taking over local firms) if it wants to dominate the fulll market.

Hope this helps - let me know,

Koen