North American Culture and Multinational Firm Advertising Research Paper

North American Culture and Multinational Firm Advertising - Research Paper Example This essay "North American Culture and Multinational Firm Advertising" outlines the importance of the right international marketing strategy. Multinational firms may either succeed or fail in their endeavor to incorporate cultural traits and behavior into their marketing and sales initiatives in foreign locales. Multinational firms are usually structured in the same way as a typical local firm (Sankar and Rau 27). However, there are differences in terms of adopting a standard structure, which has to be followed by the sub-companies in line with the complexity of their business practices. In general, these firms may put emphasis on functionality, product, and/or geography, when planning on the standard organizational structure of their subsidiaries (Sankar and Rau 27). The exposure of multinational firms, to an environment where technology and the level of competition are changing is the factor that forces them to adopt new strategies to make sure that their structure is fit to what i s needed in the foreign industry. In most cases, multinational firms adopt a regional organization structure because of the need to develop customized marketing activities that is appropriate to the local culture and situation in a foreign market (Britton 199). This structure is deemed to be the most appropriate organizational form if firms consider localization. This structure is headed by a regional manager instead of a subsidiary manager, who has limited reach to regional offices. Specifically, Avon Products take this organizational form. ... Operation of International Advertising Firms The burden of formulating the right advertising concept for a brand is placed on international advertising firms. Since their services are project based, there is often pressure in meeting the demands of clients, especially when these are multinational firms that have high expectations. The basic goal is to promote the same product under the same brand using a uniform strategy (Sotomayor 131). However, because the goal of a multinational firm is to make an advertisement campaign charismatic to various cultures, localization needs to be adopted (Sotomayor 131). Multinational firms now exist in a global market, where there are varied local rules and expectations (Sotomayor 132). As a result, international advertising firms have to suit the campaign to what is culturally acceptable. For instance, when the first novel in the Harry Potter series was promoted in the United States the title was Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone whereas in other locations, the title was Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Sotomayor 132). A change like this has to be made so that the audience may well understand the context of the movie and be enticed to watch it. Fundamentally, the type of product or service, that is set to be promoted, is an important element to consider in international marketing. The factor is crucial because there is a possibility that the product or service will not be acceptable, as per the local culture. The study conducted by Chang of multinational firms and localization in China showed that multinational firms from differing industries have differing growths (Figure 2.0). This figure supports those consumption rates of the types products vary from one industry to another (30-31). Figure 2.0 Industry