INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS AND TRADE

WEEK 12

Presented by: TEAM SAKALAM

BRAND & PRODUCT
DECISIONS
 BRAND & PRODUCT DECISIONS
Brand
- a device (as a word) identifying the maker of
a piece of merchandise and legally reserved for the
exclusive use of that person or company.

- Merriam Webster
Product
- something produced by physical or intellectual
effort.

- Merriam Webster
BRAND & PRODUCT DECISIONS
The international marketing mix consists of 4 P’s viz.

• Product
• Price
• Place
• Promotion

Product & Branding Decision

A product is something both tangible and intangible. The tangible products can be described in terms of physical
attributes like shape, dimension, components, form, color etc. The intangible products include various services like
merchant banking, mutual funds, insurance, consultancy, air travel etc. However, sometimes both tangible and intangible
are combined to give a total product. The global markets must see the total product which includes tangible and intangible.

TANGIBLE INTANGIBLE
BRAND & PRODUCT DECISIONS

The study of product in the international market includes:

1. Development
2. Product Life-cycle
3. Branding Decisions
4. Packaging Decisions

Market Segmentation: The main purpose of the market segmentation is to satisfy the customer needs more
precisely. Market segmentation helps to enter the foreign markets in a phased manner

Product Positioning: Product positioning attempts to occupy an appealing space in a consumer' s mind in
relation to the space occupied by other competitive products.
BRAND & PRODUCT DECISIONS
Product Adoption: Product to be adopted in a foreign market must demonstrate Five factors.

They are:

(1)Relative advantage over existing alternatives.

(2)Products cleanliness and sanitation are accepted in rich countries.

(3)Compatible with local customs and habits:

(4)Observism: If the product is used publicly the others can observe the product.

(5)Complexity: If the product' s qualities are difficult to understand then other product has slow market
acceptance.
 PRODUCT
DEVELOPMENT
 PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

Product Development
- is the complete process of delivering a
new product or improving an existing one for
customers. The customers can be external or internal
within a company. And it can support many different
types of products from software to hardware, to
consumer goods and services.
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
What is product development?
Product development methodologies are used to build many new offerings. In this article, we are going to focus on its
impact on software development for paying customers. It encompasses all stages required to bring a new experience to end users —
from ideation and analysis to design, engineering, and testing.
A clear product development process gives companies a way to explore new product ideas and learn what customers
want in the early stages of conceptualization. The objective is to ensure that the new or enhanced product satisfies a real customer
need and helps the company reach business goals.

How do teams approach product development?

The first stage in any product development process is to identify and analyze the business opportunity — this can be how
you serve external customers or build internal products for the organization. Before a concept moves to implementation, you must
determine if and how it supports overall business objectives. A feasibility study, for example, can help teams determine whether a
concept has the potential to be successful before a full go-to-market investment is made.
Once you have a clear vision for what you want to achieve, the next step is to define what will be built. Researching
customer needs, prioritizing features, and testing concepts help you narrow in on the key capabilities that will be delivered in a new
product or release.
Many product teams create lightweight wireframes, mockups, and prototypes to show what they envision and to capture
early feedback. This also ensures that engineering understands exactly what to build and how the functionality should be
implemented.
Your product development methodology will guide how you approach the implementation of your product development
process. For example, if your organization follows a waterfall approach, you will ideate and define all release requirements upfront. If
your organization is agile, your approach to product development will be more incremental.
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
What are some common early-stage product development frameworks?
There are a number of frameworks that product teams follow to start the product development process. Most
approaches advocate understanding customer needs, market research, prototyping, and testing ideas before fully investing
in product development.
Determining the best approach for your organization largely depends on your product. For example, hardware
products might follow steps differently in the product development process than software solutions. Medical and financial
products may require more legal and compliance activities and therefore lengthen the product development process.
The specifics will vary based on what you are actually building, but below are some common early stage product
development frameworks.

Design thinking is a framework for design and innovation. It includes cognitive, strategic, and functional
processes for developing new concepts. It is central to user and human-centered design. The table below shows the
fundamental steps behind design thinking.

Empathize Understand the user and what their needs are

Define Frame the problem in user and human-centered ways
Ideate Gather feedback and create ideas
Prototype Produce preliminary versions of a product or feature
Test Determine what works and identify any issues
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

Front end innovation

Front end innovation represents the beginning stages of the product development
process. It should not be confused with the user interface, which is often referred to as the "front
end" as well. Front end innovation is used for scoping out the concept of a product and
determining whether or not to invest further time and resources. There is not a universally
accepted definition or dominant framework but you can see common components below.

Strategic planning Establish company and product vision

Idea selection and analysis Conceptualize and understand product
feasibility
Product definition Build a business case and gather
requirements
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

Who manages the product development process?

Product managers are responsible for guiding the success of a product. This starts with
setting strategy and building the product roadmap. But product managers also guide a cross-
functional team as part of the product development process. This team includes design,
engineering, marketing, IT, sales, support, and finance. This kind of cross-functional alignment
helps organizations deliver a Complete Product Experience.
While product managers are at the center and oversee the entire product lifecycle, its
success is a collaborative effort. Each group of the cross-functional team owns a particular area
and also likely has a functional leader who is a part of the process and works closely with the
product manager.
Innovation and new products are integral to a company’s continued success.
Establishing a defined product development process that works for your organization ensures that
you launch products that fulfill customer needs.
Product Life
Cycle
 PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE

INTERNATIONAL PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE

International product life cycle model is based on
empirical actual pattern of trade. This model explains the
relationship among the product life cycle trade and
investment.
PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE

International product life cycle model explains:

1. High-income, mass-consumption countries initially export, and later import the

product as they lose their export markets.

2. Later, the other advanced countries shift from an importing country to an exporting
country.

3. After some time, even the less developed countries shift from the status of importing
country.
PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE

1. New products are initially introduced in high-income countries/markets as the latter

offer high potential demand

2. Initially products are produced where they are sold.

3. Mostly inventions take place in high-income countries.

4. Entrepreneurs in middle-income countries take the advantage of low cost of labor and other
factors of production in the production of the new products.

5. Market stabilizes when the product reaches maturity, the design, technology and markets
stabilize.

6. Production from low income countries displaces the production of the high income countries
due to the cost advantage.
PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE

7. Companies of high-income countries shift to low-income countries to take the advantage of

low cost factors of production.

8. These companies gain the ownership and control over the production of low-income countries.

9. The producers of low-income countries produce and sell higher volumes due to the low cost of
production and price. Further, these producers also export in higher volumes due to heavy
demand, consequent upon low cost of factors.

10. Low-income countries export to high income countries and compete with the industries of
high income countries who enjoyed monopoly at the initial stage of the cycle.

11. With this stage, cycle completes its turn. Textiles is an example of this cycle. This product has
gone through the complete cycle for the investing country (UK), other developed countries and
finally the developing countries. Similarly, electronics industry passed through all the stages. This
product shifted from USA to Japan to Korea to India.
PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE
Stages of International Product Life Cycle

Stage Zero: Local Innovation: The product in this stage is a familiar product in the local market. Product
innovations take place mostly due to the changing wants of the local people.

Stage 1: Overseas Innovation: After a product is successful in the domestic market, the producer desires
exporting it to the foreign markets due to excess production compared to its demand in the domestic country.

Stage 2: Maturity: The development of the product reaches the peak stage even in foreign markets. The
producer modifies it and develops it based on taste and preference of the customers in foreign markets. The producer
exports the products even to less developed countries in this stage.

Stage 3: Worldwide Imitation: The local manufacturers in various foreign countries start to imitate the popular
foreign products. They modify those products slightly based on the local needs and produce the same at less cost and sell
them at cheaper prices.

Stage 4: Reversal: Competitive advantage of innovative or original manufacturer disappears at this stage as
producers in many foreign countries imitate the product, develop it further and produce it at less cost. This stage also
results in product standardization and competitive disadvantage. The product at this stage does not have to be either
capital intensive or technology intensive, but it becomes labour intensive a strong competitive advantage possessed by
developing countries.
BRANDING
DECISIONS
 BRANDING DECISIONS
Branding consists of a set of complex branding decisions.
Major brand strategy decisions involve brand positioning, brand
name selection, brand sponsorship and brand development.
Before going into the four branding decisions, also called
brand strategy decisions, we should clarify what a brand actually
is. A brand is a company’s promise to deliver a specific set of
features, benefits, services and experiences consistently to
buyers. However, a brand should rather be understood as a set
of perceptions a consumer has about the products of a particular
firm. Therefore, all branding decisions focus on the consumer.
BRANDING DECISIONS
Generic or No Brand

The first decision regarding branding is whether to brand or not. The trend towards non-branding
products is increasing world-wide. In fact, the scales of non-branded products is increasing particularly in
retail stores. The increase in demand for non-brand products is due to the availability of these products at
less price. In addition, non-brand products are available In a number of sizes and models.

Generic goods
Many supermarket chains have their own generics. Generics, in this sense, means goods with the
supermarket's name on them. They sell them more cheaply than products with brand names.
For example, retailers have their own generic sodas, which say 'Cola,' rather than having a brand name
like Pepsi or Coke.
BRANDING DECISIONS
Branded Products

Most of the global companies go for branding. The customers of different countries find it easy to
identify the branded products and they are aware of the ingredients and utility of the branded
products. For example" the customers throughout the world are aware of the products of Colgate,
Palmolive, Pepsi or Coke etc. The global company can get better price and profits through
branded products.
BRANDING DECISIONS
Private Brand Manufacturer's Brand

Most of the exporting companies The manufacturer sells the products

go for dealer' s brand or private brand. The in his own brand. The advantages of
advantages of private branding include: manufacturer' s brand include: better
easy in giving dealer' s acceptance, control of products and features, better
possibility of getting larger market share, price due to more price in electricity,
less promotional expenses etc. Private retention of brand loyalty and better
branding is more appropriate for the small bargaining power.
companies who export to various foreign
countries.
BRANDING DECISIONS
Single Brand Multiple Brands

The global company go for a single brand for The marketing conditions and the features
all its exports to the same country (or Single Brand): The of the customers vary widely from one region
advantages of single brand in single market include: to the other, in the same country. Therefore,
better impact on marketing, permitting more focused
the exporter uses multiple branding decisions
marketing, brand receives full attention, reduction in cost
of promotion etc. In brand lingo these are called in such cases. Multiple branding enables the
mono brands or product brands. With this strategy, the exporter to meet the needs of all segments.
name of the corporation remains in the background. The other advantages of multiple branding
include: creation of excitement among
employees, gaining of more shelf space,
avoidance of negative connotation of existing
brand etc.
BRANDING DECISIONS
Local Brands

Global companies have started widely using the local brands in order to give the impression of
cultural compatibility of the local market. The advantages of local branding include: elimination of
difficulty in pronunciation, elimination of negative connotations, avoidance of taxation on international
brand etc.

Snickers – You’re Not You when You’re

Hungry
Coca-Cola – ‘Share a Coke’ KitKat – Edible Postcard
BRANDING DECISIONS
World Wide Brand/Global Brand

Exporters normally go for global brand. The advantages of global brand include: reduction of
advertising costs, elimination of brand confusion, better marketing impact and focus, status for
prestigious brands and for well known designs etc.
PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE
Strategies for Branding Decisions

1. If the product has production consistency and salient attributes which can be differentiated,
then it would be better for the manufacturer to go for branding otherwise better to sell the product
without any brand.

2. If the manufacturer is least dependent person, it would be feasible to go for the

manufacturer' s own brand otherwise, it would be feasible to go for a private brand.

3. If there are intermarket differences like demographic and psychological, it would be feasible
for having a local brand. Otherwise, it would be better to go for global brand.

4. If there are intermarket differences like demographic and psychological, it would be feasible
for multiband. Otherwise it would be feasible to go for single brand.
PACKAGING
DECISIONS
 PACKAGING DECISIONS
Nearly all tangible products are sold to
customers within a container or package that, as we will
discuss, serves many purposes including protecting the
product during shipment. In a few instances, such as with
certain produce items, the final customer may purchase
the product without a package but the produce marketer
still faces packaging decisions when it comes to shipping
its produce to others, such as resellers. Thus, for many
products there are two packaging decisions:
PACKAGING DECISIONS
Final Consumer Package

This relates to the package the final customer receives in exchange for their
payment. When the final customer makes a purchase he or she is initially exposed to
the Primary Package – the outermost container that is seen and touched by the final
customer. This primary package can be further divided into the following:

•First-Level Package – This represents packaging that holds the actual product (e.g.,
bottle the holding tablets). In some cases, this packaging is minimal since it only serves
to protect the product. For instance, certain frozen food products are sold to consumers
in a cardboard box with the product itself contained in a plastic bag found inside the box.
This plastic bag represents the first-level package. In other cases, frozen food products
are sold to the final consumer only in plastic bags. In these cases, the plastic bag is both
first-level package and the primary package for convey product information.
PACKAGING DECISIONS
•Second-Level Package – For some products, the first-level package is surrounded by one
or more outer packages (e.g., box holding the bottle). This second-level package may act as
the exterior package for the product.

•Package Inserts – Marketers use a variety of other methods to communicate with

customers after they open the product package. These methods are often inserted within, or
sometimes on, the product’s package. Insertions include product information, such as
instruction manuals and warranty cards, promotional incentives, such as coupons, and items
that add value such as recipes.
PACKAGING DECISIONS

Distribution Channel Package

This packaging is used to transport the customer package through the supply chain.
It generally holds multiple customer packages and also offers a higher level of damage
protection than that of customer packaging. The most obvious examples are cardboard
boxes and wooden crates. A single box or crate may contain a large number of customer
packages.
PACKAGING DECISIONS
Factors in Packaging Decisions
Packaging decisions are important for several reasons including:

Protection
Packaging is used to protect the product from damage during shipping and handling, and to lessen
spoilage if the protect is exposed to air or other elements.

Visibility
Packaging design is used to capture customers’ attention as they are shopping or glancing through a
catalog, website or smartphone app. This is particularly important for customers who are not familiar
with the product or in situations where a product must stand out among thousands of other products,
such as those found in grocery stores. Packaging designs that stand out are more likely to be
remembered on future shopping trips.

Added Value
Packaging design and structure can add value to a product. For instance, benefits can be obtained
from package structures that make the product easier to use while stylistic designs can make the
product more attractive to display in the customer’s home (e.g., design of plug-in air fresheners).
PACKAGING DECISIONS
Distributor Acceptance
Packaging decisions must not only be accepted by the final customer, it may also have to be
accepted by distributors who sell the product for the supplier. For instance, a retailer may not
accept packages unless they conform to requirements they have for storing products on their
shelves (e.g., fits maximum height or weight requirements).\

Cost
Packaging can represent a significant portion of a product’s selling price. For example, it is
estimated that in the cosmetics industry the packaging cost for some products may be as high
as 40% of a product’s selling price. Smart packaging decisions can help reduce costs and
possibly lead to higher profits.

Expensive to Create
Developing new packaging can be extremely expensive. The costs involved in creating new
packaging include: graphic and structural design, production, customer testing, possible
destruction of leftover old packaging, and possible advertising to inform customer of the new
packaging.
PACKAGING DECISIONS

Long-Term Decision
When companies create a new package it is most often with the intention of having the
design on the market for an extended period of time. In fact, changing a product’s
packaging too frequently can have negative effects since customers become
conditioned to locate the product based on its package and may be confused if the
design is altered.

Environmental or Legal Issues

Packaging decisions must also include an assessment of its environmental impact
especially for products with packages that are frequently discarded. Packages that are
not easily bio-degradable could draw customer and possibly governmental reaction.
Also, caution must be exercised in order to create packages that do not infringe on
another firm’s intellectual property, such as copyrights, trademarks, or patents.
PACKAGING DECISIONS
Product Labeling
Most packages, whether final customer packaging or distribution packaging, are imprinted with information intended to assist the
customer. For consumer products, labeling decisions are extremely important for the following reasons.

•Captures Attention – Labels serve to capture the attention of shoppers. The use of catchy words and eye-catching graphics may
cause strolling customers to stop and evaluate the product.

•Offers First Impression – The label is likely to be the first thing a new customer sees and thus offers their first impression of the
product.

•Provides Information – The label provides customers with product information to aid their purchase decision or help improve the
customer’s experience when using the product (e.g., recipes).

•Aids Purchasing – Labels generally include a universal product codes (UPC) ,that make it easy for resellers, such as retailers, to
checkout customers and manage inventory.

•Addresses Needs in Global Markets – For companies serving international markets or diverse cultures within a single country,
bilingual or multilingual labels may be needed.

•Meets Legal Requirements – In some countries, certain products, including food and pharmaceuticals, are required by law to
contain certain labels such as listing ingredients, providing nutritional information or including usage warning information.
Thank You
Reference

Brand Synonyms, Brand Antonyms | Merriam-Webster Thesaurus

Product Synonyms, Product Antonyms | Merriam-Webster Thesaurus

Product and Branding decisions for Foreign Markets (theintactone.com)

What is product development? | Aha!

Branding Decisions - 4 Brand Strategy Decisions (marketing-insider.eu)

Packaging Decisions - KnowThis.com