Deck 15: International Accounting and Financial Management

Question 1

Farmville and Cityville are simple games played by millions of Facebook users, and the Chinese equivalent enjoys almost as much success. What do you think are the elements of the farming social network game Farmville that would appeal to consumers from many different cultures?

Answer 1

The commercial activities that cross national borders are known as international business. The goods, services, technology, personnel etc. all are moved from one country to another and also to many countries and vice versa. This movement is known as import and export in layman language. It is generally done through various modes of entry like licensing, franchising etc.
The three core activities of the internet, search, shop, and now in the modern world, the play become the 4 th activity, according to the Farmville and Cityville game developer, Zinga. Both games are introduced in different ways. Cityville game is released in different languages and Farmville game has introduced as Gagaville (a farm inspired by the Lady Gaga) and game gifting.

Question 2

Lady Gaga Reaches India
When Lady Gaga wanted to replicate her superstardom in India, she had a problem. Unlike in the United States, in India the music industry is largely driven by the film industry, so hit songs are predominantly from hit movies. So she had her song, "Born This Way," remixed by Bollywood composers Salim and Salaiman to produce a hybrid song that would have more Indian appeal. A second song, "Judas," was remixed by Panjabi MC. In terms of these two songs, we can analyze her adaptation to the

Indian market. First, the vocals and video were the same, the backing track was changed to use Indian instruments, and the "beat" was altered to be recognizably "Indian." India has more than 700 million people under 30 years
old, opening up a vast new potential market for the singersongwriter. India is already a major entertainment market- Bollywood sells about 1 billion more tickets per year than does Hollywood.
Although Lady Gaga did not re-record her singing in any of her songs, she did allow change in parts of the songs by changing the rhythm tracks. Is Lady Gaga's product in India unchanged, or not? What other examples can you think of where the line between a changed and unchanged product is difficult to draw?
Compared to modern film, contemporary foreign music doesn't seem to do very well abroad. Can you speculate about why that is?

Answer 2

Case Summary: Lady Gaga, the famous A singer, wanted to establish her stardom in I, but the music industry in I is largely driven by Bollywood (an I film industry). She had remix some of her songs that would give I appeal and allows some changes in them like, rhythm, background etc. I is the country where more than 700 million people live and it is the biggest market for music lovers.
However, Lady Gaga did not re-record her singing and she allowed changing some of her songs by changing rhythm tracks. The products of Lady Gaga are changed somehow according to the culture of India and the preference of viewers. Also, the language is one more concern as people of India understand and like to watch Hindi songs.

Question 3

Kraft, the 109-year old cheese company, released a new ad campaign in 2011 for its Athenos line of hummus, combining shock value, social media, and a little stereotyping. A young woman, Michelle, serves her friends Athenos hummus, and a Greek yiayia, or grandmother, comments that Michelle dresses like a prostitute. The hostess does a verbal doubletake and the Greek grandmother repeats the word "prostitute" for good measure. Then the narrator points out that at least Yiayia endorses Athenos hummus. "Athenos may be the only thing approved by Yiayia," goes the tagline. The ad is part of Kraft's efforts to shed its stodgy image and appeal to the denizens of Facebook and Twitter. In other recent efforts, Kraft has shown parents being arrested for eating their children's macaroni and cheese, handed out macaroni and cheese through Twitter, held a contest in which divorcing couples can win money if their split resulted from differences over Miracle Whip, and made the Yiayia popular enough to claim more than 150,000 Facebook hits.
Another ad features a couple declaring that they eat Athenos yogurt for breakfast, before Yiayia informs them they are going to hell for not being married. In another, the yiayia calls a stay-at-home husband a "wife."
Some Greeks have reported that they found the ads offensive, yet the ads may have persuaded a number of people to try hummus (although at least one commenter maintains that hummus isn't actually a Greek food at all).

View the ads. Did you find them offensive?

Answer 3

This is a subjective, opinion answer.

Question 4

Louis Vitton CEO Yves Carcelle says, "One to two thousand people is all you need. You can't judge by average income-average doesn't mean anything." Although he was speaking about the luxury goods market, do his comments about averages apply to other segments of the market as well? Why or why not?

Question 5

Use the globalEDGE site (http://globalEDGE.msu.edu/) to complete the following exercises:
Locate and retrieve the most current ranking of global brands. Identify the criteria that are utilized in the ranking. Which country has considerable representation in the top 100 global brands list? Prepare a short report identifying the countries that possess top global brands and the potential reasons for success.

Question 6

Kraft, the 109-year old cheese company, released a new ad campaign in 2011 for its Athenos line of hummus, combining shock value, social media, and a little stereotyping. A young woman, Michelle, serves her friends Athenos hummus, and a Greek yiayia, or grandmother, comments that Michelle dresses like a prostitute. The hostess does a verbal doubletake and the Greek grandmother repeats the word "prostitute" for good measure. Then the narrator points out that at least Yiayia endorses Athenos hummus. "Athenos may be the only thing approved by Yiayia," goes the tagline. The ad is part of Kraft's efforts to shed its stodgy image and appeal to the denizens of Facebook and Twitter. In other recent efforts, Kraft has shown parents being arrested for eating their children's macaroni and cheese, handed out macaroni and cheese through Twitter, held a contest in which divorcing couples can win money if their split resulted from differences over Miracle Whip, and made the Yiayia popular enough to claim more than 150,000 Facebook hits.
Another ad features a couple declaring that they eat Athenos yogurt for breakfast, before Yiayia informs them they are going to hell for not being married. In another, the yiayia calls a stay-at-home husband a "wife."
Some Greeks have reported that they found the ads offensive, yet the ads may have persuaded a number of people to try hummus (although at least one commenter maintains that hummus isn't actually a Greek food at all).

Do you think such ads will help Kraft shed its older, stodgy image?

Question 7

What future do you see for global advertising?

Question 8

Use the globalEDGE site (http://globalEDGE.msu.edu/) to complete the following exercises:
You are the marketing manager of a company that sells pet products, which have been of high demand in the United States. Given the huge success domestically, you want to explore opportunities abroad for your products. Utilize the Country Commercial Guides for U.S. Investors, and find a market research report on the pet products sector in Poland. Prepare an executive summary highlighting the opportunities and obstacles for your company in this country.

Question 9

Kraft, the 109-year old cheese company, released a new ad campaign in 2011 for its Athenos line of hummus, combining shock value, social media, and a little stereotyping. A young woman, Michelle, serves her friends Athenos hummus, and a Greek yiayia, or grandmother, comments that Michelle dresses like a prostitute. The hostess does a verbal doubletake and the Greek grandmother repeats the word "prostitute" for good measure. Then the narrator points out that at least Yiayia endorses Athenos hummus. "Athenos may be the only thing approved by Yiayia," goes the tagline. The ad is part of Kraft's efforts to shed its stodgy image and appeal to the denizens of Facebook and Twitter. In other recent efforts, Kraft has shown parents being arrested for eating their children's macaroni and cheese, handed out macaroni and cheese through Twitter, held a contest in which divorcing couples can win money if their split resulted from differences over Miracle Whip, and made the Yiayia popular enough to claim more than 150,000 Facebook hits.
Another ad features a couple declaring that they eat Athenos yogurt for breakfast, before Yiayia informs them they are going to hell for not being married. In another, the yiayia calls a stay-at-home husband a "wife."
Some Greeks have reported that they found the ads offensive, yet the ads may have persuaded a number of people to try hummus (although at least one commenter maintains that hummus isn't actually a Greek food at all).

Can you develop a similar campaign for another old-line brand or product that needs updating?

Question 10

What are two advantages of standardizing the marketing mix worldwide?

Question 11

As people become more educated and living conditions improve, do their product preferences converge?

Question 12

What is the basis of the reasoning for a panregional approach?

Question 13

Arguably, food retailing in Japan and Europe is becoming more like that in the United States. What changes made this possible?

Question 14

Assume you are a consultant to Nintendo, shortly before the introduction of the Wii U, the Nintendo home game console. What advice would you give Nintendo about making the device attractive to various foreign customers?

Question 15

What cultural problems might you encounter in introducing the location sharing application Foursquare in foreign markets?