Globalization Case

Managers who conduct business on a global scale can have one of three attitudes: ethnocentric, polycentric, or geocentric. Ideally, a manager should have a geocentric attitude towards foreign business because "that's the type of approach successful managers will need in today's global environment." (Robbins & Coulter, 2011, p.72) A geocentric attitude allows managers to use cross-cultural understandings to improve and grow the business, and these types of managers will find the best people to market their products in the target country. (Robbins & Coulter, 2011, p.72) Managers should also be aware of potential economic differences in the target country. XYZ Corporation must understand that France essentially has a free market economy and is an original member of the European Union. XYZ will need to work closely with the European Union Commission as well as the World Trade Organization when deciding how to introduce a new product into an already flooded European market.

When a company wishes to conduct business on a global scale, it is always a good idea to act like a local company within the target area. This idea of go global, act local basically means that companies should expand their business beyond national borders, but they should at the same time strive to maintain a familiar business operation in the foreign market. Furthermore, product design & development is an activity where the potential to globalize needs to be examined carefully. A globally standardized product can be made efficiently at a low cost but may end up pleasing few customers. On the other hand, customized products targeted at different markets across the world may be too expensive. The trick is to identify those elements of the product which can be standardized across markets and those which need to be customized for local distribution. The key to global marketing is to lever your resources transversely over political and cultural borders to