New global products

Strategic alternatives

When taking a product global you need to think about whether you change or keep the product or communication same or maybe both of them:

When you keep the product and the communication the same it is called straight extension. For example Ben & Jerry's ice cream has kept the product and the communication the same even in Finland. It is true that not all of the flavors of Ben & Jerry's re available here, but all that are have the same packaging with the English names on them. Of course the ingredients are mentioned in Finnish and Swedish as the Finnish law so requires.

When you change the product but keep the communication, it is called product adaption. Examples of these have been discussed in my earlier posts.

When you change the communication, but keep the product the same, it is called communication adaptation. For example Rexona as we Finns know it is owned by Unilever and it has different names in different countries(Rexona in most of Europe and Asia, Sure in UK and Ireland, Rexena in Japan and Korea, and Degree in USA and Canada. source: http://www.rexona.com.au/en/about/our-history.aspx) A fun fact: In 960's Rexona antiperspirant was first launched in Finland before it was launched to the global markets.

When both the product and communication are changed, it is called dual adaptation. McDonalds has several examples of dual adaptation. For example in France you can buy wine in there, where s in Germany you can buy beer. In Finland this is unheard of. They also have different burgers to accommodate different cultural tastes: Samurai Pork burger in Thailand, Maharaja Mac in India and Teriyaki McBurger in Japan.

Global product development

Global product development has several options on where and how it is going to happen. The main goal of this is to create new products that are widely adaptable for global markets with few if none changes. The new products can be developed in one country, centralized,  and then tested in several test markets to see whether it will work s it is in these culturally different countries. The other option is to create new products locally in several locations and then bring together the knowledge and develop it further. There is  lot of money put into new product development and generally in R&D, but only a few of these new inventions can be launched successfully to the global market and not fail in one of the many steps in NPD. There re some funny and some just simply chaotic examples of product failure through the following link:  http://saleshq.monster.com/news/articles/2655-the-20-worst-product-failures One of my favorites is the Pepsi Chrystal, which was supposed to be a healthy option as it was caffeine free and clear in color. This didn't go down well, customers couldn't perceive a cola as clear substance and they didn't think it even tasted like cola, or anything nice for that matter. Another is a frozen stir fry by Colgate (yes the toothpaste brand). This marriage of food and toothpaste did not succeed to win people's hearts.    

The most common reasons on why new products fail are:

1. Relying on instincts and hunch rather than research and testing (Colgate and Pepsi Crystal)
2. Lack of product distinctiveness
3. Unexpected technical problems
4. Mismatch between functions

The Harward Business Review states the following as why most product launches fail:

• The company can't support fast growth
• The product falls short of claims and gets bashed
• The new item exits in "product limbo"
• The product creates  a new product category that needs customer education, but doesn't get it
• the product is revolutionary, but there is no market (http://hbr.org/2011/04/why-most-product-launches-fail/ar/1)

These are rather similar to the ones  that were discussed during our class. The biggest difference in my opinion is that thee are thought from the point of view of the consumers and their needs.