{"id":48,"date":"2014-10-31T17:00:31","date_gmt":"2014-10-31T17:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/som\/?p=48"},"modified":"2016-06-09T16:41:32","modified_gmt":"2016-06-09T16:41:32","slug":"breaking-the-rules-to-gain-a-competitive-advantage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/som\/2014\/10\/31\/breaking-the-rules-to-gain-a-competitive-advantage\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cBreaking the Rules\u201d to Gain a Competitive Advantage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Erin Cavusgil, Ph.D.
\nAssociate Professor of Marketing
\n(Article by\u00a0Kim Laux<\/a>)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A business professional\u2019s ability to recognize and respond to the forces at work in the world around you can lead to unprecedented success or an \u201cout of business\u201d sign on your door.<\/p>\n

In the article, \u201cA Perspective on Destruction Regeneration in International Marketing,\u201d published in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science (2012),<\/p>\n

Erin Cavusgil, Ph.D., and her co-author S. Tamer Cavusgil, Ph.D., examine how the global business landscape has changed in recent decades and how this affects companies searching for a leg up on the competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs academics, we need to take a closer look at how our fields have evolved over the years\u2014to better understand the current status and predict future outcomes,\u201d said Cavusgil, a professor of marketing at UM-Flint. \u201cThis article identifies the ways the global landscape has changed in recent decades and how these changes impact corporations as they search for competitive advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cavusgil\u2019s research highlights four forces that currently define international marketing. The first is volatility and changes in the global economy and social terrain. She gives the example of a shift in prominence from the west to Asia and emerging markets as well as the rising middle class. The second force is turbulence of destructive shocks. This includes the impact of globalization, changes in communications and the importance of corporate social responsibility. The third force involves strategies used to cope with these changing market forces. To be successful, businesses must develop new strategies and ways of thinking in response to their dynamic environment. The fourth force is a new perspective of marketing performance. Companies cannot rely on outdated systems for assessing the effectiveness of their marketing tactics; performance needs to be measured with regard to how these four forces have impacted the field of international marketing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe larger business world needs to be cognizant of these forces as well as proactive in responding to them,\u201d said Cavusgil. \u201cAs quoted from the article, To succeed in the new normal, MNEs [multinational enterprises] must develop early scanning capabilities; focus on what has changed and what remains basically the same for their customers, companies, and industries; and develop quick response and risk mitigation strategies. (p. 214) Businesses that have been successful in responding to and capitalizing on these environmental forces are known as rule breakers. These are companies like Apple, Amazon and Facebook.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the most valuable lessons from Cavusgil\u2019s research is the need for both academics and business professionals to develop a deeper understanding of foreign markets and how to effectively tap into them.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven that the economic welfare of our country is now intricately tied to emerging markets, we need to acquire greater understanding of how to succeed in these high-opportunity yet high-risk environments,\u201d she explained. \u201cToo many international firms still struggle to do well in the rapidly transforming economies.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo this end, I and several colleagues have been methodically examining what makes these countries attractive for businesses. Specifically, we\u2019ve been examining the rise of middle class households in such countries as Brazil, China, India and Turkey. Based on our data, we developed a quantitative benchmark of how well these economies have performed in terms of building their middle class consumers. We found, for example, South Korea and Taiwan have done exceptionally, whereas South Africa and Brazil have lagged relatively in adding to the ranks of their middle class households.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn making such assessments, we tracked three indicators at the country level: disposable income, household expenditures and urban population. These factors appear to give a pretty robust indicator of an emerging market\u2019s progress in creating new middle class consumers. We have publications pending on this research.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to the article published in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Cavusgil recently co-authored \u201cManaging Global Megaprojects: Complexity and Risk Management,\u201d which appeared in the International Business Review (Dec. 2013, vol. 22, no. 6).\u00a0A blog highlighting some of the key points from this research can be found here.<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Erin Cavusgil, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Marketing (Article by\u00a0Kim Laux)   A business professional\u2019s ability to recognize and respond to the forces at work in the world around you can lead to unprecedented success or an \u201cout of business\u201d sign on your door. In the article, \u201cA Perspective on Destruction Regeneration in International Marketing,\u201d published […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":233,"featured_media":49,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[75,81,62,76,67],"tags":[100,101,99,98,102],"class_list":["post-48","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economics","category-erin-cavusgil","category-faculty-research","category-international","category-marketing","tag-economy","tag-foreign","tag-global","tag-international","tag-markets"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/som\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/som\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/som\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/som\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/233"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/som\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/som\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/som\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48\/revisions\/63"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/som\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/som\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/som\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/som\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}