Finding the Right International Mix
Frances
companies try to cater for consumer tastes in different parts of the
world. Here are the questions for our discussion:
Q1. What's the difference between customization and standardization?
Q2. How has new technology contributed to the development of new
products, according to the
article?
Q3. How do Japanese, US and German companies differ in their
approaches to product
development?
CLICK ON REPLY to answer these questions. In case of losing your
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jeongp...@gmail.com
Q1. What's the difference between customization and standardization?
1. CUSTOMIZATION
- Different products to different markets or countries
- To adapt a product to local consumer tastes or preferences
- Better matched to local needs
- Localized taste may not be good to everyone
- Finding specific needs by local market researches
- High production costs by increased # of products
2. STANDARDIZATION
- Same product to different markets or countries
- To change consumption pattern
- Difficult to satisfy completely local needs
- Everyone can expect the same taste in everywhere (ex. Big Mac)
- Finding common needs by global market researches
- Low production costs by reducing # of products
Sometimes, it is needed to compromise or trade off between
customization and standardization
Q2. How has new technology contributed to the development of new
products, according to the article?
New technology like the Internet and Intranets has the potential to
accelerate the process of mining all markets for relevant information
and for features that can be included in new products.
Q3. How do Japanese, US and German companies differ in their
approaches to product development?
1. Japanese company:
It tends to believe much more in getting new products to market and
then gauging the reaction to them.
The product itself may have been developed with reference to
observations of present and potential customers rather than
conventional market research.
2. US company:
It tends to use more formal market research methods
3. German company:
product development schedules tend to be more important
Rich
In my opinion,
Customization is that different quality, but the same products
are made for different regions, culture or people.
Standardization is that same quality, but the same products are
made for different regions, culture or people.
Truly, we do not know the product is customized or
standardized.
In business, firms should decide and analyze before
manufacture; so, the products can bring most of the margin to the
company.
Q2. How has new technology contributed to the development of new
products, according to the article?
According to the article, new technology leads to make better
products and offer good customer service.
Q3. How do Japanese, US and German companies differ in their
approaches to product development?
*Japanese companies:
They tend to believe much more in getting new products and
gauging the reaction to market.
**US companies:
They tend to use more formal market research methods.
***German companies:
They tend to focus on product development schedules.
buro...@hotmail.com
satisfy customers. But, standardization is a strategy of marketing
plan. It depends on what products you are selling. If you sell
products that customers use there feeling or taste to buy your
product, you need to use customization for your marketing plan such as
food and drinks. But if you're talking about something functional such
as medicine or heavy machine for your factory then you need to use
standardization for your marketing plan.
Nowadays, according to the higher competition and more demand from
customers. Customers have mixed functional use with the taste and
look. Producers marketing plan becomes to blend standardization and
customization strategy all together. In the case of Honda cars
company, Honda had launch the new civic at the same time all over the
world. But each country has a slightly difference shape. As a result
of the poll researched by Honda researching team, they researched the
habit of living of the people in each country. They even researched
the culture and religions. Example, Honda designed the car that has
big door wings but small window to sell in the Muslim country because
Muslim people like to build their house with small windows like the
Mosque. But in the same time they still keep their standardization
that was the higher quality of the car and the best engine. It is to
keep the recognition of the brand Honda. I think standardization and
customization nowadays are relating to each other. It depends on which
is the best solution for your products.
Q2 : New technology makes more variety of the product in a limited
time and reducing process in the production line. The other advance of
technology is the potential to accelerate the process of mining all
markets for relevant information and for features that can be included
in new products.
Q3 : U.S. tend to use more formal market research.
GER tend to be more important to the product development
schedules.
JAP tend to believe much more in getting new products to
market.
Victoria
Q1. What's the difference between customization and standardization?
Customization: The products made or designed specifically for
different customers or in different countries.
Standardization: The products are made the same standard for all the
customers for all different countries.
Q2. How has new technology contributed to the development of new
products, according to the article?
Answer:
The advent of the Internet and Intranets has the potential to
accelerate the process of mining all markets for relevant information
and for features that can be included in new products.
Q3. How do Japanese, US and German companies differ in their
approaches to product development?
Answer:
Japanese companies:
Tend to believe much more in getting new products to market and then
gauging the reaction to them.
The product itself may have been developed with reference to
observations of present and potential customers rather than
conventional market research.
US companies:
Tend to use more formal market research methods.
German companies:
Product development schedules tend to be more important.
Venus
Standardization and customization differs in:
Development strategy
Development costs
STANDARDIZATION is the development strategy that some companies go
through by developing the same product everywhere. They launch the
product keeping its patterns in every country without paying attention
to the different tastes, culture and habits of each single country. So
the idea is to sell the original product everywhere.
I.e.: Coca Cola changes the ingredients to its drink to satisfy better
the needs, likes and tastes of that particular country's consumers.
CUSTOMIZATION, instead, is the development strategy followed by some
other companies. They create and develop the product adjusting it to
each country needs. In this case, companies analyze each market and
decide how to change the product patterns and features to be pleased
in a certain market. In this case companies pay attention to
particular tastes, likes and habits of each single country.
The costs for standardization are much lower than customization ones,
because in the first strategy companies don't need to do market
researches nor do they need to look and analyze different patterns
(i.e. ingredients in Coca Cola drink).
In brief:
STANDARDISATION
CUSTOMIZATION
- 1 product standard with same patterns and features - 1
product different in patterns and features from
for every country; country to country;
- No attention for culture, needs, habits,
- Analysis of each country's culture,
needs,
preferences and tastes of each
country; habits and preferences;
- Lower costs than customization
costs. - Higher costs than
standardization costs.
Q.2
Internet and Intranet are the new technologies that helped develop new
products. These 2 sources are able to gather and provide information,
so companies have the chance to look up precious info and features on
a large scale and introduce them in the prospective product.
Q.3
Japanese companies establish their products on the market as a first
step. Afterwards, they make estimation on how the customers react to
them; as a result, Japanese companies develop the product after
analyzing the present and prospective customer.
US companies design the product after making formal traditional market
researches; therefore, the customer is not taken into consideration.
German companies rather develop their products following a given
schedule. They set the time needed and stick to it. So time results to
be the most important point for product development.
meryl...@hotmail.com
Differences between customization and standardization
If the manufacture decided customization as a strategy, the product
would be made by reflecting different national customer's taste.
However, when it comes to customization, cost will be increased
highly. Nissan, a pioneer in this area, is a good example for
customization. The number of different chassis designs reduced for
different national market. However, on the other hand, when
standardization is chosen for a strategy, they will be developed for
all market regardless of existing local preference. Some company such
as Kellogg, it has huge success despite of the fact that breakfast was
not common in some countries. To sum it up, the manufactures are being
required to find balance between them.
How has new technology contributed to development of new product?
New technologies, such as internet and intranet, have the potential to
accelerate the process of finding all markets for relevant information
and for future that can be included in new products. The article
exampled Unilever that has global research laboratory that develop
product for their different national markets while providing inputs
for global products.
How do Japanese, The United State, and German companies differ in
their approaches to product development?
Japanese company tends to believe much more in getting new products
to market and then gauging the reaction to them. On the other hand, US
Company tends to use more formal market research method. In German
company, a product development schedule tends to be more important. In
brief, companies decide on different launch strategies for different
categories for the different of products.
chaom...@yahoo.com
- Customization is a company have to support what is the
customer want to . It means the customer 's requies.
- Standardization is a purpose or a level of products which
they have to get that to bring a good products.
a2>New tchnology contributed to the development of new products , they
accelerate the process of mining all market for relevant information
and for feartures .
a3>- Japanese companies tend to believe much more in getting new
products to market and then gauging the reaction to tham
- US companies tend to use more formal market research methods .
- German companies tend to be more important about product development
schedules
On Jan 30, 8:09 pm, "Frances" <francesli...@gmail.com> wrote:
kiyo
Q1. What's the difference between customization and standardization?
In my opinion, customization is the way to built or to design
something especially for a specific customer or customer group. On the
other hand, standardization is the way to become firm, or steady, or
unchanging, or make something to do this.
Q2. How has new technology contributed to the development of new
products, according to the article?
According to the article, the new technology Internet and Intranet
has the potential to accelerate the process of mining all markets for
relevant information and for features that can be included in new
products. In short, the new technologies can make new or improve
products or services.
Q3. How do Japanese, US and German companies differ in their
approaches to product development?
Japanese companies tend to believe much more getting new products to
market and gauging the reaction to them. US companies tend to use more
formal market research methods. German companies product development