Business Global Market Place
What cultural factors must U.S. sports franchises overcome to increase popularity abroad? Why?
United States has a whole different culture of sports and it has been a part of the country since the dawn of the day. Expanding a certain sport to other countries is difficult, because every country has their own culture and it takes time for them to accept a completely new sport in their lives. Baseball is widely played in America and people follow it religiously; while in Asian countries, baseball is not that popular and is not thought of an important game. It is not part of their culture so it is difficult for them to accept it. If the U.S. sports franchises want to spread their sport in other countries, they need to understand the differences in the culture which can include religion, social structure, values, customs, language, personal communication and attitudes.
As the sports were getting familiar in the U.S.A, the teams only consisted of players that belonged to America, but as the franchises are going global, they are also recruiting and scouting athletes from other countries . This helps the franchise in great deals because including a player of another country not only makes the game popular in that country, but also makes them understand the cultural differences. The popularity of the sport increases in the homeland country of that foreign athlete which also helps the sport to grow.
Overcoming the cultural barriers is one of the main problems faced by the U.S. sports franchise. It does not importantly mean that a certain sport will be popular in another country just because it is popular in the United States. It is difficult to predict whether another culture will enjoy a sport of another country so it is important the sports franchises do market research before entering a country so that the risks can be minimized.
There have been some countable brands that have been ruling the international market for years. Brands like Shell, IBM, Colgate, Pepsi, and Coca Cola have been ruling the industry as kings. Then there came the brands like Honda, Apple, Microsoft, and Nike, who pushed their products to the next level. International trade in this century has been made a lot easier with the help of the internet. It has become easy for people to start small business, search for reliable manufacturers and suppliers, and competed their brand name in the international level.
When one is starting their business or seeking to expand it in the international market, it becomes important for him to establish a brand identity. To form a brand out of a company or the product, a lot of different ways can be adopted to expand your brand knowledge to people overseas. It can be done with media, advertising, or even word of mouth . Building an image includes a lot of planning into designing a logo, naming the product or service, and the target market and area.
A brand must be able to deliver their services as expected by the people. They must easily be able to import and export products under legal obligations and the product must fulfill the standards of the company. To expand internationally, a company must do a complete market research of the foreign country and make their products and packaging according to the culture of that country so that they can easily adopt the product and the brand image is maintained.
Should governments protect their industries by placing tariffs on imported products? Why? Why not?
A tariff is a duty or a tax that a domestic government puts on an imported good. They are similar to a sales tax but they do not apply to domestic products and are different for every imported product. The government puts tariff on imported products to protect the newly constructed domestic companies from foreign competition and also to protect the inefficient and ageing companies to shut down due to the international competition.
Whenever a foreign company steps into a local country, it brings out huge competition which can ruin the business of the domestic companies as their production is low and the quality of their products is also not of good standard. When the government puts a tariff on the foreign product, it allows the domestic producers to raise their costs that help them to sell their product in the presence of the foreign market . This can hurt the economy as it causes many jobs to be lost hence the production becomes extremely low.
References
Jozsa, F. (2004). Sports Capitalism: The Foreign Business of American Professional Leagues. UK: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
Wasserman, E. (2005). How to Build an International Brand. INC.Retrieved from: http://www.inc.com/guides/build-an-international-brand.html
