BU1213 International Business Management Assessment Answer

The McCain Foods Limited uses an aggressive marketing strategy to reach a bigger customer base. The company works mainly with the local retailers and wholesalers to distribute its products. (IvyPanda, 2020)

McCain Foods’ Marketing Mix is the strategy that ensured the company success within the food industry.

Following are the strategies of McCain foods Limited International marketing:-

Marketing mix- The 4 P’s in its marketing strategy are as follows:-

1. The main Products in McCain’s Food marketing mix are-

McCain sweet potato, McCain home roasts, McCain wedges, frozen vegetables and ready to eat meals. Also the main ingredient used in McCain foods is a potato that delivers the rich minerals like potassium, fiber, iron and virtually fat free. Some of the key products in the market are as follows:-

• McCain Smiles, Tasty Taters
• McCain Classic Cut Fries, Extra Crispy Classic Fries, 5 Minute Fries, Steak Fries, Crinkle Cut French fries
• McCain Shredded Hash Browns and many more

The products are changed by the company according to the regional location and time however some products are so popular that it is the same since many years, for example McCain Oven Chips. (MBA Skool Team, 2020)

McCain Foods Limited mainly focuses on the quality of product as one of its marketing strategies.

2. The McCain Foods Price/Pricing Strategies are:-

McCain keeps its prices almost similar to its competitors that is at a market rate.

McCain realizes the customers’ mindset during the purchase of the products.

3. The McCain Foods Place/ Distribution strategies are:-

McCain Foods has international presence in many countries. They generally aim at reducing the mitigations and have taken steps to achieve this. It makes its products available with almost all the retailers and wholesalers, supermarkets.

4. The McCain Foods promotion/ advertising strategies are:-

McCain has its philosophy of ‘Good ethics is good business’. It’s promotes its business through promotions through TV channels, radio, traditional forms.

Regular surveys, feedbacks about their eating habits via email or newsletters helps McCain to gather information and improve their products.

Customer Analysis

McCain Foods uses the information obtained from the customer analysis to develop the segmentation, targeting and positioning strategies

International Markets – primary, secondary and prospective

McCain Foods Limited did not enter the American market due to the high competition there.

But It started its operation in Britain but McCain brothers believed that if the company wants to maintain its growth then it had to venture into foreign markets. And then to consolidate its operations in nations like Australia and New Zealand the company started exporting its expertise to these countries.

Presently the McCain Foods Limited has the 46 manufacturing companies across the world

These are the primary international markets rest being the secondary markets of it.

(IvyPanda, 2020)

International market selection criteria

The company looked for the following selection criteria while choosing the international market:-

1. Resources availability at low cost- The McCain Food company looked for the resources like human manpower and ingredients for the output to be available resources at the lowest cost.
2. Population- McCain Foods wanted to invest in the countries where there is more population compared to others like Britain, China, India so that they could have a higher sales
3. GDP growth rate- McCain Foods invested in such countries due to the higher GDP growth rate in such countries.

Importance of Market Research/Market Feasibility

Market research of McCain helped it to find out the new business opportunities and to implement new ideas in the market research campaigning of McCain Foods. It targeted the interest of customers and thereby it increased it’s sales. By doing market research it kept an eye on its competitor.

Market research acts as an important component of launching a new product because by doing the same it come to know about the current trends thereby implementing its idiology to meet the customer needs about a particular product

The customer will give it’s opinion about the product whether it is much needed or less or out of fashion etc.by conducting market research. Only by implementing this, McCain will come to know when and where to launch a product to gain maximum advantage over the market.

Balancing external and internal environment

McCain foods balances the external as well as the internal environment by identify external influences in the business environment and on its consumers and adapt accordingly.

It is a company with a strong market focus. Which refers to the carrying out research to find out what consumers want. It then uses this market information to create products that consumers want to buy. It successfully handles the legal factors as well as the economic ones too, thereby balancing the internal and external environment.

(The Times 100, n.d.)

Importance of Global Supply Chain Management

Importance of Global SCM in the business of McCain foods Company:-

• Network design has been successfully used by McCain to achieve supply chain excellence through cost effectiveness and superior utilization of resources
• It used the global supply chain model using LogicNet Plus, representing the movement of finished products from all French fry plants to all markets
• Customer services and responsiveness improved effectively
• Operating costs got reduced considerably
• Overall financial positioning of the company got improved
• Supply chain strategy and network design facilitate the probability of any kind of change, so the change got managed effectively
• Global presence of the company got strong

(Gentiletti, 2012)

Overcoming barriers – language, ideals, customs

Languages, Cultures, and political barriers come if the case belongs to the other country, so definitely a company has to overcome these barriers when dealing with overseas colleagues.

The company may have come across the various barriers like language, ideals, customs and political barriers but understanding the foreign country laws has helped to overcome the same

Overall objective – lower price, quality, responsiveness, innovation, adaptability

The McCain Foods’ objective is to be not just a business, but a "Responsible Business". McCain believes in making a positive contribution to rural communities across the world. Prior to setting up a manufacturing plant, McCain begins working with local farmers and setting up its supply chain in order to develop not only a source of quality raw material for the manufacturing plant but also a stable source of income for the farmers and the local rural community. It's not just about potatoes but it is also about improving rural livelihoods.

(McCain, n.d.)

Importance of Trade Finance

It mitigates the hardships of the small business exporters in getting the finances. Also It offers more flexible solutions that can offer more ways to get finance. It also removes the hurdles of international trading between 2 or more countries

Importance of Logistics and Distribution

Good coordination of logistic in outside market resulted in the positive results in the business Logistic reduce the cost and improve the overall efficiency of the business

Logistic helps in delivering the goods at right time and right place

Shortened shipping period — Shortened delivery time implies less processing period between a consumer purchasing a product and the consumer delivering the package

Global Best Practices

McCain’s Global best practices are as follows:-

• Governance
• Quality products
• Variety in products
• Customer loyality
• Understanding the customer needs
• Continued CSR initiatives
• Best and affordable prices

References

Bloomberg, n.d. McCain Foods Ltd. [Online] Available at: https://www.bloomberg.com/profile/company/1175Z:CN.

Gentiletti, A., 2012. Design and optimization of global distribution supply chain at McCain Foods. [Online] Available at: https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/73383.

IvyPanda, 2020. McCain’s Food Company Marketing Strategy Report. [Online] Available at: https://ivypanda.com/essays/mccains-food-company-marketing-strategy/.

MBA Skool Team, 2020. McCain Foods Marketing Mix (4Ps) Strategy. [Online] Available at: https://www.mbaskool.com/marketing-mix/products/17394-mccain-foods.html.

McCain Foods Limited Forum, n.d. McCain Foods Limited - Company Profile, Information, Business Description, History, Background Information on McCain Foods Limited. [Online] Available at: https://www.referenceforbusiness.com/history2/60/McCain-Foods-Limited.html.

McCain , n.d. About McCain® Foods. [Online] Available at: https://www.mccainusafoodservice.com/about/.

McCain, n.d. CSR Policy. [Online] Available at: https://www.mccainindia.com/csr-policy#:~:text=The%20Company's%20CSR%20Programmes%20will,activities%20outlined%20in%20Schedule%20VII.

The Times 100, n.d. How McCain responds to changes. [Online] Available at: https://www.ef.umb.sk/ef/upload/predmet/891/mccain_12_full-SLEPT%20analysis.pdf.