Strategies for Reaching Global Markets: Contract Manufacturing and Joint Ventures (google adsense affiliate)
No commentsBy Dave Vower
With many companies scrambling today to become more competitive on a global level and meet consumer demands for lower prices, many of the methods for reaching global markets and joint ventures with foreign firms are looking more and more attractive. One of the options available to product manufacturers is contract manufacturing with foreign producers. Much like licensing, contract manufacturing involves a foreign company that produces goods for another company. However, where licensing involves the manufacturer using the companys trademark or brand name under license and the sale of consulting services on the part of the licensor, contract manufacturing involves a company that already produces a private-label product and another company attaching their brand name or trademark.
In contract manufacturing, the manufacturer has no rights to the trademark. Contract manufacturing is often a form of offshore outsourcing where a company produces a product for a specific brand. Examples of this can be seen in a number of large US corporations. Singapore contract manufacturers often produce cell phones and other electronics for a number of US brands, and China is a leading contract manufacturer for US computers and laptops like Dell.
The benefits of contract manufacturing for startup companies or smaller businesses can be great, as contract manufacturing often allows these companies to experiment with different product variations in different markets without having hefty production costs associated with a local manufacturing facility. In addition, for established companies, production of successful products can easily be expanded to meet new demands without incurring additional costs and overhead.
Aside from contract manufacturing, forming international joint ventures and strategic alliances are also great ways to expand into the global market. However, these type of joint ventures have traditionally been used more by larger corporations. A joint venture is a type of arrangement where two companies join together for a particular project. Examples of this are often seen in the motor industry where American car companies enter into a joint venture with Asian car manufacturers in order to produce vehicles for all markets. The two companies, which are often from two separate countries, share technology and risks associated with the project, along with marketing and management skills.
The advantage of these kinds of ventures is that many companies who would not otherwise be able to enter some markets are able to work together with local companies that have access to those markets. A strategic alliance is much of the same thing, tying together two or more companies with a common goal. However, in a strategic alliance, companies typically do not share costs, management, or profits. While these kinds of arrangements can be beneficial at reaching other markets, the disadvantages are much like in a licensing agreement, where one company can take the other companies technology and expertise, leave the arrangement, and use the ideas to promote their own company or profits.
The author has been writing articles online for over 4 years now. Not only does this author specialize in health, fitness and relationships you can also check out his latest websites on Plumbing Hand Tools and Best Hair Straighteners
How to Write Marketing Emails
By Dave Vower
If you have an existing business website, an email marketing campaign can be a great way to get repeat traffic and also boost sales. However, with increasing amounts of spam these days, nobody wants to deal with excess junk mail in their inbox, so there are a few practical guidelines for making your email marketing campaign successful. First, you want to have a newsletter or update sign up form on your website for visitors to subscribe to any announcements or updates to your site or business. While the best thing about this approach is that you get a more targeted audience that is already interested in your business, another benefit is it helps to ensure that your marketing emails do not get deleted without being read.
In addition, it is important to note that all marketing emails and newsletters that visitors subscribe to are required to always contain an opt-out link that enables them to unsubscribe whenever they desire. While this is sometimes undesirable for businesses, it can also motivate us to ensure that our marketing emails and newsletters are informative and provide the reader with something that they will not only want to read but also feel compelled to click on the link and visit your site again, even to make a purchase.
Since the purpose of writing marketing emails in the first place is to try to get the reader back to your site, it is also important to include several ways for the reader to easily get back to your site. You can do this by incorporating a variety of hyperlinks within the text and also adding a small banner that they can click. In addition, always be sure to include your URL at the top, bottom, or both of the email. The from name on your marketing emails or newsletters should always be the name of your website, not only in order to eliminate any confusion, but also in order to help further promote your site. After seeing the name of your site several times, people will start to remember more of what you are about and be able to readily recognize your business.
There are three other elements of effective marketing emails that are also of importance here, and that is the subject line, the content, and a call to action. Your subject line is essentially your hook, which not only draws your readers in, but also prompts people to open the email and see what is inside. You want the subject line to cut straight to the point and tell the reader what kind of offer is inside and also contain a shorter call to action. For example, if you are having a contest or giveaway, you could say, Win an Apple iPad! Sign Up Now You also want to make use of the ellipse at the end, which tells the reader that there is more to come.
The content of your marketing emails should describe the offer or the information that you want to share with the reader without being too excessive. In addition, you want to break up content and use bulleted points whenever necessary to make the emails easy to read. At the end of the content, you should have some kind of call to action, which is generally a click here type of link that takes the reader back to the offer on your site.
The author has been writing articles online for over 4 years now. Not only does this author specialize in health, fitness and relationships you can also check out his latest websites on Wedding Planner Courses and Outdoor Furniture Chairs
Lessons To Be Learned From Small to Medium Businesses
By Dave Vower
Almost all people think that they can do any kind of business and end up making it big in the end. However, what most people do not know is that even a small business can be very cumbersome and often results to failure if you do not know anything about running them.
For this case, a small business is like a tiny ship sailing in a turbulent sea. The big waves resemble bigger competitors that can easily capsize the ship in a matter of seconds. Now, in some miraculous instances, there are only a few small businesses that have emerged as giants in the end. Now how does a small ship overcome the big waves and eventually become a big wave itself? The ship simply goes with the ebbing of the tide and does not go against the waves. It does not mind where the big wave tosses it. To become successful with your small business, you need to accept the inevitable fact that you will be swayed and tossed by the market and your competition but you also need to act fast so that you can see any opportunity in the mishap that you are currently in. By doing so, success eventually follows.
So what do all successful small to medium businesses teach us? Your success is dependent not only on your knowledge about how to run your business, it also is dependent on your passion as well as vision on what you want your business to become.
On the other hand, support also plays a vital role on a success of a small or medium business. Let us go back to the example of the small ship. Of course, as the one steering it, you are the captain of the ship hence the manager of a company. In order for you to steer your ship to safety, you need a reliable oar or a sturdy sail. The oar or the sail represents your employees thus your support. A good business has a good and reliable staff and employees. You need to learn how to trust your employees as much as they need to trust in you. To do this, you need to create an environment that does not limit their freedom. For instance, you can motivate them all the time, reward them or develop their skills so that they can be your allies even if you are sailing your way through a storm.
The author has been writing articles online for over 4 years now. Not only does this author specialize in health, fitness and relationships you can also check out his latest websites on Bosch Dishwasher Parts and Queen Size Futon
Monday, June 21st, 2010 at 3:40 am and is filed under marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
