Marketing Analysis of Univera in Vietnam - Case Study Example

Marketing Analysis of Univera in Vietnam There is a growing movement towards personal development and aesthetic balance in Asian countries. The need of Asian women to beautify and keep their primes is apparent with the growing sales figure of personal health care and cosmetic products in the region. All it takes for a beauty product to succeed in the Asian market is to have a convincing product and a very good marketing plan that would separate the product from the competition. This paper will evaluate the possible market reception of Univera’s XTRA in the Vietnam market. In order to do this, the paper will evaluate the product features as well as identify the cultural profile of Vietnam to assess how XTRA will be successfully marketed in the country. Univera and XTRA Univera is a Korean-owned ethnobotanical company that explores the medicinal properties of plants and herbs. Simply put, the company turns common garden plants into something very useful for the body as these raw components undergo through rigorous extraction process to synthesize and produce the medicinal properties of these plants and herbs. The research capability of the company is intensive as it is able to effectively synthesize the raw elements found in plants like Aloe vera and turns these elements into potent drugs and food supplements that serve very specific functions. Univera became a global leader when it comes to science-based natural health products that promises renewed health and guaranteed results which made it very attractive to the global market. One of its products, the XTRA is marketed mainly for its unique product features which includes: (a) promotion of vital energies as it contain bioenergetic elements that help the body optimize cellular regeneration and energy production at cellular level; (b) supports mental clarity and focus with its antioxidant contents that help eliminate toxins in the blood streams which increases the oxygen content of the blood pumped throughout the body, particularly through the brains. This allows the brain to function well and sharp at that. XTRA is also preferred by the market because of its ability to help the body manage stress and to dramatically improve comfort and mobility. Vietnam Vietnam occupies the Easter Coast of the Southeast Asian peninsula with dense highlands in the northern part of the country and coastal lowlands and forests defining the southern borders (Goldman, 2009). Vietnam is a country with more than 86 million people in 2008. About 29% of this population lives below the poverty line. The country’s GDP in the same year amounts to about $90 billion with an average annual growth of 6.3% (Worldbank, 2009). The value system of the Vietnamese is based on four major principles which are yearning for a good name, love of learning, respect for other people, and allegiance to the family. Vietnamese are not expressive of their emotions and thoughts. They are polite, well-guarded, and prefers subtle discords than open hostility and confrontation. The role of women in the Vietnamese society is influenced by the religious movements that are popular in Vietnam, particularly Buddhism and Confucianism. Vietnamese society views women as subject to men. After marriage, women are not expected to work but are rather expected to become plain housewives and mothers. Women are expected to submit to their fathers and their husbands and are expected to defer to men in general. Daughters are also expected to assist the parents in household chores and to protect their virginity (Goldman, 2009). Theoretical Discussion Successful penetration of any market relies heavily on the ability of the marketing plan to take into account the cultural disparity between the company and the market. The best way to understand the cultural differences between Vietnam and the Korean-owned Univera and its product XTRA is to compare and contrast the cultures of these countries within the lens of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, Hall’s proxemics theories, and Trompenaars’ seven cultural dimensions. Geert Hofstede argued that there is no universal method to address the issues of cultural diversity across the globe because things are just so relative. Instead of proposing a clean-cut solution for cultural diversity, Hofstede presented dimensions by which cultural differences are classified. The five categories are: small vs. large power distance index, individualism vs. collectivism, masculinity vs. femininity, uncertainty avoidance, and long vs. short term orientation. These cultural dimensions serve as a demonstration that cultural groupings affect the behavior of societies and organizations across time and space (Hofstede, 1997). Power distance is the degree of inequality among the people in a certain racial community that they perceive normal; Individualism vs. collectivism is the degree by which people feel they have to take care for, or be taken care of, by their immediate relatives; masculinity vs. femininity is the degree by which gender dominates in a particular culture; uncertainty avoidance is the degree by which the people in a country prefer structured or unstructured situations; and long vs. short term orientation is the degree by which the people of a certain country promotes values that have long term or short term effects on their lives. People of a particular culture defined their social space based on what their culture demands of them and not on their personal preferences even though humans have the ability to sense space. Generally termed as proxemics, Hall defined the spaces with which human relationships operate which are intimate space, social (or consultative) space, and public space. The intimate space is the space that is closest to the person and entry to this space is often restricted to the closest people and to the most intimate relationships such as family members and married couples; Social space is the space where people would feel comfortable doing routine social functions like chatting and sharing feelings and emotions; and Public space is the area where people generally consider any kind of interaction as impersonal and relatively anonymous (Brown, 2007; Hall, 1966). Another important cultural profiling theory is provided by Trompenaars. According to Trompenaars, there are seven cultural dimensions that describe the characteristics of the people from various cultures. These are achievement vs. ascription, individualism vs. communitarianism, internal vs. external, neutral vs. emotional, specific vs. diffuse, universalism vs. particularism, and time orientation (Hampden-Turner & Trompenaars, 1997). Analysis and Conclusion Clearly, XTRA can become successful in Vietnam if the marketing strategy takes into account the differences in the view of Vietnamese women from the women around the world where Univera product reaches out. There is so much about the Vietnamese culture that hides women’s beauties unlike how the Westerners like the French and Americans flaunt theirs. As was seen through the cultural classification models of Hall, Hofstede, and Trompenaars, there is a very wide polarity gap between the culture of the product and the culture of the Vietnamese market. However, this does not indicate that Univera will become an utter failure in Vietnam. Rather, this indicates that Univera’s XTRA will get a very wide margin of market share if and only if it can be able to use the unique cultural profile of Vietnam to its advantage. References Goldman, C. (ed) (2009). Vietnamese Cultural Profile. Retrieved online from http://www.diversicare.com.au/upl_files/file_210.pdf Hofstede, Geert. (1997) Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind, http://www.geert-hofstede.com/ Hall, Edward. (1966). The Hidden Dimension. Garden City, New York. Doubleday. Hampden-Turner, C. & Trompenaars, F. (1997). Riding the Waves of Culture: Understanding Diversity in Global Business. McGraw-Hill Read More