Research Helps Whirlpool Act Local in Emerging Markets

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“Research Helps Whirlpool Act Local in Emerging Markets” Whirlpool is the number one appliance company in the United Sates and number two worldwide. The company sells white goods such as refrigerators, stoves, washing machines and microwave ovens. It is not unknown to foreign markets due to the fact that it operates outside the US, in Brazil specifically, from 1957 and, according to the case; it is the market share leader there. The firm’s goal is to offer not only global but also local and regional products. Whirlpool is now trying to globalize and expand the corporation more and take it to Europe where it is rated on the third place because of the Phillips Electronics buying movement. Whirlpool’s strategy is an adaptation product strategy. This is because they do not only bring their products to the country they expand to, but they try to adapt to the culture of the country. This is what happened when the firm expanded to Brazil. They adapted to the needs of the low income consumer. The reason why people buy white goods, such as washing machine, is because for the average consumer, a washing machine is a “convenience good” since there is no need to wash by hand clothes or dishes. Moreover, nowadays people own more than one appliance, stoves, refrigerators etc. there could be though a secondary reason for households to have appliances. In some countries that are either underdeveloped (Africa) or that started to develop a few years ago (India) the income rate per household is very low. Therefore, only households with a high income rate can afford the appliances. In this situation, we could assume that the white goods of Whirlpool can be considered not only convenience but also special goods since they can be evidence for the high income and society status maybe for the family. The last sentence of the case study can work as a proof for the above. “As

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