Marketing, 1981 (15. évfolyam, 1-4. szám)

1981 / 4. szám

which is almost impossible with perishable goods (if for no other reason than the time required for customs formalities, animal hygiene inspection, the uncertainty caused by strikes, etc.). However, diversification in the Italian wholesale trade is possible, through direct supplies to wholesalers who play a big role in the distribution network for a given region. It is therefore possible to avoid having 2—3 northern wholesale importers forwarding the goods to central or southern wholesalers who in turn supply the regional retail trade. It is therefore generally not advisable to sign exclusive representation agreements; exclusive agreements should be reached with Italian importers only for a few products and for specific regions. It is possible to serve the retail trade directly if the foreign ex­porter’s presence on the Italian market goes as far as incorporation into the distribution chain. This involves the creation of wholly­­owned or mixed enterprises operating independently, capable of storing, packaging, labelling, preparing mixed containers, etc. and simultaneously distributing a number of products from the country concerned. In some cases, it also becomes necessary to produce locally in order to gain a position in the market (this is the case of the foreign multinationals which control 50—70% of the Italian market in the margarine, baby foods, icecream and other sectors). In the final analysis, the Italian food market can be expected to expand slowly in the eighties, at a slower rate than in the previous decade. The degree of self-sufficiency will increase in most branches of plant cultivation and animal husbandry and the share of imports in consumption will decline steadily. Competition is growing among Italian food suppliers, particularly in the case of raw products and highly processed articles that can be sold most profitably. Any foreign exporter can only increase its own volume of sales to the detriment of national producers of other exporters, causing a decline in their share of the market, and at the same time it must protect the share it has already won. The main con­ditions for success in the competitive struggle are improved quality, reliable deliveries, the expansion of services linked to the deliveries and a high level of trade promotion. Although Italy will remain one of the biggest food importers in the EEC in the eighties, it will almost certainly represent a con­tracting market for non-EEC exporters. It will satisfy its relatively declining import requirements to an increasing extent with imports from the member countries. In view of their tariff and/or price equalization handicaps exporters from outside the EEC can only remain competitive if they offer lower prices, even where the quality is identical. Non-EEC exporters should therefore con­centrate their efforts not so much on increasing the volume of their exports as on steadily improving quality and reducing specific production costs. STUDY OF THE CAPITALIST MARKET FOR CAPITAL GOODS by Dr. MARIANNE WINKLER* It is the task of market research conducted abroad to indicate the possibilities and conditions for the sale of given products or groups of products on foreign markets. In this way it must provide a basis for the elaboration of realistic foreign market plans and their implementation. * The author is a professor of the “Bruno Leuschner” College of Economics, Berlin Making forecasts for capitalist markets is now a very complex task, since the cyclical crises, inflation and the growing monop­olization makes it difficult to survey markets accurately. It is obvious that the sales prospects for a product are deter­mined not only by the use-value and the price of the product, but also increasingly by the additional performance (service) that the exporter offers together with the product. The evaluation of this additional supply on the market for various capital goods depends on scientific and technical progress which makes the supply more complex, placing the emphasis on complexity of supply. The generally wider range enables users to solve special problems in different ways, with different products. This fact means that all the exporter’s services which offer the user advantageous “prob­lem-solving possibilities” are considered to be factors just as important as the product itself. It is therefore a characteristic of the capitalist market for capital doogs that the competitive struggle is influencing mainly areas such as advisory and after­sales services for customers, with little emphasis on price compe­tition, particularly in the case of new products embodying high technical and scientific standards. Naturally, this general tendency operates to differing extents on the various markets and for different goods. For this reason, all exporters must know the concrete requirements for their performance. In addition, they must also know how clients evaluate their past performance, com­pare this with that of the competition and draw the appropriate conclusion. Two questions arise from this for market research: — What are the factors that lead the client to select a certain supplier? — How are the sales activities of exporters from the GDR evaluated in comparison with those of competitors? It is not on the basis of a study of the literature that these questions can be answered, but through a direct dialogue and interviews with clients. Various exporting and foreign trading enterprises of the GDR have achieved good results with this method. Some of the methodological experiences that can be generalized are outlined in the following. In keeping with the well-known basic principles of field studies to collect market information, the following procedure can be recommended for interviews conducted on capitalist markets: 1. It must first be clarified whether the information required for the planned analysis can really only be obtained through inter­views. This is important since interviews are costly and it is not possible to use our own staff of interviewers on foreign markets. It is of course possible to commission a capitalist market research institute to conduct a study, but this is very expensive. Enter­prises in the GDR therefore consider that the best solution is to conduct their own interviews of clients, taking advantage of the opportunities offered by international fairs. On such occasions, direct contacts can be made with foreign companies under favourable conditions and the information collected will be fully up to date. 2. The nature of the information to be obtained from the inter­views must be decided, in keeping with the objective set. This information differs to a certain extent, depending on the nature of the product concerned, but in defining the task, the following requirements must always be taken into account: The information should: — characterize the products and/or performances of the different manufacturers as fully as possible, — cover the technical and economic characteristics, — make differentiated estimates possible, — indicate the reliability of the replies given.

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