New Multinational Companies‘ Focus Strategy on the Global „Value-for-Money“ Segment and New Opportunities for Serbian Enterprises
Fokusiranje novih multinacionalnih kompanija na globalni „Value-for-money” segment i nove mogućnosti za srpska preduzeća
Abstract
The Great Recession, which marked the end of the first decade of the 21st century, caused significant changes in customers’ preferences and resulted in fierce global competition in different industries. Leading global companies from the countries of the economic “Triad” (Western Europe, North America, and Japan) experienced financial problems which created opportunities for multinational companies from emerging markets (EMMs) to further internationalize. The fall in customers’ real income and increased uncertainty about the future during the recession contributed to growth of the “value-for-money” segment in developed markets. Development of this segment further encouraged EMMs to internationalize. EMMs’ competence in serving price sensitive customers in domestic markets helped them establish footholds in “value-for-money” segments in developed markets, making them leaders in the global “value-for-money” segment. The aim of this article is to explain development of the global “value-for-money” segment and how this trend affects EMMs and Serbian companies. We use a case study of the Chinese smart phone producer Xiaomi, to explain the development of this segment and EMMs’ competitive strategies. The case illustrates that EMMs can also be strong competitors in technology-intensive industries rather than only in traditional saturated markets. We conclude that global rise of the value-for-money segment has created business opportunities for Serbian companies which have decades-long experience in serving price-sen-sitive customers in conditions of economic uncertainty.
Apstrakt
Globalna ekonomska kriza na početku 21. veka dovela je do značajnih promena u preferencijama kupaca i oštrijoj konkurenciji na globalnom nivou u različitim industrijama. Finansijski problemi lidera iz zemalja Trijade (Zapadna Evropa,Severna Amerika i Japan), nastali usled globalne ekonomske krize, otvorili su prostor za intenziviranje internacionalizacije poslovanja multinacionalnih kompanija (MNK) sa tržišta u nastajanju. Pad kupovne moći i visok stepen ekonomske neizvesnosti širom sveta, čak i u razvijenim privredama, pogodovali su razvoju „value-for-money“ segmenta, odnosno segmenta proizvoda solidnog kvaliteta sa relativno niskom cenom. To je dodatno podstaklo internacionalizaciju poslovanja kompanija sa tržišta u nastajanju. Naime, ove kompanije su iskoristile svoje kompetencije u opsluživanju cenovno osetljivih kupaca na domaćem tržištu i prodrle na „value-for-money“ segment kupaca na razvijenim tržištima. Ovaj rad ima za cilj da bliže objasni uzroke globalnog razvoja „value-for-money“ segmenta kao i koje su posledice toga za MNK sa tržišta u nastajanju i srpske kompanije. Studija slučaja kineskog proizvođača pametnih telefona Ksijaomi (en. Xiaomi) se koristi kako bi se objasnio razvoj ,,value-for-money“ segmenta kupaca i konkurentskih strategija MNK sa tržišta u nastajanju. Uspeh preduzeća iz tehnološki intenzivne grane ruši predrasudu da izazivači sa tržišta u nastajanju mogu biti uspešni na ,,value-for-money“ segmentu samo u zrelim tradicionalnim granama. Zaključujemo da ovi trendovi stvaraju tržišne mogućnosti za srpske kompanije koje imaju više-decenijsko iskustvo u opsluživanju cenovno osetljivih potrošača u uslovima ekonomske neizvesnosti.
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