Product Into a Foreign Market

¶ … Product Into a Foreign Market

We should acknowledge the fact that the human resource is perhaps the most important resource available to a company in the 21st century. In this sense, it seems reasonable to refer to human resource issues when introducing Neosporin Antibiotic Cream to Thailand. Additionally, we need to point out that we will refer to the direct implementation in Thailand, assuming that the product will be manufactured locally, so that we can discuss all aspects related to this case.

First of all, we need to point out towards the fact that 95% of the Thai people are Buddhist. Buddhism implies "moderation and kindness in both personal and business relationships." Aggressive reactions, including threats or hard criticism, even if motivating in other parts of the world, will tend to produce a contrary result, because the Thai worker will be hurt throughout the day. It is important to include the atmosphere in the working environment among the important elements of success in a relationship with a Thai worker. Harmony is the key word here and it is likely that the working results produced will be directly proportional with the level of harmony achieved, with the degree to which the Thais perceive the workplace as a place where they can cooperate both with their boss and fellow workers.

Further more, the Thai have a paternalistic approach to society and will tend to commit to a senior employee. Respecting age as a sign of wisdom (one of the traits found in almost all East Asian peoples), it would be wrong to have a conflict with one of the senior employees, as these tend to have a significant moral authority over the other workers.

Finally, in terms of human resources, it is often difficult to evaluate the emotions of a Thai at a certain point in time. Their faces never say much, as they usually choose to hide their feelings, even if these are feelings of disagreement or of discontent. They will probably remain silent and turn to their work rather than start a conflict. One of the important issues that producing Neosporin Antibiotic Cream in Thailand implies is training the employees. First of all, official statistics acknowledge the fact that there is a consistent shortage of skilled workers in Thailand. This means that a serious recruitment period needs to be spent on choosing the best engineers, medical advisors, pharmacists etc. from the local universities. If the managers can also be relocated from the country of origin, it is best to select this type of qualified personnel from the local country, due to much lower costs. On the other hand, the workers need to be trained as well, because one needs to be conscious of the fact that Thailand could eventually become an outsourcing location, where the cream produced here could be commercialized in the entire world.

There are some official regulations to be considered in terms of human resources in Thailand. The government has imposed a labour code that implies a consistent protection of the workers, especially in what the health is concerned. Besides minimum standards in terms of salary and benefits, the government has imposed in the 90s measures to reduce employee financial burden in cases of accident or illness and there are also greater benefit plans.

The product is universal so as to fit any areas of the globe. Indeed, a cream that helps attend to wounds with an antibiotic effect should fit the same way in any area of the globe. However, there are several elements that we may do well to refer to. First of all, there is the climate. Thailand is not only quite hot, but also extremely humid. Even if temperature is ranging up to 40 degrees in the hot season, the main problem we should consider is humidity. Indeed, the cream may stay on the wound, but the oil could possibly spread on the skin in case of high humidity values.

The question we should be asking ourselves here is how the cream's features can be adapted to fit Thai climate. The best way to do this is by evaluating during a short period of time (up to two weeks) the exact effects of climate and weather on the cream. The team that will evaluate should also consider any possible side effects and chemical transformations that may occur due to the increased humidity in the atmosphere. Further more, the team will analyze whether or not the cream possibly has any side effects on the Thai skin. Indeed, if the cream has only been evaluated on Caucasian skin, for example, with its own characteristics (a larger amount of some elements, corroborated with lower amounts of others), it may prove wrong for other types of skin. All these evaluations are quite important before launching the product, so as to eliminate any possible issues that may arise.

In terms of promotion, basically there are two channels that should be followed: the specialized/medical channel and the population. The first channel implies a direct contact with hospitals and pharmacies. The promotion can be done by publicising different articles in specialized magazines (dermatological etc.) or by launching an oral promotion campaign. In this type of situations, it is usually enough to simply launch the idea in a reduced circle of doctors, who later on, by word of mouth, will proceed to spread the word around. Given the fact that the medical community is usually a closed community, it may be the case that several medical facilities will proceed to using the cream.

At pharmacies, promotion can be done by offering initial free samples, samples that can be tried out by the consumers at home. This type of promotion will also be beneficial for the mass promotion meant to address the second category of customers.

In this first, specialized category, promotion goes hand in hand with distribution. Indeed, it is probably preferred to base one's operations on a consolidated, selected clientele rather than go for mass distribution. One may suggest that the company, after an initial period of promotion, will only supply a specific set of hospitals and pharmacies.