International Marketing of Marks & Spencer (M&S) in Vietnam Essay

International Marketing of Marks & Spencer (M&S) in Vietnam - Essay Example The focus in this paper is on Marks & Spencer (M&S), a UK-based company that was established by Michael Marks and Time Spencer many years ago, and it is now one of the largest clothing, food, and home product retailers in the world. The company has an ambitious goal, which is to become the â€Å"world’s most sustainable major retailer† by 2015. The company has a group revenue of  £8,733.0 million in the UK and  £1,0073 million in the international market. Providing needs and satisfying customers with the best product experiences across the world are the top priorities of M&S; in fact, they have continued to meet expectations of their 21 million weekly customers by expanding in many international markets. M&S has about 700 domestic retail stores in the UK and â€Å"361 wholly-owned, partly-owned, and franchised stores in 43 territories across Europe, the Middle East and Asia.† Macro-environment is one of the environmental issues that influenced the retail indu stry in Vietnam, as well as the industry’s growth prospect. This analysis will focus on major trends that have an impact on the organizational growth of foreign-invested companies including socio-cultural and demographics, technology, economic condition, ecology and physical environment, and political-legal. In every investment, understanding customs and behaviors of a certain country is one of the important factors to be successful in foreign markets. Vietnam is a socially stable country because of its economic renovation policies; however, social discrimination or divisions have been part of its local customs, particularly the treatment of men and women in the society, as well as the working and middle class Vietnamese. International businesses are placing a significant value on customs and cultures of their host countries because these are substantial in gaining a market share. Vietnamese customers are hard to please because they are price sensitive and value or quality co nscious, and doing business in the country needs patience because Vietnamese prefer to have lengthy negotiations. Furthermore, the family is the basic unit of the society in Vietnam; however, inequalities in terms of gender issues and classes can still be observed. For instance, men are considered superior or better than women in such a way that they have the power to make decisions for the family and do outside activities while women are left in the house to do household chores. This attitude is also practiced in the workplace wherein lower-level employees are not empowered to make decision, initiate change, and keep information without the approval of those in managerial positions. On the other hand, there is an unequal distribution of income and a biased tax system between rural and urban communities wherein taxes imposed to rural residents are higher compared to urban constituents; this event shows that government policies are concentrated to the growth of urban areas (Cao & Aki ta, 2008, p.12). Other urban biases are observed in terms of trade liberalization or industrialization, tax distribution among industries, credit admission, foreign direct investment (FDI) programs, employment opportunities, service access, and many more. In terms of demographics, Vietnam has a total population of 91,519,289 wherein 25.2%, 69.3%, and 5.5% of the population are 0-14, 15-64, and 65+ years old, respectively (Central Intelligence Agency, n.d.). This age structure implied that Vietnam is equipped with a high and substantial workforce, which is favorable to international businesses because the population is young. For instance, half of Vietnam’s total population is the young generation or â€Å"