A Case study of Taiwanese Manufacturers in their initiative to position themselves in South American Markets. It has been proposed an alternative methodology to get relevant data from industrial companies in order to understand in detail their international marketing strategy.

2. a
dc
b

3. Eagle & Nest: 5
“ Activities such as
Agri-Business, IT,
Logistics, Mining,
Bio-technology
and infrastructure
are among the top
performers and
drivers of growth in
recent years”
Mercosur:
5
New Tigers: 2
Eagle & Nest: 5
BRIC: 1
Pacific Alliance:3
TOP 50 PPP:4
BRIC: 1
RIC: 1
BRIC: 1
Eagle & Nest: 5
Eagle & Nest: 5
Eagle & Nest:5
New Tigers: 2
New Tigers: 2
New Tigers: 2 New Tigers: 2
Mercosur:
5
BRIC: 1
BRIC: 1
BRIC:1
TOP 50 PPP
T0P PPP: 4
Mercosur:
5
Mercosur:
5
New Tigers: 2
Pacific Alliance: 3
Mercosur:
5
Mercosur:
5
TOP 50 PPP:4
BRIC: 1
TOP 50 PPP:4
Tigers: 2
Eagle & Nest: 5
BRIC: 1
New Tigers: 2
New Tigers: 2
BRIC: 1
Eagle & Nest: 5
New Tigers: 2
TOP 50 PPP:4
TOP 50 PPP:4
Eagle & Nest: 5
BRIC: 10 PPP:4
TOP 50 PPP:4
TOP 50 PPP:4
TOP 50 PPP:4
Pacific Alliance:3
Pacific Alliance:3
Pacific Alliance:3
Eagle & Nest: 5

6. Strategic Marketing appears to be a part of the Business or
Corporate strategy that instead of converging on the
details of the 4P’s, focuses on how the marketing mix will
increase the competitiveness of the whole organization as
well as on the constantly changing business environment

7. (…)none of the models and conceptual frameworks utilized is per se more or less useful
alone towards explaining the elusive essence of Strategic Marketing
2.2.1 Porter’s 5 forces
2.2.2 SWOT-TOWS and PEST analysis
2.2.3 BCG Matrix
2.2.4 Weihrich’s Matrix
2.2.5 Treacy and Wiersema Model
2.2.6 Miles and Snow Model
2.2.7 Gap Analysis
2.2.8 Directional Policy Matrix
2.2.9 Ansoff Matrix
Potential
Rivalryamong
existing
firms/industry
Competition
Substitutes
Buyers
Suppliers
of
suppliers
Bargaining
power
of buyers
Threatof substitute
products orservices
Threat of new
entrants
Bargaining
power
Relationship
Excellence
Superior
Value
Exchange
Product
Performance
Excellence
Transactional
ExcellenceStandarized
Product
Customized
Product
Superior
Product Benefit
Superior
Customer Value

9. …industrial market is (….) a continuum of industrial goods classified in function of
the speed of sale; there are industrial products that report a very slow speed for sale
such machine tools and complex computer software, products that lie in between such
domestic appliances and Printed Circuit Boards, and industrial goods that are both
B2B and B2C oriented such canned food or soap powder (Meldrum and McDonald
2007, 37-38; Gummerson 2012, 33-35)
a
db
there are five (5) fundamental areas for industrial markets: Manufacturers, Contractors, Mining,
Public Services and Government (Brion 1967, 316)
c

10. Industrial
SELLER
Industrial product
Financial assets
Information
Institutionalization
&
Adaptations
Archetypes
-Close
-Recurrent
-Dominant Partner
-Discrete
MACRO-ENVIRONMENT
-PEST
-Industrystage (Tech,supplychainandproductlife cycle
stage)
-Government
-Competitors
Industrial
BUYER

12. Opportunity
Identification of the overall attractiveness of
the target market (Potential & Limitations)
Grounding
Consist on the way the company can
capitalize the attractiveness (competitive
advantage)
Orientation
Consists on focus. In industrial marketing this
is essential due the importance of close
relationships and complexities of macro-
environment (value proposition + key
stakeholders) (Donaldson and O’Toole 2007)
Luck is what happens when
preparation meets opportunity
(Seneca, Letter XXIV)

13. Finally, we have to recall the literature concerning to Industrial Markets
and consider that the deployment of the Strategic Marketing in this type
of markets needs to be specially ADAPTED to its particularities
The first one comes from the especial predominance of RELATIONSHIPS in
the marketing strategy of B2B firms that as seen in the literature review, is
explained by factors such as the expertise, importance and even purchase
power of an industrial counterpart, usually more knowledgeable, wealthy and
influential than an individual average consumer.
The second source is the MACRO-ENVIRONMENT (Hakansson 1982, 24), which is highly critical for B2B-oriented companies in
the sense that they are essentially interconnected with its surroundings, particularly with other companies in the supply chain (which
can act simultaneously as counterparts, competitors or allies in JV’s for example) and the government that grant permissions,
promulgate licenses and/or impose taxes or tariffs to Industrial firms. This source becomes even more critical when the macro
environment the firm wants to enter in is a foreign market; in this scenario, a more careful analysis is needed, because aside from
potential clients and the local government, there are also multiple actors and situations worth of analysis such as local competitors,
market structure, political and social situation and so on.

16. a
d
c
b
a
Founded in the mid 70’s, the company has been devoted to the manufacture
of different kinds of plastic molding machinery
…the interest in Brazil (along with other emerging markets such Mexico)
started almost 20 years ago after the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997 and the
increasingly strong competition coming from Mainland China
Brazil is the country that captures the attention of the company because it has
the most robust industrial base in the subcontinent. Factors such as an
intricate bureaucracy and the language barrier convinced the company’s
management to start looking for a distributor right away
…start offering after sales service and installation services in situ for small
and medium-sized molding equipment and even they also tried to assemble
small equipment too
…due to the taxation policy in Brazil and a restrictive customs practice,
Company A is intending to manufacture its plastic molding equipment locally
b
started its operations in the early 80’s as an OEM of toys
Later on, following the vision of its leader Mr. Chen, the company created
their own brand –which made of the company to climb up to OBM
successfully- focused on assorted baby products such as strollers and baby
walkers (…) Currently, the company positions its brand as a middle-high,
which makes for them interesting all developed markets
The company has been exporting to South America for a long time, starting
since 2001, but in this process they have not exported steadily to this region,
so then, what is customary is to send shipments there twice a year.
…they have perceived the need of counting with sales representative for
South America, especially in the light of the fact that for the company, this
market is very diverse and specific country by country
c
…started its operations in the mid 80’s as a local manufacturer of traffic
signal equipment and road safety equipment made of die casting materials,
plastic and other metal alloys
…they decided to create their own brand, under which are currently marketed
a total and holistic solution in the incorporation of traffic lights, their
electronic coordination systems and different road safety equipment
…since 2012 that it started to do business with South American counterparts.
At the moment, the company has sold road safety products and traffic lights
in Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Brazil, but it is in latter one in which the
firm is more interested
Currently, the adaptation of the company to South American Markets is given
mostly in its human resource (having distributors that speak the local
language) and customizable products in its catalogue
d
…has been accumulating more than thirty (30) years of experience in the
manufacture of auto parts for Asian Brands originated in Japan and Korea
…great deal of innovation in response to new models launched by Asian car
manufacturers not only globally but also locally
…started to sell directly to South American clients one year ago. Before, the
company managed to reach this market through a Taiwanese international
trade company
…the marketing strategy of the company consist of dividing the marketing at
the company into two levels; firstly, full time employees that are entitled with
a client base and the responsibility of attaining certain sales goals and
secondly, a pull of part-time salesforce that earn money through commissions
Company D focuses on quality and positions itself as an alternative to cheap
but quality-inferior Chinese products

18. …this analysis will be divided in nine (9) parts, corresponding to the nine (9) frames of the
analytic matrix inspired in the essence of the Strategic Marketing. The analysis will start from
the upper left frame (number one) and will end in the lower right one (number nine)

19. a
d
c
b
…while Company D, C and A find attractive ANY market since it complies with
specific requirements of their respective industries off course (…) Company B in the
other hand just consider Europe as an attractive market because of their high purchase
power. Off course, this difference is understandable because the positioning strategy
of this firm is very specific and narrowed,
…all the companies analyzed use the same sources of information (i.e. secondary
data from governmental and/or private websites, industry exhibitions and open news
on the web). (…)only Company D and Company B use trading websites (…) This
particularity, we believe, responds to the diversity of industrial goods that are traded
within the spectrum of industrial goods we talked about in the literature review
(Brion 1967, 308-16; Haas 1989, 5). Then, we have that both Company D and
Company B’s products are not accompanied by the load of service and complexity
that accompanies the products of companies C and A, which require a careful follow-
up, assisted installation, training in house and the comply of many critical local
regulations (Transaction costs).

20. a
d
c
b
The usage of industry exhibitions as a privileged alternative to contact counterparts in
business was expected to be used by all the interviewed companies and indeed, that
was verified in all the four companies’ responses
…particularity showed by Company D, consisting of hiring staff with the sole purpose
of studying foreign markets. This was not found in any other of the companies
interviewed. (…) but if for instance the company’s target market would be more
specialized or technical (…) what is more critical is to have even just one person, but a
person specialized not also in finding clients but also in bonding with them and thus,
understand in depth the potential client, in accordance to the relevant literature we
have cited in Chapter 2, point 2.3
…only Company C puts emphasis on information released by foreign governments
(…) this company depends directly on the decision of local governments

21. a
d
c
b
All the four (4) interviewed companies have shown different and varied interests in
the region proposed as the example for this case analysis (South America) and
consequently, came up with different reasons to justify both the potential and
limitations of the countries matter of their interest in South America. This diversity
was expected and is welcomed in the light of the diversity of the industrial markets
they participate in
…in addressing a target market in its specificity, the same region and even the same
country could represent different things for a business, even in industrial markets,
which are highly technical and in consequence, less dependable on cultural
differences than consumer markets (Blythe and Zimmerman 2005, 4-13)

22. a
d
c
bWhile Company A and C identify Colombia and Brazil as the most promising
markets for their businesses, Company D mentioned Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and
Brazil and Company B pointed Argentina and Brazil. It is interesting to note that the
only country matter of interest for the whole four (4) companies is Brazil and in
second place comes Colombia, mentioned in two (2) responses. Finally, was
interesting the mention of Argentina in the case of Company B because currently
this market is being closing its economy to exporters, a fact clearly stated by
Company D

23. a
d
c
b
…for Company A the potential of the countries they pointed as attractive is that this
countries –specially Brazil- there is a robust industrial base in plastics manufacture. In
the case of Company C and Company B, the potential is conceived as an abundant
and growing middle class (…) In the case of Company D, the potential is given by the
popularity of Asian car models in the region, in part propelled by the local
manufacture of some Asian Companies
…in regard to the limitations found in the countries chosen as attractive in South
America, the diversity of responses is also present but somehow related as follows;
both Company C and Company B mentioned social-related arguments, but in the case
of the former, the limitation was conceptualized as (…) urgency in the demand of
transport, but in the case of the later, they argue the paradox found in the region in
terms of an increasing middle class accompanied by a lack of interest in spending in
middle-high end baby products (…) Company D and A focused their replies in the
economy and specifically, in the degree of their openness.

24. a
d
c
b
…we found several distinctive practices in each one of the interviewed companies;
in attention to what has been stated in precedency, this diversity is explicable by the
inherent diversity of the interviewed companies, which manufactures different
products
Company A is currently willing to open an assembly facility in Brazil in order to
increase the competitiveness of its products by avoiding the taxation and customs
barriers imposed in Brazil and leveraging the purchase of their products with the
aid of Brazilian government
Company B’s adaptation in two fronts: It is the only company out of the four (4)
that we interviewed that places attention on the registration of patents on each
country the company is interested in and regardless that, it is also the only company
in this small sample that is open to customize or adapt the scope of the exclusive
distribution of their products in accordance with the operations size, reliability and
experience (among other factors) of a potential distributor

25. a
d
c
bCompany C points its resolution in an understanding of the target market under
a long term basis, while Company D adjusts its price according to the degree of
development of the target market -the more developed a country is, the higher
the price- and its marketing operation into two (2) levels, being one in charge of
existing markets while the second one is responsible for opening new ones.

26. a
d
c
b
Companies C and A place more emphasis on the service associated with the products
they sell as part of the competitive advantage (…), Companies B and D rely on
alternative sources of competitive advantage, being for the former its original design
capability that help them to stand out of competitors creatively and for the later their
specialization in Korean and Japanese car models
All this aforementioned sources of competitive advantage have been suggested in
different Strategic Marketing models such as Porter’s five (5) forces that suggest
specialization, (an strategy used by Company D) and innovation to attend a niche
market, (a path specially followed by Company B); BCG and Ansoff Matrixes in
turn, explain why Companies A and C focuses on customer service to differentiate
themselves in mature industries. Finally, Treacy and Wiersema’s model invites
companies to adapt or customize their products and services, which is an strategy
clearly seen in Companies A and C, and in some stent, in Company D, which are
open to customize their products after a careful consideration.

27. a
d
c
b
Although all of this manufacturers claim to be excellent in the delivery of quality
leveraged in an average of thirty (30) years of experience, this is no longer a source
of competitive advantage if considered alone; indeed, the manufacturing capability of
B2B-oriented companies sometimes lack of a competitive edge, not because their
quality is not good enough but for market standards that became a common ground in
mature industries such as in Plastic Molding, Auto Parts or in Transportation-related
infrastructure
…when the complexity of the product increases, it is more likely that quality and its
balance with price becomes the main issue to be considered (Martin 2009, 83-86; Hutt
and Speh 1995, 80-84). In this order of ideas, in the case of expensive and complex
machinery and transportation-infrastructure related products for instance, there is a
minimum quality that is already expected, not as an advantage worth of extra payment
but as a requirement already taken for granted

28. a
d
c
b
…the more the knowledge and adaptation to a foreign market, the greater the
competitive advantage a company will have there
…there are two main trends that rule markets in general and particularly, industrial
markets (Burkitt and Zealley 2006, 29-59; House et al 2013, 111-39): One is
standardization –commonly materialized in minimum standards of quality as
mentioned in immediate precedency-. The other trend is (…) Adaptation –or
customization-, which in turn can be a source of competitive advantage in the light
of the fact that industrial supply chains are fuelled in the end by the final consumer
(Martin 2009) + by multiple factors such as the ones that Companies A and C have
detected in the deployment of their Strategic Marketing such as a rigid taxation
system in the target markets

29. a
d
c
b
…the strategies chosen by Companies A, C and D to count with a solid “grounding”
towards South American Market can be synthetized in counting with either
distributors in situ or a native sales force that speaks the native languages such as
Spanish or Brazilian Portuguese
A and C holds an active policy of getting to know the gemba or in other words, the
reality of the industrial activities of their clients (Martin 2009; Masaaki 2002)
However, in the case of Company B we did not found any competitive advantage
rooted in any effort of adaptation to the target market we proposed as an example.
The reason is that in spite of their will to count with a South American Native as a
Sales Manager, the overall marketing strategy of the firm is firmly oriented towards
the standardization

30. a
d
c
b
Although this strategy is not less valid than the marketing strategy of the other three (3)
companies, it is riskier due to the fact that they are choosing to narrow their target
market, which in turn increases their exposure to the risk associated with this target
market. Concretely, this risk is a low demand that could not be covered by alternative
segments
Perhaps Company B could listen more carefully to the needs of South American Middle
class, that in spite of having less purchase power than Europeans, is booming and since
they are not willing to pay the same as Europeans, there are still opportunities that could
be seized in this segment by Company B, for instance, by utilizing part of its
manufacturing capability to become a “house of brands” (Kotler et al 2012, 324-25) by
launching an innovative, yet more affordable line of baby products under a different
brand

31. a
d
c
b
In terms of grounding, the strategies of all companies interviewed are fully aligned with
the dynamic of industrial markets explained in Chapter 2, in the sense that creating and
sustaining business relationships is perhaps one of the most important aspects of the
Strategic Marketing of B2B-oriented companies
…concrete outcomes this companies reported such as the hiring of sales representatives
that speak the native language of the target market ( all the companies interviewed) -and
by extension, of local distributors in situ (Companies A and C)-, the offering of training
programs in the headquarters (Company A) and the visit of the client’s facilities by
headquarters’ engineers and executives, intended to get to know and understand its needs
in depth (Companies C and A)

32. a
d
c
b…out of the four (4) companies interviewed, Company B is the company that is least
adapted in terms of “grounding” and in contrast, Company A is the one that runs more
concrete ways to adapt to South American Market at a “grounding” stage, counting with
more than ten (10) distributors in situ and both the practice of regularly visiting its clients
to get to know their gemba as well as their training programs

33. a
d
c
b
In this frame there are two main issues considered: The way companies identify key
stakeholders located in foreign markets and the value proposition
In regard to the first issue, it is worth to mention that all the interviewees’ responses share
a common ground (explicable in turn by the fact that all the companies analyzed are B2B
companies that compete in industrial markets), because all of them somehow used the
same sources such as industry exhibitions -also e-mails and phone calls-, but it still
remain some particularities explained by the specificity of the products manufactured by
each company, so in the case of Company C for instance, they find stakeholders through
specialized networks of contractors in the target markets
three (3) out of the four (4) interviewed companies share the same positioning: balance
price and quality, so then the outcome would be somehow in between of European or
USA and Chinese ones. This is indeed the case of Companies A, C and D. In the case of
Company B, their positioning strategy is clearly settled as middle-high, both in quality
and price

34. a
d
c
b
…interesting sources of added value.(…) Company A offers their own software to operate
the plastic molding machinery as well as a product customization, a 24h service as well as
a technical support in installation. Company B offer value through original design and
availability of spare parts anytime, anywhere for free. Company C adds value by offering
a total solution in which this products are supplied in strictly accordance to bidding
requirements and regulations, seeking to bound perfectly with the contractor’s
responsibilities.
Company D added value comes from its longstanding specialization in Asian car brands
and their willingness to offer suitable solutions to its foreign customers by either
associating with other Taiwanese firms when the query of a client includes parts that are
not produced by the company (D is the only company that show association with other
firms in the supply chain) or by opening production lines that matches car models that
exist only in one country or region –such as South America-, for example.

35. a
d
c
b
This frame comprises three issues to be considered as part of the orientation of the
marketing strategy towards South American Markets
The first one is the value proposition ESPECIALLY relevant for South American industrial
markets –if any-. The second issue is the key players considered by the interviewed
companies in this region and particularly, in the South American Countries they are
interested in and finally, the last issue to be analyzed is the ways these companies contact
and bond with those key players in the aforementioned specific market.

36. a
d
c
b
…all the companies interviewed actually offer -or are willing to- customer service in
Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese and in the case of Companies A, C and D it is offered a
certain degree of customization of their products in order to meet local client’s
requirements
Company B is the only company out of the four (4) that does not adapt their products,
offering the same quality and price regardless of the target market
…key players considered are also different for the companies analyzed, but they can be
grouped in two: wholesalers and trade companies, which are especially critical in the
marketing strategy of Companies B and D, then secondly, industrial companies (either
manufacturers or contractors), a group of market actors that are more closely considered in
the operation of Company A and Company C.

37. a
d
c
b
There are two additional types of players that require a further mention:
Distributors: a type of player that is in the radar of all the companies interviewed as an
alternative to place their products in the market.
Local government: In particular, Companies C and A are more sensitive to the influence
this player could have in the market in the form or regulations in taxes, customs and
quality as well as in the guidelines of biddings at either state or federal levels (Portal
Brasil 2009)
Lastly, the ways or alternatives the interviewed companies followed in order to contact and
bond with the already mentioned key players are basically the same for all of them:
Industry exhibitions, phone calls and e-mails, but Company A stands from the crowd by
being the only company that offers in-house training to the client’s technical staff

38. a
d
c
b
…the concrete ways or alternatives used by the companies interviewed to orientate their
Strategic Marketing towards the target market –in this case analysis, South America- also
differs from company to company, but in the case of Company D and Company B, seems
to be specially important to hire or keep hiring a native salesforce and/or distributors.
In the case of Company A, the main outcome was to finally decide to set up an assembly
facility in Brazil, (…) in response to the complexity of the taxation and custom systems in
this country as well as in response to the opportunity that represents the financial leverage
offered by Brazilian government to local manufacturers
Other significant outcomes (…) are for instance, to place more attention to the regulation
and particularly, to the specifications required in the public bids in South America in order
to remain competitive (Company C), assist to more industry exhibitions (Company B) and
get more relevant industry certificates to be more competitive in the case of Company D

39. The present thesis has been aimed at delivering three main contributions that we hope,
would enrich the state of the art in Management as sources of knowledge in Strategic Marketing for
Industrial markets, while serving as a guide to many Taiwanese B2B-oriented companies that are or
will be trying to internationalize
An extensive literature review in Strategy, Strategic Marketing and
Industrial Markets
An analytic matrix that inspired in different Strategic Marketing-related
models, the particularities of industrial markets as well as in an ancient aphorism,
constitutes a killing tool to disclose a the Strategic Marketing of any B2B-
oriented company immersed in industrial markets (…) it is ample enough to
receive multiple insights and contain multiple alternatives and courses of action,
but is specific enough to lead to an orderly analysis of what is missing in the big
picture of the Strategic Marketing.
A business case analysis of four (4) Taiwanese manufacturers that
had South America as its backdrop in the form of the “target market” for
analytical purposes
it became clear that
behind the apparent
promising scenario
described about South
American economies of the
introduction of this Thesis,
there are plenty of details
that only arises when a
target market is carefully
de-constructed in the
formulation of the
marketing strategy of a
firm

40. Overall, we have not found a more or less effective or desirable strategy, but in the case of
Company B we dared to suggest more adaptation, but it is necessary to point out that their
strategy of standardization is still a legitimate in spite of its inherent risks, it can also
report benefits in form of a clear differentiation in the market.
b
…we have found very interesting practices and some of them, unique in the
small sample analyzed; in the case of Company D, there are used two (2)
levels in marketing and in the case of Company A, in house training is
offered in order to increase the professionalism associated with the usage of
its machinery
a
dWe have also found practices that in the light of the
literature review could be regarded as standards in
industrial markets such as visiting clients directly and the
utilization of emails, phone calls and industry exhibitions

41. Industrial markets, although sometimes invisible to final consumers,
represent an active and organized force that leverages not only
individual economies but also our entire civilization; its importance is
capital because in its shoulders stands the responsibility of innovate
and manage all the scientific knowledge and technical efficiencies that
makes possible to count with all the consumer products that you and
me use in our daily life
Every idea, analysis, business case or conceptual contribution
shared through this text has been carefully projected with the
sincere aim of increasing the awareness of how Strategy -and more
concisely, Strategic Marketing- actually works for countless
companies that in Taiwan and everywhere else, while selling to
other businesses as part of industrial markets, are quietly making of
this world a better place
Thank you
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