Problem
Blundstone Footwear is an Australian footwear manufacturer based in Hobart, Tasmania, the southernmost state of Australia. The company's best-known product is its dark brown, lace-less/elastic-sided, ankle-length boots. The official name for this product line is "The Original", although the boots are commonly known as "Blunnies" in Australia. Blundstone Footwear was established in Tasmania in 1870, and despite growing to become one of the world's most recognizable boot brands, the company remains Tasmanian. The Head office and manufacturing base are in Hobart, Tasmania. Market research reports in 2011 indicated that Blundstone is Australia's best-known, most-loved and best-selling worker boot brand. Its boots are currently exported to 34 countries under the "Blundstone" brand. Blundstone Footwear also maintains modern manufacturing facilities in Melbourne, Australia. Some low-cost footwear components are sourced from Vietnam, India, Romania, China and Mexico, but not enough to threaten its Product of Australia legal status. It employs its own personnel at these overseas facilities to ensure the standard of manufacturing meets stringent quality standards. Blundstone Footwear is a Quality Endorsed Company to ISO9001. Strong international sales are the dream for many brands. But it can be a marketing headache if the brand has a different meaning in different contexts. Blundstone Footwear CEO Steve Gunn has faced this problem over the past three years as the company's international sales have trebled. While the boot maker has experienced significant sales growth in Scandinavia, Canada, Italy, Germany, Israel, Britain and the US - while also opening up new markets in Eastern Europe, China, Chile and Mongolia - its brand positioning in these markets is very different.
A. If Blundstone decides to form a joint venture in order to enter a foreign market then what are the drawbacks of this entry mode and how they will use marketing strategies to overcome these?
B. For Blundstone, in a new geographical market, what type of pricing will you be proposing and why? Does this pricing approach lead to the same price for a product across countries?
C. Would you recommend Blundstone promote Australia or Tasmania as the place of origin in international markets?