INTERNATIONAL MARKETING MANAGEMENT

COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES OF
COUNTRIES

MANYA KALRA - 25C

PIYUSH PAL - 31C
RIDDHI AGGARWAL - 36C
SHYAMAL TIWARI - 44C
 History
The history of Chinese silk stretches back more than 2,000 years.
The art of silk production remained confined to China until the Silk Road
opened in 114 BC, though China maintained its virtual monopoly over silk
production for another 1000 years.
CHINESE SILK

The various kingdoms kept secret the methods of silk production. It might
have been one of the most zealously guarded secrets in history. Anyone
found smuggling silkworm eggs, cocoons, or mulberry seeds was put to
death.

Present
China is the world's largest producer of silk. It produces about 150,000
metric tons annually (around 78% of the world's production).
CNSM (China National Silk Museum) is a world heritage on UNESCO’s list.
The best places to buy quality silk are Suzhou, Hangzhou, and Shanghai.
China Highlights' tours to these cities could include stops to shop for
silk and other souvenirs.
 CHINESE TOURISM WEBSITE
https://www.travelchina.org.cn
The mention of the 'Silk Road' can be found at the following places on
the website:
Home page > Characteristic Themes
Latest news > Themed activities > Festivals and Activities

The official tourism website of China promotes the Silk Road

which is part of their economic and cultural heritage. There
have been attempts to revive it through strategic 'Belt and
Road' initiative.
 Verdict:
Valuable Rare Inimitable Organized
Competitive Parity
VRIO FRAMEWORK

Silk is still considered a premium clothing

material, especially the Chinese silk which is
Yes of the highest quality

Silk is no longer rare as it is also produced in

countries like India, Uzbekistan, Brazil,
No Japan, Thaliand, etc.

Silk production process is costly to imitate.

Yes That's why China (the country of origin) still
dominates the world's production

China has well established silk industry and

Yes its climate also favours the production of
silk
 About
Almost every well-known watch manufacturer is located in Switzerland, specifically between
the cities of Geneva and Basel. In this 200km long expanse you’ll encounter watch pantheons
like Rolex, Breitling, Omega, Tag Heuer, Movado, Hublot, Swatch, Tissot, and Zenith — and
SWISS WATCHES

those are the only more popular watch brands. Aside from those, many of the world’s noted
watchmakers originated from Switzerland — Daniel Roth, Philippe Dufour, Francois-Paul
Journe, and Felix Baumgartner among many others.

According to the most recent statistics, the Swiss are the largest exporters of watches in the
world. The landlocked nation exported £10.5B ($13.7B) worth of base metal watches in 2018,
securing its place as the world's 18th biggest exporter across all goods. Just under 60,000
locals are employed in the watchmaking industry alone, a figure that doesn't take into
account the distribution and retail of the country's famed timepieces.

Most Swiss people see watchmaking as more of a family tradition that just a job. Those who belong to a family of
watchmakers also get to learn the craft of watchmaking and hence stay in that industry. This centuries-old tradition
of watchmaking gives the Swiss the motivation and drive towards producing excellent watches year after year. They
take pride in their wares, put research into making better watches, and generally strive to remain the very best in
their field.

Moreover, Switzerland is home to the biggest watch shows of the industry. When brands are preparing to release
their newest models, they will usually exhibit them for the first time at Baselworld (Basel) and SIHH (Geneva).
 SWISS TOURISM WEBSITE
https://www.myswitzerland.com/en-in/
The tourism website highlights watchmaking under
Swiss handicrafts as a part of the Swiss experience.

It gives the tourists an opportunity to attend watch

seminars and also to visit watch factories and join
workshops where they can not only witness the art of
watchmaking but also get an opportunity to make their
own watches.

The website also indicates a list of watch museums that

can be visited, when in Switzerland.
 Verdict:
Valuable Rare Inimitable Organized
Competitive Parity
VRIO FRAMEWORK

Swiss made watches are highly valuable to

customers across the world because of their
exquisite craftsmanship and high quality.
Yes

Even though Swiss watches outshine

others, the watches industry is heavily
No saturated.

Swiss watchmakers developed unique in-

house movements and bullet-proof cases
Yes and added an inimitable seal – “Swiss
Made.” Low-cost replicas are a possibility
but it is hard to match the Swiss quality.

Watch making is one of the major

occupations in Switzerland. Federation of
Yes the Swiss Watch Industry works towards
strengthening the Swiss made label and
represents 90% of watch manufacturers.
 History
Matryoshka dolls or Russian dolls are a set of wooden dolls of decreasing size placed one
inside another. The name matryoshka, is mainly known as "little matron".
A set of matryoshkas consists of a wooden figure, which separates at the middle, top
from bottom, to reveal a smaller figure of the same sort inside, which has, in turn,
RUSSIAN DOLLS

another figure inside of it, and so on.

The first Russian nested doll set was carved in 1890 at the Children's Education
Workshop by Vasily Zvyozdochkin and designed by Sergey Malyutin, who was a folk
crafts painter in the Abramtsevo estate of Savva Mamontov, a Russian industrialist and
patron of arts. The doll set was painted by Malyutin. Malyutin's doll set consisted of eight
dolls—the outermost was a mother in a traditional dress holding a red-combed rooster.

Symbol &Metaphor
Matryoshka dolls are often designed to follow a particular theme. Originally, themes were often drawn from tradition or fairy
tale characters, in keeping with the craft tradition—but since the late 20th century, they have embraced a larger range,
including Russian leaders.
Matryoshka is often seen as a symbol of the feminine side of Russian culture. Matryoshka is associated in Russia with family
and fertility and Mother Russia. Matryoshka dolls often represent mother carrying a child within her. Furthermore,
matryoshka dolls are used to illustrate the unity of body, soul, mind, heart, and spirit.
The onion metaphor is similar. If the outer layer is peeled off an onion, a similar onion exists within. This structure is
employed by designers in applications such as the layering of clothes or the design of tables.
In 2020, the Unicode Consortium approved the matryoshka doll (🪆) as one of the new emoji characters as a non-religious,
apolitical symbol of Russian-East European-Far East Asian culture.
 RUSSIAN TOURISM WEBSITE
https://www.visitrussia.com/nestingdolls.htm
The prominent features of the
website's representation of Russian
dolls are :-
It promotes these dolls as a
unique souvenir from Russia to
surprise your friends and keep
the best memories of your trip.
These first appear when clicking
on the "Things To Do" tab on the
landing page of the main website
(snip shown on the right side of
the screen).
A highly enlarged image of the
dolls of different attractive
colours and design is featured.
They successfully express the
beauty and entice the buyer to
explore.
It gives a background of dolls'
origin too.
 Verdict:
Valuable Rare Inimitable Organized
Competitive Parity
It fulfills the desire of the tourist to
VRIO FRAMEWORK

have something to make their trip

Yes memorable.

Russians do not have control over

some resource that is unique or very
No
hard to make.

The artist do not have a copyright or GI

Partially No tag but the dolls are often signed
provenance by the creator.

The Russian tourism industry heavily

Yes promotes the dolls and has a tradition
edge to it
 History
The first barley beer was most likely born in the Middle East, where hard evidence of beer
production dates back about 5,000 years to the Sumerians of ancient Mesopotamia.
German monasteries have been producing beer for mass consumption since around the end
of the first millennium, the year 1000.
Drinking beer back then was considered safer than drinking water. Beer was regarded as
GERMAN BEER

safe, nutritious and caloric, even good for small children

Beer Purity Law of 1516, promulgated by the heads of the Bavarian estates under Bavarian
duke Wilhelm IV- all beer in Bavaria must be made only from barley, hops and clean water,
considered oldest consumer protection law in the world
German emigrant brewers created beer empires in the Unites States, China, Japan Mexico
and Africa. Until the 1980s, Germany had by far the greatest number of breweries in the world.

Present
Despite its rich history, there has been a fall in beer consumption in Germany compared
to earlier years.
While the beer market in Germany is indeed shrinking, the number of breweries is
growing, as more and more small and microbreweries appear.
Leading brand is Krombacher from Krombach. Other leading names include Beck's and
Warsteiner. All produce alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks
As such, advertising expenditures on beer have barely decreased, particularly TV
advertising as beer is still considered integral to German culture and way of life
Market share of imported beers is rising in Germany and exports are concentrated in
Europe
 GERMAN TOURISM WEBSITE
https://www.germany.travelen/home.html

The German tourism website displays

German beer as an experience in itself
for the tourists.
The website highlights German Beer as a
traditional aspect of being German and
documents its history and evolution
It is displayed under "Experience and
Enjoy" banner of website with a picture
of a traditional pitcher
 Verdict:
Valuable Rare Inimitable Organized Temporary Competitive
Advantage
It is definitely valuable as German Beer
VRIO FRAMEWORK

has a distinct recall value and is

associated with quality across the
Yes world

Beer production is not unique to

Germany although the way its
Yes
produced in Germany is unique

Germany is by far the leading producer

of Hops, a flower used in making its
Partially No beer. USA is the second largest
producer and could be a threat in
future

Changing consumer preferences,

No demographic changes in Germany and
other countries make it a tough task
 History
Traditional Indian medicine is one of the oldest medical sciences in the world. Ayurveda, the most widely used
system in traditional Indian medicine, emphasizes holistic medicine, which takes the body, mind, and spirit as a
whole. It is based on the principle that human beings achieve physical, mental, and emotional health through
harmonious coexistence with nature.
Apart from Ayurveda, the Indian medical system also includes yoga, naturopathy, Unani and Siddha. With the
INDIAN MEDICAL

increased promotion of Yoga has become a preferred form of treatment for those not willing to intake chemical
medication and looking to heal their body naturally. Naturopathy also gained prominence in southern India
especially Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.
TOURISM

Coupled with the above mentioned school of medicine is the fact that spirituality and mental wellness associated
with India culture and traditions.

Present
India is currently attracting a lot of medical tourist due to the development
in healthcare sector since 1991 reforms. It is currently the 10th most popular
medical tourism destination in the world as per Medical Tourism Index.
The factors that make India attractive are the low cost of medical
treatment (upto 80% less than developed nations), skilled medical
professionals ensuring quality medical care, ease in restriction on visa
requirement for medical tourism, advanced accredited medical facilities
and less language barrier as English is second language of healthcare
providers
 INDIAN TOURISM WEBSITE
1. https://tourism.gov.in/wellness-medical-tourism
2. https://www.indiahealthcare.org/home
There are two websites that concerns with healthcare
tourism in India :-
1. The general tourism website of India which
includes both wellness tourism (AYUSH related)
and medical tourism. It seeks to address
concerns related to lack of quality by assuring
that certificates are now issued National Board
for Accreditation of Hospitals & Healthcare
Services (NABH) and AYUSH. It also talks about
the Indian way of life and spirituality. In the
medical tourism segment it talks about various
benefits of medical tourism to India, the
infrastructure, doctors, nurses and cost.
2. The second website has been developed by
Ministry of Commerce to help facilitate a person
visiting in India for medical tourism. It is a
utilitarian website with links to search hospital
based on procedure and speciality needed, visa
and immigration issues, latest development, etc.
However, the website is not eye pleasing.
 Verdict:
Valuable Rare Inimitable Organized Unused Competitive Advantage

It is valuable to the patients as they are

VRIO FRAMEWORK

getting quality healthcare at a fraction

of the price they would have paid at
Yes home

The high number of trained and caring

health workers and advance facilities
Yes
for certain diseases is rare

It will be expensive and time

Yes consuming for another country to
develop infrastructure and educate a
huge force of healthcare workers

There has been a belated concerted

No effort from both the government and
service provider to capitalize on this
trend and remove barriers
 CHINA SWITZERLAND RUSSIA GERMANY INDIA
PARAMETERS
RANKING OF WEBSITES

AREA OCCUPIED High Very High

Very Low
ON THE WEBSITE Low (The website provides (Exclusive website
Very High (Not visible at all. Makes
(How much space (Mention of just Silk in-depth information
it very hard to find
maintained for
(Covers more than 80%
does the feature Road and not about the history and spreading information
takes on the web- of the normal webpage) unless directed from a
specifically about silk) events related to Swiz regarding medical
page?) watch-making)
Google search)
tourism)

EASE OF USE (How Low Neutral

intutive is the Neutral High
(There are separate Very Low (Medical tourism is hard
website while (Separate tabs for each
(Product not readily
(Clear segregation of
to find on the official
tabs for different
exploration and point of attraction but different sections
ease of finding the the product not visible locations and seasonal available on the landing website while the
makes the navigation
product from events but not for page) dedicated website is
on the main page) easier)
landing page?) products like watches) very intuitive to use )

ASSOCIATED Very high High

LINKS (No. of High (There are various Very Low Low (Official website has no
links of (Associated links are associated links related (No associated link for (Very few associated link.
associated
available within the to the history, events and further exploration or external/associated However, the other
activities present
on the webpage?) website) even locations known for activity found) links available) website has an overload
watchmaking) of relevant links)
 CHINA SWITZERLAND RUSSIA GERMANY INDIA
PARAMETERS
RANKING OF WEBSITES

CREATIVITY (How Low Very High High

Neutral Very Low
effectively new (The wesite has no new (The website makes use (The webpage is well
(The websites are very
(The website is well
and fresh features advanced features, of advanced features like designed, has a very
and styles used for looks like a regular designed but endless text heavy and not at all
360° videos and is well- clean interface and
promotion?) scrolling is a downside) interactive)
website) designed.) impactful font)

AESTHETICS High Very Low

Very High Neutral
(Measure of the Very Low (The website makes (No use of pictures
overall (The website is visibly (The website is visually
(The website is not extensive use of makes the website very
attractiveness of visually pleasing, lacks pleasing, rich in colour pleasing, and has quality
attractive and vibrant plain. Information is not
the website to the and has a good information beneficial
presented in an
in aesthetic appeal) visuals and has a good
user?) representative image) to tourists)
visual appearance.) interesting manner)

TOTAL SCORE
(1- Very low, 5-
Very high 12/25 20/25 16/25 13/25 14/25
The higher the
score, the better)
THANK YOU