The Marketing Mix (4 P's) on Mercedes When Entering The China Market Essay

The Marketing Mix (4 P's) on Mercedes When Entering The China Market - Essay Example China is a member of the prestigious BRCIS organization which represents the five biggest emerging economies across the world. The purpose of this paper is to describe the marketing mix of the company with an emphasis on its social corporate responsibility efforts. The four Ps of the marketing mix are place, product, price, and promotion. The place the firm is evaluating for further product distribution is China. China is one of the best economic success stories of the past few decades. Its economy has been growing at an approximate rate of 9% during the past 30 years. The current gross domestic product per capita of China is $7,600 (CultureGrams, 2011). The People’s Republic of China is the most populated country in the world with an estimated population of 1.3 billion inhabitants. There is a fast growing middle class in China due to the rising economy of the country, especially in the larger mega industrialized cities such Beijing and Shanghai as well as up and coming cities where major manufacturing centers are located or are being developed. China is the world’s top exporter of goods and the Chinese economy continues to grow exponentially since it has become the hub of manufacturing in the world due to their low wages, lower material costs, an abundance of highly educated professionals, fully developed infrastructure in all the major industrialized cities, favorable governmental foreign investment policies, and lax environmental laws (Mudwig). The country is an excellent location to establish a manufacturing location due to the before mentioned factors, as well as having one of the strongest emerging economies and a fast growing middle class. The heavy industrialization of China led to growing concerns regarding pollution. The Chinese people, like many global citizens are starting to educate themselves more about the importance of safeguarding the environment and how their level of industrial growth has caused China to become one of the most p olluted countries in the world, with 20 of 30 most polluted cities in the world (Worldbank). Mercedes Benz has been importing its luxury vehicles in North-East Asia region since 1986. The Mercedes Benz brand has been building some of its vehicles in China since 2006 through Beijing Benz, a joint venture between Daimler Chrysler and Beiki who is the fifth largest automaker in China. Although Mercedes Benz sales of its luxury vehicles have grown tremendously during the last few years, with sales for 2011 exceeding the sales figures of 2010 within the first 10 months, by September 2011 sales have started to slow down compared with previous year sales (4-traders, 2011).The company is concerned that the level of sales growth that the company has achieved so far is starting to get affected by the global economic downturn. The Chinese economy is starting to feel the effect of decreased global demand for exported goods. The products that Mercedes Benz have been distributing and manufacturin g in China have been mainly its E-Class and C-Class models of its luxury auto line. Currently both the long wheelbase C and E-class luxury automobiles are built in the Beijing Benz plant through a joint venture. Mercedes Benz vehicles are highly regarded in the Chinese market and with one of the fastest growing middle classes in the world the company has enjoyed great sales growth for the last 5 years. Due to a faltering economy the company’