Tiger Balm Case Analysis

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Figure 4 Option Matrix for Tiger Balm

Firstly, according to the Market Penetration Strategy, the first option is to maintain current markets (Asia, Europe, Americas, Middle East and Australasia) and existing products (Classic, Balance and Junior). Besides, we can increase investment on marketing advertisements and refine our products.

Secondly, based on the Market Development Strategy, the second option is to expand into new markets such as Italy, Russia, Turkey and Poland, by introducing the existing products (Classic, Balance and Junior). Since the data in the Exhibit 2 can be used as a reference for our company, the new target markets can be selected based on their market potential.

Thirdly, according to the Product Development Strategy, the third option is to develop new offerings (Tiger Balm Active) in the current markets (Asia, Europe, Americas, Middle East and Australasia). Based on the information of our company, we launched this new product in Singapore which was strongly supported by advertising investments. As a result, the market share in Singapore was increased significantly not only in the new products but in the existing products as well, which showed a promising development prospect of our new products.

Finally, based on the Diversification Strategy, the last option is to open new markets (Italy, Russia, Turkey and Poland) with new products (Tiger Balm Active).

- Options evaluation

To evaluate each option, we should understand the measuring approach. Dawar and Frost (1999) note that there are two parameters, which are the strength of globalization pressures in and industry and the organization’s transferability assets, could be used as strategic decision-making guidelines for an organization. The globalization pressures refer to the intensive pressures caused by surrounding globalize environment. And the organization’s transferability assets refer to the adaptability of the company’s competitive products. Additionally, Dawar and Frost (1999) introduce a strategy model which identified four different positions of the company by measuring its level of globalization pressures and transferability (Figure 5)

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Figure 5 Positioning for Emerging-Market Companies

As we discussed earlier, Tiger Balm had already expanded its footprint internationally which means the globalization pressures for Tiger Balm are weak. Besides, our company’s products not only have a good efficacy but also are regarded as home-style remedies, which illustrates that our products are able to transfer all over the world. Therefore, our company can be defined as an extender who replicate its existing success into other markets, which is in accordance with the objective by using the Product Development Strategy.

In addition, since our company had already well-accepted in global markets with a goodwill and the potential of the pain relief market is enormous, we could keep penetrating into our current markets to increase the market share ratio.

Therefore, we could develop short-term strategy and long-term strategy simultaneously. The short-term strategy focuses on penetrating into existing market: firstly, we could increase investments on the advertisements and sporting events; secondly, we can develop refine existing products to maintain current consumers and attract new customers; thirdly, we could facilitate our promotion network and distribution network. The long-term strategy focuses on introducing new products into the current market since we have well-based consumer sectors: firstly, we could increase investments on R&D department; secondly, we can adjust our strategy to the unstable business environment.

- Recommendations

Based on our short-term strategy, Tiger Balm could increase its presence in Australia. Since Australia is close to Asian, it is quite easy to operate and save transportation cost. In addition, through using the Hofstede Dimensions analysis to compare Australia and the USA, we can see that the analogy between two countries is striking which is shown in Figure 6 (Australia - Geert Hofstede, 2016). Due to the former success in the USA, we should able to replicate the success in Australia as well. However, our products had not borne fruit as we had expected due to lack of local information. Therefore, we will generate a specific implementation on developing our Australian markets in the following.

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Figure 6 The Hofstede Dimension analysis between Australia and USA

To refresh Australia market, we will modify our entry model due to our disadvantages. Although the company is able to make acquisitions, this is more risk for Tiger Balm with the objective of expanding profitably. Considering the existing pain relief medical market, the relevant brands either are branches of large multinational organizations or are developing in single country with small sizes. As a consequence, our company may either spend a large amount of money based on valuation metrics or add sufficient value to Tiger Balm’s existing international portfolio. Therefore, Tiger Balm should adjust its market entry strategy to corporate with a local partner by a joint venture. Tiger Balm had good consumer base in Asian and USA, and we had built a global brand with a good reputation. Therefore, the barriers for us in Australia is inadequate local information. Zhang, Zhang and Liu (2007) note that the knowledge about the host market is an important criterion for evaluating entry mode choices. Killing (1994) also mentions that a joint venture is an attractive option to expand into a market as it allows the company to exploit the partner’s market information, existing resources and capabilities. Hence, a joint venture with local company ensures fast market access by helping us acquire enough local information and reducing the political challenges that we are facing right now.

By doing researched, we identified that the Lucas’ Papaw Remedies is the most qualified candidate for our joint venture. The most popular product of Lucas’ Papaw Remedies is the Lucas’ Papaw Ointment, which is derived from the paw paw fruit as a commercially available product (Nowicki and Siviour, 2013). Since the papaw plant and its fruit are described as “the world’s greatest healing agent” by Dr. Lucas, the initial founder of the Lucas’ Papaw Remedies, the Lucas’ Papaw Ointment is regarded as an antibacterial and antimicrobial external application (Lucas Papaw,