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Please make that it is your own work and not copy and paste off of someone else work. Please watch out for spelling errors and grammar errors and read the study guide. Please use the APA format. This is a DBA course and needs to be done on this level. Book reference: Hill, C. W. L. (2021). International business: Competing in the global marketplace (13th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education. https://online.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781264123926    Instructions Global Branding, Marvel Studios, and Walt Disney Company This unit has focused on global marketing research and development (R&D). The Management Focus Global Branding, Marvel Studios, and the Walt Disney Company can be found on page 534 of the course textbook. You will be required to read the case study and answer the questions below. From a global branding standpoint, why do you think Marvel Studios is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company instead of just a part of Disney? Marvel Comics has drawn from more than 100 characters for its Avengers superheroes since 1963. Collectively, these characters have created a very successful franchise for Marvel Comics and Marvel Studios. What is their global marketing formula, and why do you think this global marketing works for the company? Many of Marvel Studios movies are connected to each other (e.g., The Avengers and Iron Man movie franchises). Do you think the film-watching public can keep up with all of these intricate connections? Does it even matter if people do keep up with the connections (e.g., Tony Stark across so many movies)? What does Marvel Studios gain by having the global branding connections of the characters across multiple movie franchises? Your paper needs to be at least four full pages in length, not counting the title and reference pages. You must include at least two sources to support your assignment. One source can be the course textbook. The second source should be from the CSU Online Library. The paper must be in the APA format.You do not need to include an abstract for this assignment. If you are unsure about the APA formatting requirements, please be sure to review the formatting information provided for you in the classroom, within the student portal, and through the Writing Center. Resources The following resource(s) may help you with this assignment. Citation Guide CSU Online Library Research Guide Submit Writing Center Request DBA 8710, International Business and Global Strategy 1 Course Learning Outcomes for Unit VI Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to: 6. Discriminate between strategies applicable to international business operations. 6.1 Explain the importance of global branding and global marketing. Course/Unit Learning Outcomes Learning Activity 6.1 Unit Lesson Chapter 18, pp. 529–562 Unit VI Case Study Required Unit Resources Chapter 18: Global Marketing and Business Analytics, pp. 529–562 Unit Lesson When it comes to strategies that are applicable to international business operations, there are many components that are involved. In this lesson, we will go over global business markets, segmentation, focus, and attributes. We will start by looking at strategies of distribution and communication. Global business always requires partnership, and that includes effective international communication. International partnerships involve at least two people, organizations, or corporations that are working together in the pursuit of shared goals. International partnerships may include corporate partnership and organizational partnership. In these partnerships, mangers and leaders must prepare meetings, conduct meetings, discuss and negotiate, make decisions in groups or smaller meetings, decide where to hold meetings, determine who is to speak first and last, determine sitting arrangements, and conduct virtual meetings. Understanding cultural differences is the first step, but leaders and managers should be engaged in a learning process to develop and grow in international cultural competence. The key to successful partnerships is for managers or leaders working in a global context to advance in cultural intelligence and international cultural competence. So, what does self-assurance look like? Self-Assurance Energetic Self-confident Comfortable in uncomfortable situations Witty in tough situations Along with the aforementioned characteristics, there are also cultural barriers. When attempting to understand cultural differences, there is also the confluence of messages across cultures. While being energetic is helpful, cross-cultural literacy is essential to handling international business operations. A part of understanding cross-cultural literacy is understanding the role of distribution. The largest component involves creating the strategy for how your product will be delivered to the customer. If you cannot do that, you are not staying in business! Most companies know what their wholesale and retail distribution system will consist of, UNIT VI STUDY GUIDE Global Marketing and Research and Development DBA 8710, International Business and Global Strategy 2 UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title but this is just the beginning. There are four different distribution systems: retail concentration, channel length, channel exclusivity, and channel quality. Retail connection has two major components, which involve how concentrated or fragmented the retail market is (Hill, 2021). An example of a concentrated market would be a large city with many people but just a handful of retail companies that supply the entire city. An example of a fragmented market would be a large city with hundreds or even thousands of retailers and many marketplaces with no one company controlling any market share. In most cases, yet not all, concentrated markets are more common in advanced nations, and fragmented markets are more common in developing nations. As a company develops its strategy, it will have a strong grasp of retail connection. Channel length works in a similar fashion, but factors such as connection must be considered. If there is a short channel length, it means there is less involved between the production of a product and when the product is available to the consumer. A longer channel typically requires the involvement of more departments, or there are more barriers in the production stage. If there are multiple players involved, the channel length will be longer, and it means you are most likely dealing with a more advanced nation. Yet, companies like Walmart have shortened this channel length, which became a hallmark of their business operation success. Some nations are just easier to work with than others. That is what companies would say if they could make that statement without repercussions. The ease of selling goods and services is channel exclusivity. If you want to sell shampoo in Germany, you cannot simply make a deal with a supermarket, and then it just happens. There are regulations, restrictions, and bottle labeling, and that is just the beginning. You must also consider channel quality, which requires being familiar with the company you plan to do business with and their ability to sell your product. Again, just throwing out the shampoo on the beauty aisle in Germany is not going to sell it. You need a high-quality channel—a channel that is able to sell a product with some level of sophistication and knowledge of what you are selling and to whom you are selling. Otherwise, you will be using a poor channel quality and will have to insert your own resources to hopefully sell your shampoo. Now that we have examined strategies of distribution and communication, let’s dig into global business markets for operations. As we have discussed in the course, cultures of many countries create their own norms of what is wanted and desired. This also needs to be understood and examined in the realm of consumer wants and the purchasing power of consumers. For example, it does not make sense to sell a high- end product in an area where most inhabitants are poor. You need to look at the segmentation strategies for your international business operation. This would include income, education, lifestyle, values, social standing, age, gender, and personality (Hill, 2021). Just because the inhabitants in well-to-do areas of India can afford a Tesla does not mean that Tesla is going to do well. You need to optimize the overall fit by determining buyer behavior in the desired marketplace. For example, earlier in the course, we discussed how cultures can and do change over time, which affects the cultural acceptance of products. For example, 15 years ago, a green energy like Tesla would have struggled selling its cars in China. First, the country itself had an incredibly limited intermarket segment, meaning that its borders truly represented a division between different cultures. Today, the intermarket segment has changed, especially between China and Hong Kong. With a massive shift in lifestyle and income changes in China, there is now a real demand for electric cars in the country; considering the impact of pollution as well. These changes have transformed consumer behavior, and the wants and needs of consumers in the segment are different than they were 15 years ago. By understanding its position and strategies, Tesla has dealerships and a significant part of its overall sales in China by following an international business operation based on market segmentation. You cannot discuss strategies for international business without talking about price. Pricing involves more than just slapping a number on a product and hoping for the best. There is a tremendous amount of strategy that takes place in order to generate the maximum return for the company, distributor, and the consumer! No price can be set until you understand that prices around the world will not be the same. An excellent example of this is called the Big Mac index (“The Big Mac index,” 2020). The index, which was developed in 1986, was started for fun and is now a globally accepted analysis to see if some currencies have the Big Mac at an overvalued or undervalued purchasing position for the consumer. For our analysis, you can see this has an excellent viewpoint on price discrimination and the elasticity of a product. For example, if consumers in a poor country want to buy a Big Mac, they are going to be very price conscious, so only small price changes would DBA 8710, International Business and Global Strategy 3 UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title be recommended; however, in another country where the consumers are more inelastic, meaning the consumers make more money and may not be deterred by a price jump in a Big Mac, the product will still sell. There are a lot of other pricing strategies that can be seen through the lens of the Big Mac index. While predatory pricing is illegal in most countries, it still exists. Imagine if the price of a Big Mac in Malaysia went from its price of 8.85 ringgit to just 2 ringgits (“The Big Mac Index,” 20020). How many people would buy a Big Mac? They would nearly run out! Not only that, but they would run many other businesses out of business. You take the loss for six months, drive other companies out of business, and then increase prices after the other businesses have exited the market. The same could be said for multipoint pricing strategies. Consider competitors fighting for the top space in fast food. This type of competition can be seen in many industries, especially in first-world nations. Again, these companies will compete and potentially lose money. While this is good for the consumer, it eventually will go away. An excellent example of this can be seen with the online content battles. With Disney Plus now providing content and doing so at a significantly cheaper rate than Amazon Prime and Netflix, the winner right now is the consumer; however, if there are mergers or the competition wants to get more consumers, you will see an increase in price and, once again, the winners will go back to having the right strategy by international companies. As you configure the strategies of pricing, segmentation, distribution, and communication, it is easy to see that you have to choose the right strategy that is applicable to international business operations. References Hill, C. W. L. (2021). International business: Competing in the global marketplace (13th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education. The Big Mac index. (2020, January 15). The Economist. https://www.economist.com/news/2019/07/10/the- big-mac-index Suggested Unit Resources In order to access the resource below, utilize the CSU Online Library to begin your research. The following article discusses the domestic airline merger phenomenon of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Clougherty, J. A. (2005). The international drivers of domestic airline mergers in twenty nations: Integrating industrial organization and international business. Managerial & Decision Economics, 27(1), 75–93. https://doi.org/10.1002/mde.1248