Book Review- When Tribesmen Came Calling

Nimrah Zubairy-07031

Review- Part One: A Long way from Cincinnati

P&G came up with a unique way of dealing with young individuals, they hired fresh talent
and nurture them in a way that helped them perform exceptionally in the complex markets.
This serves as an example for many organizations to follow and helped develop many
individuals.
Introducing and international brand in a developing country with complex markets, you
won’t expect to meet the targets in the beginning. It is also not at all easy to hold onto the
organization’s core values while attempting to achieve its goals.
It gets difficult to implement the core values and communicate them to the employees, but
commitment and resilience helps you get through it. One should bear in mind that
organizations grow strong when they value principles more than the monetary benefits.
Organizations just need to take some risk and take the first step. First movers advantage can
do a lot to benefit them in the terms of revenues. This farsighted vision of an organization
will give them an edge over their competitors. The organization is likely to emerge as a
revolutionary business after the struggling era ends.
Logistics play a very important role while tapping the rural markets and it is another great
strategy after the recruitment of the right talent. Infact both of these can go hand in hand. The
sales and marketing teams need to be well trained and street smart to be able to ensure
visibility of the products in addition to the availability.
The right sales team will also come back with region specific feedback on the products and
strategies.
Presence of international brands help countries as it raises their standard of living. Not only
that it pushes competitors and other local product manufacturers and service providers to
improve their quality
Opinion of people can be dealt with using media as a platform. Brands need to be efficient
enough to respond if a negative news revolves around on media platforms. That is exactly
what P&G did by allowing Qaiser to step in and change the opinion of the public in the
brands favor.
There can be a lot of external threats involved like costs of doing business, import issues, and
negative media campaigns etc. these can impact revenues and cost a lot to the overall image
of the brand.
Such catastrophic events bring out a depressive environment all around the country, so much
that it hurts the businesses as well. No one including the businesses knows how react. The
event is the only thing that gets hyped for the entire time, which also leads to the brands’
suffering.

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One should keep his/her hopes high and keep working hard until the right moment arrives.
Having worked with diverse markets is always beneficial and that is what brought the author
to another great opportunity in the same organization.
Being a part of a multinational organization brings you a lot of opportunities and benefits.
Traveling lets you explore new places, meet people from different cultures, languages, and
traditions and hence you learn to respect all these differences.
Marketing strategies department especially in the multinationals are the most diverse and the
of the engaging ones. This department has a lot to offer in the retail sector. That is where the
author started to benefit. He got a chance to get closer to the customers and got to know them
well.

Review- Part Two: All That Mattered

A time had came when the author did not even think of leaving P&G as the nature of his job
and ownership that he had, had changed him in way that was best suited for the company.
This was the time when he had to take the Pakistan region and its operations to the next level.
As he was of the main personnel to launch the company operations in Pakistan, he knew ins
and outs of the conditions and hurdles. The economy was a lot better and he took it as just
another opportunity for his professional grooming.
The time had come when consumers in Pakistan had become brand conscious and this turned
out to be a great opportunity for the company as it boosted their sales per capita, so much that
it was way above their expectations. Middle income households were the major market as the
country moved to branded consumer goods.
A major shareholder, Bio amla with 40% of the share was just left with a mere 5% because of
lack on innovation, being only sales oriented, lack of marketing, and overlooking the quality.
Pakistan faced a lot of damage due to the US-Soviet war for the longest times, and it left its
after effects in the shape of mujahideen who got uncontrollable with a huge stock of
weapons. Wars not only effect societies but also economies with a long-lasting impact.
multinational companies also face a lot in the terms of loss in sales and revenue. That’s why
it is said that wars are not a solution.
If we talk about CSR activities, the ones that effect the company the most are the ones that
directly impact its customers. The author also shed light on how to get benefit from these
CSR activities by getting noticed for these efforts. Pakistan is full of selfless people who tend
to work on their own and solve the problems of the society.
These NGOs working for the welfare of the people highly support and relieve the government
of Pakistan.
A line needs to be drawn between economy, business and society that could help businesses
run smoothly without overlapping and while giving respect to the local cultures and societal
norms. The author describes law and order issues as one of the biggest problems for
international business in Pakistan. It is hard to ignore what went around in the country.
Political mobs would literally go out and attack supermarkets and stores causing huge losses.
Market size is difficult to calculate as it raises. It requires regular research to find out the
current scenario of the market. Continuous efforts lead the companies to achieve far more
that what they originally expect.
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These are highly important for an organizations image and reputations. Especially when the
company is not local. It is therefore important to protect the company’s reputation, which is
also not an easy task.
When you face a complex situation in business, it is highly important to keep yourself calm
and composed. You need to comply to the principles at all costs. Hard times are a part of life
and one should not let them effect oneself or the business.
Businesses have a positive influence on the people and the economy. In addition, committees
are formed to make regulations for the new and existing market players, and to improve the
law and order situation. This also increases the tax net across various sectors
The most experienced people are the sales people and they are also the most informed people
in the company, or say, in the country. This is because they are the people who wander
around villages, cities and meet all sorts of people.
The momentum of the company takes a lot of turns when companies operate in complex
markets. But high and lows are inherent part of businesses. The author describes how
important it is to do things right whenever things go wrong.
The early retirement of the author was an end to his 30-year career in the company. It was
now important to transfer the responsibilities to the newly appointed manager. The new head
should know the priorities of the business and keep them on the top of everything else

Review- Part Three: There is no End

The author had a privilege to travel around the globe throughout his career. After he retired,
he planned to travel with his wife and enjoy the serenity of nature. He traveled almost every
corner of the earth and was amazed by the cultures and cavillations he came across.
After initiating and serving in an international project in a new market, the company was now
working on the top of its competitors and was doing wonders in terms of business. The author
was also invited to attend the event to recognize the efforts he made and his success.

In conclusion, the author explained the 6 most important aspects of success in emerging
markets through his experiences in Pakistan and Ukraine.
Consumer Behavior and Preferences
To run a successful business, the knowledge of consumer behavior and consumer preference
is very important. Which is why P&G and Unilever spend significant amount of resources to
obtain both quantitative and qualitative consumer data. Through focus groups, companies
grasp the knowledge of consumer practices, habits and their preferences. By conducting focus
groups P&G was able to understand the reactions of the products being launched in the
emerging market and was able to position it based on according to the results obtained
Brand Awareness and Retail Distribution
The foundation of a successful consumer goods business is making sure that the target market
is aware of the brand being launched and can easily find the product in the stores. In
emerging markets such as Pakistan, P&G had to invest a lot of resources to create brand
awareness and educate people about the products being launched. Through educating the

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population about the brand and its benefits, P&G was able to increase the market size by a
significant amount, which was too small when P&G first came to Pakistan.
Cultural Competence
When doing business in emerging markets, deep understanding of the culture and how it
affects not only consumers but also business dealings can be critical to success. The
understanding of culture, of both Pakistan and Ukraine, helped the author to close many
deals, however lack of knowledge of the same, created huddles and left a negative image of
the company in the eyes of the local organization.
Developing Organizations
The process of recruiting, training, mentoring, and nurturing the local organization plays a
critical part in the success of the business. By maintaining rules and regulations, P&G was
able to nurture young entry level people into successful managers. P&G has a policy of
recruiting on entry level positions and promoting people from within the organization when a
vacancy was available. They followed a disciplined and well-organized approach in training
the newly hired people
Legal and Political Challenges
The principles and practices laid out by the company headquarters, helped P&G Pakistan in
its initial years to a great extent. It provided the author with patience to overcome the hurdles
he faced during the setup of P&G in an emerging market like Pakistan. By obtaining a sense
of the rules and regulations in Pakistan, P&G was able to overcome regulatory hurdles. The
obstacles for P&G started to disappear because they followed both the rules of their home
country and the host country, while strictly maintaining the principles of their company
Image in the eyes of consumers
The image of large multinational organizations, in emerging markets, is that the company is
there to make money from the citizens of the country. This creates a negative image in the
media and in the eyes of consumers. P&G was able to negate this as, while working hard to
get the business up and running in the initial years, it was also very concerned about its duties
towards CSR that reflected that it is approaching to being good corporate citizen.

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