International Marketing

Case study: Merry Management

Q1: Why did this promising business relationship go so badly wrong? It is obvious that the Merry Company did not spend a lot of time to find a reliable partner to develop their business in the Middle East Market. The Merry Management Company did not analyse the various criteria which are usually used to find a good business partner. These criteria are:  “Allocate time and resources to find a suitable agent”: the alliance between the Merry Company and Ala-Meer has been made very quickly.  “Ensure that there is sufficient advice and information transfer in both directions”: it seems that the communication between the two companies was very poor, especially about the payment method. This lack of communication has been the source of the end of the agreement which linked the two companies. The Merry Company finished by losing the control of Ala-Meer Company. The Merry Company loosed a lot of money because of that bad situation.

Q2: How could Merry have protected their business in the Middle East more effectively? The first solution for the Merry Company would have been to find a more suitable partner in the Middle East, by seeking more time a good local partner. IT would have been important for the both companies to share with the Ala-Meer Company a better communication plan, to ensure that the both parts agree on all the parts of the business plan, such as the payment method. This disagreement was at the origin of the end of the partnership. The other solution for the Merry to protect their business in the Middle East would have been not buy creating an alliance but by performing a company acquisition towards AlaMeer. Company acquisition has a lot of advantages:  Increased value generation, increase in cost efficiency and increase in market share.  Increased revenue and can reduce the cost of capital.  Increased value generation for the company.  Gaining cost efficiency.  Tax gains.

Q3: What