Mba 653

MTV ARABIA Case study MBA -653 Table of Contents Abstract. 1 tog out Analysis. 2 Introduction3 Ch bothenges4 Strategies. 7 Conclusion.. 9 References10 ABSTRACT MTV Networks (MTVN) had oer the years demonstrable a temper for its ability to exit localized glut without diluting what MTV sas welld for.However, the troupe face the near ch everyenging test in late 2007 with its plunge of MTV Arabic in the substance vitamin E, which some experts considered as the biggest base in the routes history. part the marketplace in the snapper einsteinium offered MTVN with huge opportunities due to its huge youth populace, MTVs controversial suffice that was hold outn for angering religious, political, and conservative communities could easily backfire in the conservative surround prevalent in the percentage. On the new(prenominal) hand, too untold localisation principle to suit the tastes of the section could dilute MTVs global brand.The lawsuit discusses in detail the syst em adopted by MTVN to enter and expand in the fondness atomic number 99 and also the challenges faced by the channel. 1 SWOT Analysis 2 1. Experts felt that one of the biggest challenges faced by MTV epoch erecting MTV Arabia was the prevalent culture in the Arab domain of a function. Discuss the Arab culture. How is it expected to come out a challenge to MTV? The Arab world stretches from Morocco across Northern Africa to the Persian Gulf. The Arab world is more or less equal to the atomic number 18a known as the Middle eastmost and North Africa (MENA).It can also be delineate as those countries where Arabic is the dominant language. Arab countries are religiously and ethnically diametric with Islam being the dominant godliness in most countries. 22 Arab countries/areas Algeria, Bahrain, the Comoros Islands, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi-Arabian Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Ar ab Emirates, and Yemen. The Arab refinement is divided into three main split, the Urban Culture (Al-Hadar), the Rural Culture (Al-Reef), and the Nomad Culture (Al-Badow).Typically, countries like Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, and Morocco are considered Rural Cultures, musical theater composition Arab states of the Persian Gulf, Libya, Mauritania and Jordan are considered Badow (Bedouins), while finally the Lebanon, Palestine, Tunisia, Algeria are considered Urban, yet most of the Arab Major Cities are recognized with Urban Cultures, like Cairo, Rabat, Baghdad, Alexandria, Damascus, Marrakech. The Arab countries are religiously and ethnically diverse. The Arab world is a location of several world religions (Islam, Christianity, and Judaism) and a multitude of ethnic and linguistic groups.However, the predominant religion is Islam and Arabic the overtop language. To be an Arab, like an American, is a cultural trait sort of than racial. An Arab worldview is set up upon the below concepts 1. Atomism Arabs t break to see the world and events as degage incidents, snapshots, and particular moments in time. westerlyers tend to look for unifying concepts whereas Arabs focus on parts, rather than on the whole. 2. Faith Arabs usually believe that many, if not all things in life are controlled by the leave alone of God (fate) rather than by human beings. . Wish Versus Reality Arabs, much more than Westerners, speak emotion in a forceful and joyous fashion. Their desire for contemporaneousness is contradicted by a desire for tradition (especially Islamic tradition). 4. Importance of rightness and Equality Arabs value justice and equality among Muslims, and to a lesser spirit level to others. All actions interpreted by non-Arabs will be weighed in affinity to tradition and religious standards. 3 5. Family versus self Arabic communities are tightly knit groups do up of even tighter family groups.Family pride and honor is more of import than individual honor. 6. Paranoia Arabs may seem paranoiac by Western standards. legion(predicate) are suspicious of any Western interest or enwrapped in their land. 7. Shame and venerate Admitting, I dont know is distasteful to an Arab. Constructive criticism can be taken as an insult. Be careful not to insult. And women wear headscarves as a betoken of respect, even if wearing Western clothing. 8. Family Family is the center of honor, loyalty, and reputation for Arabs. And males are ceaselessly the head of the Arab family. 9.Personal Space Most Arabs DO NOT share the American concept of Personal space in public situations, and in mystical meetings or conversations. It is considered offensive to step or lean away Women are an exception to this rule. DO NOT stand close to, stare at, or touch a woman. 10. Socialization and Trust When conducting business, it is customary to first persuade the hand of all males present, taking care not to grip too firmly. Allocate plenty of time for refreshm ent before attempting to engage in business. It is important to first rear respect and trust.Arab stead vs. Western Perspective Arab Western Family Considered the foremost, where the father is patriarchal Important, hardly not as profound to the life of the individual Friends Part of life, but considered more periphery aggregate to a few, but mostly important in life Honor very important amongst Arabs. Honor will be protected and defended all costs. Typically not as important ShameAvoided as much as possible, especially in relation to family, where gossip, insults and criticism taken to heart typically not as important time less rigid.Approach to time is much more relaxed and showed than that in Western cultures. Very structured, deadlines must be met. organized religion is central to all things varies with individuals, very personal, not discussed in polite conversation. SocietyFamily kindred is most important individual rights. Government Most governments are secular, but st ill emphasize religion. Pur commit is to protect rights and improve standard of living. duration and wisdom honored. Youth and beauty praised. Wealth respected. 4 Some of the recognize unlikenesss identified are given here Western youth were found to be generally pessimistic closely the future, while Middle east youth were generally optimistic. * Religion was seen to be enormously important to Middle eastern United Statesern youth when compared to their Western peers. * National identify and handed-down value were extremely important to Arab youth, but not to their peers in the West. For Arab youth, loss of traditional values and culture was identified as one of the top three biggest challenges facing the world today, along with rising cost of living and turpitude in government. Arab youth generally admired political, religious, and business leaders, while Western youth do not. * Arab youth wanted to make a difference, while Western youth mostly wanted to get forth. * Middl e East and Western male youths had very different opinions about gender equality in the workplace, with less than y in 10 Middle East males favoring it. MTV and the challenges posted by the prevalent culture As a solution the Arab culture is known for reacting, and some think over reacting negatively to controversial content. The Middle East offered a huge state of youth with a rich and diverse culture.In an effort to adopt the schema of Think Globally, Act Locally MTVN (Music Tele deal Networks) executives made it a stagecoach to learn the cultures and make shows that relate to the cultures as oppose to exporting the American culture. In order to achieve this goal the channel adopted a decentralized structure and gave commercial and creative autonomy to the local staff. This conjecture was considered to be one of the biggest launches in MTVs history because of the potential audience. MTV skimed to provide a culturally unifying agent within a region that has been known for its political tensions.Also, this channel may correct some misconceptions of the region and reduce tensions. The target audience for the channel would be the Middle East youth providing them with access to music via mobile, broadband, and television. The challenges MTV expected to encounter included the reputation of MTV airing sexually explicit programs and images in direct contrast of the socially conservative culture of the Middle East. Adjusting content to be suitable for for each one region may prove to be very challenging. For example, what is acceptable in Dubai may not be acceptable in other parts of Saudi Arabia.MTV also had to be careful not to lose the vision of their brand in its attempts to conform to localization. 5 In addition, issues much(prenominal) as the US invasion of Iraq complicated relation among the Americans and Arabs. on that point were also competitors that had already created a niche for them in the region. So, its not particularly hard-fought to see why MTV had a major challenge on its hands. Its content (music, videos and reality shows) could offend the cultural sensibilities of mickle in the Arab world especially in terms of * Too much skin show * Intermingling of genders * expend of disparaging or swear words References to alcohol * Discussion on religion or politics * Unaccepted gestures such as feel pointing, showing the soles of feet, etc. Another challenge before MTV was that the Arabs were generally considered paranoid by Western standards and they tended to be suspicious of any Western interest. MTV, in a way, stood for what the Arab world most reviled about Western / American culture. While MTV might argue that the values that it stood for were relevant to youth throughout the world, it may still be perceived as something contrary to Islamic ideals and the Arab culture.The launch of MTV in the Arab world could easily be perceived as an pain in the ass of Western culture. Fanatics, or those who pretend to be guardians of Islam, could easily rake up the issue and create a lot of trouble for MTV. To complicate matters, the anti-American sentiments prevalent in a section of the Arab world too could pose step challenges to MTV. One may argue that with globalization and the advancements in info and communication technology, youth across the globe share similar aspirations and inhalation behavior. And that a section of the youth population in the Middle East did want MTV.However, ignoring the cultural differences is fraught with danger, as the Arab youth consider religion enormously important and loss of traditional values and culture as a key challenge. 6 2. MTVs Strategy in the Middle East . Do you think MTV will be able to keep up in this market? Our team was required to analyze MTVs strategies in the Middle East and anticipate its success in this market. We believe that the alliance will do well due to its scientific approach to overwhelm the major challenges faced in the region and efficient managerial finding making.Firstly, it was a good start to establish profitable relationship in the midst of AMG and MTV, where each of the sides will benefit from its correlation in terms of earnings, bang-up name and people that provide MTV Arabia with a lot of resources. Secondly, Arabs have different tastes and preferences compared to US audience. These differences in taste transfer to all areas including music networks. However, MTV had taken the decision before launching new products to population of the Middle East to adapt the product to fit local taste.Thirdly, the extensive market inquiry was conducted by the political party in order to minimize the risk of disappointment by the determining the needs of the population and developing the product that will satisfy their needs. Same research revealed that Islamic biases toward Americanization will not dissemble development of the company within the region since majority of the participants associated MTV brand with oth er countries rather than US. In addition, the study helped to find vacant niche that could be served to attract larger part of the population and generate more profit. Strategies apply by MTV 1) Segmentation dodging (a) Geographic segmentation Targeted region Middle East Saudi Arabia, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Yemen, Palestine and Syria. (b)Demographic segmentation Targeted Population active 65 percent of the Arab population consisted of youth under the age of 25. (2) Targeting strategy Before launching the channel, the extensive survey of the region was conducted to understand what people wanted. The survey team targeted people in the 18-24 age groups and travelled some the region to schools and universities canvassing opinions. (3) Positioning strategy During MTVs 25th anniversary, the company said that it would provide the audience in the region content that would be different from that offered by popular Arab music conduct. Though, t he Arab market was crowded with more than 50 channels, none of them provided a global platform to export the musical talent of the local youth. (5) Niche strategy To overcome competition, the channel proposed to establish itself as a platform wherefrom the Arab youth could voice their local concerns as well as advertise their music talent.For instance, MTV Arabias flagship show hip to(predicate) Hop Na, where the winner from each city would get a chance to record a track for a compilation CD produced by Fred Wrecks. (6) Product strategy Product provided The channels computer programming was to have a mix of music videos, music-based programming, general life-style and animated programs, reality shows, comedy and dramatic series, news specials, interviews and documentaries where the key is obviously the language. about 45 percentage of MTV Arabias content was too produced locally, with the rest translated.New products were substantial MTV Arabia designed new shows in Arabic to ca ter to pan-Arab youth audience. There would be a localized version of popular shows such as Made( Al-Helm) and Boiling Point (Akher Takka). (7) Promotion strategy Celebrity attractive force marked the launch of MTV in the Middle East. The launch featured performances by eminent stars as Akon, Ludacris and Karl Wolf along with local hip hop group Desert heart. (8) Distribution channels strategy The Middle East had the potential to offer MTV numerous media like mobiles and the Internet to reach its end consumers.MTV Arabia wants to provide Middle East youth with the opportunity to watch MTV on mobile, on broadband, and on television. 8 (9) Technical innovative strategy Products such as MTV Overdrive in which the user could download the video at broadband speed, and MTV Flux in which the online users could create their own TV channel were expected to help in luring the various Internet service providers in the region. (10) Markets Entry strategy MTV entered Middle East by tying up wi th a local partner the Arab media group (AMG) (11) investiture and control strategyThe channel MTV Arabia was formed as a result of a licensing arrangement between MTV and AMG. MTV would earn an estimated US $10 million annually in licensing fees from AMG for 10 years. (12) Hybrid approach Refers to companys ability to fit in local environment with its culture, traditions values, and perception of the reality. MTV Arabia was thither to entertain people within the limits of Arab traditions and had no intention of showing neglectfulness to the local culture. It would be a channel for the Arabs and made by Arabs, where the launch team comprised a mix of Saudis, Palestinians, Emiratis, Iraqis and Lebanese.Conclusion This case gave us an understanding of the issues and challenges in entering and expanding operations in new markets which were culturally different from the organizations spot/traditional/existing markets, Understanding the pros and cons of entering a new market with a s tandardized/adapted product to suit local preferences and made us go further in analyzing MTVNs strategy in the Middle East, identify challenges and explore strategies that the channel could adopt in the future.This case was very useful it made us realize how MTV and other channels experience in global markets. And how localize strategies in various markets. The challenges MTV faced while launching in the Middle East also were give away we analyzed those challenges it faced in expanding its operations in the region and the strategy adopted by MTV in the Middle East. 9 References http//www. arabianbusiness. com/the-revolution-will-be-televised-197356. html http//news. bbc. co. uk/2/hi/middle_east/7100252. stm ttp//www. businessweek. com/stories/2007-10-21/online-extra-mtv-presses-play-in-the-middle-east https//www. inkling. com/read/international-management-helen-deresky-7th/chapter-5/part-ii-comprehensive-case-4 http//www. businessweek. com/stories/2007-10-21/online-extra-mtv-press es-play-in-the-middle-east www. mtv. com WWW. mtvme. com http//www. arabianbusiness. com/ WWW. hrbusinees. com www. cnn. com www. bbc. com www. businessweek. com www. icmrindia. org/casestudies/catalogue/ www. hollywoodreporter. com