The influence of product and price policy on the export strategy’s choice. A case study of two Italian companies in the U.S. market Master’s

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to analyze and discuss the influence of product and price policy on the choice of the export strategy. Accordingly, the main objective of this research was to investigate the key factors and conditions that affect the decision of the policy to pursue in entering a specific market, in this case the one of the U.S. The analysis has been conducted through personal semi-structured interviews to two managers of two Italian steel companies, which both exports in the U.S. market. Both companies have internationalized their activities mainly because of the overcapacity of the European steel market, where the consumption is lower than the production. According to the respondents, what influences the most the choice of the policy for exporting is the kind of product exported. For one company that exports commodities, the most influencing variable is the price, in order to be competitive with local players, and they decided to pursue a price policy. For the other one, which exports a niche product, what matters the most is the product, intended as complete customer service. This company therefore decided to undertake a product policy, aimed at reaching the complete customer satisfaction. The export entry modes are also presented, with the distinction between direct and indirect, as well as for the characteristics of the American steel market, which is now very attractive especially for the appreciation of the Dollar to the Euro. In chapter 1 the topic is introduced, chapter 2 presents the literature review, chapter 3 and 4 deals respectively with the research methodology and with the analysis of the empirical data and in chapter 5 the conclusions are discussed.