Global Strategy DB

Who Owns the Company?

Evaluate marketing strategies of multinational corporations.

The quintessential American beer with the red, white, and blue can is actually owned by a Belgian and Brazilian company. What other companies that you thought were American really are not (anymore)?

Remember that the discussion takes place over two weeks and your weekly posts must be made in the specified week to earn credit.

WEEK 5 MAIN DISCUSSION POST:

Find two companies that used to be American-owned or sounded like they were and give a little history on how they came to be foreign-owned. Do not use the above example.

Your analysis must be substantiated by research from articles in the library's full-text databases or other graduate level resources. Use of consultant or other inappropriate sites is banned and may result in a zero for the assignment. Since you are engaging in research, be sure to cite the source(s) in APA format.

Interactive Reply 1:

Select one student’s post and research how the company is branded in the United States. Does the company embrace its ownership or portray itself as “American?”

Student 1 :

Marilyn Basden

Unit 3 DB 

Companies that were once American owned and are now they are foreign owned

The Holiday Inn was once one of the most popular family friendly hotel brands in the United States.  The first Holiday Inn was created by Kemmons Wilson in Memphis, Tennessee in 1952.  Kemmons came up with the idea from his many travels around the United States and had to stay in dirty motels and if you had children there was a surcharge for them.  Holiday Inn was the first hotel chain to have revenue that exceed the $1 billion mark by 1972.  In 1988 a company in the United Kingdom called Bass PLC purchased Holiday Inn for $2.23 billion (Gilbertson, 2016).

Firestone a very popular and recognizable brand in the United States.  Tire and Rubber Company was established in Akron, Ohio in 1900 by Harvey S. Firestone.  The company started provided a service of fastening rubber to steel wheels on carriages although the era of the horse driven carriage was coming to an end.  The beginning of the automobile industry was looming in the air and Firestone met henry Ford who was the founder of and creator of the Model T.  Firestone provided Ford with tires for the automobiles that were being produced and that placed Firestone’s company a staple in automotive industry.  Firestone was sold in 1988 for $2.6 billion to a Japanese company called Bridgestone (Gilbertson, 2016).  

Interactive Reply 2:

Select a company from another student’s post and ask two people if they think it is an American company. After they answer explain the foreign ownership. Report how they originally answered and ten reacted to the actual ownership.

The two interactive posts should be substantive in nature and showcase mastery of the concepts and your professional marketing and business communication skills. Apply your knowledge. Do not simply state that it is a good or bad idea, specify why and be detailed in your explanation.

In your own words, please post a main discussion post and comment on at least two other postings (interactive responses). You will be graded on the quality and interactivity of your postings. Use of unoriginal text and excessive quotes indicates a lack of comprehension and shows that you may not have mastered the concepts. A large percentage of unoriginal content may result in a zero being posted for the discussion grade.

Student  2- Andrew: 

Good Humor has been an American brand since the early 1920s in YOungstown, Ohio (Good Humor, 2017).  Good Humor weas a popular brand throughout the great depression and World War 2.  New Good Humor bars, over 80, were created in the decades.  Unilever is a British-Dutch conglomerate.  Unilever aquired Good Humor in 1993 (Good Humor, 2017).  As a conglomerate, Unilever has aquired and controls many brands that I have used for years, including Dove, Hellmans mayo, lipton ice tea, as well as other poular brands like Axe, Degree, Ben and Jerrys among others.

Trader Joes takes a similar path.  Joe bought a convieient store in Los Angeles in the sixties (Trader Joes, 2017).  Trader Joes expanded rapidly throughout the sixties and seventies.  Before it was such a mainstream name nation wide, the parent company that owns and operates Aldi, Albrecht Discounts, purchased the company in 1979 (UmSL.edu, 2017).  Albrecht DIscounts is a German based grocery store.  Both ALDI and Trader Joes are quite successful and popular.  While they both offer low prices, they have differing marketing models to position and amrket to differesnt segments.