The CNS Breathe Right strips case illustrated the steps involved when undergoing expansion towards the international marketplace. In the case of CNS, business expansion happens when the company has already assessed the suitability of the country’s business environment for both the company and the product to be marketed and sold.
To achieve this objective, CNS has developed a three-stage decision-making model, a diagnostic tool that aids the management in determining the action standard (i. e. , to expand or not expand) for the country under consideration for expansion. This case analysis of CNS and its product, Breathe Right strips, analyzes the effectiveness of the three-stage decision-making model that the company has developed for its expansion to the international business setting.
The rationale behind the creation and development of the three-stage model is the need to objectively analyze a country’s suitability to market and sell CNS’s product, Breathe Right strips.
The product, an OTC medical product, is a nasal strip suitable for athletes wearing mouth guards, snorers, and people easily afflicted with allergies, sinusitis, and cold. It enjoyed popularity in the US because of its practical use and effective results. As the product gained popularity, CNS saw the opportunity to expand, with plans of selling the product beyond North America, and into Europe.
The case of CNS’s entrance to the Italian business environment and OTC medical product industry yielded useful insights for the company, especially on its manner of assessing the suitability of the product for the country’s OTC market, and vice versa. In understanding the effectiveness of the three-stage decision-making model, it is important to identify first the strengths that CNS have before entering the international market. Primary among these strengths is the product itself.
Breathe Right is a very practical and effective OTC medical product, bringing relief to individuals who experience frequent bouts of nasal congestion. The development of an ingenious product such as Breathe Right already ensures CNS significant success in entering foreign markets that will have immediate need for this product. Moreover, CNS holds a special niche in the OTC market. As a nasal congestion reliever, it enjoys lesser competition in its category, compared to other OTC brands/products.
In effect, the three-stage decision-making model is mainly a support to CNS’s strong product and brand. Its purpose, however, is invaluable for the company if the product will be released and sold in the foreign market. It is through the model that the company was able to “diagnose” the strengths and weakness of the foreign market it will potentially enter, and the model as a diagnostic tool would help CNS determine areas for improvement and reinforcement that would make the market receptive to the product and increase the demand for it.
The three-stage model’s purpose for CNS is invaluable because of the support it provides to the company, as it explores the viability of the product in markets other than the US. Testing for both economic factors and demographic characteristics of the market under study will enable CNS to enter the foreign market successfully, with greater receptiveness among consumers and hopefully, increased awareness, recall, and intention to buy Breathe Right.
Analysis of the product’s suitability to foreign markets would show that Breathe Right is suitable to the global market, encompassing cultural differences, since nasal congestion is an almost universal health experience. However, as Breathe Right enters the global market, it is important that CNS increase awareness of the product and brand among consumers through mass media campaigns, demonstrating its use and purposes for the consumer.
