Rethinking Offshoring and International Marketing Strategies during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Luíza Fonseca,Angela Da Rocha

doi:10.1590/1982-7849rac2021200216.en

Abstract

ABSTRACT This teaching case focuses on the national and international expansion of IGT Motors, a Brazilian company operating in the market for twenty years that has moved most of its production to China since 2010. Nearly after the company started searching for new markets abroad and adapted its internal and communication processes to comply with other countries’ preferences and regulations, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic led top management to rethink its production and marketing strategies, specifically hit by involving China, country of origin of the virus. The case is about how small companies in the midst of a global expansion can deal with unexpected scenarios and emerging crisis, engaging students to reflect upon the initiatives that might be taken to overcome issues such as consumer animosity, but also to make the company less susceptible to similar situations in the future.

Highlights

At the beginning of 2020, Luiz Filipe Augusto, a partner at IGT Motors and at the time responsible for the company’s international marketing and business departments, felt confident about the path of expansion that had begun in the previous year and about the market gains achieved up until that point
If it were to decide to continue with the international expansion, what strategic changes could the company make to reduce its dependence on supply and overcome the negative effect of the association with products from China?
The present teaching case assumes that the students have done the assigned reading and that they have thought about the main points addressed for a classroom discussion of approximately one hour and thirty minutes, according to the following allocation of time:

Summary

Introduction

At the beginning of 2020, Luiz Filipe Augusto, a partner at IGT Motors and at the time responsible for the company’s international marketing and business departments, felt confident about the path of expansion that had begun in the previous year and about the market gains achieved up until that point. 4. If it were to decide to continue with the international expansion, what strategic changes could the company make to reduce its dependence on supply and overcome the negative effect of the association with products from China?

Results

Conclusion