Heavy vehicle B2B marketing and impact of culture - a comparison case study of Volvo and Scania in Thailand

Abstract: Many Automobile companies from the developed countries are moving to Asia as the market potential in these countries is dimishing and cost of production is cheaper. Although there is a larger market potential in Asian countries, each automible company needs to attract potential customers with the ultimate goal of retaining them. A case study based on interviews was carried out at Volvo and Scania subsidiaries in Thailand to investigate the role culture play in business-to-business marketing when companies move to a country with a different culture. As the way of work in Thailand and Sweden is different, culture impact is researched in the area of relational marketing, sales forecast and market survey, market segmentation and business marketing communication with focus on the B2B marketing. Finally we perform analysis to identify what is necessary for the companies to adopt in regards to cultural with the aim of retaining and gaining market share. The analysis is based on empirical data collected during interview with employees of the two companies.