Barry Randolph is a global marketing manager for Gen Tech Corporation, a leading manufacturer of computer accessories. The company has market-leading products in several categories, including keyboards and cases for laptops and tablet computers. One of Barry’s responsibilities is working with the Gen Tech global sales force as well as overall marketing communications for the company’s line of laptop and tablet computer cases. Recently he became aware of a problem in their Asian markets. While many of the company’s products were manufactured in Asia, particularly China, local Asian markets paid a premium for Gen Tech’s products relative to the price of their products in the United States or Western Europe. This was due to the perceived quality of the product in Asia and the power of Gen Tech’s brand in these markets. The problem was that several large retailers wanted Gen Tech to lower their prices to match the pricing structure of Gen Tech’s products in the United States. Senior management had told Barry to “hold the line” on the pricing structure, but he was finding this to be difficult. Salespeople were asking Barry to drop the price, or some of these retailers would like to reduce the amount of Gen Tech products in their stores. At Gen Tech the local sales force in each global market was under the supervision of the country manager and Barry had no direct control over their activities. While this had worked well for many years, it was now creating problems for Gen Tech, as salespeople (and their country managers) were putting a lot of pressure on Barry and Gen Tech management to lower prices to retain these important retailers.

Questions

1. What are the challenges for a company like Gen Tech when they maintain different pricing structures for their products around the world?
2. How should Barry Randolph and Gen Tech resolve the issue of variable price structures for their products?
3. What management structure would you recommend Gen Tech follow in managing their global sales operations?