Marketing when things change

Macro changes in the international business environment will affect marketing content, application, context and acceptance. One prime example of adjustment success and failure is the reunification of East (GDR) and West Germany. The lessons learned from that experience might help transform other places, such as in Iran and Cuba.

Twenty-five years later, an entire generation has been exposed to new market interactions, orientations and rules. Here, we offer thoughts on the marketing environment, both as an influence on consumer behaviour as well as the context influenced by consumers.

When the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, GDR companies and products that had been protected by 60 years of state planning were taken over by Western companies, which often terminated East German products due to the fear of intra-company competition.

Market shares of all East German products dropped after unification, since people switched to West German products for their novelty and better quality. The next generation of the five former East German states (excluding Berlin as a city-state) experienced major changes: a declining and aging population combined with rising unemployment and relatively low average income.