International Management

Surat Diamond Jewelery’s International Expansion in 1997, a small mail-order jewelry manufacturer in India. Surat Diamond Jewelry, (SDJ), began to target overseas customers exclusively through the Internet. During the first year that SDJ began to market on the Internet, the company received more orders from Americans who had not family or cultural connections to India as compared to Indians residing in the United States. There was a similar pattern in the other regions. Eventually, SDJ began offering products adapted to the cultural tastes of each region, while keeping the traditional product line for the Indians living both in India and worldwide.

Because of the ease and efficiency of using the Internet, SDJ was able to better investigate specific consumer needs in different countries. They found that, in the jewelry industry, the tastes and preferences across cultures were differentiated. Furthermore, the Internet allowed the company to efficiently yet selectively serve targeted customer needs, while keeping the assets centralized in Mumbai, India. Today, SDJ has regular clients in 15 different countries and is investigating further country expansion. Thus the Internet provided the pathway for a small, indigenous firm to compete internationally in a locally responsive, multidomestic fashion, without the capital resources historically deemed necessary.

PUBLISHED IN A MANAGEMENT BOOK

‘MANAGING IN A DIVERSER AND DYNAMIC GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT: INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT ‘

BY
ARVIND V. PHATAK—Temple university
RABI S. BHAGAT---Univeristy of Memphis
ROGER J, KASHLAK—Loyola College in
Maryland

PUBLISHED BY McGraw-Hill
ISBN 0-07-281906-5