Abstract
With this article we will highlight how Mattel and its well-known icon, Barbie tried to get a foothold in the Chinese market since 1998 by using a well known company: Avon. This situation is called a piggy - back, this illustrate how company A, here Mattel, wants to sell its products trough the distribution channels of another, company B, here Avon. So to define it, a piggy-back is a horizontal co-operation; in our case Mattel uses the distribution channel of Avon to sell its Barbie dolls. We might ask now, why does Mattel, a big international group, need to co-operate with Avon? We will try to figure it out through this marketing plan. We already know that this association can be profitable.
Considering this case, a relation between Avon and Mattel will be reductive. In fact we must also take into consideration the place as well as the life of the market. China is a special atypical market and a new emerging market. The way to penetrate into the Chinese's market is totally different from that of the USA or European Union. Cultural aspects and especially government wishes and obligations have to be taken into consideration. When an industry gets that big even corporate bureaucrats begin to notice it. Major multinational corporations are taking account of the networking phenomenon, building it into their own plans for distributing products and services.
