ther important factor in the appliance business. For example, Maytag created a Galaxy initiative, a line-up of nine new products. Neptune, front-loading washer, attracted millions of customers due to its energy efficiency- consumes less water. Whirlpool also introduced new product line-up in clothes washing, refrigeration, air conditioning and cooking in order to stay competitive in the market (Johansson, 2000). Customer satisfaction is also a very important factor. Customer preferences differ from market to market, and meeting these requirements is very essential to many companies. For example, Danes need to spin-dry clothes while Italians often line-dry due to its different climates. The British are more concerned with well constructed products while Italians and Germans are concerned with childproof safety and the environmental friendly features. These three key factors are very essential to any companies that are involved in the appliance market. In order for a company to aggressively lower the costs, it needs to focus on improving efficiency and productivity. Generating quality innovated products and creating these products adjust to customer preferences are also important in order to survive in the appliance market. 3. Are Whirlpools difficulties with its global strategy due to internal factors or to external factors beyond its control?Both internal and external factors in different countries created enormous difficulties for Whirlpool. First I would like to take a look at external factors that put negative impacts on Whirlpool. As the global financial crisis extended from Asia and Russia into Latin America, Whirlpool's Brazilian operations have been thrown into chaos. To guard against an attack on its currency, Brazil doubled interest rates in October 1997 and again next autumn after they had slowly fallen back. As a result, Whirlpool's appliance sales in Brazil fell sharply by about 25 percent in 1998. In a battle...
