With respect to market size, Russia is a far more important market for Levi Strauss than are all of the former states of the Yugoslav federation combined. Prior to the beginning of the war in Bosnia, per capita incomes in the former states of the Yugoslav federation made these markets highly attractive. The war, together with Western economic sanctions in the region, however, has weakened the attractiveness of the former states of the Yugoslav federation for Western marketers, including Levi Strauss.icial data. Disposable income in Russia, as a proportion of total income, is high (35 percent compared with an average 15 percent in Western countries) because essential goods (housing, basic foods, and heating) are governed by price controls. de Chernatony, L. "The Seven Building Blocks of Brands." Management Today, (March 1993): 66-68. With respect to the teenage segment of the jeans target market, however, Levi jeans still represent a new idea (especially so in Eastern Europe, an idea which requires completion of the adoption process. As long as new crops of teenagers continue to come along, therefore, the adoption process will continue to be relevant in the marketing of Levi jeans. Weismn, K. "La Mode in Moscow: A Potential Bonanza, But Plenty of Pitfalls." WWD 9 November 1994, 1-2. For a product which has been marketed continuously for more than 100 years, considering it within the context of the adoption process--the acceptance of a new idea--might appear inappropriate. The market demographics for Levi jeans, however, is about evenly split between teenagers and older persons. Levi Strauss is not concerned, in the context of the adoption process, with the older half of the jeans market. The assessment of the company with respect to the older half of the market is that the adoption process is completed, whether the result of the process was either acceptance or rejection. Jenk, J., Michel, C. H., and Margotin-Roze, V. "The Russian Consumer Revol |
