Viking Catalog - Putting It All Together (3,692 words)

All my counterparts in Europe are working similarly, so it makes communication much easier. We can share ideas. My department reports directly to the U.S. headquarters. Usually we do meetings once or twice a year in London.

How is the cultural fitting done?

We in Germany have a special situation: We cannot have sale and regular prices out there at the same time. If we offer a pen for 99 cents on sale, it has to be the same throughout all the catalogs. If we do a misprint of 59 cents, we have to sell it in all the catalogs at that price. From our point of view, this is the biggest difference from the U.S. catalog. In Austria, though, you can use the regular Viking pricing philosophy.