International Marketing

This particular helps them to understand that by going into the international market they can
not only increase their profitability, but also the sustainability (another most significant
business objective) factor also matters a lot. Further, the economic condition of the local
market is also required to be analysed hugely before taking the decision related to
international expansion. If the currency rate, foreign rate fluctuation, tax rate, etc. all is
stable, then it helps local company in the international market and this is one of the major
benefit that has been availed by US firms. In the starting period of globalization the dollar
was highly stabilized and this aspect allows them to create their regime on the world’s
economy. In result the company like McDonald and Starbucks also comes with their
international outlets. The internal economic environment gives them courage to expand
their business as their investment and earnings ratio was highly compatible. Further,
sometime the political environment becomes familiar to international expansion. This
particular aspect has become true with the IT and communication industry. In the last two
decades, every government ad every country has understood the need of better IT
infrastructure and having the most structured communication facilities. So, governments
have itself called various telecommunication and networking companies and have allowed
them to commence their business within their region with various subsidies ad comforts.
Therefore, above discussion suggests that the decision of internationalization depends
upon a variety of peculiar elements and all these elements must be investigated in an
appropriate way. It could help in generating the most positive results within the stipulated
period of time.

Afterwards, another significant element which gives huge priority to expanding the business
is the unique business idea. Google, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft are some of the
examples who lays into this category. This element always allows them to yield huge profits
and giving new dimensions to the industry. They make perfect use of their business models
and yield huge profits. Other than these aspects of business, there are some strategic
alternatives which also support the decisions of going into the international market. It is to
acknowledge that the major challenge in going into the foreign countries is risk associated
with the investment aspects. But, there are various entry strategies which provide leverage
to enter into foreign countries and that to in less risk. The option of licensing, joint venture,
franchising, etc. these are some strategies where the involvement of local parties is
immense and in this way the organization can definitely share the profit as well as their risk
with local parties. Ahead another advantage of this factor is that local network could also
become concrete and local people can provide an edge to survive in unfamiliar business
situations the relationships with suppliers, vendors, media people, etc. could become easier
and the resources required to operate business could be arranged in an effective manner.
The cost could be controlled as local people also put their money and their work for profit
motive as well. It is to acknowledge that in these situations the foreign companies have to
give huge priority to check the reputation and brand value of a local company with which
they are commencing their business. As the impact of their negative brand image could
spoil the brand value of a foreign company as well. Other than this, the option of FDI or
investing completely could be taken after the application of OLI framework.
At the same juncture the use and benefits of management models and theories can’t be
neglected. The management theories can definitely help in taking the decision related to
international market, whether it is related to the selection of entry strategy or it is related to
the selection of marketing strategy. OLI framework can provide information about entry
strategy as it involves the internationalization, localization strategy into it. Further, the
Hofstede model defines the cultural values of any country. It is essential to determine the
internal organizational culture by aligning with the outside culture of any region. For the
purpose of environmental scanning the company can rely upon the PEST analysis. It allows
getting knowledge about the business situation of any country. Therefore applicability of
these models in the effective and painstaking manner can definitely enable an organization
to take the decision related to expanding the business at international level and generating
the positive results at very large scale. These models could be suggested as solutions to
overcome the challenges of international markets and barriers to growth and development
could be handled painstakingly. Various obstacles like, the risk to investment, wastage of
resources, wrong decisions, etc. could be eradicated if these strategies or theories has
been implemented in a proper way.

The level of strategy during the formulation of international marketing strategy always
revolves around the basic fundamentals of basic marketing strategies. Nowadays the
organization can very easily enter into the foreign market as their various technological
advancements which can allow them to gather information about particular foreign market
and customers. The behavior, attitude level ad perception could be identified as new data
analysis techniques facilitate to get access to customer’s information. Through CRM, social
networking sites, big data, cloud, etc. it has become easier to store the information about
past trends and recent trends. It helps in determining the future strategies as future trends
could be identified easily. Therefore the technical aspects are also in favor of international
expansion (Gillespie, Jeannet and Hennessey, 2010). The major advantage of these
aspects is that the segmentation could be done effectively. The organization can categorize
the people as per their attitude and buying behavior. The product mix could be improved
along with the introduction of new product. Other than segmentation, the organization could
be in a position to understand the perception of customers. But some of the management
experts have stated that the market behaves in a very unpredictable manner. Before
investing huge money in these activities there is a requirement of assessing the preparation
of the company.

The most interesting fact about entering into the international market is that the local
government also wants the companies to go at international expansion. It brings the foreign
money within the country and most importantly the economic situation could be improved.
For the same purpose government support the initiative of international expansion (Engelen
and Brettel, 2010). The major advantage of this feature is that it builds the reputation within
the country and many obstacles related to business occurring at the national level could be
eradicated easily. So it is clear that through foreign expansion the country, not only
improves their profitability, but also they work towards the economic development as well.
Overall, all these features suggest that the company should go into the international market
and the entry strategy should be influenced by the nature of business, the level of
competition, support from the host government, association of risk, availability of resources
and host government’s entry or exit strategies. To deal with international market issues like
unpredictable buying behaviour, the unknown market situation, lack of information about
suppliers, etc. there is need of implementing the management theories and models so that
the positive results could be created (Das and Kumar, 2010). If an organization is able to
make alignment between all the components of international marketing, then the two most
organizational objectives profitability and sustainability could be achieved effectively.

References:

ssay on INTERNATIONAL MARKETING

The most important task of strategic management is to establish and maintain a dynamic interaction of
the organization with its environment, designed to provide it with a competitive advantage, which is
achieved by providing a product to the customer. Therefore, marketing objective occupies the position of
one of the leading strategic management functions. For a number of organizations, depending on what
goals they pursue and what strategy they implement, marketing is a key feature to ensure their successful
operation. Moreover, companies turn to a management philosophy, according to which a company must
focus its activity completely on customer needs (market driver management) and not try to make
“convenient” products trying to sell it. Therefore, marketing becomes something more than just a separate
function of management.

Marketing is increasingly used all areas of business activity of the company. Thus, marketing plays a
special role in the strategic management, significantly beyond the scope of functions of sales and
demand analysis.

Local marketing research

Today, setting new ambitious goals, every company faces many problems inherent to the market
economy. The real problem of doing business has become the problem of finding effective demand. It is
not enough to only produce goods, it is necessary to organize the work in such a way to make a profit
from the sale of this product.

Local marketing research is a systematic search, collection, analysis and presentation of data and
information related to a particular market situation, which the company faces in its country (Lipovetsky,
Magnan, & Zanetti-Polzi, 2011).

The objectives of marketing research:

Searching goal – collecting information for a preliminary assessment of the problem and its structuring;

Descriptive goal – description of the selected events, research subjects and the factors affecting their
condition;

Causal purpose – check of the hypothesis of a causal relationship;

Test objectives – selection of promising options or assessment of the correctness of decisions;

Forward-looking goals – prediction of the state of the object in the future.

The principal feature of marketing research, distinguishing it from the collection and analysis of internal
and external current information, is its target aim to solve a particular problem or set of problems of
marketing.
 Each company determines the topics and scope of marketing research according to its capabilities and
needs in marketing information, so the types of marketing research conducted by various companies can
be different.

Iinternational marketing reserch

The term “international marketing research” refers to the collection, analysis and reporting on clearly
defined problem of the operation of companies in foreign markets. International marketing research of
different depth and breadth of coverage and the underlying information base are the base for all decisions
(Webster, &Lusch, 2013).

Before entering international markets and creating information marketing base, a company should collect
information about the overall status and trends:

1) industry of manufacturing products,

2) countries, which are producers and consumers of these products,

3) individual manufacturers, consumers and resellers.

The study of international markets is based on the following characteristics:

1) products (industries, types of products, manufacturers, methods and forms of sales and service of
products)

2) consumers (industries, types of products, manufacturers and buyers, goals and methods of
consumption)

3) location of the market (region, country, territory).

On the first stage of international market research, a company should study the broadest possible
segment, that is the world market of the product. It must collect information about what companies in
which countries produce, trade and consume this type of product and services (Mihaela, 2010).

The similarities and the differences between local and international marketing research

Local and international marketing research are very similar, as they have almost the same goals and
objectives, as well as methods of conducting research. Both types of studies provide a comprehensive
study examining objects such as the market, consumers, and competitors. Local and international
marketing research have the same scheme of marketing research, which involves the following steps:

1. Defining a problem, objectives and methods.

2. Developing research plan.
3. Data collection and analysis.
4. Interpretation of the results and giving them to the management of organization.
Differences between local and international marketing research is that the evaluation of the international
marketing environment is carried out mainly from the standpoint of economic purchasing power of the
population in various countries, the levels of its income, industrial structure, orientation of the economy
(agricultural, raw materials, etc.), overall level of economic development (Levy, 2012). Nevertheless, a
potential exporter or importer should explore political and legal environment of the country: stability of
government, its laws in relation to the economic sphere (quotas, restrictions, confiscation of property of
foreign businessmen, foreign exchange controls). This may also include the availability of market
information, organization of statistics, work of customs and tax authorities. Social culture of the country
 should also be a subject of international marketing research. Local marketing research does not include
these questions.

The steps of marketing research

Marketing research process consists of several stages.

1. Defining the problem and research objectives. It is difficult to start any research before the problem is
determined. Stage of recognition and definition of the problem is the first step in the process of finding
solutions. Failure to comply with the tasks of sales, a growing number of unpaid bills and low turnover are
the signals or symptoms of more serious problems. Researchers should recognize and identify the
problems behind these symptoms. Incorrect definition of the problem can lead to wrong decisions.
Objectives are derived from market research to formulate the problem. Objectives should be clearly and
precisely defined, and be sufficiently detailed, it should be possible to measure them and evaluate their
level of achievement.
2. Definition of the objects of research.
When a problem is defined, it is possible to formulate the research problem. As a rule, the study includes
a solution to one of the four objectives: to develop, describe, test hypotheses and predict. The study is
carried out to develop when you need to get more information on the issue and more clearly formulate
hypotheses. Research to describe the problem is held when it is necessary to describe objects such as
market, define their characteristics based on statistical data. If the task of marketing research is testing
the hypothesis of relationship between the independent and dependent variables, companies conduct
research to identify the causes of the emergence of the problem.

3. Development of a research plan. The creation of a research project is perhaps the most important step in
the process of marketing research. Research project is a general plan of marketing research. It defines
the requirements for a variety of data and its collection, processing and analysis. This stage includes not
only the choice of certain methods of marketing research and development of specific tasks within the
market research. At this stage, researcher determines the need for information, type of required
information, sources and methods of its collection.
4. Data collection. From the perspective of the process, there are at least three alternative approaches to
data collection: by the staff of marketing service, by the specially created group or with the involvement of
companies that specialize in data collection. The process of gathering information is usually the most
expensive phase of the study. Furthermore, it may have a sufficiently large number of errors during
implementation.
5. Analysis of the data. It begins with the transformation of raw data (error checking, encoding,
representation in matrix form). This allows transferring a lot of raw data into meaningful information.
6. Presentation of the results. Results of the research are presented in the form of the final report and
submitted to the management of the company (Shaw, 2012).
From national to international marketing

Development of international economic relations, primarily on the basis of the international division of
labor, is the characteristic process in today’s global community. These are objective, stable commercial
relations between individual countries or groups of countries.

Essentially, each country in addition to conducting internal trade tends to carry foreign trade, implying a
complex mechanism of relations arising in the process of sale of goods and services in the international
market. Development of the international cooperation significantly increases the tendency towards the
internationalization of economic processes, promotes international specialization and cooperation in
production, trade, exchange of scientific and technological developments.

International marketing is a response to the world of commercial processes such as growth and
expansion of partnerships in the international market, increase of production capacity, quick update of
product range, frequent changes in the nature and structure of the market demand, market fluctuations,
increased competition, increased and improved quality of information support. International marketing
provides a systematic, ongoing, active involvement in the international market at different stages of the
promotion of commercial products (services) to the consumer. That is why we should distinguish the
concept of “international marketing” from the concepts of “sale” and “export”, since the latter consists in
the fact that sellers are limited to delivery of its products to foreign importing companies. At the same
time, suppliers are generally not interested in how consumers are satisfied in these products. A distinctive
feature of international marketing is a complete and clear orientation on foreign consumers, the desire to
satisfy their needs and requirements.

Marketing research is a necessary condition for the success of the company in international markets at all
stages of its operation and product life cycle. The better boundaries and objectives of the study are
defined, the more useful received information is, and the more accurate calculations are. They help to
better understand and adapt to the needs of the buyer, determine the best value for money and quality of
the goods, find new customers, find a way to draw attention to your company and products. Market
conditions are constantly changing, so there is a need for such work all the time, which greatly increases
the effectiveness of company on the international markets (Mihaela, 2010).

Examples

There are many examples of successful marketing of companies operating in the domestic and foreign
markets. Here are some of them.

Marlboro. Marlboro invented pack of cardboard with flip-top lid, which are now standard package of
cigarettes not in order to demonstrate innovation or design ideas but for promotional purposes. Smokers
were able to pull out cigarettes from soft packs without removing them from the pocket, so others did not
see the brand. Flip-tops made smokers take the pack out of the pocket so that everybody could see it,
and the new always attracts attention.

Estee Lauder. There is a beautiful legend about how Estee Lauder began selling its perfumes. The young
Miss Lauder came the biggest perfume shop in New York “accidentally” split the bottle of her perfume on
the floor. Buyers asked about the wonderful smell and store just had to sign a contract with Estee Lauder.

Heinz. In 1896, Henry Heinz was walking around New York and saw an advertisement of shoe store,
which offered clients “21 style of shoes.” By analogy, he decided to write on their ketchup and sauces “57
options”. This number had nothing to do with the actual figures range, but Heinz liked it. And it impressed
buyers.

Harley-Davidson. The most famous manufacturer of motorcycles in the world holds the first place in terms
of “branded” tattoos for more than a dozen years. It all began with the fact that Harley announced
impressive discounts on bikes for those who would come to buy a motorcycle with a tattoo in the form of
its logo.

One of the largest tobacco companies, «R. J. Reynolds International», was able to create a special
“Russian image”. The company began to produce new cigarettes, which were called “Peter I». Until now,
non-standard advertising of the company emphasizes that these cigarettes are created by Russian
designers specifically for Russian consumers. Company «R. J. Reynolds International» was able to show
how effective PR can work in terms of the binding of marketing programs to local traditions and mentality
of the target audience (Slater, &Andriopoulos, 2013).

Conclusion

Marketing research includes studies to support marketing activities, as well as statistical interpretation of
data into information. This information is then used by managers to plan marketing activities, assess of
the nature of trading environment of the company and to obtain information from suppliers. Market
research use statistical methods such as qualitative and quantitative research, hypothesis testing, chi-
square test, linear regression, frequency distribution, binomial distribution, etc. These methods are
needed to interpret the results and transform data into information. The process of marketing research
covers a number of steps, including identifying a problem, developing a plan of analysis, data collection
and interpretation, presenting information in the form of a formal report. The task of market research is to
provide management with relevant, accurate, reliable and valid data.

International marketing is an important aspect of a business's planning process if they

wish to go global.

Today, almost every marketing organisation, large or small, is touched in some way by
global competition- from the America florist that buys its flowers from Dutch nurseries,
to the Melbourne clothing retailer that sources its merchandise in Asia, to the American
electronics manufacturer competing in its home markets with giant Japanese rivals, to
the Australian consumer goods designer leading the way with new products for
international markets. Kotler P, Brown L, Adam S, Burton S, Armstrong G (2007).

Before an organisation makes the decision to go global and sell its products to a new
market they must research their potential markets in terms of the political and legal
environment, the economic structure of the market and who the organisation will
market its products to and how it will do this.

This essay focuses on why international marketing is important and how an organisation
can seek out opportunities and eliminate threats.

Body

Kotler P, et al (2007) states "Marketing is an organisational function and a set of

processes for creating, communicating and delivering value to customers and for
managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organisation and its
stakeholders."

Managing the consumer relationship as well as the stakeholders requires understanding

the different needs and wants of the different parties involved. The consumers want the
best quality product at the cheapest price however this comes at a cost for the
organisation because they also have a duty of care in managing the relationship with
the stakeholders for example the shareholders who want to make a high return on their
investment.

Businesses wanting to move their products in the global market use International
marketing when they gather information about their target market. The information
gathered would include such things as; the demographics of the market, the current
political environment, what economic system the country operates under and the
culture of the country.

International marketing is essential for businesses to survive in the global marketplace.

Not taking international marketing seriously could lead to the business failure in their
overseas markets. However using the right tools the organisation can avoid this.

Economic environment

There are four main types of economic structures: Market capitalism, centrally planned
socialism, centrally planned capitalism, and market socialism.

As described by Keegan & Green (2005) Market capitalism is an economic system in

which individuals and firms allocate resources and production resources are privately
owned. Therefore consumers decide what goods they desire and firms determine what
and how much to produce; the role of the state is to promote competition and ensure
consumer protection.

This is currently the most common economic system around the world. Countries
operating under Market capitalism are the easiest to get into, but also have the most
competition, which means businesses wanting to move into countries with market
capitalism will have to put the time into looking at whether the organisation has any
sources of competitive advantage, and if it does not, what it can do to be able to gain a
competitive advantage.

As described by Keegan & Green (2005) Centrally Planned Socialism is where the state
has the broad power to serve the public interests as it sees fit. State planners make 'top
down' decisions about what goods and services are produced and in what quantities
and therefore consumers spend their money on what is available.

Organisations wanting to move their products and/or services into countries that
operate under centrally planned socialism have to have a clear plan for its entry into the
marketplace. There will be less economic freedom in centrally planned socialist countries
because the state makes the decision on who receives resources. This is the most
difficult market to get into due to the controls placed on organisations by the state. If an
organisation is wanting to operate in this particular marketplace, it may have to enter
into a partnership agreement with the government.

Political Risk factors

As stated by Kotabe and Helsen (2008) the political environment in every country is
regularly changing. New social pressures can force governments to make new laws or to
enforce old policies differently. Policies that supported international investment may
change towards isolationism or nationalism. The environment in each target market
should be analysed to determine its level of economic and political risk and opportunity.

Organisations moving into the global market, it must assess the political risk, the
organisation must be aware of the history of the political and economic structure of the
country as well as the current systems which the country operates under.

Political risk is the risk of a change in the political environment or the government's
policy, which could adversely affect a company's ability to operate effectively and
profitability. If the political risk is too high in a country, foreign investment is going to be
low.

Some of the political risks involved for international marketing are;

The political structure of the country; how rapidly are the government of the country is
changed. This factor relates to the governments polices and the level of bureaucracy
involved in the system. Other factors include how prevalent corruption is in the normal
day to day operations of the business. This will affect the businesses ethical and social
responsibility and may have a negative on its brand image.

An example of how the political situation can change rapidly and have a negative impact
on organisations is Cuba. Under the Batista dictatorship foreign investment, mostly from
the United States of America flowed in, eventually reaching around 2 billion dollars.
However communist revolutionaries commanded by Fidel Castro seized Havana and
overthrew Batista in 1959, and proceeded to nationalise much of the assets owned by
foreign investors.

Market segmentation

Markets consist of buyers, and buyers differ in one or more ways. They may differ in
their wants, resources, location, buying attitudes and buying practices. Because buyers
have unique needs and wants, each buyer is potentially a separate market.

Organisations have to choose parts of the market which they want to target rather than
competing for the entire market; this is what market segmentation is, breaking the
market into different groups of people, based on their needs and wants, as well as what
makes them want to buy a product. This all allows the organisation to determine who
their products are aimed at.
Demographic segmentation

This involves dividing the market into groups based on each demographic variable, for
example, the age, gender, family size, family life-cycle, income, occupation, education,
religion and nationality of individuals who buy the businesses products.

For example China's population is 300 times larger of New Zealand's. Therefore the
organisation must break these groups of the potential buyer of the product.

Behavioural segmentation

Behaviour segmentation focuses on whether or not people buy and use a product, as
well as how often and what quantity consumers use or consume. Researching this
information about the new market, the business may find opportunities such as there is
a niche in the market that consumers look for in a product. Behavioural segmentation is
about the potential benefits people look for in a product.

Psychographic segmentation

Psychographic segmentation involves grouping people in terms of their attitudes, value,

and lifestyles. This information is usually obtained through surveys and questionnaires
and other types of studies.

Marketing Mix

Product

Introducing your product in the international market comes with a whole new marketing
mix analysis. When opening an organisations product to a new market the organisation
has to assess what the product is, what it stands for and how the organisation is going
to market this product. If there are already similar products in this market, how is the
business going to different the product from its competition?

The brand image of the product may be a source of competitive advantage to the
organisation. Whether the product is locally made or made in another country, is all part
of the brand image. This plays out in the perception that if a product is made in Asia, it
might not be of the same quality as it would be if it was made in New Zealand.

Going into a new market, the organisation has to take into account the religion and the
culture of the country. For example selling NZ pork in Indonesia; Indonesia is the largest
Muslim country in the world. How does an organisation market this product?
Through the market segmentation, the organisation should be able to break down
different groups of people in that country for example how many non-Muslims live in
that country, which can help the organisation market its product. The organisation must
also figure out how it can do this without upsetting the main religion of the country.

Price

Selling the product at the right price that best suits the product. Going to a new market
the organisation may have to change its pricing strategies to match the country. This all
depends on several factors, such as how much competition there is in the market,
whether the product the organisation is selling is in a low income area, which would
have the result of many people not being able to afford to buy the product if it is too
expensive.

Promotion

When an organisation is promoting their product and/or service in the international

marketplace, it has to consider factor such as, what the organisation does currently to
promote its product/service and how or if they can change this form of promotion to
reach a new target market. The type of promotion that the organisation used
domestically may not work the same in the foreign marketplace due to different
demographics, culture etc.

When Fisher & Paykel launched its product line in China earlier this year, they launched
it at the biggest appliance show in China, knowing that there would be a lot of viewers
and potential buyers of their products at this show.

Placement

Placement is the distribution of an organisations product and is an important aspect of

entering a foreign marketplace. In order to sell their products an organisation has to
have an effective distribution network, and establishing one can often be a very
expensive and time consuming job. One way to gain a distribution network is to acquire
wholely an existing business that sells a competing product.

Reference