The Scope and Challenge of International Marketing
Global Perspective
The Internationalization of U.S. Business
International Marketing Defined
The International Marketing Task
Environmental Adaptation Needed
The Self-Reference Criterion and Ethnocentrism: Major Obstacles
Developing a Global Awareness
Stages of International Marketing Involvement
Four events/trends stand out as the most dynamic in global business today
The rapid growth of the World Trade Organization and regional free trade areas such as the NAFTA and the EU
The trend toward the acceptance of the free market system among developing countries in Latin America, Asia, and eastern Europe
The burgeoning impact of the Internet, mobile phones, and other global media on the dissolution of national borders
The mandate to manage the resources and global environment properly for coming generations.
Today most business activities are global
Current interest in international marketing can be explained by changing competitive structures, coupled with shifts in demand characteristics in markets throughout the world
Many familiar U.S. companies are now foreign controlled or headed in that direction.
With the increasing globalization of markets, companies find they are unavoidably enmeshed with foreign customers, competitors, and suppliers, even within their own borders
Companies with only domestic markets have found increasing difficulty in sustaining their customary rates of growth.
International marketing is the performance of business activities designed to plan, price, promote, and direct the flow of a company’s goods and services to consumers or users in more than one nation for a profit.
Marketing concepts, processes, and principles are universally applicable, and the marketer’s task is the same
Foreign marketing is unique due to its complexity and variety of strategies.
They are necessary to cope with different levels of uncertainty encountered in foreign markets.
Marketers cannot control these uncontrollable elements but must instead adapt to them.
The international marketer must deal with at least two levels of uncontrollable uncertainty instead of one.
Marketing Decision Factors
The controllable elements can be altered in the long run and, usually, in the short run to adjust to changing market conditions, consumer tastes, or corporate objectives.
The uncontrollable elements are precisely that; the marketer must actively evaluate and, if needed, adapt.
Domestic environment uncontrollables include political and legal forces, economic climate, and competition.
Foreign environment uncontrollables: political stability, class structure, and economic climate can be part of this.
To adapt a marketing program to foreign markets, marketers must be able to interpret the influence and impact of each of the uncontrollable environmental elements on the marketing plan for each foreign market in which they hope to do business.
The task of cultural adjustment is the most challenging and important one; marketers must adjust their marketing efforts to cultures to which they are not attuned.
The SRC is an unconscious reference to one’s own cultural values, experiences, and knowledge as a basis for decisions
Closely connected is ethnocentrism- the notion that people in one’s own company, culture, or country know best how to do things.
Ethnocentrism and the SRC can influence an evaluation of the appropriateness of a domestically designed marketing mix for a foreign market.
To be globally aware is to have:
Tolerance of cultural differences
Knowledge of cultures, history, world market potential, and global economic, social, and political trends.
Global awareness involves knowledge of world market potentials and global economic, social, and political trends.
Research has revealed a number of factors favoring faster internationalization:
Companies with either high-technology or marketing-based resources appear to be better equipped to internationalize than more traditional manufacturing companies.
Smaller home markets and larger production capacities appear to favor internationalization
Firms with key managers well networked internationally are able to accelerate the internationalization process
Five Stages
No Direct Foreign Marketing
Infrequent Foreign Marketing
Regular Foreign Marketing
International Marketing
Global Marketing