Hoofdstuk 1: an Introduction to international marketing.
What is meant with Marketing:
- Focusing on the needs and wants of costumer
- Identifiying the best method of satisfying those needs and wants
- orienting the company towards the process of providing that satisfaction
- Meeting organizational objectives
By using marketing the company prepares itself to achieve competitive advantage in the
marketplace. And it works to maintain the advantage by manipulating the controllable functions of
marketing by using the SLEPT factors.
differences between regular marketing and international marketing:
- Different levels at which international marketing can be approached.
- The uncontrollable elements of the marketing environment are more complex. Managers
have to aquire new skills and abilities to their marketingskills.
- Key difference: The multidimensionality and complexity of the many foreign country
markets. A international marketing manager needs a knowledge and awareness of the
complexities.
Different levels of International marketing:
- Domestic marketing: involves the company manipulating controllable variables as price, advertising,
distribution and product in a uncontrollable external environment that is made up of differect
economic, competitors and another culture.
- International marketing: Operating across a number of foreign countries, but not only the
uncontrollable variables differ, but also the controllable factors like price and product differ from the
home country.
- Global Marketing management: in which the whole organization focuses on the selection and
exploitation of global marketing opportunities, with the objective of achieving a global competitive
advantage.
We use the SLEPTS approach to examine the various aspects and trends in the international
marketing environment.
S- Social/cultural environment: Differences in social condition, religion and material culture affect
consumers perceptions and patterns of buying behaviour. Other aspects are: Language, religion,
aesthetics, Values, social organization, material culture.
L – Legal environment: A company is not just bound by the laws of its home country, but also by
those of its host country and by the growing body of international law. There are the dimensions in
international marketing:
- Local domestic laws: Are all different, to find your way through you have to make use of an
expert in each market targeted.
, - International law: Laws covering piracy and hijacking, and agreements of the IMF and WTO,
these two also make treaties, cover patents and trademark which can affect your bussines.
- Domestic laws in the home country: 2 important issues: There are oftend export controls
which limit the free export of certain goods, and secondly there is the duty to act and abide
by the domestic national law in all the companies activities.
Laws can affect the marketing mix in terms of products, price and distribution and promotional.
E- Economic environment: It is import to know the economic development and it impinges on the
marketing strategy. Firms need to be aware of the economic direction in which a particular
marketing is developing to know whether it can be profitable for them.
GNIpc: Gross national income per capita
PPP: Purchasing power parity.
In order to examine the economic challenges for companies we divide the economies in:
- Developed economies: NAFTA(north American free trade area), EU and Japan, they account
for 80% of the world trade.
- Emerging econonomies: Countries as Brazil, China and India. There is a huge and growing
demand for everything. From cars to phones. This means allot of oppurtinities for the
international marketing firm. (Dual economy: There is a wealthy call alongside a poorer
population)
- Less developed countries: Underdeveloped and less developing countries. Low GDP, limited
manufacturing and poor infrastructure. This countries are very reliant on one product and
one trading partner.
P- Polical environment: National or international polical factor that can affect the organizations
operations or decision making. Polical risk: Risk due to a sudden change in a local political
environment that is disadvantageous. Types of action that governments may take whichin firms can
fail are covered in three areas:
- Operational restrictions: Exchange controles, employment policies, insistence on locally
shared ownership.
- Discriminatory restrictions: For example that the US don’t import anything from Syria or Iran
as a protest.
- Physical actions: Direct government interventions like forced take over by the government,
expropriation, nationalization or even damage to property.
T- Technological environment: Technology is a major driving force in internatioinal marketing and in
the move towards a more global marketplace. The impact of technological advances in a country is
very import for a company. Because information is power and if everyone can reach the information
by using the internet or phones, this is good for a company.
S- sustainability: Considering the environmental impact with international marketing. It is feared that
as the global econonomic wealth increases, global natural wealth and diversity continue to decline.
Greatest challenges with international marketing: