INTRODUCTION TO

INTERNATIONAL MARKETING
IMR300 Lecture 1
Agenda
The international marketing concept
A brief introduction of international marketing
environment
Major obstacles in international marketing
Stages of international marketing involvement

International marketing
It refers to marketing carried out by companies
overseas or across national borderlines.
The performance of the business activities that
direct the flow of a companys goods and
services to consumers or users in more than
one nation for a profit.

American Marketing Association
(AMA)
The multinational process of
planning and executing the conception,
pricing, promotion and distribution of ideas,
goods, and services to create exchanges that
satisfy individual and organizational objectives

INTERNATIONAL MARKETING
In simple words International Marketing is the
application of marketing principles to across
national boundaries.

However, there is a crossover between what is
commonly expressed as international marketing
and global marketing, which is a similar term.

Global marketing
It refers to marketing activities integrated across
multiple country markets.

International Marketing Vs. Domestic
Marketing
The main difference between them is that the
marketing activities take place in more than one
country.
more complicated, at least two levels of
uncontrollable uncertainty instead of one.

International Marketing Vs. Domestic
Marketing
Uncertainty is created by the uncontrollable
elements of all business environments, but each
foreign country in which a company operates
adds its own unique set of uncontrollable.

International Marketing Vs. Domestic
Marketing
Competition, legal restraints, government
controls, weather, fickle consumers, and any
number of other uncontrollable elements can,
and frequently do, affect the profitable outcome
of good, sound marketing plans.

International Marketing Vs. Domestic
Marketing
Marketer can not control or influence these
uncontrollable elements, but instead must adjust
or adapt to them in a manner consistent with a
successful outcome.

International Marketing Vs. Domestic
Marketing
Marketing objectives are achieved in a way of
molding the controllable elements of marketing
decisions (product, price, promotion and
distribution) within the framework of the
uncontrollable elements of marketplace
(competition, politics, laws, consumer behavior,
level of technology, and distribution).

International Marketing Environment


(controllables)
Domestic environment
(uncontrollable)
Economic
climate
Competitive
structure
Political
/ legal
forces

Political/legal
forces
Foreign environment
(uncontrollable)
Economic forces
Cultural
forces
Competitive
forces
Geography and
infrastructure
Structure of
distribution
Level of
technology
Environmental
uncontrollables
country market A
Source: Philip R. Cateora. International Marketing. Ninth edition Source: Philip R. Cateora. International Marketing. Ninth edition Source: Philip R. Cateora. International Marketing. Ninth edition Source: Philip R. Cateora. International Marketing. Ninth edition
International environmental forces
Marketing controllables: The successful manager
constructs a marketing program designed for
optimal adjustment to the uncertainty of the
business climate.
Domestic uncontrollables: This includes home-
country elements that can have a direct effect on
the success of a foreign venture: political forces,
legal structure, and economic climate.
Foreign uncontrollable: The problem of
uncertainty is further complicated by a frequently
imposed alien status that increases the difficulty of
properly assessing and forecasting the dynamic
international business climate.
International environmental forces
Thus a strategy successful in one country can
be rendered ineffective in another by differences
in political climate, staged of economic
development, level of technology, or other
cultural variation.

International marketing
International marketing is often not as simple as
marketing your product to more than one nation.
Companies must consider
language barriers,
ideals, and
customs in the market they are approaching.
Language barrier
Due to a language barrier, it is more difficult to
obtain and interpret research data in
international marketing.
Promotional messages needs to consider
numerous cultural differences between different
countries.

This includes the differences in
languages, expressions, habits, gestures,
ideologies and more.

Language barrier
Language barrier
United States - "okay"
Mediterranean - "zero" or "the
worst
Tunisia - "I'll kill you"
Japan - "money".

Language barrier
74 English-speaking nations a word with the same
meaning can differ greatly from each other

Bar: pub (Britain), hotel (Australia), boozer (Australia,
Britain, New Zealand)
Bathroom: Loo (Britain), Dunny (Australia)
Ghost or monster: Wendigo (Canada), Duppy
(Caribbean), Taniwha (New Zealand)
Truck: Lorry (Britain and Australia)
Sweater: Jumper (England)
French fries: Chips (Britain)
Soccer: Football (the rest of the world)
Language barrier:
Misinterpretation
On a sign in a Bucharest hotel lobby:
The lift is being fixed for the next day. During that
time, we regret that you will be unbearable.
From a Japanese information booklet about
using a hotel air conditioner:
Cooles and Heates: If you want just condition of
warming your room, please control yourself.

SRC And Ethnocentrism: Major
Obstacles
The key to successful international marketing is
adaptation to the environmental differences from
one market to another.
SRC And Ethnocentrism: Major
Obstacles
An unconscious reference to ones own cultural
values, experiences, and knowledge as a basis
for decisions.
The SRC impedes the ability to assess a foreign
market in its true light.
SRC And Ethnocentrism: Major
Obstacles
Cross-cultural analysis isolating the SRC
influences
Define the business problem or goal in home-
country cultural traits, habits, or norms.
Define the business problem or goal in foreign
cultural traits, habits, or norms. Make no value
judgments.
Isolate the SRC influence in the problem and
examine it carefully to see how it complicates the
problem.
Redefine the problem without the SRC influence
and solve for the optimum business goal situation.

Stages Of International Marketing
Involvement
1. No Direct Foreign Marketing: trading
companies, foreign customers, domestic
wholesalers, distributors
2. Infrequent Foreign Marketing: Temporary
surpluses caused by variations in production
levels or demand, few companies today fit this
model
3. Regular Foreign Marketing: foreign or domestic
overseas intermediaries, own sales force or
sales subsidiaries
Stages Of International Marketing
Involvement
4. International Marketing: fully committed and
involved in international marketing activities.
Such companies seek markets all over the
world and sell products that are a result of
planned production for markets in various
countries.
5. Global Marketing: Market segmentation
decisions are no longer focused on national
borders. Instead, market segments are defined
by income levels, usage patterns, or other
factors.

Global Economics and Global Exchange
Free trade or Protectionism