Pricing Challenges in Global Marketing: a Model for Export Pricing Mehdi Zaribaf* Islamic Azad University of Iran, Firoozkuh Branch ABSTRACT Among the four marketing mix, product, distributing channels, promotion and price, only price creates income and the other three generate costs. Price, besides creating income, plays a major role as a strategic factor in developing competitive advantage in the market. The amount of income and promotion of a company regarding the positioning and finding a suitable position in the mind of customers are related to suitable pricing. Decision making for pricing is not an easy task and many factors are affecting in this decision. The reason for some companies which are not so active for export pricing is that they have a good sale in internal market because of their product character which has good internal market or in some countries due to limiting import regulation. These companies are worried about heir global competitive positions too, and need a prescription for their future activity because they also feel that in the global marketing acting ethnocentric will not be enough. Two main factors for this company to be considered are internal market condition and the amount of authority granted to export managers for declaring price to different customers. In this article we discuss kind of factors affecting pricing and kinds of pricing and demonstrate a model which could be important in export pricing for the global marketing pricing by considering the amount of authority for pricing and the conditions of internal market. Key words: pricing objectives, pricing policies, global strategic pricing model INTRODUCTION A number of different pricing strategies are available to global marketers. An overall goal must be to contribute to company sales and profit objective worldwide. In this article we will review the theories relating to pricing, policies of pricing, and will discuss the * Corresponding author: Mehdi Zaribaf Tel: +989121898543 Fax: +982177386163 E-mail: mzaribaf@iaufb.ac.ir IJMP is a publication of International Business and Toursim Society www.ib-ts.org/ijmp.htm © 2008 All rights reserved. M. Zaribaf ISSN: 1307-1629, 2008, 2 (1) practical view of companies corresponding to different price statement, and based on experience of the author, as a faculty member and export manager, a conceptual model for pricing will be offered. LITERATURE REVIEW Customer- oriented strategies such as market skimming, penetration, and market holding can be used when customer perceptions, as determined by the value of equation, are used as a guide. Global pricing can also be based on other external criteria such as the escalations in costs when good are shipped long distance across national boundaries. The issue of global pricing can also be fully integrated in the product design process, an approach widely use by Japanese companies. Pricing in global markets must be evaluated at regular intervals and adjusted if necessary. Similarly pricing objectives may vary, depending on product’s life cycle stage and the country-specific competitive situation. Any pricing system should address price floor, price ceiling and optimum prices in each of national market in which the company operates. The pricing consideration for marketing outside the home countries are the reflection of quality in price, competitiveness, the kind of pricing objective i.e. penetration, skimming holding, the type of discount, market segmentation, the pricing option in case of costs increase or decrease, the logicalness of price by the host- country, and its laws and the probable dumping. Three major objectives known in pricing are market skimming, price penetration and market holding. The market skimming pricing strategy is an attempt to reach a market segment that is willing to pay a premium price for a product. In such case the product must create high value for buyers or the knowledge of customer regarding the technology used for the product is not sufficient. This pricing strategy is often used in the introductory phase of product life cycle, when both production capacity and competition are limited by setting high price the demand is limited to early adopters who are willing and able to pay the price. The goals of this pricing are maximize revenue on limited volume to match demand and to reinforce customers’ perception of high product value (Business America, 1993, p. 12). Penetration pricing uses price as a competitive weapon to gain market position. The majority of companies, located in Pacific Rim, use this type of pricing. Scale-efficient plans and lo-cost labor allow these companies to attack the market. Usually a first- time exporter do not use this type of pricing because it may call for some losses for some length of time which his company can not afford it. Some innovative companies, when their product is not patentable, use this strategy to achieve market saturation before the other competitors can coy. The sale volume it expects to achieve in the markets leads to scale economies and lower costs. - 19 - International Journal of Management Perspectives The market holding strategy is frequently adoptee by companies that want to maintain their share of the market. In single- country marketing, this strategy often involves reacting to price adjustments by competitors. One of the changes factors in the price in global marketing is the currency fluctuations which often trigger price adjustments. Adjusting prices to fit the competitive situation may mean lower profit margins. A strong home currency and rising costs in the home country may also force a company to shift its sourcing to in-country or third- country manufacturing or licensing agreements, rather than exporting from home country, to maintain market share. Market holding means that a company must carefully examine all its costs to ensure that it will be able to remain competitive in target markets. Another strategy, frequently used by companies new to exporting is cost-plus to gain toehold in global marketplace. There are two cost-plus pricing methods: historical accounting cost method which defines cost as the sum of all direct and indirect manufacturing and overhead costs, and estimated future cost method which is used mostly in recent years. Cost –plus pricing requires adding up all costs required to get the product to destination, plus shipping and ancillary charges, and a profit percentage. It is relatively easy to arrive at a quote, assuming that accounting costs are available. This approach, however, ignores demand and competitive conditions in target market. There fore this approach is either too high or too low in the light of market and competitive conditions. Novice exporters do not care because they react to the market opportunities rather than having proactive seeking for them. Price escalation is the increase in a product’s price as transportation, duty, and distributor margins are added to the factory price. Beginning exporters might use this approach to determine the CIF price plus any inland charges as duty, inland transportation, distributor margins etc. Using sourcing as a strategic pricing tools There are several options when addressing the problem of price escalation described earlier. Domestic manufacturers may be forced to switch to lower income, lower wages countries for the sourcing of certain components or even finished goods to keep costs and prices competitive. Some people believe low wage approach a one- time advantage, and can not be substitute for ongoing creativity which causes value. Another option is to source 100 percent of a finished product offshore near the local markets. In this case the manufacturer can enter into one of the arrangements such as licensing, joint venture, or a technology transfer agreement. In this case the manufacturer has presence in the market and high costs of home land and transportation will no longer be an issue. Another option is a through audit of the distribution structure in the target market. A rationalization of the distribution structure can substantially reduce the total markups required to achieve distribution in international market. Rationalization may include selecting new intermediaries, assigning new responsibilities to old intermediaries, or establishing direct marketing operations. Exporters also encounter to dumping, which is sale of an imported product at a price lower than that normally charged in a domestic market or country of origin. Many - 20 - M. Zaribaf ISSN: 1307-1629, 2008, 2 (1) countries have their own policies against dumping but the main point is how to prove a company is dumping and the time it take to get the losses from this action.(Keegan, 2002) Environmental factors affecting pricing Marketers must deal with a number of environmental factors when making pricing decisions. Currency fluctuation, inflation, government controls and subsidies, competitive behavior, and market demand are among these factors. Some of these factors work in conjunction with others; for example, inflation may be accompanied by government controls. When currency fluctuation occurs, there are two options for pricing: one is to fix the price of products in country target market. In this case, any appreciation or depreciation of the value of the currency in the country of production will lead to gain or losses for the seller. The other option is to fix the price of products in home country currency. If it is done, any appreciation or depreciation of the home country currency will result in price increases or decreases for customers and no immediate consequences for the seller. In actual practice, a manufacturer and its distributor may work together to maintain Market share in international market. Either party, or both, may choose to take a lower profit percentage. In the long term contracts, both parties agree an exchange rate clause, which allows them to agree to supply and purchase at fixed prices in each company’s national currency. In this case if the exchange rate fluctuate within a specified range, say plus or minus of five percent, the agreed price will not be changed, but if more than that, say plus or minus of ten percent, then new discussion or negotiation for adjusting the prices should be opened.( Darlin, 1998) Inflation, or a persistent upward change in price levels, is a worldwide phenomenon. Inflation requires periodic adjustments. These adjustments are caused by rising costs that must be covered by increased selling prices. An essential requirement when pricing in an inflationary environment is the maintenance of operating profit margins. LIFO costing method is prescribed by some practitioners under conditions of rising prices. Government control can also limit the freedom to adjust prices, and the maintenance of margins should be compromised. In a country that is undergoing severe financial difficulties and is in the midst of a financial crisis (e.g., a foreign exchange shortage caused in part runaway inflation), government officials are under pressure to take some type of action. Governmental actions in the case of hard financial problems include use of broad or selective price controls, prior cash deposit requirements for imports, customs duties for imports, value added tariffs, proliferation of rules and regulations, and subsidization. All of these controls are against exporting pricing when a company wants to export products to an importing country which is under control of the government. In fact the more control rendered by a government the more difficult to enter in that country market. In this case the availability of this market is not so suitable. - 21 - International Journal of Management Perspectives Pricing decisions are also bounded by competitive action. If competitors are manufacturing or sourcing in a lower costs country, it may be necessary to cut prices to stay competitive. The other fact is the study of relationship between quality and price. Recent four country international study found that there is a weak relation between price and quality. The authors concluded that the lack of strong price- quality relationship appears to be an international phenomenon (Faulds, 1994, 7:25). Consumers with limited information rely more on product style and appearance and less on technical quality as measured by testing organizations. Still some marketers believe that this relation is strong and has the major role in product value. The recent following model Created by a group of marketing lecturers from southern England based in Chi Chester, described in http:// marketingteacher.com (2007) shows strong relationship between price and quality which offers four strategy of economy, when the price and quality are both low, penetration, when the price low yet the quality is high to get more market share or penetrate in a new market, skimming, when the price is high but the quality is high and the goods are not supplied by too many competitors, and premium, when the price and quality are both high and there is a uniqueness about the product or service. Figure 1: Pricing Strategic Matrix based on the quality Quality Low P r i c e L o w H i g h High Economy Penetration Skimming Premium Pricing Strategies Matrix Source: www: // marketingteacher.com The knowledge of customer about the technology of new product and the amount of his or her awareness can play a major role in pricing. As much as the knowledge of a customer about the product is low, the producer can use this margin to skim the market or get a better premium from this market. [Khalil, 2006] - 22 - M. Zaribaf Transfer pricing Transfer pricing refers the pricing of goods and services bought and sold by operating units or divisions of a single company. In other word, transfer pricing concerns intra corporate exchanges- transactions between buyers and sellers that have the same corporate parent. For example Toyota subsidiaries sell to, and buy from each other. This happens when the company expands and profit centers are shaped in the corporate financial picture. ISSN: 1307-1629, 2008, 2 (1) There are three alternative approaches to transfer pricing: (1) cost based pricing, (2) market based transfer pricing, and (3) negotiated prices. Some companies using cost- based approach may arrive at transfer prices that reflect variable and fixed manufacturing costs only. Alternatively, transfer prices may be based on full costs, including overhead costs from marketing, R&D, and other functional areas. The way costs are defined may have an impact on tariffs and duties sales to affiliates and subsidiaries by global companies. Cost plus pricing is also based by costs but different approach. In this approach, profit must be shown for any product or service at every stage of movement through the corporate system. It may be set at certain percentage of fixed costs such as 15 percent of cost. It is unrelated to competitive and demand conditions but many exporters use it. Another approach to transfer pricing is market- based approach. A market –based transfer price is derived from the price required to be competitive in the international market. The volume level also plays a major role in pricing. To use market- based transfer prices to inter in a small market, third country sourcing may be required. This enables a company to establish its name or franchise in the market without committing to a major capital investment. A third alternative is to allow the organization affiliates to negotiate transfer prices among themselves. In some instances, the final transfer price may reflect costs and market prices, but this is not a requirement. (Horngren, Foster, 1991) In a research conducted by Horngren and foster (1991), was found that 46 percent of U.S. based companies, 33percent of Canadian, 41 percent of Japanese and 38 percent of U.K.-based companies use some form of cost based transfer pricing. Corporate costs and profits are also affected by import duties. The higher the duty rate, the more desirable is a low transfer price. The high duty creates an increase to reduce transfer prices to minimize the customs duty. The companies also may use three policies on world wide pricing: extension ethnocentric, adaptation/poly centric and invention/ geocentric. In the first policy, the price of an item is the same around the world and the importer - 23 - International Journal of Management Perspectives absorb freight an import duties. Empirically in this policy, no information on competitive or market condition is required and does not respond to the every market neither it maximize the company profits in each national market nor globally. Its only advantage is to simply entering a market if it suit to their price which the exporter has no information about it. In the second policy the exporter tries to match the price with any individual local market. This policy, in practice, permits subsidiary or affiliate manager to establish any price they feel is most desirable in their circumstances. This policy may cause product arbitrage, because of different prices in different location and enterprising business managers may use it and foster a grey market for the company’s product. It may also weaken the corporate strategies of the central company because all local market managers have the freedom to set the price for their markets. Different prices for different places may have another disadvantage, because it may send a signal to the rest of the world that is contrary to company interests. A price move anywhere in the world is known instantly all over the world specially by using the world wide webs in the internet by companies which makes the customers aware of the competitive price information. The third and the best policy to international pricing is termed invention/ geocentric. Using this approach a company neither fixes a single price nor remains apart from subsidiary price decisions, but instead strikes intermediate positions. There are unique market factors, like local costs, income levels, competition, and local marketing strategies that should be recognized in arriving at pricing decisions. The reason we perceive it as the best policy is that local costs plus a return on invested capital and personnel fix the price floor for the long term. This approach lends itself to global competitive strategy. A global competitor will take in to account global markets and global competitors in establishing prices. Prices will support global strategy objectives rather than the objectives of maximizing performance in a single country. This policy forces the exporter to consider the said aspects of any market globally and focusing the company’s strategy as well. In the study of Samli and Jacobs (1994), for the pricing practices of U.S. multinational firms, they concluded that 70 percent of the firms standardized their prices, where as 30 percent used variable pricing in world market. They said, it would appear that the companies should consider renewing the pricing policies. Particular factors of an export price The factors for developing price are costs, the market and customer behavior conditions, competition and the company policies. The main factor for pricing is costs. The price base on costs, especially when there is no information about the market and customer willingness, is a virtually easy approach - 24 - M. Zaribaf ISSN: 1307-1629, 2008, 2 (1) and shows the fairness for value added payment of production. The costs are useful for determining the floor price of a product. In short term, when we have extra capacity, the floor costs may be the out of pocket costs, i.e. direct costs like labor, material and transport costs. However, in the long term, the full costs must be considered for the products, but may not be considered for all products. Direct costs, when using in export, means the required costs for developing income. In addition to extra capacity, direct cost pricing (margin cost pricing) for entering a market in the competitive condition or preserving a market in the competitive condition can be applied. In a survey of 20 export managers, they believed there are other reasons for the export pricing less than full costs. These reasons are: to help intermediate organizations or agents, maintaining the coworkers working together, selling a product especially out of the normal line of export and for offering a manufactured sample to a dependent or under license organization, mass customized production, in many companies, when the conditions of market are not normal, the pricing less than full costs is applied. The floor price is mostly affected by floor price. This kind of pricing is highly recommended when the company is sure that the internal market will guarantees the sale volume at least up to break even point. From that point the profit margin will be a combination of internal and global sales. The market condition pricing is based on the market demand and the product attractiveness in each market. The nature of market can determine the ceiling of the price. When the demand, in a market for the product, is high we use higher prices for that market. Utility, or the assumed value of buyers of a product, determine the ceiling price of a product. In demand forecasting of a market, exporter can classify the market based on the price attractiveness for customer in different price levels. Then the export manager can define a classified utilities related to prices. The main problem of this kind of pricing is the lack of information for demand forecasting and the customer willingness particularly in developing countries. Therefore the market condition is a difficult factor for pricing, but at least any company has enough information about the internal market condition of its homeland, which we will use it in construction of our export model later. The third and may be the most important factor of pricing is the condition of competition. Condition of competition helps for pricing between the boundaries of mentioned first and second factors. The competitor reaction forces producer to determine new export pricing. The price of competitors affects the sale volume of exporter and the resulted decision may be less or more than price of them. When an exporter does not have enough authority for pricing a competitive market, the main problem of pricing then will be to sell the product with the assigned price or not. If the floor price of a manufacturer is less than the current price of market, the product will be produced and sold. The market condition pricing is most suitable when the new technology used for the product or service is complex or unique for that market and the knowledge of customer or market - 25 - International Journal of Management Perspectives about know- how of the product is little. Pricing can different in each market, depending on different stages of a product. When we want to enter a competitive market we may use direct costs because of the product and cherry picking character of the intermediates and possible future agents. When the product is well known, and well positioned, we may use competitive or other market pricing suitable for that market. When the market is saturated by different competitors we may use niche pricing and stay in that market and let other competitors leave this market or we leave the market, during the last stage of product life cycle, if we feel this market will not be profitable any more. DISCUSSION We conclude that pricing decisions are so important and related to many issues. The most important factors which we should regard are: the profit of the company supporting the global strategies, costs of arm’s length, transfer price, local prices and charges. This shows different approaches and policies with different views, which will not solve the pricing problem for export managers. Theoretically we should conceptually relate the important factors, i.e. price policy, view of company and market potential and availability to the actual and practical decisions of pricing that company follow. The company’s view of the pricing and their problem, and regarding the said theoretical factors to justify practicing, which in part translate the policies and strategy of the companies, can be shown in the following table. Table 1: Theoretical and Practical Justification of pricing decision (practice) and pricing policies (theories) Point of delivery Pricing decision Price policy View of company Market potential and availability Ex work and FOB Cost based Ethnocentric/ Extension Short term unknown CFR, CIF, CPT, CIP Transfer , cost plus Ethnocentric/ extension Short term Unknown, with little information DAF, DES, DEQ, DDU, DDP Transfer , cost plus, market based, competitive based Polycentric/ adaptation, geocentric/ invention Mostly Short term and rarely long term Almost known - 26 - M. Zaribaf ISSN: 1307-1629, 2008, 2 (1) Seller destination, With the knowledge of market Transfer , cost plus, market based, competitive Price escalation Polycentric/ adaptation, geocentric/ invention strategic known Source: the author of this article Using the Incoterms the above table shows the empirical willingness of the exporting company for delivery of goods which in turn can show the amount of involvement of this company in any market and its level of information which the company has or want to have about the market and the market attractiveness. This means that the more attractive and profitable a market the more likely of the exporting company involvement for caring their customers. The above table also shows that as we move from ex- work delivery, which the exporting company accepts the least amount of risk, to seller destination point, the view of organization changes from short term to strategic long term. METHODOLOGY This article is based on the theories stated in the above sections and an extraction of a PhD research thesis titled: “Application of Global Marketing Theories in Export Growth of Tire Industries in Iran by the author. Survey has made from CEOs and export managers of tire companies by using questionnaire and interviews. The findings of this research showed that Price was the second priority in importance, after considering environmental factors. It also clarified, regarding the price, that if export managers could be well educated in the field of marketing, and to be granted enough authority and autonomy in their job, they can make a better decision for pricing and interact with customer faster. Since I was export manager of one the tire companies, I concluded that the traditional view of companies for price establishment, with the most influence of internal market condition, can sometimes adversely affect the pricing strategies. I also concluded that the companies’ pricing can show their view on strategic and policy thinking. In this paper the cause comparison methods of descriptive method for research has been used and the author has used his experience for initiating the following model for export pricing. Developing export pricing model Kotler in pricing argument, when focuses on customer needs, classify organizations to profitable and for- profit organizations. He believes that profitable organization is - 27 - International Journal of Management Perspectives the one that sell his product in the present time and tries to gain the maximum profit regarding the present situation. Meanwhile, for- profit organization focuses on long term profitability, and is presently ready, for customer satisfaction, to overlook the short term profit enabling to gain success in the market and developing fame in the customer consideration. (Kotler, 2006) It seems these two different considerations in the management, is depended on the management authority and offering logical reasons An export manager, who has enough position certainty in the future, enough delegated authority to decide and price for different market, logical and fast decision making for the price related to each market, can develop strategic prices in his plans and implement them in the long term. This manager can plot his logical reasons for penetrating or direct costs pricing etc to the board of directors and gain necessary authority which should be delegated to him. Another factor, which causes unwillingness for manufacturers to export their goods to foreign market, is the internal market conditions and its characteristics. Internal market favorableness or unfavorableness shows the attractiveness of the market which could be measured by factors like: internal demand situation, government industry support, future prospects of internal market, local customer support, stability of market demand and government supports and etc. If we concern two factors of the amount of management authority and the internal market conditions, managers can use 4 pricing strategy for their export pricing as shown in the following figure (figure 2). When the authority of manager is low for export pricing and internal market condition is unfavorable, manager set floor or finished costs prices for exporting. When the export manager authority is high and internal market condition is unfavorable, export manager uses direct costs pricing and uses the remained capacity of production. Authority granted Low High Figure2: Model of export pricing based on amount of authority granted and internal market conditions. Favorable Internal market condition Unfavorable Direct costs pricing Global strategic pricing Floor pricing Ceiling price based on internal price Source: the author of this article. This pricing is particularly good when the company wants to enter new markets. If the - 28 - ISSN: 1307-1629, 2008, 2 (1) M. Zaribaf internal marketing condition is favorable and the authority of export manager is low, then the prices for export will be ceiling price based on internal prices. This kind of pricing stems from the short term profitability willingness; which has made the present top managers to be proud of it. In this approach the management uses local market values and governs the local customer’s values to international prices. Finally, if the authority of export manager is high and the internal market condition is favorable, manager take the best advantage of for- profit organization philosophy (not profitable organization) and use pricing for each market so that in future the required interests to be gained for the organization( Zaribaf, 2006). Top managers and owners of an organization should notice that they can cultivate a seed now and use its fruit in near future, provided to be patient enough, and plan wisely, for the potential markets to reach the profit. But this cultivation requires good farmer too, and a well marketing expert with enough experience and good strategic vision helps to make the organization takes advantage of proper strategy. So we recommend granting enough authority to such marketing manager for fast paste pricing in different markets. We can not see different markets with the same glasses. While a product is in the end of life cycle, i.e. decline stage, it could be in the first stage of life cycle in another market. It is the export manager who is familiar with different market conditions. He should be first well aware of corporate and market strategies and also should have enough authority to handle each market by different pricing regarding different costs, competition and the life cycle of product in the markets. CONCLUSION Pricing is one the marketing mix and reflects costs and competitive factors. The maximum absolute price for a product does not exist, yet for each market, the price should be fixed concerning the customer attitude. The goal of most marketing strategies is to determine a price which could be accountable for customer perception. Meanwhile it should not cause too much costs for the company. A company usually fixes prices regarding the value that a customer concerns for the product, and covers costs and provide a profit margin. Pricing strategies include increasing interests regarding the importance of the product in the market. We can use different pricing strategies, concerning the environmental factors of markets. Each company should determine competitive market, its costs for each market, the availability of them, and other environmental dimensions. Export managers, from their advantage point of their familiarities to markets should have enough authority to determine strategic prices for each market regarding the life cycle of the product in each market an their stability and profitability for that market. Export managers should be qualified and brilliant mind knowing the corporate strategy and acting different roles in different markets. But they should consider two things. The first is to program pricing strategies to respond the customer’s needs and to take - 29 - International Journal of Management Perspectives the company profits in to account for the long term. Managers should recruit good and global experience marketing experts with broad strategic vision, make him to take and OJT course to get familiar with the firm and its internal and global target markets, and then give him room and responsibility, by granting authority to use his creation and innovation for price decision making to satisfy all customers and gain strategic income for the organization. The major findings of this article is classification of pricing theories in marketing based on point of delivery and introducing a conceptual model indicating different pricing strategies based on the internal market condition and the amount of authority granted to export or global marketing manager for pricing decisions with the emphasis on delegating high authority to expert and informed global marketing managers and warn local market oriented companies to think about the global competition and do not rely on the local government legal supports. For further studies we suggest to test model in different countries especially for those companies which are enjoying of their government industry supports and have related favorable market and test how they use different strategies based on two mentioned factors in the model. Then academic and marketing research managers are to advise internal supported companies to use strategic pricing for their pricing and recommend them not to think internally, instead think globally and act locally even if the internal market condition is favorable to consider them as a favorable local market. REFERENCES Keegan Warren (2008). Global Marketing Management. sixth edition, Prentice Hall Series in Marketing . Damon Darlin (1998), Trade Strategies: Most U.S Firms Seek Extra Profits in Japan, at the Expense of Sales, the Wall Street journal 15 (May) A1. David J. Faulds, Orlen grunewals, and Denise Johnson (1994), A Cross- National Investigation of the Relationship between the Price and Quality of Consumer products, 1970- 1990,” Journal of Global Marketing, vol. 8, No.1: 7-25 A Librarians Index to the Internet, A group of marketing lecturers from southern England based in Chi Chester [Online] retrieved April 18, 2007 from http://marketig teacher.com. Khalil, Tarek(2006). Management of Technology Wealth Creation, translated by Arabi, M. Tehran: Cultural Research Bureau. Charles T. Horngren and George Foster (1991). Cost Accounting: A Managerial Approach, New Jersey: Upper Saddle River Prentice Hall. Coskun Samli, A., and Laurence Jacobs (1994). Pricing Practices of American - 30 - M. Zaribaf ISSN: 1307-1629, 2008, 2 (1) Multinational Firms: Standardization vs. Localization Dichotomy, journal of Global Marketing, 09(June), 51-73. Robert Michel (1993). Strategy pure and Simple: How Winning CEOs outthink their Competition, New York: McGraw-Hill Kotler Philip (2002). Marketing Management. 2nd edition, translated by Froozandeh, Tehran: Atropat. Zaribaf Mehdi (2000). Application of Global Marketing Theories for Export Increase of Iran Industrial Tire. Unpublished D.B.A., Azad University of Iran. Zaribaf Mehdi (2005). Global Marketing Management. Tehran: Gostaresheoloomepayeh. Submitted: 08 August 2008 Revised version submitted: 5 October 2008 Accepted: 29 November 2008 Double-blind refereed anonymously Author Information: Mehdi Zaribaf is an Assistant Professor in Azad University of Iran, Firoozkuh Branch. After receiving Master of Business Administration From Tehran University of Iran, he received his PhD from Azad University. He has been teaching management courses more than 16 years in Azad university and other Universities in Iran. His main research interests are strategic and marketing and international marketing management. - 31 - International Journal of Management Perspectives - 32 -