7. INTRODUCTION TO
INTERNATIONAL
MARKETING
Prof. Tom Chheat, MBA1
Agenda
• The international marketing concept
• A brief introduction of international marketing
environment
• Major obstacles in international marketing
• Stages of international marketing involvement
2
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 company’s goods and
services to consumers or users in more than
one nation for a profit.
3
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
4
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.
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Global marketing
• It refers to marketing activities integrated
across multiple country markets.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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).
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Source: Philip R. Cateora. International Marketing. Ninth edition
International Marketing Environment
Foreign environment
Political/legal
forces
(uncontrollable)
Economic forces
Domestic environment
(uncontrollable)
Cultural
forces
Political
/ legal
forces
Geography and
infrastructure
(controllables)
Economic
climate
Competitive
Competitive
structure
forces
Level of
technology
Structure of
distribution
Environmental
uncontrollables
country market A
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Language barrier
• United States - "okay"
• Mediterranean - "zero" or "the
worst“
• Tunisia - "I'll kill you"
• Japan - "money".
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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)
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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.
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SRC And Ethnocentrism: Major
Obstacles
• The key to successful international marketing
is adaptation to the environmental differences
from one market to another.
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SRC And Ethnocentrism: Major
Obstacles
• An unconscious reference to one’s 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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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