International Marketing - Essay Example

?International Marketing Introduction Marketing goals can be simply defined as the predetermined ments of desired or anticipated outcomes, whichare expected from a firm’s marketing plan. Generally, every firm sets broader goals that represent simple statements of what will be attained within the stipulated period of time. The marketing goal works as a strategic tool to manage the development of objectives and to suggest the direction regarding the decisions on resource allocation. This paper will describe the basic goals of marketing and examine two distinct global marketing strategies available to companies. Basic goals of marketing Setting of marketing goals is the primary function of every marketer before commencing his marketing plan. The goals greatly assist a seller to identify potential market segments where people are most likely to express interests in his products or services. Some of the basic goals of marketing are described below. Creation of demand In order to improve the sales volumes and thereby to increase profitability, it is necessary to attract people towards products or services offered by the firm. Marketers generally employ a variety of demand creation tactics including advertising, personal selling, and other modern sales promotion techniques. In short, creation of demand is the first step in implementing the proposed business plan. Differentiation of products While analysing any market segment, it is clear that a number of marketers operate with same category of products. Under such a situation, an average customer cannot easily distinguish between different sellers because most of the displayed products look same. As Stonier and Hague (1980) point out, marketers develop differentiation strategy with intent to make their product easily identifiable to customers (p.233). Customer satisfaction Customer satisfaction is the ultimate goal of modern marketing strategies as it plays a crucial role in determining future sales of an organisation. Therefore every firm gives specific focus on this element by providing customers with timely delivery of products/services, damage replacement facilities, and other post- sales services. Market share and business growth Marketers vehemently try to capture a significant portion of the total market demand as wealth maximisation is the fundamental objective of every businessman. This is the reason why companies take aggressive selling efforts to stiffly compete with other firms offering similar product lines. Territorial and product line expansion are the two major strategies generally employed by firms to enhance sustainable economic growth. Goodwill Rapidly changing modern marketing trends are switching the business focus from profitability to goodwill believing that the market stature would automatically contribute to profit maximisation. According to Kamaruddin, Ibrahim, and Zain (2004), this concept helps firms aim to create an address for their products and attain a dominant position in the market. Modern marketers strongly believe that reputation would greatly assist the firm to survive the intense market competition. Standard of living By offering quality products and services at affordable rates, modern marketers also aim at the improving people’s standard of living which in turn may add value to their firms’ good will. Nowadays, firms include a wide variety of corporate responsibility programmes in their marketing plan so as to improve the living standards of people and hence to achieve customer loyalty. Global marketing is defined as “marketing on a worldwide scale reconciling or taking commercial advantage of global operational differences, similarities and opportunities in order to meet global objectives” (Strategic: Web Marketing Group, 2010) . Hence, the above identified marketing goals are relevant to global marketing. While dealing with global marketing, the only difference is that a firm operates on a global scale instead of focusing on a niche market. Therefore, the basic goals of marketing remain the same no matter it is niche marketing or global marketing. Global marketing strategies The efficacy of a company’s global marketing strategy is a crucial determinant of its levels of competitiveness in the global market. Every firm chooses and implements a specific global marketing strategy by taking into account a range of factors including its nature, size, and vision. There are mainly two types of global marketing strategies available to companies; multi-domestic strategy and global strategy. 1. Multi-domestic strategy Prakash (2002) states that the multi-domestic strategy is the market focused approach by which a marketer strives to attain maximum local responsiveness by effectively reacting to market tastes and specifications in terms of product offerings and pricing strategies. Under this strategy, an organisation establishes its product, marketing, and R&D activities separately in different national territories in order to match various market conditions. Firms practicing a multi-domestic approach will have separate headquarters at various countries and will focus on more localised management so as to clearly and timely identify varying trends in local markets. For instance, the ‘Philips’ practices multi-domestic strategy for its global operations. 2. Global strategy Business dictionaries define global strategy as “an organisation’s strategic guide to globalisation”. This strategy clearly states the firm’s extent of market presence in the global market, finest global locations for value chain activities, and the degree of competitiveness. In the view of McKendrick (2001), when a firm faces extreme pressure for cost reduction and relatively weak pressures for local responsiveness, the global strategy would be most recommendable one. The global strategy assists a multinational company to market its standardised products globally. Economists opine that a firm practicing global strategy may take advantages of experience curve effects as it is in a position to produce a standard product at large scale. Global strategy forces firms to maintain and tightly co-ordinate product and pricing strategies regardless of the international markets and locations. Under global strategy, a firm envisages that enlarged global presence and integration of inter border activities are necessary to ensure market success. Matsushita is one of the best companies which practices global strategy. Conclusion Evidently, the process of marketing involves an array of well defined fundamental goals, which assist a seller to plan his day to day operations systematically. These fundamental goals of marketing are relevant to global marketing also. Multi-domestic approach and global strategy are two global marketing strategies available to companies. References Kamaruddin, KA, Ibrahim, MK & Zain, MM 2004, Financial Reporting in Malaysia: Some Empirical Evidence, Utusan Publications, Malaysia. McKendrick, DG April 2001, ‘Global strategy and population-level learning: The case of hard disk drives’, Strategic Management Journal, vol.22, no.4, pp.307-334. Prakash, A August 2002, ‘Beyond Seattle: Globalization, the nonmarket environment and corporate strategy’, Review of International Political Economy, vol.9, no.3, pp. 513-537. Stoiner, A & Hague, DC 1980, A Textbook of Economic Theory, Pearson Education India, New Delhi. Strategic: Web Marketing Group, 04 July, 2010, ‘The challenges of marketing in a global economy’, Viewed 16 November, 2011, Read More