International Marketing Strategies in the Globalisation Era
| Author | Oana Simona Hudea; Răzvan-Mihail Papuc |
| Pages | 301-311 |
Oana Simona Hudea. Assistant, Ph.D. Candidate, Faculty of Social and Administrative Sciences - “Nicolae Titulescu” University, Bucharest, Romania (caraman_simmy2005@yahoo.com)
Răzvan-Mihail Papuc. Lecturer, Ph.D., Faculty of Business Administration, Bucharest University
Page 301
The purpose of this paper is to approach international marketing which embodies the application of marketing principles to more than one country. It explains how to conceive and integrate marketing entry and development strategies based on a solid analysis and understanding of the company micro-environmental and macro-environmental elements. All size companies, activating in various fields of activity, accept the challenge to extend over the country borders and build connections with the “outside” world. Companies’ international marketing activities register a continuously growing importance in the globalised economy.
The paper analyses objectively, in a generic way, the behaviour and actions to be undertaken by the enterprise competing on the world market, without particularising as for a specific home or foreign country. To achieve sustainable growth on the international market, managers and organisations as a whole should have the possibility to study, at a theoretical and practical level, and understand the diversity and complexity of the international marketing and to apply it in an appropriate way.
Given the magnitude of this intensive phenomenon, the theme turned into a very interesting topic to be analysed and depicted in its most perceptible details. Many authors, all around the world dedicated their time and effort to treat this issue, expressing their perception in this regard, sometimes coming into contradiction with each other, but always acting constructively in order to create a clear and relevant image in the matter.
This article attempts to review and construe, from a personal perspective, the pertinent literature, based on remarkable studies treating this topic, in order to achieve a deep understandingPage 302 of it. It is meant to describe, in a clear and concise way, the main theoretical and practical concepts characterising marketing in general and international marketing in particular, rendering by a systematic comparative analysis the long and subtle transition of a company from domestic to global stage.
Approaching international marketing has proved to be one of the most frequent preoccupations of the specialists in the matter, considering the accelerated development of the international business during the last decades when we are quickly directing our steps towards a global world. To achieve sustainable growth in markets that are becoming increasingly global, or merely to survive in domestic markets that are increasingly attacked by international players, it is essential that the organisations understand the complexity and diversity of international marketing and that their managers develop the skills, aptitudes and knowledge necessary to compete effectively around the globe (Doole, Isobel, and Lowe, Robin, 2007, p.xv).
This becomes essentially important taking into account the fact that the foreign markets encompass a large number of unknown variables to be decrypted by any new-coming trying to create its own peaceful place on the international market. The international marketing environment is a complex constellation of demands and constraints which the firm faces as it attempts to compete and grow. (Bradley, Frank. 2005, p.15).
Yet, successfully facing the challenge and getting competitive advantage is not easy to achieve. Companies should search for ways to convert worldwide production, marketing, research and development into a competitive advantage (Porter, Michael. 1986, p. 2). By doing this, any company will have the opportunity to show its potential and to set the grounds for an effective development in the new world.
The last decades, globalisation became one of the most discussed topics in the scientific world. Many authors focussed their attention on this impressive process involving the entire planet, trying to approach it from various perspectives, wondering and finding their own answers relating to the mechanisms propelling it, to its feeding sources and to the significant effects marking the nations. But what does globalisation mean? There are many different definitions, but the extensively accepted one is that globalisation is a process fuelled by, and resulting in, increasing cross-border flows of goods, services, capital, people, information, and culture. It is like moving towards living in a borderless world.
The sharing of goods, services, knowledge and culture has been always in place between people and countries, but the recent technologies, the improved transportation and communication opportunities, the reduction and sometimes the removal of cross-border barriers have accelerated the exchange.
Globalisation provides opportunities and challenges at the same time. Bigger markets mean bigger profits being translated into greater wealth for investing in development and reducing poverty. In this globalised world, consumers and businesses have access to various products from many different countries, this increasing the competition among countries and implicitly thePage 303 quality of the goods and/or services provided. In order to set the legal grounds for ensuring a transparent and adequate carrying out of the global trade, different agreements and treaties have been concluded between countries, such as the General Treaty on Trade and Tariffs, the North American Free Trade Agreement and various trade organisations have been set up, among which: the European Union and the World Trade Organization.
Both domestic and international companies, either in the public or in the private sector, share the same desire: finding the adequate means to operate in best conditions so as to obtain best possible profits. Why, then, is the international company different from the domestic one? The answer can be found only by understanding the differences existing across borders. When we are talking about individual countries, we are thinking of specific laws and regulations, currencies, taxes and fees, cultures and practical manners of action. An individual travelling from his home country to a foreign country needs to have proper documents, to carry foreign currency, to be able to communicate in the foreign country, to be dressed appropriately, and so on. Doing business in a foreign country involves similar issues and is thus more complex than doing business at home (Punnett, B.J., and D. Ricks, 1997).
Global marketing is not a revolutionary but an evolutionary process. While all companies begin as domestic companies, some of them undergo different processes, undertake various responsibilities and go forward stopping at a given time during their travel or sometimes reaching the final, global stage.
- A domestic company exclusively focuses its attention on the domestic market, not being interested in extending its business outside the borders of its country. It doesn’t even perceive the significant competitive threat coming from abroad. The best thing that can happen to this company is to receive incidental orders from abroad, but sometimes it doesn’t even perceive this as an advantage as, being isolated cases, they can involve significant efforts and costs in exchange for insignificant revenues. In fact, the products and services offered by a domestic company are specifically developed for the internal customers, the company not being interested in their perception on other markets. Besides, all marketing decisions of a domestic company are made at its own headquarters, thus the “foreign” component not being considered at all.
- When the company starts exporting more and more, it enters the export stage. Being about a large export process, the efforts made to market its products abroad increasingly diminish, as the total costs lower. Such company either becomes an indirect exporter by resorting to an export management company to deal with all the customs paperwork and language barriers or a direct exporter, by creating its own exporting departments at its headquarters. There is no a significant...
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