International Marketing How Does Global

International Marketing

How does global marketing management differ from international marketing management? What benefits are offered by a global orientation?

Global marketing management crates a cohesive series of strategies that look to create a consistent branding, messaging, product, pricing and distribution strategy throughout the many regions of the world. Marketing strategies are cohesive globally and not fragmented in a global marketing management-based approach to managing product, go-to-market strategies and distribution strategies. A prime example of a consumer products company with a global marketing management approach to managing their entire product mix, branding and pricing strategies is Proctor and Gamble. Having migrated from an international approach to marketing and completing a re-organization in the 1990s,P&G has emerged as company that shows best practices in managing brands, products, go-to-market strategies and distribution globally.

International marketing management is more focused on creating specific marketing, selling and service strategies that are aligned specifically for individualized international markets. Both business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) companies pursue international marketing strategies primarily to create unique value propositions in selected international markets, then progress eventually into specific product strategies that align with the unique unmet needs of the specific countries they are selling into. Often this includes having to create highly unique pricing, promotional strategies, and services strategies that align with the specific needs of the countries the company is participating in. This is specifically the case with many auto manufacturers, who despite trying to create a "global car" have had to focus first and foremost on the unmet needs of car buyers in the specific international markets they participate in, and these markets are often segmented geographically by countries or regions. The need in Europe for example for highly fuel efficient, small and easily maintained cars that are designed to meet the European markets' stringent ergonomic and pollution control requirements would be considered too small, too slow and too overburdened with ergonomics and unnecessary features for the U.S. market. For auto manufacturers given the fact that their product lifecycles are yearly in nature and often defined by either event marketing or the lifecycles of the entire subsegment of the industry they are members of, the need for tracking and quickly responding to unmet customer needs is critical. This forces an international product development, selling, pricing and distribution strategy which while it is inefficient, is necessary given the need for aligning with the unique unmet needs that dominate each specific market an auto manufacturer chooses to serve. The case of Suzuki building cars for India and having to maintain a price point well below $2,000 in equivalent U.S. dollars vs. The 2007 models of the XL-7, a General Motors-inspired sports utility vehicle. The differences are significant and often costly when a company chooses an international marketing strategy, as their chosen customers' needs vary significantly by market.

The advantages of global marketing management center on efficiencies that are inherent in having a common set of processes to attract, sell and serve customers across multiple geographies. Globalized marketing strategies are inherently more difficult however to complete and maintain due to their logistical, support and synchronization efforts across products, pricing, and distribution strategies. The payoffs however are significant and often lead to greater cost efficiencies and therefore higher levels of gross margins, leading often to higher levels of profitability. Wal-Mart and their recent entrance into India through a Joint Venture (JV) is a case in point. Starbuck's continued growth which has been impressive in the U.S. To date will continue only if the chain can continue growing through global expansion. Inherent in this globalized orientation for Starbucks is the ability to create a product development series of processes that take advantage of the various seasons occurring globally at any point in time, as Starbucks' has a core strength for new product development and innovation. An example of this dynamic is the ability of the company to create new drinks in Australia during April and May, their Fall, for distribution in the summer in Fall in the U.S. A globalized orientation to product development gives companies including Starbucks significant flexibility in their product development efforts.

Taking a global marketing orientation makes it possible for many companies to expand on their core competencies or strengths across markets that are comparable to the ones they are performing well in today, delivers greater efficiencies and cost savings across shared processes for attracting, selling and serving customers, provides the foundation for defining product strategies aligned with globally shared unmet needs, and allows for more uniformity to pricing strategies than would be possible with a provincial or even international marketing strategy.

Briefly evaluate the problems and potential of the Internet as a tool of International Marketing.

Using the Internet for International Marketing is a prerequisite for the growth of both international and globally-focused companies. The strengths of using the many Internet publishing mechanisms including websites, blogs, Wikis and decreasing in popularity, bulletin boards, provide an immediacy to customer interactions and the ability to listen to customers globally, on a 24/7 basis, in the customers' and visitors' native languages. In addition the ability to coordinate product, pricing, ordering, and service information is also possible when the Internet is used as the foundation for communicating globally. In addition to these advantages there are the cost efficiencies of attracting, selling to, and servicing a global audience. This cost efficiency advantage is further strengthened when applications specifically developed to the needs of website, blog, and wiki visitors, customers and loyal fans of a company are put into place and actively used. With products being customizable through the use of guided selling and product configurators, entire sales cycles globally can be completed entirely online.

The problems of using the Internet are significant, and begin with challenging task of creating website content that is aligned with the specific issues of global visitors to the site. The localization of websites for the specific language and customs of websites can take even mid-sized companies literally months to complete. Keeping these websites up-to-date with fresh content, developing and launching applications that are specific to each global regions' unmet needs, defining the series of feature enhancements that need to be made to the site including the development of a roadmap of new features and applications also make the task of keeping up multiple websites difficult. There are also the cultural issues and norms that need to be respected and reflected within the audiences of each nation, especially in Muslim-dominated cultures that place a high value on the religious significance of messages. The sensitivity to religious and moral norms in the context of website context, especially graphics, is critical. Just having the content aligned with current religious norms and conventions is only one step; there also needs to be a focus on continually bringing new content to the Web that aligns with the needs of the targeted culture. Finally the more difficult problems with creating a website for International Marketing is the ability to create a sense of community in each served geographic market and create "stickiness" for websites in various foreign languages. This is perhaps the most difficult of all challenges to overcome with an internationally-focused site as it takes an intimate and thorough knowledge of the unmet needs of various cultures to serve them and in turn create highly topical and useful content that leads to "stickiness" and loyalty to a website.

Briefly discuss the three basic components of a product. Describe the significance of each one.

Core benefits or components of the product, the actual product, and the augmented product are a products' three basic components and each of their significance is briefly described here. First, the core benefits are those attributes of a product that are attuned to the target customers' unmet needs and are delivered in the basic use of the product. An example of this would be the use of soap to clean clothes or using electricity to keep the lights on in a house. These core benefits are frequently what highly commoditized products compete on in terms of differentiation, and often when a product only has these to offer, price and availability become the only ways consumers select between these products.

Actual product components are the goods consumed by the customer. In the case of a hamburger, the actual products are the beef patty and two pieces of bread along with condiments. The actual product for airlines is the ability to transport a person from one city to the next and the addition of services just augments the experience of consuming the service. An actual product is also one that can be consumed over time as a service as well, as is the case for example in seeing a movie or performance. The movie is the actual component of the product and the cinema is the augmented component of the product.

As can be seen from the above examples, the augmented component of a product adds significant value over and above the core and actual product components. In fact all three aspects of a product need to be working in conjunction with one another to make a product complete. The role of the augmented product component has significantly added differentiation and value to products that compete in highly commoditized and less differentiated markets. These include cell phones accessories, cell phone plans, and the pervasive use of customer service to drive up lifetime customer value and loyalty. Augmented components of products are also the guarantees, accessibility to technical and service support resources, and warranties delivered with the product itself.

This augmented component is typically the most abstract yet is the most critical for any product to achieve lasting differentiation.

Why is a "global brand" the firms most valuable asset?