Summary of: International Marketing and Export Management, G. Albaum, J. Strandskov and E. Duerr

Résumé du document

Increasing importance of international markets has been the result of a number of interrelated factors namely, 1. There has been a continuing lowering of barriers to trade and investment 2. Improvements in transportation and logistics have further lowered the cost of exporting and importing 3. Technological improvement have resulted in the development of new goods and services 4. Major advance in communications and the emergence of e-commerce 5. Companies and industries in different countries have become increasingly linked and interdependent 6. Capital market have become more international 7. World trade has continued to expand more rapidly than world gross national product. The business activities that must be carried out in marketing and adjusted to accommodate differences in the international market, include: 1. Analysis of markets and potential markets 2. Planning and development of products and services that consumers want 3. Distribution of products through channels that provide the services or conveniences demanded by purchasers.

Extraits

[...] Administration of client's sales account (sending out invoices & make sure that payment will be received) 3. Assess credit risks & act like an insurance for the client in case of nonpayment Related Practice: Forfait financing Transfer of term dept obligation Exporter sells the dept of the export to a third party Dept is typically guaranteed by foreign bank/government Exporter receives money (less discount) when “forfeiter” buys bill of exchange Forfeiter profits from the discount given BACK Document against acceptance Or Expressed as certain number of days after date (date draft) Date drafts are preferred, since they indicate exact date for the payment Risks: Credit is extended to buyer after his acceptance to pay bill within specified time & specified place Acceptance = formal agreement to pay the amount Specified time = expressed as certain number of days after sight (time draft) buyer may fail to pay goods will already be in another country return or sale of goods will be expensive/difficult legal action across int. [...]

[...] Selectivity countries: The portfolio analysis helps to determine the primary role of each specific export market in the international context. The role may be, for instance, to generate cash, to provide growth, to contribute, to production volume or to block the expansion of competition. Once this role has been defined, objectives can be determined for each export market to ensure that country marketing strategies are consistent with the overall international marketing strategy Chapter 5 - Information for international marketing decisions 5.1 Introduction A basic ingredient of any market selection program is the availability of market information. [...]

[...] and each cluster has established free trade zone and common market structure. In choosing a base for clustering markets, other consideration like tax conditions, cultural and technical barriers are important. For example Papadopoulos and Jansen used 27 variables representing 7 environmental factors to cluster 100 countries. It was a temperature gradient approach in which countries are classified in super hot, hot, moderate or cold on the bases of political, economic development and performance, legal barriers, cultural unity, physiographic barriers variables. [...]

[...] Each region is managed by the head of a product management team. Example for a company: food, beverage, automobile and pharmaceutical companies. Advantages: An ability to respond easily to the environmental and markets demands of a national, regional or cultural area The structure encourages adaptive international marketing programs Economy of scale Difficulties: Arise when the company has a range of diverse products. The area based-structure has a tendency to foster area autonomy and that poses obstacles to the creation of global marketing strategies International mixed structures: the matrix organization BACK Often the organizational design results in mixed structures. [...]

[...] However, in all of the standardized portfolio models, the risk dimension is not included Applying a portfolio model to export market selection decisions Given the limitation of applying the standardized models of international portfolio analysis and since there are some problems in applying such analysis to the needs of small and medium sized firms, an export market portfolio should focus simultaneously across a broad range of foreign markets to help balance capital requirements competitive economies of scale, entry costs and profitability to gain stronger long term positions. This country attractiveness/competitive strength matrix replaces the 2 single dimensions in the BCG growth shares matrix with two composite dimension applied to export marketing issues. Then countries are divided in groups: Invest grow countries: These call for company commitment to a strong market position Harvest/divest/license/combine countries: These often call for strategies to harvest profits or sell to the business. [...]