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International Marketing MKT630

Lesson # 2

INETRNATIONAL MARKETING PROCESS

Defining International Marketing

Under the marketing concept, the firm must find a way to discover unfulfilled customer needs and bring

to market products that satisfy those needs. The process of doing so can be modeled in a sequence of

steps: the situation is analyzed to identify opportunities, the strategy is formulated for a value

proposition, tactical decisions are made, the plan is implemented and the results are monitored.

1. Situation Analysis

A thorough analysis of the situation in which the firm finds itself serves as the basis for identifying

opportunities to satisfy unfulfilled customer needs. In addition to identifying the customer needs, the

firm must understand its own capabilities and the environment in which it is operating.

The situation analysis thus can be viewed in terms an analysis of the external environment and an

internal analysis of the firm itself. The external environment can be described in terms of macro-

environmental factors that broadly affect many firms, and micro-environmental factors closely related to

the specific situation of the firm.

The situation analysis should include past, present, and future aspects. It should include a history

outlining how the situation evolved to its present state, and an analysis of trends in order to forecast

where it is going. Good forecasting can reduce the chance of spending a year bringing a product to

market only to find that the need no longer exists.

If the situation analysis reveals gaps between what consumers want and what currently is offered to

them, then there may be opportunities to introduce products to better satisfy those consumers. Hence,

the situation analysis should yield a summary of problems and opportunities. From this summary, the

firm can match its own capabilities with the opportunities in order to satisfy customer needs better than

the competition.

There are several frameworks that can be used to add structure to the situation analysis:

5 C Analysis - company, customers, competitors, collaborators, climate. Company represents the

internal situation; the other four cover aspects of the external situation

PEST analysis - for macro-environmental political, economic, societal, and technological factors. A

PEST analysis can be used as the "climate" portion of the 5 C framework.

SWOT analysis - strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats - for the internal and external

situation. A SWOT analysis can be used to condense the situation analysis into a listing of the most

relevant problems and opportunities and to assess how well the firm is equipped to deal with them.

2. Marketing Strategy

Once the best opportunity to satisfy unfulfilled customer needs is identified, a strategic plan for pursuing

the opportunity can be developed. Market research will provide specific market information that will

permit the firm to select the target market segment and optimally position the offering within that

segment. The result is a value proposition to the target market. The marketing strategy then involves:

Segmentation

Targeting (target market selection)

Positioning the product within the target market

Value proposition to the target market

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International Marketing MKT630

3. Marketing Mix Decisions

Detailed tactical decisions then are made for the controllable parameters of the marketing mix. The

action items include:

Product development - specifying, designing, and producing the first units of the product.

Pricing decisions

Distribution contracts

Promotional campaign development

4. Implementation and Control

At this point in the process, the marketing plan has been developed and the product has been launched.

Given that few environments are static, the results of the marketing effort should be monitored closely.

As the market changes, the marketing mix can be adjusted to accommodate the changes. Often, small

changes in consumer wants can be addressed by changing the advertising message. As the changes

become more significant, a product redesign or an entirely new product may be needed. The marketing

process does not end with implementation - continual monitoring and adaptation is needed to fulfill

customer needs consistently over the long-term.

The fundamental concepts involved in marketing process are as follows;

· Need arises with the state of felt deprivation. This happens when a situation, of an individual or a

group of individuals or a business, is less than the desired situation and there is an urge to achieve the

desired situation. Such needs can take many forms, including the following;

Physical (food, clothing, warmth & safety etc...)

Social

(belonging, affection)

Individual

(knowledge, self expression)

The needs are basic part of human make-up, while some are also created by marketers

· Wants

Once needs are felt, humans and businesses look for solutions (or manifestations physical

shapes of solutions for removing the states of felt deprivations). Wants are the manifested

solutions of needs. Wants are thus, forms taken by human needs, shaped by culture, individual

personality etc.

· Demands

Human wants backed by buying power & choices translate into demands what is chosen as the

desired solution from among the various available and viable options.

· Products

Products are the offering of a firm (or individual/s) to a market or consumer to satisfy a need or

want. Products can be physical goods, services or other forms of satisfyers.

· Quality

The term quality is expressed more too often in the context of market transactions. Customers

prefer to acquire quality products and firms strive to offer better quality products than

competitors can to remain successful. Quality is referred as the ability of a firm (or individual) to

satisfy customer needs & expectations.

· Exchange

Marketing is concerned with exchange of products and services. Exchange is the act of obtaining

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International Marketing MKT630

a desired product from someone by offering something in return.

· Satisfaction

Focus of any marketer is to meet customers' expectations when providing product solutions. The

term `satisfaction' in the context of marketing refers to the extent to which a product's perceived

performance matches a buyer's expectations

· Relationship

It is the process of creating, maintaining and enhancing strong value-laden relationships with

customers & other stakeholders (build good relationship & profitable transaction will follow)

Value

Another term that is often used in the context to marketing is `value'. It refers to the perceived net

benefits one gets from acquiring / owning a certain product (solution).

`Value' refers to the differences between the values the customer gains from owning and using a

product and cost/effort in obtaining the product. Often this is a perceived value rather than an

objective one. The sense of value of any product to anyone is subjective in the opinion of the

one according to ones own situation and perspective and this sense for the same product often

differs from person to person.

In perceiving value of a product the buyers consider functional benefits as well as emotional

benefits. Costs of owning and using any product include monetary, time, energy and psychic

costs.

Value can be enhanced by;

· Raising benefits for same costs

· Reducing costs for same benefits

· Raise benefits by more than the raise in costs

· Lower benefits by less than the reduction in costs

Defining marketing:

Marketing is a process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need & want by creating and

exchanging products and value with others.

"International Marketing" refers to such exchanges across national boundaries for the satisfaction of

human needs and wants