Need assignment done by Tomorrow
ylang
GlobalMarketingMix.docxDeveloping a Global Vision
Congratulations Class, you have made it to the final week of the course, week eight. The finish line is within reach. We have certainly developed a strong foundational core within the world of marketing. For the past seven weeks we have explored and discovered through the weekly lectures, power point presentations, discussion board assignments and written assignments that there is so much more to marketing than what meets the eye. We now know what marketing is, and have learned in great detail how the four elements within the marketing mix (Four P’s) work hand in hand to develop a successful product/service. We also learned the importance of understanding consumer buying decisions and behavior, and the vital role and necessity of ethics and social responsibility within marketing and business practices. This week class, we are going to finish up the course discovering the essential role of developing a global vision, the basic elements involved in developing a global marketing mix and how the internet is affecting global marketing today. Let’s finish up strong class by diving right into week eight lectures on global marketing. Reward of Global Marketing Today, global revolutions are under way in many areas of our lives: management, politics, communications, and technology. The word global has assumed a new meaning, referring to a boundless mobility and competition in social, business, and intellectual arenas. Global Marketing, marketing that targets markets throughout the world, has become an imperative business. U.S. managers must develop a global vision not only to recognize and react to international marketing opportunities but also to remain competitive at home. Often a U.S. firm’s toughest domestic competition comes from foreign companies. Moreover, a global vision enables a manager to understand that customer and distribution networks operate worldwide, blurring geographic and political barriers and making them increasingly irrelevant to business decisions. In summary, having a global visions means recognizing and reacting to international marketing opportunities, using effective global marketing strategies, and being aware of threats from foreign competitors in all markets. Over the past two decades, world trade climbed from $200 billion a year to more than $17.8 trillion in 2011. There was a 45.7 percent growth from 2009 as the world began to pull out of the global economic crisis. Today’s marketers face many challenges to their customary practices. Product development costs are rising, the life of products is getting shorter, and new technology is spreading around the world faster than ever. But marketing winners relish the pace of change instead of fear it. Adopting a global vision can be very lucrative for a company. Caterpillar, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, and industrial turbines, has sales of more than $33 billion annually. Almost $21 billion comes from sales outside the United States. Of course, global marketing is not a one-way street whereby only U.S. companies sell their wares and services throughout the world. Foreign competition in the domestic market was once relatively rare but now is found in almost every industry. Importance of Global Marketing to the United States Although some countries depend more on international commerce than the United States does, such as France, 27%, United Kingdom, 32%, and Germany 50%, as opposed to the U.S. ,14%, the impact of international business on the U.S. economy is still impressive:
The United States exports about 13 percent of its industrial production.
More than 10 million Americans hold jobs that are supported by exports.
Every U.S. state has realized net employment gains directly attributed to foreign trade.
The United States exports more than $2.1 trillion in goods and services each year. Traditionally, only very large multinational companies have seriously attempted to compete worldwide, so most U.S. exports are shipped by large companies. Although most small and medium sized firms are essentially non-participants in global trade and marketing, more and more small companies have begun pursuing international markets. To increase U.S. exports, the federal government created the National Export Initiative (NEI). The NEI’s goal is to double U.S. exports by 2017 and support 2 million U.S. jobs. The government has also made $30 million in grants available to small businesses to begin exporting (Lamb, C., Hair, J., McDaniel, C., 2014). The Impact of Trade and Globalization Many individuals fear world trade and globalization. What do they fear? The negatives of global trade are as follows:
Millions of Americans have lost jobs due to imports, production shifts abroad, or outsourcing to tech jobs. Some find new jobs, but they often pay less.
Millions of others fear losing their jobs, especially at those companies operating under competitive pressure.
Employers often threaten to outsource jobs if workers do not accept pay cuts.
Service and white-collar jobs are increasingly vulnerable to operations moving offshore.
Lamb, C., Hair, J., McDaniel, C., (2014). Principles of Marketing. Mason, OH: South-Western, Cengage Learning.
The Global Marketing Mix
To succeed, firms seeking to enter into foreign trade must still adhere to the principles of the marketing mix. Information gathered on foreign markets through research is the basis for the four Ps of global marketing strategy: product, place (distribution), promotion, and price. Marketing managers who understand the advantages and disadvantages of different ways of entering the global market and the effect of the external environment on the firm’s marketing mix have a better chance of reaching their goals. The first step in creating a marketing mix is developing a thorough understanding of the global target market. With the proper information, a good marketing mix can be developed. One important decision is whether to alter the product or the promotion for the global marketplace. Other options are to radically change the product or to adjust either the promotional message or the product to suit local conditions. Global Product Decisions One product, one message, the strategy of global marketing standardization, means developing a single product for all markets and promoting it the same way all over the world. For instance, P&G uses the same product and promotional themes for Head & Shoulders in China as it does in the United States. The advertising draws attention to a person’s dandruff problem, which stands out in a nation of black haired people. Product invention, in the context of global marketing, can be taken to mean either creating a new product for a market or drastically changing an existing product. For example, more than 100 unique Pringles potato chip flavors have been invented for international markets. Prawn cocktail (United Kingdom), Seaweed (Japan), Blueberry (China), Cinnamon Sweet Potato (France), and Bangkok Grilled Chicken Wing (Thailand) are some of the many Pringles flavors available outside the United States. Product adaptation, another alternative for global marketers is to alter a basic product slightly to meet local conditions. For example, McDonald’s, long known for its foreign inventions, and adaptations, ensures that all products sold in the Middle East are halal, meaning that they are permissible to eat according to Islamic law. Ingredients are inspected and approved by local halal officers before they are sold, and all meat can be traced back to trusted suppliers. Promotional Adaptation Another global marketing strategy is to maintain the same basic product but alter the promotional strategy. For example, bicycles are mainly pleasure vehicles in the United States, but in many parts of the world they are a family’s main mode of transportation. Thus, promotion in these countries should stress durability and efficiency. In contrast, U.S. advertising may emphasize escaping and having fun.
Place (Distribution) Solving promotional and product problems does not guarantee global marketing success. The product must still get adequate distribution. For example, Europeans don’t play sports as much as Americans do, so they don’t visit sporting goods stores as often. Realizing this, Reebok started selling its shoes in about 800 traditional shoe stores in France. In just one year, the company doubled its French sales.
Pricing Once marketing managers have determined a global product and promotion strategy, they can select the remainder of the marketing mix. Pricing presents some unique problems in the global sphere. Exporters must not only cover their production costs but also consider transportation costs, insurance, taxes, and tariffs. When deciding on a final price , marketers must also determine how much customers are willing to spend on a particular product. Marketers also need to ensure that their foreign buyers will pay the price. The Impact of the Internet In many respects, going global is easier than it has ever been before. Opening an e-commerce site on the internet immediately puts a company in the international marketplace. Sophisticated language translation software can make any site accessible to people around the world. Global shippers such as UPS, FedEx, and DHL help solve international e-commerce distribution complexities. E4X Inc. offers software to ease currency conversions by allowing customers to pay in the currency of their choice. E4X collects the payment from the customer and then pays the site in U.S. dollars. Nevertheless, the impact of the Internet is certainly changing the way companies can go global and is creating a whole new way of doing business. Week 8 Review Wow, class, we have gained a wealth of knowledge within the wonderful world of marketing and have discovered over these past eight weeks that marketing is a world within itself. We now have a better understanding of the importance and necessity of marketing. We know now more than ever that marketing is not just about advertising or trying to sell a product/service. Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offering that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large. We also discovered over these past eight weeks that the marketing mix (four Ps) is the foundation and focal point for any organization. The unique blend of the marketing mix is designed to produce mutually satisfying exchanges with the target market. Although the marketing manager can control each component of the marketing mix, we know from the knowledge we gained over the past eight weeks that the strategies for all four components within the mix must be blended together to achieve optimal results. Understanding consumer decisions and behaviors along with the importance and necessity of ethics and social responsibility within marketing and the need for global marketing we now have gained a whole new perspective and profound respect for the world of marketing. Let’s jump over to our final power point presentation of the course to finish up strong by learning a little more in depth about global marketing. References
Lamb, C., Hair, J., McDaniel, C., (2014). Principles of Marketing. Mason, OH: South-Western, Cengage Learning.
