Case Study Question on International Marketing Strategies

One of your classmates asked for clarification regarding the following question in the cases:

'Critically discuss what and how International marketing strategies can be applied to help organisations when entering a new geographical market territory? Give examples.'

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You will be studying/acquiring the international marketing strategies throughout the course. But in regards to that case, the question wants you to possibly look at several of the issues below:

1) When launching a product into foreign markets do you standardise or adapt your marketing mix to the foreign market? A company can adopt to use a standardised marketing mix around the world or an adapted marketing mix in each country.

2) As with international product decisions an organisation can either adapt or standardise their promotional strategy and message. Advertising messages in countries may well have to be adapted because of language barriers or the current message used in the national market may be offensive to overseas residents.

3) Pricing on an international scale is difficult. As well as taking into account traditional price considerations:

Fixed and variable costs,
Competition,
Company objectives ,
Proposed positioning strategies,
Target group and willingness to pay,

the organisation needs to consider the costs of transport, any tariffs or import duties that may be levied on their product(s) when they are sold on the international scale. Also what currency do you expect to be paid in? Will it be home or international currency? Exchange rate fluctuation will also impact profitability and influence pricing decisions.

4) And distribution strategies: A standard distribution channel in the UK may go from a Manufacturer, wholesaler, retailer to consumer or direct from a manufacturer to a retailer. In an overseas market there may well be more intermediaries involved. In your international market , is it dominated by major retailers or is the retail sector made up of small independent retailers? Is internet distribution common for your product.