Page 122 - DMGT547_INTERNATIONAL_MARKETING

Unit 6: Negotiation and Decision Making

Selection of International Markets Notes

Once the marketer has identified the potential opportunities in the first step now is the time to
select the groups of potential international customers (target markets) to whom to sell the
products or services.
This step also involves identifying the potential buyers, demand measurement & forecasting,
market segmentation, market targeting & market positioning.

Now a final shortlist of potential nations is decided upon. Managers would reflect upon strategic
goals and look for a match in the nations at hand. The company could look at close competitors
or similar domestic companies that have already entered the market to get firmer costs in
relation to market entry. Managers could also look at other nations that it has entered to see if
there are any similarities, or learning that can be used to assist with decision-making in this
instance. A final scoring, ranking and weighting can be undertaken based upon more focused
criteria. After this exercise the marketing manager should probably try to visit the final handful
of nations remaining on the short, shortlist.
Segmentation involved identifying groups of potential customers from the total potential market
that are homogeneous on certain aspects of identity and behaviour and are heterogeneous on
the same aspects from others in the target population. This step also requires the marketers to
decide what key benefits in a product or service to offer to the selected target customers and on
what aspects to differentiate from the competition.

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Caution The aspects on which the segments are based must be relevant for the marketer to
develop its products and services and the marketing programs.
Since a firm needs to offer best value to the potential customers to make its products and services
more saleable compared with competitors, firms have to adopt appropriate business and
marketing strategies.
Many activities are to be undertaken in a firm by many people and in a number of departments
to produce and deliver final products and services to its customers, this requires aligning and
coordinating numerous activities and efforts. At the same time to achieve best value for the
buyer and bet profits for the firms, the firm needs to optimize all the activities, efforts undertaken
and resource utilization. This requires the firm to adopt a coherent and appropriate logic or
strategy to direct and control the alignment, coordination and optimization of its business and
marketing effort.
Various researchers have studied successful companies around the world and attempted to
identify how these firms have aligned and coordinated their activities and efforts. Porter has
concluded that successful firms have adopted one of the three strategies, i.e. cost leadership,
differentiation or focus. Other scholars have identified that successful firms adopted strategies
that were aligned with their market position, i.e. a market leader, challenger, follower & nicher
strategies. Other researchers have asserted that firms have achieved success in markets through
adopting on of the three value discipline strategies, i.e. operational excellence, customer intimacy
or product leadership. Details on these strategies may be found in strategy subject and books.

Developing the International Marketing Mix

The fourth step in the marketing process is developing the international marketing mix, product,
place, price & promotion. Marketing mix identifies four key areas for developing a well
coordinated marketing strategy. To create a strong marketing impact a firm needs to develop

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