International Marketing

International Marketing When a firm makes the commitment to manufacture products outside its domestic market, it is engaged in international marketing. While companies can be heavily involved in international markets with extensive selling organizations and distribution networks, the decision to manufacture outside its home market marks a significant shift toward an integrated international market strategy. Global markets become an essential component of the company’s growth strategy, and resources are allocated to expand the business into those markets. The company incorporates an international division or business unit that has responsibility for growing the business in targeted foreign markets.International marketing aligns the company’s assets and resources with global markets, but, in the vast majority of companies, management still takes a “domestic first” approach to the business. As a result, the corporate structure still divides international and domestic markets.Global Marketing A global marketing company realizes that all world markets (including the company’s own domestic market) are, in reality, a single market with many different segments. This frequently happens when a company generates more than half its revenue in international markets. Exhibit 2.3 highlights companies considered traditional American companies but that generate more than half their revenue outside the United States.The most significant difference between international and global marketing organizations is management philosophy and corporate planning. Global marketers treat the world as a single, unified market with many different segments that may or may not fall along countries’ political boundaries. International marketers, on the other hand, define markets along traditional political boundaries and, most often, assign unique status to their domestic market.The first step in moving into global markets is to evaluate the market opportunities. Since a company’s management team is usually less familiar with foreign markets, research helps fill in the blanks, providing critical information for decision makers.