International Marketing: A Case Study of Liberty Retail Limited

This study delves into the world of international marketing, exploring its key concepts and the rationale behind companies venturing into global markets. It examines the case of Liberty Retail Limited, a UK-based company, and analyzes the various strategies it can adopt to expand its business internationally. The study critically assesses the significance of globalisation for Liberty Retail Limited, including the advantages and disadvantages of different market entry strategies. It also investigates the global versus local debate, highlighting the merits and demerits of each approach. Furthermore, the study explores the differences in product, price, place, and promotional distribution approaches in various international contexts. Finally, it compares home and international orientations and outlines the implications of each approach for competitor assessment.

International Marketing
1

Table of Contents
Introduction........................................................................................................................3
Task 1................................................................................................................................4
Task 2................................................................................................................................7
Task 3..............................................................................................................................10
Task 4..............................................................................................................................12
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................15
Reference List..................................................................................................................16
2

Introduction
International marketing refers to the marketing ethics applied on various local markets
to expand their trade in a global context. In black and white terms international
marketing is the incorporation of marketing techniques in more than one country on a
specific local company. It is also referred to as global marketing. Global marketing
comprises of various marketing techniques mainly product designing and the application
of the concept of marketing mix. International marketing assists the marketing
managers to battle with the increase in market targets and for the launch of their
products overseas.
The study will provide the readers a comprehensive understanding on the significance
of international marketing in the application of local markets. These will help the readers
to comprehend the various strategies and the pro and cons of the International Market.
The study will now examine a local UK based company known as Liberty Retail Limited
and the application of international marketing techniques on the company. The study
will critically assess the significance of the various strategies incorporated by the market
consultant to increase the sales and customer base of the above mentioned Local
Company.
3

Task 1
P1. Analyse the scope and key concepts of international marketing
Key Concepts in International Marketing
In the present era marketing is has witnessed a global expansion. It is not confined to
their national borders. International marketing is an integral marketing technique that
incorporates effective marketing strategies on local companies to increase their
marketing sales and to improve customer base (Strauss, 2016). International market
has faced a number of challenges in the face of the changing era, change in consumer
tastes and preferences, boost in the purchasing power of the consumer. International
marketing has a wide scope in the economy as it improves the performance of the
company by designing effective plans that is efficient in the promotion of goods and
services to customers globally for lucrative gains. The key concepts of International
Marketing comprise mainly of aggressive competition with their specified domestic
competitors, with a high increase in risks and challenges (Gillespie, 2015).
Scope of International Marketing
International Marketing has a huge scope for the internationalization of its local market.
The study critically emphasizes on the scope of International Marketing as mentioned
below:
The Import of products and services: A local company can internationalise its brand
by the assistance of the importation of goods and products in the domestic market
(Scherer. et al., 2018) Import of goods and services can only be possible with the
increase in demand by the domestic markets.
The Export of Goods and Services: International, marketing has a scope on the
export of their goods and services overseas. This kind of marketing technique can
improve the brand promotion of the company.
Re-Exportation: The International Marketing companies’ are subjected to re
exportation of unfinished goods.
Joint Endeavour: Joint endeavour comprises of the working in unison with two
potential companies. These are beneficial for the scope of the International Market. It
improves market sales and is valuable to the company as it has lucrative gains.
Contract Agreements: International Marketing provides a wide scope to the two
potential domestic companies undergoing an agreement for the promotion of their
company overseas (Gereffi, 2016). The domestic markets are thus provided a wider
framework to exercise the promotion of their brands and to earn lucrative gains.
International Operation Management: International Market provides an effective
approach for the management of the international operation undertaken by domestic
4

markets overseas. The local company is exposed to the internal and external factors
that contribute to the growth of local markets overseas.
Self Owned Management: The companies that are ready to steer their products
overseas are projected to the freedom of managing their own company overseas. The
company is exposed to a higher level of commitment as they are capable of selling their
products within the borders of their country or to a nearby nation.
P2. Explain the rationale for it to want to market internationally and describe the
various routes to market the organisation can adopt.
Liberty Retail Limited is a domestic UK based private company in the heart of London.
The study will now emphasize on the significance of globalisation of the local company
known as Liberty Retail Limited in UK. The study will critically assess the rationale
adopted by the organisation to expand its trade overseas. The marketing consultant will
now briefly discuss the significance of globalisation taken by the above mentioned
company.
The Significance of Globalisation for Liberty Local Limited
In the present era globalisation plays a key role the expansion of trade and
opportunities (Steger, 2017). Local companies usually decide to promote their products
and services overseas due to a variety of reasons (Sternquist, 2108). The reasons are
briefly illustrated below and will provide the readers a comprehensive end to end
understanding on the significance of the going global.
Boost in the value of sales: The organisation can promote its brand on a global basis
if their organisation is experiencing a sudden expanse due to the increase in the sale of
their products and services. The organisation can benefit lucrative gains as the overall
capital of the organisation will experience a hike.
Lucrative Gains: The organisation can market its products overseas at a lesser price.
This will improve the profit margins of the company. Globalisation can be valuable to the
company to increase its trade across the borders.
Boost in Innovation: The Company can go global as with the increase in the
innovation of their products it can experience a hike in the economy. It can be of greater
assistance for the exposure of the innovated products to a greater level of customers
worldwide
Economies of Sale: Local Liberty Retail can go global as the increase in the demands
of the products worldwide. Globalisation assists the companies in exposing the
company to attain greater sale in economies.
Strategies adopted by the Organisation to go Global
It is difficult to enter into the foreign soil of any company and go global. International
marketing comprises of stringent rules and regulations to operate in the market (Seid,
5

2018) .The organisation can adopt viable strategies to go global and promote its sale
worldwide. These strategies are briefly illustrated by the marketing consultant for the
company Liberty Retail Limited.
Brand Promotion: Brand Promotion is a viable business strategy incorporated by the
potential local markets that globalise overseas (Lasserre, 2017). The above mentioned
organisation can market its products overseas by adopting the theory of brand
promotion. This is a viable route undertaken by various organisations to tackle the
aggressive operation functioning overseas. A creation of a successful brand and the
franchise of its chain market overseas can boost the organisation. The company can
sell its products in Africa or India.
The role of Direct Exportation: Export of the goods and services across the border
can be of a beneficial value to the organisation. It is one of the most viable strategies
adopted by local markets to establish their base overseas. Direct Exportation refers to
the sale of services and products directly to the market you wish to establish your
company in. Agents and distributors are an essential asset to the theory of direct
exportation.
6

Task 2
P3. Evaluate the key criteria and selection process to use when considering
which international market to enter
A business that aims to expand globally, the market strategies that are to be applied will
be different in the international market. Key (Critical) success Factor helps a particular
company to determine the potential of their chosen international market to expand
properly. The Critical success factors (CSF’s) may change over time due to issues
associated with quality of the product, employee behaviour, schedule or manufacturing
flexibility and brand awareness (Yeoh and Popovič, 2016). Since, there is a vast
difference between the business operations in international and domestic markets, it is
necessary that the success factors of the chosen market is properly evaluated. The sub
types of CSF’s are used to identify the potential of the market.
Industry Critical Success Factors- The industry CSF’s sights the differences between
the profit and loss of various companies. It also helps in the anticipation of an
organization’s success or failure. The industry CSF’s are same for the organizations
operating in the same industry but will be different for organizations operating in
different industries.
Strategy Critical Success Factors- The strategy CSF’s generates from the business
strategy of firm. It highly differs from company to company even though they are
operating in the same industry. For instance, the business strategy of Liberty Retail Ltd
will highly differ from that of Wal-Mart or Marks & Spencer. This type of CSF’s is
particularly formulated after a proper internal and external analysis of business factors.
Environmental Critical Success Factors- The environmental CSF’s occurs due to the
changes brought by technology and economic changes. The CSF’s are mainly
formulated when a situation arises that is beyond the control of an organization. In the
words of Fryer et al., (2015), the environmental CSFs have the potential to align the
vision and objectives of an organization with the external environmental and economic
conditions.
Temporal Critical Success Factors- The temporal CSF’s mainly occur due to the
internal changes brought up by the management of and organization. It mainly involves
all the risk assessment and the contingency plans to prevent any crisis. It is one of the
most important CSF for an organization to consider entering in a new market.
There are many other CSF’s, which are considered integral as well. They are related to
marketing, distribution, manufacturing, technological, skills and the ability of the
organization (Kohli and Singh, 2015). The CSF’s related to technology and marketing
allow the company to evaluate the scientific and sales expertise and potential of the
international market. Liberty will come across various retail competitors for whichever
market they choose to expand their business.
7

P4. Explain, using examples, the different market entry strategies, including the
advantages and disadvantages of each
The aspect of market entry strategy can be defined as a properly planned procedure of
providing products or services to a new customer base of a particular target market. In
the case of expanding the business organization internationally, the concepts of import
and export align with the organizations ability to manage contracts in a completely new
country (Hernández and Nieto, 2015). The expansion of Liberty Retail Ltd in other
countries will be judged based on the mode of entry they use to enlarge their business
organization. The different market entry strategies are as follows:
Indirect Exporting- The concept of indirect exporting revolves around selling a product
or service to a mediator who in turn sells the products directly to the customers or to the
wholesalers, who see retailers as their prime customers. Selling of a product to a
mediator of a business organization’s home nation is considered as the easiest method
of conducting an indirect exporting (Saxena and Pramod, 2016). For example, the
company Bulldog exports its products with the help of the exporting company named
Cocorose London.
Advantages: The biggest benefits of using the indirect export are that it involves less
commitment and risk in performing a business. It is more profitable when conducted in
the home nation.
Disadvantages: The failures include insufficient control and contact with the foreign
market. In most cases, it has been observed that the exporter lacks enough knowledge
to operate in the international market.
Direct Exporting- The concept of direct exporting is different from that of indirect
exporting. Here, the company provides the products and services directly to the
customers without the involvement of any mediator.
Advantages: This method of exports provides the opportunity to increase the sales of an
organization and is mainly free form any illegal exposure. The organization has more
control over the procedure rather than the mediator.
Disadvantages: The operational cost of direct export is very high and it involves higher
risks than indirect exporting. The organizations also face a difficulty in maintaining the
stocks and highly depend on the distributors, which leads to high distribution costs.
Licensing- It is a business agreement that binds two companies, where one acts as the
licensor and the other acts as a licensee. The licensor provides special permissions or
copyrights in exchange for a share in the profit margin of the licensee. An international
business licensing agreement includes the involvement of two companies from two
different countries (Block and Walter, 2017). One of the prominent examples is of
Disney Consumer Products, who have continued to deliver strong retail growth since a
long time. Their products are influenced by their own entertainment content.
Advantages: The small companies gain more advantage from business licensing. It is
appealing and profitable for the small companies who lack sufficient resources. It
8

provides them with wide range of access in the market and a rapid expansion in the
global market.
Disadvantages: Once the licensee sees an opportunity, it might change its commitment
towards the licensor. There is also a chance that the licensee might become the
competitor once evaluated the operations of the market.
9

Task 3
P5. Present an overview of the key arguments in the global versus local debate
There are several merits and demerits that Liberty can face if it globalizes its brand in
the market. The overview of the important arguments in the global versus local debate
is presented as follows:
Merits
Encouragement of free trade
Globalization of its brand will help Liberty Retail Limited to encourage free. The
company provide its customers with a wide range of standardized products at lower
cost. There will be no geographical barriers, which will lead the customers to purchase
the products from anywhere in the world except some issues such as tariff barriers, etc.
Greater Employment
When Liberty will globalize its business, it can create a pool of employment
opportunities for the people. People will get more jobs and will be able to develop their
career orientation. Employment generation will improve the economic development of
the countries (Hull, 2017).
Better industrialization
Globalization will help the Liberty to improve those areas of the world, which are not so
developed by establishing business in those areas. This will lead to better
industrialisation and development.
Income in multiple currencies
Marketing of brand in different countries will help the Liberty Retail Limited to earn
income in multiple currencies, which help in growth of its business severely.
Technological development
By globalizing its brand, Liberty can be able to make use of different developed
technologies, which enable it to improve its business operation in the global market.
Adoption of latest technologies will help Liberty to minimize its cost and increase its
profits. By using latest technologies, Liberty can promote its goods and enter into the
global market effectively.
Demerits
Cultural barriers
There are also some cons of globalization such as cultural barriers. Liberty Retail
Limited is likely to face some cultural problems while globalizing its brand in the market.
10

The lifestyles and tastes, the language, traditions of the people and needed to be
understand by the company in to promote its brand.
Rich becoming richer and poor becoming poorer
It is believed that globalization, ensures free trade but only true internationalization that
eliminates geographical barriers is able to do this. There are some taxes levied on
products whose percentage can exceed 20% in some nations, which restricts the
admittance that people comprise to imported commodities. This result in rich becoming
richer because it can access things they require to become richer and poor becomes
poorer since they do not have sources to avail success (Miller, 2017).
P6. Investigate how the product, price, place and promotional distribution
approach differs in a variety of international contexts
The marketing strategies differ in both domestic and international levels. The marketing
mix strategies for organizations willing to operate in the international market differs as
well. In the present scenario, the four P’s are completely dependent on each other and
influence each other’s strategy and decisions. It is easy to formulate the strategies of
the four P’s, when the organizations are well aware about their target market (Chan-
Olmsted, 2017). In order to expand their market in other nations it is important that the
company Liberty Retail have properly assessed the product, price, place and
promotional approach of the customers of that particular place in order to formulate their
own. The standard marketing mix comprising of product, price, place and promotion can
be used as follows:
Product: The product must meet the demands of the target market. The customer base
of the home nation will highly differ than that of the host nation. While providing the
product for a new customer base the organization has to keep in mind the customers
cultural background, purchase intentions and the income as well. In this case, the
company has to adapt their product as per the requirements of the customers. They can
sell their standard product or customize their product according to the will of the
customers (Micheels and Boecker, 2016). The approach will highly depend on the
alignment of the customer’s choice with the strength of the brand.
Price: Pricing in the international context is considered as a difficult task. The company
cannot use their traditional price in order to compete with the other companies
belonging from the same industry. There are certain factors, which are to be kept in
account in order to determine the price.
 Transportation Cost
 Fluctuations in exchange rate
 Average income of the consumer base
 Value of the currency
Place: The place of marketing mix comprises of distributing a product or service to the
consumer base at the right place. In the overseas market, the use of exporting and
importing companies are highlighted as it involves allocating a huge amount of goods
around a market that is unknown to the initial distribution department of the organization
11

(Sakulina, 2015). There is a difference in every country’s distribution strategy due to the
difference in transportation costs and profit margins.
Promotion: The promotional strategy includes attracting the customer base towards the
products the organization is trying to sell. The advertising strategy is being created
according to the culture and background of the target market, At times, a famous
celebrity of that particular nation is hired to endorse the products of the brand. The
celebrity can attract its fan base into buying the product. The availability of media and
television development also matters in order to reach out to the customers.
12

Task 4
P7. Explain and analyse the various international marketing approaches your
client organisation can adopt
When a company needs to promote its brand internationally, in order to grow its
business and standardize its products. The complete process is called global marketing.
There are several strategies that are required to be explained and evaluated so that the
following company can properly adopt it, Liberty Retail Limited. The analysis of the
approaches is laid down as follows:
Organization structure in an international context
Liberty Retail limited used to follow matrix structure in its organization, which involved
free chain of communication among all level of employees. However, in an international
context the organizational structure of Liberty Retail limited needs to be changed. In
order to promote its brand internationally, the company needs to develop disciplined
organizational structure. Sometimes, a great level of grapevine communication builds
which leads to eruption of rumours and damages the image of the company. Hence, the
company, Liberty needs to induce its employees to communicate with its department so
that the confidential data of the company is not disclosed.
Home or international orientation and reporting lines
Price promotion
Price promotion is one of the most effective approaches that can be adopted by the
Liberty Retail Limited for international marketing. The company can provide discount
offers to its targeted customers to promote its brand and can provide freebies along with
the purchase of a product (Hochschild, 2015).
Advertisements
Advertisements are one of the most adopted approaches to make that facilitates the
growth of a business considerably. Liberty Retail Limited, in order to make its brand
globalized, can effectively adopt the several channels of advertisements in order to
promote its brand in the international market. It can promote its brand through, Internet
involving official websites, emails, etc. Nowadays, companies promote their brand over
various social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Hike, Instagram and many
more. Along with those, Liberty can promote its brand through different merchandising
aids. It can make use of banners for the advertisement of its brand globally. Since the
facilities of the social networking sites, internet are availed by people all over the world,
it is one of the most useful tool of advertisement of goods in international market.
Business to business marketing
The business-to-business marketing is a marketing approach in which Liberty Retail
Limited promote their brand and sell their products to other organizations, agencies,
13

institutions, commercial business. Those commercial businesses can use the
commodities or can again sell it to other business (Isaak, 2016).
Use of tradeshows
Several products are sold on approval such as automobiles because the customers do
not purchase those products unless they take a trial experience to chance the complete
potential of the brand. In that case, Liberty Retail limited can adopt the marketing
strategy of tradeshows. The company can conduct trade shows of its products in order
to assure the customers with its entire brand potential.
Home or international orientation reporting lines
Liberty Retail Limited used to have an accountability structure of department to
department. The employees are supposed to report or be accountable in a manager.
However, in order to globalize its brand Liberty Retail Limited is required to expand its
reporting structure and develop a separate head for every project in order to enable
specialisation, reduced workload, efficient and better quality of work (Porter et al.,
2019). This will help in improvement of performance as well as better growth.
P8. Compare home and international orientation and ways to assess competitors,
outlining the implications of each approach
The comparison of home orientation and international orientation are as follows:
Price promotion
When Liberty was operating its business, it does not require making price promotion so
much since its business was well developed in the home country. Now, since it needs to
go global and in order to build a fresh customer base it would need to provide discount
offers to its targeted customers to promote its brand and can provide freebies along with
the purchase of a product.
Latest Technologies
Liberty Retail Limited being operated in its home country, United Kingdom used several
technologies in its business operations but since it is going global, it needs improve its
business operation in the global market by updating the technologies. Liberty would
require updating the technologies for increasing customer base and ethical marketing of
goods as compared to those of its international competitors. Adoption of latest
technologies will help Liberty to minimize its cost and increase its profits. By using latest
technologies, Liberty can promote its goods and enter into the global market effectively.
Tradeshows
The company, Liberty Retail Limited, will not change use of trade shows because the
products that needed to be tested before purchase are is demanded by every people
living in every country. Hence, Liberty needs to conduct trade shows of its products in
order to assure the customers with its entire brand potential (Vahlne, 2017).
14

Advertisements
Since the company, had a good customer base it did not require to make the frequent
advertisements except in case of launch of a new product. But when Liberty goes global
it would need to make frequent advertisements to attract customers and make them
familiar about the existing and latest products (Keller, 2017).
15

Conclusion
In the present times the globalization has provided a wide impact on the domestic
companies marketing their products. International marketing follows stringent rules and
regulations for all the local companies who enter into the foreign soil to market their
products. The study provides a comprehensive end to end understanding on the
significance of International Marketing. The company makes the use of the international
market mix globalize their product and increase their market sales. The readers are
provided with an appropriate example of a local company names Liberty Retail Limited.
These readers are directed to the various approaches undertaken by the market to
expand its customer base overseas.
This study is authentic for the smooth working of the local company. The study has
been critically assessed for the better understanding of the students.
16

Reference List
Block, J.H. and Walter, S.G., 2017. 2. Hofstede’s cultural dimensions and modes of
entry into entrepreneurship. Exploring the Entrepreneurial Society: Institutions,
Behaviors and Outcomes, p.22.
Chan-Olmsted, S.M. ed., 2017. Traditional Media and the Internet: The Search for
Viable Business Models: A Special Double Issue of the International Journal on Media
Management. Routledge.
Fryer, K.J., Antony, J. and Douglas, A., 2015. Critical Success Factors of Continuous
Improvement in the Public Sector: A review of literature and some key findings.
Gereffi, G. and Fernandez-Stark, K., 2016. Global value chain analysis: a primer.
Gillespie, K. and Riddle, L., 2015. Global marketing. Routledge.
Hernández, V. and Nieto, M.J., 2015. The effect of the magnitude and direction of
institutional distance on the choice of international entry modes. Journal of World
Business, 50(1), pp.122-132.
Hochschild, A.R., 2015. The managed heart. In Working In America (pp. 47-54). Routledge.
Hull, G., 2017. A treatise on political economy. Routledge.
Isaak, R., 2016. The making of the ecopreneur. In Making Ecopreneurs (pp. 63-78). Routledge.
Keller, K.L., 2017. Managing the growth tradeoff: Challenges and opportunities in luxury branding.
In Advances in Luxury Brand Management (pp. 179-198). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Kohli, A. and Singh, R., 2015. AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF VARIATIONS IN CRITICAL
SUCCESS FACTORS OF QUALITY MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN INDIAN
MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY. Integral Review: A Journal of Management, 8(2).
Lasserre, P., 2017. Global strategic management. Macmillan International Higher
Education.
Micheels, O.M.E.T. and Boecker, A., 2016. Product and Marketing Innovation in Farm-
Based Businesses: The Role of Entrepreneurial Orientation and Market
Orientation. International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, 19(2), p.99.
Miller, P. and Rose, N., 2017. Political power beyond the state: Problematics of government. In Foucault
and Law (pp. 191-224). Routledge.
Porter, M.E. and Kramer, M.R., 2019. Creating shared value. In Managing Sustainable Business (pp. 327-
350). Springer, Dordrecht.
Sakulina, A., 2015. Marketing Strategies in an International Trade Business. Case
Company: Koneisto International Oy.
17

Saxena, N. and Pramod, S., 2016. Emerging Horizons of Business in Astounding
Economies of Asia India, China and Vietnam: A Strategic View on the Possible Modes
of Entry in These Economies.
Scherer, F.L., Minello, I.F., Krüger, C. and Rizzatti, A.B., 2018. To Internationalize or
Not to Internationalize? A Descriptive Study of a Brazilian Startup. Technology
Innovation Management Review, 8(3).
Seid, S.H., 2018. Global regulation of foreign direct investment. Routledge.
Steger, M.B., 2017. Globalization: A very short introduction(Vol. 86). Oxford University
Press.
Sternquist, B. and Goldsmith, E.B., 2018. International retailing. Bloomsbury Publishing
USA.
Strauss, J. and Frost, R.D., 2016. E-marketing: Instructor's Review Copy. Routledge.
Vahlne, J.E. and Johanson, J., 2017. The internationalization process of the firm—a model of knowledge
development and increasing foreign market commitments. In International Business (pp. 145-154).
Routledge.
Yeoh, W. and Popovič, A., 2016. Extending the understanding of critical success factors
for implementing business intelligence systems. Journal of the Association for
Information Science and Technology, 67(1), pp.134-147.
18