International Marketing: Scope, Concepts, Opportunities and Challenges

This document provides an overview of international marketing, including its scope and key concepts. It discusses the main differences between international and local marketing, the rationale for willingness to market internationally, and the opportunities and challenges associated with international marketing. It also explores routes to market internationally and provides recommendations for Ma Baker, a micro bakery in London, on how to adapt their marketing strategies for various markets.

International
Marketing

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
Scope and key concepts of international marketing....................................................................3
Main differences between international and local marketing.....................................................5
Rationale for willingness to market internationally....................................................................5
Opportunities and challenges associated with international marketing......................................5
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................7
Routes to market internationally and recommendation..............................................................7
Key criteria and selection process while entering international market......................................8
Market entry strategies................................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION.............................................................................10
TASK 3..........................................................................................................................................11
Introduction to company and current market............................................................................11
Differences between global and local marketing......................................................................11
Key arguments in relation to local v/s global marketing..........................................................12
Investigation of product, pricing, promotion and distribution approaches...............................12
Task4..............................................................................................................................................14
International marketing approaches..........................................................................................14
Home v/s international orientation along with ways to assess competitors..............................14
Conclusion and recommendations based on marketing mix and structure of company...........15
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................15
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................16

INTRODUCTION
International marketing refers to the process of applying marketing principles at a global
level to fulfil the needs and demands of people in different parts of the world.This concept is
based upon a strategy which is developed and devised by an entity in the home nation and then
distributed to their other offices(Amankwah-Amoah, Boso and Debrah, 2018).. The present
report is based upon Ma Baker which is a micro bakery situated in the middle of Fulham,
London.
This report is divided into two tasks. The first part comprises of the scope and concept of
international marketing, rationale for company to market globally, opportunities and challenges
associated, routes to market internationally. Also, it contains description of market entry
strategies along with their advantages and disadvantages as well as recommendations for entity.
The second part consists of introduction to company and their existing market, difference
between global and local marketing, description of international marketing approaches and
comparison of home and international orientation.
TASK 1
Scope and key concepts of international marketing
According to Czinkota and Ronkainen (2013), international marketing comprises of
activities, procedures and institutions across the national borders which tend to create
communicate and exchange offerings that hold significant value for society as well as
stakeholders.
As per the views of Armstrong and et. al. (2015), international marketing refers to the
application of marketing capabilities and orientation onto international business.
Scope
In general terms, international marketing can be defined as the performance of business
activities which align the flow of products and services of a company towards consumers within
more than one nation for the purpose of profit making. In today's modern world, this concept has
a vast scope owing to the increasing awareness about globalisation within corporate world. The
scope of international marketing is given below:-
Contractual Agreements: When a business carries out expansion, international
marketing provides opportunities to expand the market, consumer base, volume of sales and
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profits. Here, companies grow exponentially by entering in a contractual agreement with
overseas partners. With the help of the Ma Baker can expand its business beyond the domestic
boundaries and can efficiently expand their market share, sales and the profitability as they can
enter into partnership with others who has better understanding of the market.
Fully owned manufacturing: An entity which possesses significant interest within
foreign market can establish fully owned manufacturing facilities within that nation. The factors
such as cost differences, government policies, and trade barriers encourage the company to set up
production unit abroad to earn total control over manufacturing and quality. With this the Ma
Baker has an opportunity to easily expand their market share by establishing their bakery so that
they will have their own control but as the requirement of funds for this is high due to which they
may not be consider it as better option.
Key Concepts
A number of concepts are linked with international marketing, these are defined below:-
Domestic Marketing: In this, marketing is specifically targeted only towards the home
nation. A purely domestic organisation operates domestically only and has no intentions of going
global. As the Ma Baker has been operating on small scale as it a medium organisation they are
operating domestically and in the recent year with lesser investment they cannot enter into
international market.
International Trade: This is largely concerned with flow of products and services
among the nations. The major purpose here is to earn knowledge of influence of commercial and
monetary conditions upon resource transfer between nations and BOP (Balance Of Payments).
Ma Baker can expand their market on international level when they will have better availability
of the funds as well as when other conditions will be in favour of the company.
The businesses need to determine the scope of various international marketing as well as
various concepts related to this so that they can easily plan their expansion with the help of
various concepts such as by way of fully owned manufacturing it may be risky for the
organisation such as Ma Baker while the contractual agreements are beneficial for them as this
facilitate them to expand with minimum risk and investment in both national and international
market.
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Main differences between international and local marketing
Local marketing refers to marketing in the geographical boundaries of a nation while
international marketing is taking the operations of an entity outside the confines of home nation.
In case of local marketing, the entity generally possesses deep knowledge of the domestic beliefs
and values while international market is complex and it is difficult for an organisation to judge
the nature of consumers here (Bianchi and Mathews, 2016). Local marketing is generally done
using relatively cheaper methods such as special offers, discounts and inserts in newspapers. On
the contrary, international marketing is done through execution of marketing plans, marketing
campaigns, social media marketing and digital marketing.
Rationale for willingness to market internationally
Ma Baker is a micro bakery situated at the centre of Fulham, London and deals in home-
made, fresh and real bread. This entity has been constantly winning awards and recognitions in
the home nation. Thus, Ma Bakers is eager to market internationally in order to ensure stability
of company's performance along with a consistent and constant flow of revenues and EPS. Thus,
it is significant for this organisation to earn entry into international markets and conduct
marketing activities there (Brouthers, Nakos and Dimitratos, 2015).
Opportunities and challenges associated with international marketing
International Marketing is a concept which majorly depends upon the challenges
associated and in such a way in which it is being utilised in an organisation. The marketing
consultant of this bakery will face certain challenges and simultaneously Ma Baker will also get
some set of opportunities when it will enter the international market. The challenges need to be
handled by the marketing consultant of the bakery.
Opportunities
After entering the international market by Ma Bakers it will get certain pros because of
the following reasons:-
Market Infrastructure: At the time when Ma Baker will enter into the international
market it will be having a good chance to earn the high level advantage of infrastructural
development. The main reliance will be based upon energy infrastructure, Communication and
the system of transport in that nation so that it can tactfully sell and allocate the breads and pies
which are manufactured by business. It will be having an advantage of cost effectiveness and
will be easier for the bakeries small in size to work in a country where reliable and the
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availability of well developed infrastructure is present. In addition to this the taste and preference
of the customers are changing due to which they prefers to have better quality of handy food due
to which they have better opportunity to expand to international location by utilising various
available resources there.
In addition to this for economic development various governments of different nations
has been focussing upon providing assistance and ensure availability of various resources so that
they can establish their business. Such opportunities for Ma Baker will enable them to expand
their business in different markets.
Challenges
While doing the business on an international level there are various threats and
challenges which a company has to face to earn success and maximisation of profit,those are
enumerated below:-
Language: Various words have various meaning in the different parts of the world. The
company incorporated by Ma Baker have to examine the various translations of the brand name
and also various translations of the tag line so that such translations should not confer a meaning
which can hurt the emotions or sentiments of the people of a particular country. Difference in
languages than the home country will adversely affect the operations of the Ma Baker on
international level as they will not be able to develop understanding with the customers.
Examples of such misleading translations are given with the help of this table:-
(Source: Different Cultural Meanings of Colours and Numbers, 2019)
Laws and Regulations: Various legal aspects has to be taken into consideration like
Customs, Trade barriers, Taxation laws, and IPRs by Ma Bakers while doing its business on
international level so that the company should not face any criminal case or get fined. Also for
expanding the business on international level Ma Baker has to consider various implications of
laws and regulations which affect their business operations as they are operating on small scale
so for them meeting such requirement will not be easy.
For ensuring the survival of the business the organisation such as Ma Baker must identify
various challenges and must accordingly formulate various strategies as with this they can ensure
that challenges such as language barriers, laws and regulations does not affect them to a greater
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extend. But they are managed then they can lead to closure down of the business as it will unable
Ma Baker to understand the need of consumers and requirement of various laws.
Task 2
Routes to market internationally and recommendation
Any entity could market internationally to earn the recognition of a majority of people
towards the high quality and unique products of company. In this regard, Ma Baker provides
breads that are preservative and free of additive and all the ingredients that are utilised to make
these are of high quality and organic. The material which is used to make the breads is stone-
ground (Jean and et. al., 2016). Thus, the company can consider the two routes to market
internationally that are explained below:-
Direct Route: This comprises of those channels where the organisation directly comes in
contact with the people in the international market so as to persuade them to make a purchase of
the products sold by the organisation. Ma Baker possess the capability to use channels such as
sales representative, offering website deliveries, organising exhibitions, distributing the mail
order catalogues to make direct contact with the consumers, leaving a good impact and retaining
them for a long time by providing high quality and fresh breads.
Indirect Route: This enumerates those channels where the company enters into a
contract with a third party and hand over the authority of influencing consumer behaviour to
them (Katsikeas and et. al., 2016). Ma Baker can consider opting for channels like Alliance
partners, Channel partners, OEM partners, system integrators etc. to earn the attention of
population within foreign nation. Some of these are briefly explained below:-
Alliance Partners:These groups are those which are comparatively smaller in sizebut
they have the capacity to advise Ma Baker regarding the initiatives related to the business that
can be undertaken by the bakery to make an dominant and authoritative entry into market.
Channel Partners: These are the companies will be having technical expertise to make
an impact on the minds of consumers and make them see the advantages that company's goods
and services offer. They include resellers, value-added resellers and distribution partners and the
influential players of the sector which Ma Baker set up the deal with are CDW, Carahsoft, Optiv,
Insight etc.
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It is highly recommended that Ma Bakers should adopt those channel partners to market
in a new country because these channel markets possess good knowledge of the advanced
techniques ad technologies which are in trend in the business sector. Thus it will help in getting
those technological advanced equipments which will render an upper hand to thjis bakery among
other rival businesses within this industry.
Critical evaluation of the international market context, including insight into how your
chosen client organisation should adapt their marketing strategies for various markets
For Ma Baker it is not possible to enter with the direct route as this has various
implications on the organisation in context of the increasing investment and meeting up with the
requirement of the regulations and implications due to this they need to consider upon the
indirect route with the channel partners who have better understanding of the market. But due to
adoption of such strategy they will have limited opportunity due to which their expansion might
not be as profitable as they have been expecting.
Key criteria and selection process while entering international market
Selection of the market is an important process for Ma Baker as this is the prerequisite for
this bakery company to earn success in international marketplace. The steps of the process
concerning the selection are given below:-
International marketing objective: The market is selected on the basis of the objective
that the company is striving to achieve in foreign marketplace. This is done to make sure that the
cultural, ethical, economical, legal and religious values of the nation are not violated by the
bakery products that are provided by Ma Baker.
Parameters for selection: The various things which have to be taken into account by Ma
Baker while entering international market are availability of infrastructure and materials, nature
of rivalry, governmental regulations and market situations.
Preliminary screening: Those markets which do not have the potential to become a
lucrative location for the business have to be eliminated from here after considering various
factors such as behaviour of consumers, size of the population, structure of the economy and per
capita income (Process to select International market, 2018).
Analysis and Selection: After conducting the study of feasibility and cost benefit analysis
the short listed markets will be evaluated. The best market is then selected for carrying out the
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expansion of Ma Baker and making the breads and pies of this bakery accessible to population of
international market.
Test marketing: Here, company sells the product in a particular segment of geographical
location to earn an insight into the consumer behaviour and response to the items
manufracturedby Ma Baker.
Commercial Production: Once the results of test marketing are identified to be positive,
the organisation then carries out mass production in the selected international market.
Key Criteria
The criteria for selecting the international geographical market is defined below:-
Infrastructure facilities: The market is selected on the basis of availability of adequate
infrastructures to make sure that the production of bakery items of Ma Baker can be done easily.
Nature of Competition: The market is selected keeping in consideration the threat of
rivals in the international marketplace and the success pattern of the specific industry in which
firm operates (Martin and Javalgi, 2016).
Laws and Regulations: Ma Baker has to examine the rules and regulations prevalent in
the international market to make sure that they are not involved in any such acts which are
earnest the laws of selected nation.
After doing the already mentioned selection process and by taking into consideration the
major criteria, the market selected by the marketing consultant must carry out actions related to
the expansion of Ma Bakers in Dubai.
Market entry strategies
There are a various of ways by which a company can earn entry into an international
market. These are called market entry strategies and can assist an organisation so that it can
successfully facilitate increase in operations and functions. There are different strategies related
to market entry which could be adopted by Ma Baker, which are described below :-
Strategy Sub Types/
Description
Advantage Disadvantage
Export
 Low tariff on entry
 Risks concerning
financial matters are
 Transactions giving
low profits
 Very much
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Through foreign agent moderate
 It is easy for agent
to defeat the
difficulties of entry
reliability on foreign
agents.
 International
experience will not
be learned.
Through foreign
distributor
 Low staffing
requirements
 Lesser marketing
cost
 High transportation
cost
 Barriers in trade are
of potential in nature
Licensing Sale of rights backed
up by patent or
intellectual property to
be used for
commercial purposes
in foreign market
 Cost on entry is
very low
 Financial risks are
very less associated
 Licensee having the
knowledge of local
conditions
 There will be very
less control
regarding
maintenace of
quality in the
international market
 Licensee can be
disloyal
 Incomes are
comparatively low
Franchising Domestic Franshisor
will sale the rights
through foreign
franchisee for carrying
out commercial
activities
 Rapid foreign
expansion is highly
possible
 Cost on entry is
low
 Requirement of
control cost
 Profits must be
shared between
Foreign franchisee
and domestic
franchisor
 Franchisee can be
disloyal
Out of the above discussed strategies the Ma Baker can adopt is franchising as it is suitable
for them because with this they can sale the right to the domestic person who can work as per the
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terms and condition of the Ma Baker. With this they can ensure easy expansion of the
international market with lower entry cost but this will affect their profitability as they have to
share them with the domestic franchisor.
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
On the basis of above discussion, it is concluded that international marketing in order to
carry out expansion in a feasible manner is a lucrative way available to companies operating at
local level. Also, it has been analysed that local and international marketing are two totally
different concepts. It is assessed that marketing internationally offers various opportunities and
challenges to a company which must be taken into account by marketing consultant of an entity.
Besides this, it has been observed that there are various routes available to a company to market
on international level such as direct and indirect routes. It is recommended that company should
adapt licensing owing to the lost cost of entry and lesser financial risk associated with its
implication.
TASK 3
Introduction to company and current market
Ma Baker, situated within Fulham, London is a micro bakery dealing in fresh and home-
made bread made up of organic and stone-ground flour. Currently, this organisation is
functioning in London where it has been getting rewarded and recognised by a number of well
renowned companies and agencies for the excellent products and services that this bakery strives
to offer to consumers (Richter and et. al., 2016). Also this organisation provides online classes
and is listed as one of the top classes to be taken in London.
Differences between global and local marketing
BASIS LOCAL MARKETING GLOBAL MARKETING
Scale of
operations
Here, production, promotion, sale
and distribution of products take
place at local level.
Here, operations of organisations take
place at global level.
Risk and ease This is relatively less risky and easier
to facilitate and execute.
This is complex and contains a huge
element of risk.
Financial It requires less funds as entity This requires huge investment as it
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Resources operates within local market. deals in various markets and countries.
Complexity This is not complex as companies
conducting local marketing have
knowledge of culture, values,
traditions and laws of home nation.
This is challenging, complex and
require commitment owing to the
element of uncertainty associated with
laws and regulations to operate in
global marketplace.
Example Ma Baker is an excellent example of
local marketing efforts where they
employ strategies such as social
media and online classes to earn
attention of population (Rosson and
Ford, 2016).
An exceptional example of global
marketing is Airbnb which launched a
social media campaign called
#OneLessStranger that assisted the
company to expand to over 1.5 million
listings and allowing users to book and
list accommodations in 34,000 cities
across the globe.
Key arguments in relation to local v/s global marketing
It is generally believed that global marketing is good for companies as it provides
opportunities to the organisation for increasing the consumer base by serving the needs of people
situated in foreign market and providing high quality products to retain them for a long time.
Further, the excellent quality of infrastructural and communication facilities abroad tend to
provide advantages to the entity in terms of increase in market share and consequently, the
quantum of profits. In this regard, local marketing lags behind global marketing as this tends to
lack the resources, raw materials, infrastructure as well as required technology to conduct
production in a manner that can render competitive edge to company over international rivals
(Skudiene, Auruskeviciene and Sukeviciute, 2015). Further, local marketing is also less
preferable as the means to attract the attention of large number of people is not available to the
organisations in domestic nation.
Some people also believe that local marketing has an edge over global marketing as the
former is less complex and the entities are quite acquainted with the market scenario of domestic
nation. Further, the financial resources required for setting up the name and position of company
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in home nation is much easier than while going global. Thus, the chances of sustainability is
larger when a firm is involved in local marketing. In this regard, global marketing is observed to
be less effective as the consumer contact in international market is difficult to be maintained.
This owes to the presence of large number of competitors who are always waiting for an
opportunity to solicit the consumers of an established company and decrease their market
goodwill and share consequently.
Investigation of product, pricing, promotion and distribution approaches
The marketing mix, namely the 4 P’s of marketing such as product, price, promotion and
distribution are largely affected when a company moves from a domestic to international market.
Every nation is unique in terms of culture, language, consumer needs and preferences, consumer
demographics etc. In this regard, while moving to Dubai and other international markets, the
marketing efforts of Ma Baker will differ from the home nation, UK.
Element London, UK International Markets
PRODUCT The entity provides fresh, organic
and home-made breads and pies to
serve the needs and demands of
people.
The products of Ma Baker can be
adapted as per the consumer
demographics, language, packaging
preferences of population of the new
markets.
PRICE Here, the pricing of bakery items
of company was high as the
company had built up its loyal base
of consumers over years.
Ma Baker can apply penetrative
pricing in order to attract the
attention of people in international
markets (Surugiu and Surugiu,
2015).
PROMOTION Currently, promotion is being done
by way of social media pages of
company over sites such as
Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest,
Instagram etc.
Within international markets,
company can make use of strategies
such as marketing campaigns, social
media and sales agents to influence
people to make purchase.
DISTRIBUTION Here, Ma Baker is providing online In international markets, this bakery
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delivery one a person reflects
interest in entity's products over the
website.
can make use of methods such as
wholesalers, retailers, channel
partners, international trade shows
etc.
Critical evaluation marketing mix is applied to in the international contexts
On the basis of the marketing mix so done for the Ma Baker it can be analysed that they have
online system of distribution in the existing country but in international market they have to
consider the distributors as their products are not known to the customers. For promoting the
products they can efficiently use social media in both the markets as with the help of this they
can promote economically. While they can enter into international market with the existing
products which are better quality bakery item but their need to make modifications in them as the
taste and preference of the customers in different location may vary.
Task4
International marketing approaches
Ma Baker has the option of adapting one of the various international marketing
approaches which are defined below:-
Multinational: These are the entities which have outlets or facilities situated in multiple
countries yet every location operates and functions in its own manner. Example: McDonald's
Global: These are the which possess outlets spread across multiple countries but they
follow a uniform company culture with consistent set of processes that assist in facilitating an
effective and efficient single global entity (Bianchi and Mathews, 2016). Example: Airbnb,
Starbucks, Apple etc.
Home v/s international orientation along with ways to assess competitors
Home orientation refers to an approach where company personnel tend to notice only
the similarities among markets and generally assume that the products and services which are
successful in the domestic nation will also be successful in other markets.
Implication:This tends to set a better coordination between the domestic and international nation
for Ma Baker.
Ways to assess competitors:This approach assumes that the power of competitors is not so
effective that it can cause damage to the reputation and stake of company (Brouthers, Nakos and
14

Dimitratos, 2015). Also, this orientation tends to possess confidence in the products and services
provided by the company and thus consider the threat of rivals to be low.
International orientation refers to the approach which is based upon the basic
assumption that there exist similarities as well as differences among the various markets spread
across the world. Such similarities and differences can be understood to decide a strategy that
can work in context of all the international markets.
Implication:This type of orientation tends to render Ma Baker a competitive edge over its rivals
so as to ensure its sustainability in marketplace.
Ways to assess competitors:This approach generally assumes that the threat of competitors is
high and they possess the capability to cause damage to the goodwill and position of entity in
global marketplace.
Conclusion and recommendations based on marketing mix and structure of company
Thus, from the above discussion, it can be said that marketing mix differs in the context
of local and international markets. This has to be taken into account by Ma Baker to make sure
that they derive success in Dubai. It is recommended that the bakery should adapt penetration
pricing in order to attract the attention of people in Dubai and retain them for a long duration of
time in future. For distribution, Ma Baker is recommended to consider options like taking
assistance from intermediaries such as wholesalers, value added resellers etc. to succeed within
international market. The specific market can be analysed by the company with the help of
various marketing analysis techniques so that they can identify various opportunities their along
with possible threats that can affect their operation. Further the market of Dubai is recommended
which is quite suitable for them as the destination attracts a large number customers which can
be attracted as bakery products are preferred by all along with this they can also attract local
people as they prefers to have bakery products with the environment which is hot and humid.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be concluded that there are different marketing strategies
that can be adapted by ancompany after taking out account their merits and demerits are
licensing, joint venture, franchising etc. This reflects that international marketing is focussed
upon extension of a company's local marketing strategies with specific relevance given to market
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identification and targeting so as to take decisions in international matter. Along with that it is
realized that there are a thousand of international marketing approaches such as multinational,
global, transnational and meta-national which can be opted by organisation to increase the
consumer base and enhance current revenues and profits.
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