International Marketing and Bakery Industries

This assignment delves into the realm of international marketing, covering key concepts such as consumer-based brand equity measurement, entrepreneurial orientation, and stakeholder conflict resolution. It also touches on the baking industry's current scenario in UAE countries, providing insights into indirect routes to market and the process of selecting an international market.

INTERNATIONAL
MARKETING

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
PROJECT.........................................................................................................................................1
Introduction to company and its current market.....................................................................1
International marketing and differences to local marketing...................................................2
Scope and key concepts of international marketing...............................................................2
Rationale for willingness of the company to market internationally.....................................4
Routes to market internationally and recommendation along with justification....................4
Key criteria and selection process for entity to consider which international market to enter5
Market entry strategies...........................................................................................................7
Conclusions and recommendations for organisation to enter the international market.........8
Differences between global and local marketing...................................................................8
Key arguments in relation to local v/s global marketing......................................................10
Investigation on differences in Product, pricing, promotional and distribution approaches in
domestic and international markets......................................................................................10
International marketing approaches.....................................................................................11
International v/s Home orientation together with ways to assess competitors and their
implications..........................................................................................................................11
Conclusions and recommendations for organisation............................................................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
International marketing can be defined as the set of marketing principles which are
applied when entering global market to meet the demands and preferences of population
prevailing in new countries (Amankwah-Amoah, Boso and Debrah, 2018). In other terms, this
process can be said to be emphasized upon extension of a company's local marketing tools and
techniques to new niche market identification and target in order to successfully gain entry into a
new nation. International marketing is thus found to be dependent on a local strategy which is
widely distributed to other diversely spread offices of the company within international markets.
The following report is based on Ma Baker that is a micro bakery located in Fulham, London.
This report includes the scope and concept of international marketing, rationale for
company to market globally, opportunities and challenges related to this context and routes to
market internationally. Besides this, it also includes discussion on market entry strategies
together with their advantages and disadvantages as well as recommendations for the company.
Further, it consists of differences between global and local marketing, description of
international marketing approaches as well as comparison of international and home orientation.
PROJECT
Introduction to company and its current market
Ma Baker is a bakery which is situated within Fulham, London and has home-made as
well as fresh offerings for public. They provide breads which are created from stone-ground and
organic flour. At present, this organisation is operating in London and provides the products to
people within the boundaries of United Kingdom. Ma Baker has been consistently winning
awards and getting recognised by well established and renowned governmental agencies for
offering its excellent quality products and services to a wide a range of consumers in UK. Some
of the awards that have been awarded to this bakery are Tiptree World Bread Award for
consecutive three years, i.e., 2013, 2014 and 2015, Small Food Awards Bread, Great Taste 3
Star Award 2017, West London Business Finalist Award in 2019 and was also shortlisted for
British Small Business Awards in 2017 (AWARDS, 2019). Further, this micro bakery also
organise online cooking classes for which it is listed as one of leading classes which should be
attended by personnel in London.
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International marketing and differences to local marketing
According to the point of view of Armstrong and et. al. (2015), international marketing
can be referred to as the application as well as execution of capabilities and orientation
associated with marketing upon international business.
As per the perspective of Czinkota and Ronkainen (2013), international marketing refers
to the set of procedures, activities as well as institutions across the domestic borders which strive
at creating, communicating and exchanging products and service offerings which hold important
value for stakeholders and community.
As per the opinion of Akaka, Vargo and Lusch (2013), international marketing is usually
assumed to be a combination of processes and activities which result in an exchange that
succeeds at ensuring satisfaction to consumers spread across the national boundaries.
Local v/s International marketing
Local marketing can be defined as conducting marketing activities within the
geographical borders of a country while international marketing is a concept which focuses upon
doing marketing outside the confines of domestic territory. In context of local marketing,
companies usually possess in-depth knowledge of the national values, beliefs, practices and
culture whereas international marketing is a complex and vast phenomenon which is not easily
comprehensible by enterprises in terms of psyche of consumers over there. Also, local marketing
is generally done by utilising cheap methods like discounts, special offers, brochures, inserts
within newspaper etc. On the other hand, flyers, social media, chat bots and such extensive
marketing techniques are used in case of international marketing.
Scope and key concepts of international marketing
Scope
International marketing is referred to the set of activities and processes which align the
flow of goods and services from one country to consumers within other international
nation/nations for the motive of earning profits. This concept has a wide scope in today's
dynamic and hyper competitive era due to the rising awareness of globalisation in corporate
scenario. In this regard, the scope of international marketing is given as follows:-
Imports: Being one of the most easy forms of international marketing, this refers to the
process wherein goods are brought into the jurisdiction of a domestic border from an external
source. This is primarily done by entities with the motive of selling the imported products within
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national boundaries. In majority of the cases, companies take assistance of this procedure for
their personal use with the aim to develop or improve their current product line.
Contractual Agreements: When an organisation expands into international markets, this
scenario provides lucrative opportunities for company to enhance its share in market, revenues,
customer base, profitability etc. Here, entities grow by entering into contractual agreements with
partners abroad.
Exports: Herein, organisations export the finished or finished products and/or services to
international markets or company's franchises with the aim of providing them the scope to sell
those goods within their domestic territory for earning high revenues and profits (Surugiu and
Surugiu, 2015). The sale value generated as a result of export is then used for the purpose of
doing payment of import, meeting the new product development expenses and enhancement of
profits.
Fully owned manufacturing: A company which holds substantial interest in the market
of international countries stand the chance to set up fully owned manufacturing facilities there. In
this regard, elements such as governmental policies, liberalisation of trade barriers and cost
differences facilitate the entity in setting up manufacturing units overseas.
Key Concepts
International marketing is linked with a variety of concepts, some of these are briefly
defined below:-
Domestic Marketing: Here, marketing activities undertaken by an organisation are
specially targeted towards the people of local territory. A wholly domestic organisation generally
operates only within domestic borders and possesses least willingness of entering international
markets (Richter and et. al., 2016).
International Trade: This is basically associated with the flow of goods within the
countries. Here, the primary aim is to gain an insight into the impact of financial and commercial
on exchanges of resources between countries and Balance Of Payments (BOP).
Comparative Marketing: Where a diverse set of marketing systems are together
examined to identify the differences and similarities amidst them, this practice is referred to as
comparative marketing.
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Rationale for willingness of the company to market internationally
Ma Baker is a micro bakery which is indulged in production and selling of real, home-
made and fresh bread and other bakery items. Since its initiation, this entity is constantly
winning prestigious awards for manufacturing and delivering products of high quality to the
consumers in London. Looking positively towards the success gained by this micro bakery in
past, this entity is now taking into consideration the option of entering international markets with
a view to feasibly expand. It is essential for this entity to market internationally as this will
render them the opportunity of increasing the current base of customers as well as share in
marketplace (Martin and Javalgi, 2016).
Post gaining entry into international markets, Ma Bakers has the potential to tap the
benefit of grabbing the attention of a larger section of population with a view to enhance its
overall sales and profitability within global marketplace. By opening an outlet in one of the most
well renowned attractions in the new country, Ma Baker will be able to build a positive brand
image in the minds of people prevailing in international markets and gain a higher stake in
marketplace.
Routes to market internationally and recommendation along with justification
An organisation can market internationally with a view to attract the attention of a larger
quantum of audience towards the unique and high quality offerings of the entity. In relation to
this, Ma Baker offer breads which are totally preservative and are free from all kinds of
additives. This indicates that the items manufactured and sold by this entity are of high quality
and these are made up of organic components. The flour which is utilised to prepare breads is
organic and stone grounded. This organisation has the option to adopt any of the two routes to
market internationally which are described below:-
Direct Route: These generally constitute those channels wherein a company directly
establishes relationship with the population of international markets in order to influence them to
purchase the goods produced by entity (Katsikeas and et. al., 2016). Ma Baker has the expertise
as well as the capability to make use of marketing channels like website delivery, event or
exhibitions, sales representatives, distribution of mail order catalogues for getting in direct touch
with consumers and impressing them with their high quality bakery offerings.
Indirect Route: This is the route which consists of channels wherein the entity enters
into contract with third parties and assign the role of persuading customers to make a purchase to
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them. Ma Baker has the potential to consider the option of adopting channels within indirect
route such as system integrators, Alliance partners, channel partners and OEM partners. Some of
these channels are briefly described below:-
Alliance Partners: These are such groups which are relatively small yet have the
capacity to give guidance and advice to Ma Baker about the initiatives that can be undertaken by
this micro bakery to gain a strong entry in international markets.
Channel Partners: These can be defined as those enterprises which possess technical
expertise to be able to influence the behavioural characteristics of customers and persuade them
to see the features and benefits of products offered by company (Indirect Routes to Market,
2016). These usually comprise of resellers, distribution partners, value-added resellers and key
players in the industry that Ma Baker can consider to enter into a contract with. The examples of
well renowned channel partners are Carahsoft, CDW, Insight, Optiv etc.
It is suggested to Ma Baker that they should adopt “Channel partners” as the route to
market within international markets. This has been advised to company because channel partners
have in-depth knowledge about the latest tools and techniques being utilised by companies
operating within bakery industry. Thus, they will be able to provide right guidance and advice to
Ma Baker about the use of equipments and technologies that can help them to gain strategic edge
over rivals in international markets.
Key criteria and selection process for entity to consider which international market to enter
Market selection is the key for Ma Baker to carry out expansion successfully and
consequently enhance the share in international markets. The steps in the selection procedure are
described below:-
International marketing objective: The international market to carry out expansion is
selected in accordance with the objective that an entity is aiming at achieving in global market
(Process to select International market, 2018). This is necessary in order to ensure that the
social, ethical, cultural, legal and ethical values and beliefs of the international market is not
violated by any means by the offerings of Ma Bakery.
Parameters for selection: There a number of parameters which have to be considered by
Ma Baker while gaining entry into international markets. These can be nature of competition,
availability of infrastructural facilities as well as resources, market situations and government
policies and procedures.
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Preliminary screening: The market which does not have the capacity or potential to offer
a lucrative destination to organisation is eliminated here after taking into account relative factors
such as population size, consumer behaviour, per capita income, economy of nation etc.
Analysis and Selection: The short listed marketplaces are further analysed and evaluated by
conducting feasibility study as well as a cost-benefit analysis (Bianchi and Mathews, 2016).
The most suitable marketplace is then ascertained and selected for expanding the operations
and functions of Ma Baker.
Test marketing: At this stage, organisation carries out the selling of its products and
services within a specific section of selected market so as to gain knowledge of the consumer
psyche in response to bakery products manufactured by Ma Baker.
Commercial Production: Once the conclusion of test marketing is determined to be
positive, the company conducts mass production in selected international marketplace.
Key Criteria
The key criteria for selection of international market to carry out expansion are given
below:-
Infrastructural facilities: The best marketplace is selected after ensuring that the place has
access to adequate and relevant infrastructural facilities in order to make sure that
manufacturing of items produced by Ma Baker can be carried out smoothly
(Christodoulides, Cadogan and Veloutsou, 2015).
Nature of Competition: The marketplace is selected taking into account the threat of
competitors in global markets.
Laws and Regulations: Ma Baker has to take into account the regulations prevailing in
international marketing to ensure that they do not indulge in illegal or unethical conduct.
Post conducting selection process and analysing key criteria, the potential market has
been ascertained by marketing consultant of Ma Baker to be Dubai. This is due to the strong
economic structure of Dubai which has excellent infrastructural and raw material facilities for
businesses to carry out operations feasibly. Further, the bakery market within UAE has witnessed
a rapid growth over years. This place is at 66th rank in bakery items across the globe. Ma Baker
has the potential to take advantage of health-conscious segment of Emirati customers by
providing fresh and organic products to people in UAE, especially Dubai. Bakery industry within
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UAE is growing at 7% p.a. which encourages the growth of this enterprise (Bakery Industries in
UAE countries, 2019).
(Source: Retail Volume in Tonne - Bakery Products Subsectors in UAE, 2019)
Market entry strategies
There are a number of strategies available to a company through which they can enter
international markets. These are referred to as market entry strategies and provide assistance to
an enterprise to successfully expand in new markets. In this regard, Ma Baker has a wide variety
of options to choose from as the market entry strategy and thus the marketing consultant of this
enterprise is carrying out critical evaluation of all the strategies so as to select the most feasible
strategy.
Strategy Sub Types/
Description
Advantage Disadvantage
Export
Through foreign agent
 Low entry cost
 Medium financial
risk
 Agent overcomes the
difficulties associated
with entry
 Low profits on
transactions
 Immense reliance on
foreign agents
 Inability to earn
global experience
Through foreign
distributor
 Low human resource
requirement
 High transportation
costs
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Illustration 1: Retail Volume in Tonne - Bakery Products Subsectors in UAE

 Lower marketing cost  Potential barriers of
trade
Licensing Sale of rights backed
up by patents or
intellectual property to
be utilised for
commercial purposes
in international market
 Low entry cost
 Lower financial risk
 Knowledge of local
conditions by the
licensee
 Lack of control over
quality maintenance
in global markets
 Threat of disloyalty
of licensee
 Relatively lower
income (royalty)
Franchising Sale of rights by
domestic
franchisor to
conduct
commercial
activities by way
of foreign
franchisee
(Brouthers, Nakos
and Dimitratos,
2015)
 Chances of rapid
global expansion
 Lower cost of entry
 Sharing profits
between foreign
franchisee and
domestic franchisor
 Possibility of
franchisee’s
dishonesty
Conclusions and recommendations for organisation to enter the international market
On the basis of above discussion, it has been concluded that there are a number of
strategic routes for an organisation to market on an international scale. These are direct and
indirect routes. It is recommended that company should make use of licensing due to the lower
cost of entry and less financial risks associated with its execution.
Differences between global and local marketing
BASIS LOCAL MARKETING GLOBAL MARKETING
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Scale of
operations
In this, production, sale and
promotion of goods take place at a
domestic level.
In global marketing, functioning of
organisation takes place at a global
level.
Risk and ease This is relatively less risky and easier
to conduct.
This is much more complex and
contains immense risk.
Financial
Resources
This needs lesser funds as
organisation operates in local
markets.
This demands high investment as it
deals in a number of markets.
Complexity This is least complex as
organisations carrying out local
marketing initiatives possess
high knowledge of country’s
culture, beliefs, values, customs
and traditions (Hoppner and
Griffith, 2015).
This is a challenging and complex task
and requires dedication owing to the
element of uncertainty associated with
laws and regulations to function within
global marketplace.
Consumer
behaviour
Here, there is consistency in
consumer behaviour.
This is concerned with consumers
belonging to diverse set of cultures,
traditions and demanding different
taste, trends and patterns.
Example Ma Baker is one of the best examples
of local marketing initiatives as this
entity employs strategies like social
media and online classes to grab the
attention of people (Rosson and
Ford, 2016).
An example of this is Airbnb which
recently launched a social media
campaign named #OneLessStranger
which provided assistance to the entity
to expand to over 1.5 million listings
and allowing users to book and list
accommodations in approximately
35,000 cities across the global market
place.
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Key arguments in relation to local v/s global marketing
It is usually believed by people that global marketing is effective for organisations as this
tend to render opportunities to company for enhancing its market share and customer base within
foreign markets and delivering high quality offerings to retain them for a longer time period.
Further, the presence of high quality infrastructural as well as communication facilities abroad
strive to render advantages to company in terms of increment in profitability and market share. In
this context, local marketing tends to lack behind local marketing in terms of raw materials,
resources, technology and infrastructure to carry out production in a way that provides
competitive edge to organisation over international rival firms (Skudiene, Auruskeviciene and
Sukeviciute, 2015).
Investigation on differences in Product, pricing, promotional and distribution approaches in
domestic and international markets
Marketing mix includes 4 P’s of marketing that is product, price, promotion and
distribution. It can be said that said that these P’s of marketing are influenced whenever company
expands at national to international level. It has been analysed that each country has its own
language culture, customers, preferences etc. Thus, it will be required for Ma Baker to adopt
different marketing practices (different from domestic nation, UK) for succeeding at Dubai.
Element London, UK International Markets
PRODUCT Ma Baker offers homemade and
organic breads and pies to its
customers in order to provide them
fresh eatables.
At international scale, Ma Baker
could modify its offering according
to language, customers taste and
preferences and demographics.
PRICE In UK, Ma Baker offers bakery
food item at higher prices. This is
because, this company has already
established its name in front of
customers in positive manner
which persuades them to buy
product at high prices.
The entity can adopt penetrative
pricing strategy for attracting
customers available in international
market (Beck, Chapman and
Palmatier, 2015).
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PROMOTION The specified business entity is
currently using different social
media platform for promoting its
products. It includes Pinterest,
Twitter, Instagram and Facebook
etc.
At the time of international
expansion, Ma Baker can go for sales
agent, social site and marketing
campaigns in order to persuade
people to buy their products.
DISTRIBUTION Ma Baker offers online delivery
options to its customers who visit
and express interest on their
website.
At international marketplace, the
chosen entity can adopt various
distribution methods such as channel
partners, wholesalers, international
trade shows and retailers.
International marketing approaches
The represented entity named as Ma Baker has different international marketing
approaches among which they could choose one for their business expansion. Some of the main
international marketing approaches are specified as below:
Multinational: In this, Business entities are having its physical outlets in numerous of
countries but still their each branch is functioned and operated in its own way. One of the
common examples of this kind of business entity is McDonald’s.
Global: These business entities are emphasis on operating its multiple outlets in different
countries but they specifically follows culture and process of single company. Some of its most
common examples are Apple, Airbnb and Starbucks.
Transnational: This kind of business entities are generally complicated in nature and
operate considerable facilities at the time of executing business activities in two or more nations
(Baker and Saren, 2016). They are not giving preference to single country as their domestic
nation. For instance: Nestle.
International v/s Home orientation together with ways to assess competitors and their
implications
Home orientation is considered as an approach in which founder of business usually
analyses similarities among marketplace and believes that if few characteristics of places are
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common then if business is successful in domestic area or country then it also be successful at
market of international scale (Jean and et. al., 2016).
Implication: It usually tends to build up good coordination among international and domestic
country for Ma Baker.
Ways to assess competitors: The specified approach supposes that competitors are not much
effective to affect image of company. Along with this, products and services of company are of
high quality which states that threat of rivalry is very low.
International orientation is considered as an approach that clearly states that two
different markets have both the similarity as well as differences. These differences and
similarities are could be well understood for deciding one common strategy that work commonly
at international market (Rosson and Ford, 2016).
Implication: It provides competitive advantage to Ma Baker among their rival companies which
enhance their sustainability at market place for longer period of time.
Ways to assess competitors: It states that competitor pose high threat which owns capability of
affecting brand image of Ma Baker in international market.
Conclusions and recommendations for organisation
It is observed that all four elements of marketing mix are helpful for business
organisation in gaining competitive advantage. On the basis of this, it is recommended to Ma
Baker to adopt social sites as its promotional activity for spreading awareness about their product
at international market place. This will help the business entity in reaching maximum number of
people at global market.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be concluded that there are a number of marketing
strategies that are available to a company such as licensing, joint venture, franchising etc. Also, it
is analysed that there are diverse set of international marketing approaches such as multinational,
global, transnational and meta-national which can be considered by organisation to enhance
revenues and profits by increasing customer base.
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REFERENCES
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Online
AWARDS. 2019. [Online]. Available Through:<https://www.mabaker.london/awards>.
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Bakery Industries in UAE countries. 2019. [Online]. Available Through:
<http://www.fnbnews.com/Top-News/bakery-industries-in-uae-countries-current-
scenario-38565>.
Indirect Routes to Market. 2016. [Online]. Available Through:<https://medium.com/the-
mission/indirect-routes-to-market-34cf4547928b>.
Process to select International market. 2018. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://howtoexportimport.com/Process-to-select-International-market-4576.aspx>.
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