International Marketing: Scope, Concepts, Opportunities and Challenges

This document provides an overview of international marketing, including the scope and key concepts, 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 discusses the 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...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
Scope and key concepts of international marketing...............................................................1
Main differences between international and local marketing.................................................2
Rationale for willingness to market internationally...............................................................3
Opportunities and challenges associated with international marketing.................................3
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................4
Routes to market internationally and recommendation..........................................................4
Key criteria and selection process while entering international market.................................5
Market entry strategies...........................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION...............................................................................8
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................8
Introduction to company and current market.........................................................................8
Differences between global and local marketing...................................................................9
Key arguments in relation to local v/s global marketing........................................................9
Investigation of product, pricing, promotion and distribution approaches..........................10
Task4..............................................................................................................................................11
International marketing approaches.....................................................................................11
Home v/s international orientation along with ways to assess competitors.........................12
Conclusion and recommendations based on marketing mix and structure of company......12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

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 can prove to be a bane or boon for any
company depending upon the way it is being utilised and the measures that have been taken by
the organisation to deal with the challenges associated with this. In this regard, when Ma Baker
will market internationally, it can tap the advantage of a number of opportunities while
simultaneously facing a lot of challenges that will have to be tackled by marketing consultant of
this bakery.
Opportunities
When Ma Bakers enter international market, they will have the opportunity to tap
advantage of the following factors:-
Market Infrastructure: While entering into international market, Ma Baker will have
the opportunity to earn advantage of the high level of infrastructural development in that market.
This entity will be able to rely on energy infrastructure, communication and transportation
system of that nation to tactfully sell and distribute the breads and pies manufactured by
business. It will be cost effective and easier for the small bakery to work in those countries
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where reliable and well developed infrastructure is available. 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 marketing internationally, a number of threats or challenges have to be taken into
account by the company in order to earn success, these are mentioned below:-
Language: Different words have different meanings across the various countries of
globe. Ma Baker has to review the translation of the brand name as well as tag-line in different
languages in order to make sure that such translations do not lead to unintended meanings and
hurt the sentiments of local people. 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: While marketing internationally, Ma Baker has to consider
certain legal aspects such as customs, trade barriers, advertising, taxation and intellectual
property rights so as to avoid getting prosecuted or fined. Also for expanding the business on
international level Ma Baker has to consider various implications of laws and regulations which
4
Illustration 1: Different Cultural Meanings of Colours and Numbers

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
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 can market internationally to earn the attention of a large number of people
towards the high quality and unique products of company. In this regard, Ma Baker provides
breads that are preservative and additive free and all the ingredients that are utilised to make
these are of high quality and organic. The flour 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 described 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 impression and
retaining them for a long time by providing high quality and fresh breads.
Indirect Route: This consists of the channels where the company enters into a contract
with third party and hand over the responsibility 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 described below:-
Alliance Partners:These are the groups which are relatively smaller in size yet possess
the capacity to advise Ma Baker regarding the business initiatives that can be undertaken by the
bakery to make an influential and strong entry into market.
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Channel Partners: These are the companies who have technical expertise to influence
the minds of consumers and make them see theadvantages that company's goods and services
offer. They include resellers, value-added resellers and distribution partners and the major
players in this sector which Ma Baker set up the deal with are CDW, Carahsoft, Optiv, Insight
etc.
It is recommended that Ma Baker should adapt channel partner as the route to market in
new nation as these are the personnel who possess sound knowledge of the latest techniques and
technologies prevailing within any business sector. Thus, these can suggest and provide the
equipments that can render an edge to this bakery over rival entities 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
Market selection is a crucial process for Ma Baker as this is the prerequisite for this
bakery company to earn success in international marketplace. The steps of the selection process
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 parameters 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: The markets which do not possess the potential to serve as
lucrative location for the entity are eliminated here after considering factors such as consumer
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behaviour, population size, economy structure and per capita income (Process to select
International market, 2018).
Analysis and Selection: The short listed markets are then evaluated after conducting the
feasibility study and cost-benefit analysis. The best market is then selected for carrying out the
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 consider the rules and regulations prevalent in
the international market to make sure that they do not indulge in any such actions which are
earnest the laws of selected nation.
After conducting the above mentioned selection process and taking into account the key
criteria, the market selected by marketing consultant to carry out expansion of Ma Baker is
Dubai.
Market entry strategies
There are a variety of ways by which a company can earn entry into an international
market. These are known as market entry strategies and assist an organisation in successfully
facilitating expansion of operations and functions. There can be a number of market entry
strategies that can be adapted by Ma Baker, these are given in the table below:-
Strategy Sub Types/ Advantage Disadvantage
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Description
Export
Through foreign agent
 Low cost of entry
 Moderate financial
risk
 Agent is able to
overcome the
difficulties of entry
 Low profits on
transactions
 Immense reliability
on foreign agent
 Inability to earn
international
experience
Through foreign
distributor
 Low staffing
requirements
 Lesser marketing
cost
 High transportation
cost
 Potential barriers of
trade
Licensing Sale of rights backed
up by patent or
intellectual property to
be used for
commercial purposes
in foreign market
 Low entry cost
 Lower financial risk
 Knowledge of local
conditions by the
licensee
 Lack of control on
maintenance of
quality in foreign
market
 Threat of disloyalty
of licensee
 Relatively lower
income (royalties)
Franchising Sale of rights by
domestic franchisor to
carry out commercial
activities through
foreign franchisee
 Possibility of rapid
foreign expansion
 Low entry cost
 Requirement of
control cost
 Sharing profits
between foreign
franchisee and
domestic franchisor
 Possibility of
franchisee’s
disloyalty
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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
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 This is complex and contains a huge
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to facilitate and execute. element of risk.
Financial
Resources
It requires less funds as entity
operates within local market.
This requires huge investment as it
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.
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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
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
Within international markets,
company can make use of strategies
such as marketing campaigns, social
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Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest,
Instagram etc.
media and sales agents to influence
people to make purchase.
DISTRIBUTION Here, Ma Baker is providing online
delivery one a person reflects
interest in entity's products over the
website.
In international markets, this bakery
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.
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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
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.
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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
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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