Evaluating Country Factors for International Business

The assignment content discusses the factors to consider when evaluating and selecting a country for international business. It highlights the differences in culture, gender roles, and environmental factors between Saudi Arabia and other countries. The report concludes that these differences are crucial in understanding the complexities of global marketing, using Tommy Hilfiger as an example. Furthermore, it emphasizes the importance of considering cultural and environmental factors when conducting business internationally.

INTERNATIONAL
BUSINESS

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................3
PART A......................................................................................................................................3
County evaluation and selection............................................................................................3
PART B......................................................................................................................................4
Global marketing (Tommy Hilfiger)......................................................................................4
National environmental differences ( Saudi Arabia).............................................................6
CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES...........................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
International business can be considered as carrying out the commercial transactions
between one or two regions. This report will focus on the dimensions which are to be
considered by the decision makers in country evaluation and selection. Further, the stress will
also be laid on the global marketing practices adopted by the Tommy Hilfiger in increasing
their market share. The focus is made because the organization has been spent huge amount
and through its unique advertisement it has attracted the customers. Further, the national
environmental differences are discussed in respect to the Saudi Arabia. Cultural and religious
aspects are emphasized in this report.
PART A
County evaluation and selection
For expanding the business in other country it is required by every organization to
evaluate the nation in which he will be performing its operations. As the international
opportunities are increasing in the market so the firm needs to make their business global and
due to this reason, they need to analyze the country and the select the nation according to
their preference. For country evaluation and selection there are various steps involved:
 Selecting the production site and geography tactics – This is the main important step
in which the organization is required to evaluate the site as well as location in which
they will expand their business (Dunning, 2012). It is not easy to select, as in this
case, the cost, resources required for the activities and the competition are analyzed.
If these challenges can be easily overcome by the firm then they can expand their
business.
 Assessing the alternatives location- After this step, the next step is evaluating the
alternative location which can provide more satisfaction to the decision makers. In
this case, different locations are scanned by them to analyze the different possibilities
which can be better than the previous one (Welch and et.al., 2011). This will be
helpful in deciding the location site easily.
 Selecting and weighing the variables- For choosing the appropriate country, there are
different variables which are required to be weighed by the decision maker.
According to the variable only, the decision regarding the country can be made. By

evaluating the variables, they are weighed against each other so that the outcome can
be determined. The variable which are involved are
Market size- In this, the market size is evaluated. For choosing the country it is
important because the profit of the company is dependent on the market size.
Operations- It is essential to analyze the compatibility of the operations. In this, it is required
that the operations should be carried out effectively (Wild, Wild and Han, 2014).
Cost benefit and resources- Resources and the cost benefit is assessed as in other
countries the main issue is with the resources. If the decision makers gets the appropriate
resources then the cost occurred will be less and the operations can be conducted smoothly
Risk mitigation- There are several countries in which the risk are involved regarding
terrorism etc. so at the time of selection, it is needed that the individual should mitigate the
risk factor for conducting operations (Folsom and et.al.., 2012).
Competitive risk- For evaluation and selection, it is required to analyze the
competition prevailing in the country. If the competition is high, then the organization can
make the strategies accordingly and then enter the market.
Political factors- Another area which is required to be focused is the political risk
involved in the country. It involves different rules and the regulations and this has major
effect on the operations of the country.
 Collecting and analyzing the data- after gathering all the data it is required to
effectively analyze. This analysis involves the estimation of the cost and the weighted
variables are compared in the process (Cavusgil and et.al., 2014).
 Comparison tool- Besides this, there are different comparison tools which can help in
identifying the risk attached to it. The tools are opportunity risk matrix, company
strength matrix etc.
PART B
Global marketing (Tommy Hilfiger)
Global marketing can be defined as marketing the products and services in the world
to meet the objectives as well as goals of the company. Tommy Hilfiger is one of the most
renowned organizations in the world. It is the fashion industry which makes its products for
all segments of the customers. On the other hand, it is famous for its marketing activities
which the firm carries out globally (Birkinshaw, Brannen and Tung, 2011). As the

competition is increasing in the market and the apparel industry, so it is needed by the big
organization to effectively market their products globally. The marketing of Tommy Hilfiger
is famous all over the world the reason is very simple that the advertisements which were
made by the company were unusual which attracted the attention of the consumers. On the
other hand, because of its uniqueness, the articles and write up were written by the
newspapers (Penrose, 2013). It enjoyed the free publicity in the market. Besides this, they
included Bill Clinton, Prince of Wales and due to this reason, very positive goodwill was
developed in the market. This was advantageous for the organization because before
expanding their operations in the international market, the organization became popular due
to the advertisement.
Besides this, the major of the Tommy Hilfiger was the celebrity endorsement. In the
advertisements, they generally use the celebrity and the famous personalities were those who
were common for all the groups. This made their marketing attractive. On the other hand, in
every country, the celebrities were changed and this was done because the organization
believes that the celebrity influences the individual to purchase the products (Forsgren and
Johanson, 2014). Like in case of India, Sharukh Khan was featured in the advertisement to
increase the sales of the Indian market. Besides this, film actress Renee Zellweger was also
used in the advertisement as this gave huge advantage to the firm because with the help of
celebrity advertisement, their limited edition bag was sold in the market which increased the
sales of the organization. On the other hand, for the promotion of the child brand, the Disney
characters were used by the organization to attract the children. In case of global marketing
they focused on the target audience as well as country in which they were marketing their
products (Mudambi and Swift, 2011).
For marketing their products in the European markets, in the display pictures the men
and women were seductively featured. At that time, they realized that most of the customers
in the European market are old age and due to this reason, they changed the image and even
name (Papadopoulos and Heslop, 2014). They thought that the name sounded like of the teen
product. In this case, it can be witnessed that in marketing their products and services as well
as for carrying out the promotion and branding, they included all the aspects which can attract
the customers. Further, they changed the factors which negatively impacted on the image of
Tommy Hilfiger.
There were certain celebrity endorsements which can be witnessed by the Tommy
Hilfiger. They used only those personalities which can attract as well as influence the people,
further lure the customer to buy the product. In the teenage age, they generally copy the

celebrity who they the like the most. Through the celebrity endorsement they raised their bar
of the clothes as well as the services. The global marketing is not only limited in
advertisement and brand endorsement but the organization owned their rights to the Tommy
Hilfiger at the Jones Beach Theatre as it is considered as the most famous music venues (Luo
and Shenkar, 2011). Further, in the context of the global marketing, the organization also
launched its advertising campaign named as the ‘The Hilfigers’. This was done to make their
presence in the global market. There are some of the things which are done by the Tommy
Hilfiger to develop competitive advantage due to marketing among the competitors.
Further, in the year 2011, the Tommy Hilfiger creates a publicity tour which was
name d by the Prep World. The major feature in this show was the pop-up shops in Paris,
Los Angeles etc. On the other hand, at the time of Tommy Hilfiger 30th anniversary, the
fashion tour was created by the organization. This were made to establish their brand name in
the market on the other hand, this was the way through which the organization can feature
their products and services (Hill, Cronk and Wickramasekera, 2013). By conducting these
events, the organization became popular because of the services and the events which are
developed by them. Through the event only, they became popular in the world market.
Further, they have spread their branding and promotion in different areas as well as the firm
has focused not only one celebrity. They also focused on the sports and now the brand
ambassador for Tommy Hilfiger is the Rafael Nadal (How Has Tommy Hilfiger Performed in
International Markets? 2017). These are the global marketing strategies which are made by
the organization to effectively promote their products as well as services.
National environmental differences (Saudi Arabia)
Every country has its own culture as well as values and belief. These come from the
traditions which are flowed in the country. Due to this reason, every organization is required
to analyze the factors which can affect their operations as well as the activities. The most
different culture which can be found is in the Saudi Arabia (Cavusgil and et.al., 2014). The
reason is that most of the individual who are living are basically the tribal and are not the
nationals. Due to this reason, there are some strict laws and regulations which are followed
in the country. The religious aspect in this country is strong as due to the religious concept,
the country does not allow pork as well as alcohol. The reason is that in the Islam culture it is
prohibited.
But as compare to other countries they are not that strict regarding this factor and this
is reason which separates it from other countries. In other country also, Muslim are residing

but they follow their own culture and others follows their culture. But the difference is that in
Saudi Arabia other culture people are not allowed to eat pork as well as consume alcohol. On
the other hand, the major environment difference can be witnessed in their business also. In
Saudi Arabia, most of the businesses are family owned and they generally hire employees of
their own family (Birkinshaw, Brannen and Tung, 2011). But for expanding the business,
they need to make the relation with the foreigners. It has been seen that they do not trust the
person easily and takes time in developing friendship with them.
The other major difference which can be witnessed is in the gender role. According to
their culture as well as the practice, the daughter gets only half of the property share as
compare to the sons (Penrose, 2013). Further, they are kept separate and even the females are
not allowed to travel abroad. She is required to have one male to escort for their safety and
security. These are different from the other country’s culture as well as the practice. But now
at this time period, the women are opposing this and are fighting for their rights. In the recent
years, they have been given the right to vote. Even the prince was in favour of driving for the
women. This initiates that national environment differ from others countries as well. This is
because of the belief, value and the religious practices which have been carried out (Dunning,
2012).
CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be concluded that there are many factors which are
required to be considered by the decision makers for evaluating and selecting the country.
Besides this, the rigorous research is based on the purpose of selecting the country. On the
other hand, by analyzing the global marketing of Tommy Hilfiger it can be said that it has
been effectively focusing on the marketing and have adopted different ways to attract the
customers according to the needs and demands of the customer in particular country. Further,
through assessing Saudi Arabia, there is huge culture difference seen in terms of prohibition
of pork and alcohol. Further, the difference is seen in the gender roles also.

REFERENCES
Books and journal
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International Business). Routledge.
Folsom, R.H. and et.al.., 2012. International business transactions: a problem-oriented
coursebook.
Forsgren, M. and Johanson, J., 2014. Managing networks in international business.
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Hill, C.W., Cronk, T. and Wickramasekera, R., 2013. Global business today. McGraw-Hill
Education (Australia).
Luo, Y. and Shenkar, O., 2011. Toward a perspective of cultural friction in international
business. Journal of International Management. 17(1). pp.1-14.
Mudambi, R. and Swift, T., 2011. Leveraging knowledge and competencies across space:
The next frontier in international business. Journal of International
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Papadopoulos, N. and Heslop, L.A., 2014. Product-country images: Impact and role in
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Penrose, E., 2013. The Large International Firm (RLE International Business). Routledge.
Welch, C. And et.al., 2011. Theorising from case studies: Towards a pluralist future for
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Wild, J., Wild, K.L. and Han, J.C., 2014. International business. Pearson Education Limited.
Online
How Has Tommy Hilfiger Performed in International Markets? 2017. [online]. Available
through<http://marketrealist.com/2016/08/tommy-hilfiger-performed-international-
markets/>. [Accessed on 15thApril, 2017].