International Marketing Plan: Eat Restaurant Expansion Strategy

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of international marketing strategies for Eat, a UK-based sandwich chain, as it considers expanding its operations globally. The report begins by outlining the scope and key concepts of international marketing, emphasizing the rationale for Eat's international expansion, including market saturation in the UK and the potential for increased profitability and market share in new markets. It explores various routes to market, such as agents, overseas offices, exhibitions, and trade missions, highlighting the opportunities and challenges associated with each. The report evaluates key criteria for selecting international markets, including trade barriers, country performance, political risks, infrastructure, environmental concerns, and cultural knowledge. Furthermore, it discusses different market entry strategies, such as exporting, franchising, joint ventures, and foreign direct investment, weighing the advantages and disadvantages of each approach. The analysis delves into the global versus local debate, considering the circumstances in which Eat should adopt a global or local approach, and how the marketing mix (product, place, price, promotion) needs to be adapted in different international contexts. Finally, the report compares home and international orientation, explores ways to assess competitors, and provides recommendations on how Eat should operate and make marketing decisions in an international context.

Unit 40 International Marketing
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................................4
LO1...............................................................................................................................5
P1 SCOPE AND KEY CONCEPTS OF INTERNATIONAL MARKETING...............5
P2 THE RATIONALE FOR EAT TO WANT TO MARKET INTERNATIONALLY
AND DESCRIBE THE VARIOUS ROUTES TO MARKET, THE ORGANISATION
CAN ADOPT.............................................................................................................8
M1 THE OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES THAT MARKETING
INTERNATIONALLY PRESENTS TO YOUR CHOSEN CLIENT ORGANISATION
................................................................................................................................11
LO2.............................................................................................................................12
P3 EVALUATE THE KEY CRITERIA AND SELECTION PROCESS TO USE
WHEN CONSIDERING WHICH INTERNATIONAL MARKET TO ENTER............12
P4 USING EXAMPLES, THE DIFFERENT MARKET ENTRY STRATEGIES,
INCLUDING THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF EACH.................15
M2 APPLY THE MARKET EVALUATION CRITERIA AND ENTRY STRATEGIES
AND MAKE RECOMMENDATIONS FOR EAT......................................................18
LO3.............................................................................................................................19
P5 OVERVIEW OF THE KEY ARGUMENTS IN THE GLOBAL VERSUS LOCAL
DEBATE..................................................................................................................19
M3 EVALUATE THE CONTEXT AND CIRCUMSTANCES IN WHICH EAT
SHOULD ADOPT A GLOBAL OR LOCAL APPROACH, HIGHLIGHTING THE
IMPLICATIONS OF DOING SO..............................................................................20
P6 PRODUCT, PLACE, PRICING AND PROMOTIONAL DISTRIBUTION
APPROACH DIFFERS IN A VARIETY OF INTERNATIONAL CONTEXTS..........21
M4 DETERMINE AND ARTICULATE IN DETAIL HOW TO ADAPT THE
MARKETING MIX OF EAT IN DIFFERENT INTERNATIONAL MARKETS..........22
LO4.............................................................................................................................23
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P7 VARIOUS INTERNATIONAL MARKETING APPROACHES THAT EAT CAN
ADOPT....................................................................................................................23
P8 COMPARE HOME AND INTERNATIONAL ORIENTATION AND WAYS TO
ASSESS COMPETITORS, OUTLINING THE IMPLICATIONS OF EACH
APPROACH............................................................................................................24
M5 EVALUATE VARIOUS MARKETING APPROACHES AND COMPETITOR
ANALYSIS IN RELATION TO AN ORGANIZATION AND MAKE
RECOMMENDATIONS ON HOW THEY SHOULD OPERATE IN AN
INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT.................................................................................26
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................27
REFERENCES...........................................................................................................28
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INTRODUCTION
International marketing is a modern concept which applies various marketing
principles at a global level so as to effectively take marketing mix decisions.
International business helps to render several benefits to a company and
organisation that expands internationally in the form if the new customer base,
increased market share and the new business relations and so on.
Eat is a chain of sandwich shops that have nearly 110 branches in the UK which
have the majority of them located in London. It is in existence since 1996 and is
owned by Niall & Faith MacArthur. It is a private company which donates the unsold
food items to the hostels and the charities. It is a company that is since 20 years with
a good sense and good food and the fresh food changes with the season. It has
great taste and the main key is their teamwork. The market of this restaurant is at
almost every corner of the UK (Rupert and Smith, 2016).
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LO1
P1 SCOPE AND KEY CONCEPTS OF INTERNATIONAL MARKETING
International marketing is a concept that involves marketing activities in more than
one country at the same time. This is also termed as global marketing which will
conquer the different physical locations and the markets by expanding and operating
a business activity in different countries. This will also cover wide consumer groups
and the products in different geographic boundaries.
KEY DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE DOMESTIC MARKETING AND
INTERNATIONAL MARKETING
Domestic marketing deals with the marketing activities in the small market areas with
same geographical boundaries while international marketing aims to serve wide
geographical areas in more than one country. In domestic marketing, there are low
governmental interventions while in international marketing there are high
interventions and faces a high risk of huge capital investments (Rupert and Smith,
2016).
Eat restaurant is seeking to expand internationally which will glance at the following
scope and the concepts of the international marketing which will render its various
opportunities to expand internationally and learn about the various important scope
of international marketing.
SCOPE OF INTERNATIONAL MARKETING
The scope of international marketing will involve the following:
Export
Under this scope of international marketing Eat can go for selling the products in the
international markets and earn huge revenues and this can helps in boosting the
growth of it (Papadopoulos and Heslop, 2014).
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Imports
It covers the scope where the goods and services are brought in the domestic
country from a foreign country and helps in hiking the production line and quality
products (Papadopoulos and Heslop, 2014).
Contractual agreements
Through the contractual agreements, Eat can enter into any contracts for its chains
to set up in other countries and gain the technical assistance and resources for co-
production.
Strategic alliances
This will render some better scope to Eat and will help to retain competitiveness in
the international market as well. Through strategic alliances, the scope of
competition can be reduced and will boost the innovation flow (Meissner, 2012).
THE MAIN CONCEPT OF THE INTERNATIONAL MARKETING
In the international marketing strategic decisions are addresses which will help to
understand the different attitudes towards the company’s involvement.
The staff of Eat and the businesses will operate in the following different four ways
as under:
Ethnocentric orientation
The local customers’ needs and requirements will be undertaken to develop new
products and Eat will focus on the policies and practises of the domestic country
where they will expand (Schreiter, 2015).
Regiocentric orientation
According to the political similarities and the regions, the market is segmented under
this orientation (Katsikeas, 2018).
Geocentric orientation
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By fulfilling the legal and the political limitations the global problems will be solved so
as to integrate the worldwide operations.
Polycentric orientation
A business research will be carried out under this orientation and the individual
needs will be addressed that will help in discovering the product adaptation through
effective implementation of the pricing and the promotional strategy which will help
Eat to fulfil the local needs (Katsikeas, 2018).
Some of the factors that Eat should consider before expanding internationally are as
under:
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Target
market
Controllable factors
(Price, Promotion, Place, Product)
Foreign Uncontrollables
(economy, political-legal,
geographical, infrastucture)
Domestic Uncontrollables
(Competition, Economy,
technology, culture,
political-legal)

P2 THE RATIONALE FOR EAT TO WANT TO MARKET INTERNATIONALLY
AND DESCRIBE THE VARIOUS ROUTES TO MARKET, THE ORGANISATION
CAN ADOPT
In order to take advantage of its existing business for 20 years and expand its
sandwich chain business in other countries Eat is looking forward to expanding in
other countries too. This will help it to shift its focus from the UK to other countries
too and establish it business there so as to reap more profits. It has successfully
established and operated since 20 years in the market of the UK and so in order to
successfully compete in the foreign market and capture the market share it is
planning to expand internationally (Katsikeas, 2018).
The rationale behind the decision of Eat to market internationally includes the
following:
 The domestic markets of Eat have come to a saturation stage which is leading
to difficulty in raising profits and the sales targets so the decision to go
international and market internationally will help it in resolving with these
issues (Hoppner and Griffith, 2015).
 It can have wide access to the sandwich market in the foreign markets so
expanding its sandwich chains in other markets too in other countries will help
in obtaining high sales and better international recognition.
 The growth rate and the profitability can form another reason that can lead
Eat to market internationally (Hoppner and Griffith, 2015).
 Through expanding internationally it can help to mitigate the competitive
rivalry that might arise in front of it in future by rendering protection to its
domestic markets in future.
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Some other reasons that can form a reason for Eat to expand globally and to market
internationally may be from the figure depicted below:
Fig: Reasons for companies going global
Source: http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/business/8-reasons-why-most-companies-
prefer-to-go-global-explained/13176
In order to market internationally, there are available some routes to market
internationally which will help in ensuring the success of Eat in the overseas market.
Every channel or route has advantages and disadvantages associated with it which
will also be discussed.
Agent
Eat can work in the foreign country with an agent that will help to provide information
about the products and services in the international market and will work on their
behalf in return for a commission fee (Demangeot, et al. 2015). The advantages of
this route to market include gaining effective knowledge about the market and the
product that will help in better positioning in the foreign market. Through the agents,
the prices and the brand image can be better controlled. There will be lack of control
left with the owner of Eat as the foreign operations will be handled by the agent in
the foreign country (Schreiter, 2015).
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Office at the overseas territory
This route will help Eat to set up a new venture in the international market but will
incur huge cost and risk. This route will also render some benefits as it will render
better customer experiences to the customers of a foreign country as well
(Demangeot, et al. 2015).
Exhibitions and tradeshows
Through the exhibitions and tradeshows Eat can get access to the market
information about the foreign country and will also gain information about the
products present in the overseas that can compete with the products of Eat
Restaurant.
Trade missions
It is a government funded the overseas program that will allow Eat to meet with the
foreign industry executives and will help them in building relationships and networks
with them (Kotabe and Helsen, 2014).
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M1 THE OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES THAT MARKETING
INTERNATIONALLY PRESENTS TO YOUR CHOSEN CLIENT ORGANISATION
Different opportunities and the challenges that will be faced by Eat in marketing
internationally include the following.
Opportunities
 It will have prospects of achieving better customer satisfaction and recognition
in the foreign market too (Morschett, et al. 2016)
 Eat will have an opportunity to get established its global brand
 This will have new prospects of boosting the market share and enhance its
profitability
Challenges
 There may be the high investment and setting cost involved in the other
foreign country for Eat to set up its chain.
 Eat may also face high political and economic issues while marketing
internationally (Hoppner and Griffith, 2015)
 The resource unavailability will also be faced by it
These opportunities and challenges must be considered by Eat while marketing
internationally.
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LO2
P3 EVALUATE THE KEY CRITERIA AND SELECTION PROCESS TO USE WHEN
CONSIDERING WHICH INTERNATIONAL MARKET TO ENTER
SELECTION CRITERIA
Some of the key criteria and selection process used by Eat while considering to
market internationally includes the followings:
Trade barriers
The standards and the barriers to trade including the non-tariff barriers and the tariff
barriers should be necessarily considered by Eat so that the regulations of the
packaging, labelling and other will be adapted (Marchi, et al. 2014).
Country performance
The customer’s preferences and demographics will act as other selection criteria for
Eat as it will help it to cater its products and services that will attain better customer
satisfaction.
Political risks
The political risks should be duly undertaken while entering a new country it will help
in complying with the political norms and behaviour of that particular country
(Demangeot, et al. 2015).
Infrastructure
For Eat there is a need for the skilled staff and the human infrastructure that will help
in effectively setting its business in a foreign country with the same taste ad the
specification that it is famous for.
Environmental concern
Eat will undertake the environmental standards of that particular country at which it is
seeking to expand a-or enter in as it may differ. Like the machinery used for making
sandwiches should follow the foreign environmental standards (Schreiter, 2015).
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