Strategic Marketing Analysis: International Business Management

This report delves into the realm of international marketing, focusing on the strategic marketing activities of three multinational retail giants: Tesco, Marks and Spencer, and LIDL. It begins with an introduction to international marketing, defining its role in satisfying global consumer needs and drivin...Read More

International business
management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
Study objectives...............................................................................................................................3
Structure of the study ......................................................................................................................3
Back ground and overview .............................................................................................................3
ASSESSMENT 1.............................................................................................................................4
Contemporary international marketing issues .......................................................................4
Economic environment ...................................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
International marketing can be referred to as an application of different marketing
principles for satisfying the needs of people living in other nations. It can also be defined as the
promotion of brand at global level. The main purpose of international marketing is to help the
firm in earning higher profit across borders. International marketing is basically a activity which
are conducted by firm for launching the new product in the global market. It is the activity which
assist firm in increasing profitability and market share.
The report has focus on analysing the strategic marketing activities adopted by three
multinational organisation such as Tesco, Marks and Spencer and LIDL All three organisation
are operating business in retail sector. . Furthermore, the report will also focus on analysing the
contemporary international marketing issues the organisations are facing in the global business
environment.
Study objectives
 To understand the concept of international marketing
 To identify and evaluate the strategic marketing activities adopted by various
multinational organisations to respond changes in consumer behaviour.
 To critically analyse the international marketing opportunities for multinational
companies.
Structure of the study
The present study will start with an introduction of the multinational companies chosen to
analyse the international business management. The second topic of the study will be
contemporary international marketing issues faced by these companies while operating in
international market. Furthermore, Economic, political and legal environment will be examined
to identify the impact of all the elements on global businesses
Back ground and overview
Tesco is basically a British Multinational grocer operating business in retail sector.
Business entity is among the third largest retailer in the world in context of revenue. The slogan
as well as marketing strategy has assisted an organization in achieving success. Loyalty card
scheme launched by an enterprise has assisted them in becoming popular.

Marks and Spencer is also a Global retailer which is located in London. An enterprise is
mainly well known for selling the high quality of food as well as home products. It is quality of
goods or services offered by firm which has helped them in gaining the customer loyalty.
ILIDL is basically a food retail company operating business at global level. An
organization has more than 10000 stores across US and Europe. Low pricing is the marketing
strategy which has been adopted by company for attracting the customers.
ASSESSMENT 1
Contemporary international marketing issues
Retail industry is basically a very competitive and it has dynamic business environment.
External business environment has significant influence on business. Changes in external
environment have great effect on business plan, policies, practices and strategies. External
factors are uncontrollable, a special type of approaches is required to be adopted by the
Multinational organizations for dealing with changes in external variables. The external factors
which can have great effect on the business practices and plans of global organization are
political, technological, environmental, social, economic and legal components. Among all these
variables the social trends which includes changes in the behaviour of customers, trends etc. have
great influence on the business practices and marketing strategies of global companies like
Tesco, Marks & Spencer and LIDL.
Consumer behaviour can be defined as a way an individual customer select as well as buy
the goods or services in order to satisfy their own needs. Companies in retail sector such as
Morrisons, marks& Spencer and Tesco is facing the various issues in managing the balance
between demand and supply due to continuous changes in the taste and preference of customers.
The changes in the consumer behaviour have great effect on the marketing activities of firms. It
is the advertisement which assist enterprises in positively influencing the people to change their
perception as well as behaviour towards organization. In context of Tesco, it is the marketing
slogan every little help has supported an enterprise in achieving the success. During the 23013
and 14, the Tesco has faced the scandal related to the horse meat which has significant as well as
adverse effect on the image of an enterprise. It is the charisms marketing campaign with new
concept that has helped Tesco in changing the perception as well as attitude of the customers

towards firms. After such scandal faced by Tesco, an organization has planned to rebrand, this is
the marketing tactics which has assisted business entity in rebuilding its image at global level. In
addition to this, in order to overcome the consequences of such scandal, Tesco has reduced the
prices of products or services which has provided firm an ease in attracting more number of
customers. It is the strategy which has provided an enterprise an ease in positively influencing
people to buy products or services offered by organization.
In addition to this, High level of investment is made by Tesco on Advertisement through
TV, radio, cinemas etc. According to the opinion of author Spence and Velasco, 2018, Among
different tools of marketing, advertisement has great as well as significant effect on the
behaviour as well as buying decision of consumers. However, it has been argued by other
authors that advertisement is tool for promotional mix which includes 7 P's these are product,
place, price, promotion, procedure, people and Physical evidence. As per the opinion of
Sisodiya, and Sharma, 2018, advertisement can be utilized by multinational organization for
developing the strong image of the product in the mind of customers. However, Kotler is also
agreed with the statement that advertisement is the best way to gain the attention of target
customers group. As per the opinion of Trinh,Khan and Lockshin, 2018., an organization is
required to concentrate on informational advertisement , as it will assist them in influencing
people to buy products or services. The author also states that informational advertisement
strategy can be helpful for an organization in terms of generating the awareness about products
or services among consumers which might influence people decision to purchase goods.
The huge investment is made by Tesco for promoting goods or services at international
level. In year 2013, Tesco has adopted approx. 110 pound (ca. 50 kg) on renovating its
traditional stores and making it more attractive. In addition to this, Tesco is now using the
digital marketing strategy for promoting the brand at international level. Tesco has adopted the
overhauling product packaging; an enterprise has repackaged high quality of products in higher
quality packaging. It is the strategy which has assisted business entity in changing the perception
of people about the quality of goods offered by firm. Overhauling product packaging is the
strategy which has helped business entity in changing the attitude of customers towards products
or services. Personalized marketing strategy has assisted the Tesco in developing the strong
relationship with customers.
In context of marks and Spencer, the international marketing strategy of an organization

focus on the quality as well as style of its goods. An organization has made huge amount of
investment on digital development, so it could promote brand at global level. Marketing manager
in an organization has developed the Website of organization which consists of all essential
information about business in order to provide easy access of business related data by customer.
Customer engagement as marketing strategy lead to the positive attitude of customers towards
marks and Spencer. Store visual merchandising is the strategy which has provided firm an ease
in attracting customers. Marketing manager in marks and Spencer also utilize the customer
loyalty information for organizing the target marketing as well as promotional activities.
Business entity emphasizes on high impact promotions which has helped an enterprise in
providing high value to customers (Hamilton and Webster, 2018). It is the strategy which has
helped an enterprise in increasing sales and profitability at global level. In relation to Marks and
Spencer company, business entity needs to adopt standardization strategy as well as need to
concentrate on advertisement, as it is the tactics which will assist an organization in positively
influencing consumer behaviour. Marks and Spencer is using the social media such as
Facebook, Instagram etc. for informing the customers about products and influencing them to
buy products or services.
In context of Morrisons, business entity offers seasonal sales in order to attract customers
and positively influence them to buy products or services. Morrisons is among the fourth largest
grocer. An organization during the economic crisis after Brexit has launched the value for
money offer which has helped business entity in developing the positive impression on the mind
of people. Business entity also launched promotional programmes, for instance firm has recently
launched collector card scheme, Lets grow program which has been successful in context of
helping firm in changing the attitude of customers towards them. It is the visionary message that
is food specialist for everyone and slogan fresh choice for you has helped business entity in
attracting a greater number of customers.
Political and legal environment
Political as well as legal environment has significant influence on the marketing
strategies as well as activities of the Tesco, LIDL, marks and Spencer. As all three organization
are operating business at global level these firms can be highly effected by changes in the laws as

well as regulation imposed by political parties. The political factor influence the way consumer
buy products or services. Laws formed by both government or political parties might create
restrictions on the execution of business (Dau, Lyles and Li, 2018). The retail companies such as
LIDL, TESCO, marks and Spencer favour some legislations. Legal authority in the nation might
restrict companies from performing the certain types of advertisement. In relation to all three
companies LIDl, Tesco, Marks and Spencer, marketing manager in an organization while
developing the promotional plan need to consider the laws, as this will assist enterprises in
eliminating legal issues.
In addition to the above, the unfavourable political conditions in the nation might restrict
the firms from promoting their products or services in the market. The other political as well as
legislative factors which might have significant effect on the promotional strategies as well as
activities of organizations these factors are operational restrictions, taxation, ownership control.
Changes in all these variables might restrict retail companies such as LIdl, Tesco, marks and
Spencer from expanding business in other market. (Morgan, Feng and Whitler, 2018).
Critical analysis of consumer buying behaviour
The main role of marketing department in an organisation is to develop the understanding
as well as satisfy the needs of consumers. It has been analysed that with the advancement in
technology there has been great change in the buying pattern by customers. Most of the
consumers prefer to make online purchase of goods or services. The modern consumer decision
making procedure is is much more iterative. Customers today hop between different stages of the
funnel between multiple companies, thanks to the power granted by the internet. Other thing
which has been analysed is that There are many driving force which are driving these changes
in consumer behaviour these are improvement in economic conditions, composure to
international media, increase in number of foreign travels etc. As per the views of (Sapouna and
et.al., 2018) international marketing can be referred as application of marketing principles in
order to satisfy the various needs and wants of the customers across the world. In international
marketing process companies have to take marketing activities across the various international
borders no matter how many companies a company have to carry out marketing activities but the
objective remains the same i.e. profit making. It is to be noted that due to international marketing
process companies have to face various challenges which needs to be addressed in order to carry
out the marketing functions smoothly across the various countries of the world. As illustrated by

(East and et.al., 2016) marketing activities and functions of a company depends on the consumer
behaviour and it is important for an organisation to study the behaviour of customers in order to
attract customers. Consumer behaviour can be referred as study of how a consumer make a
purchase or non purchasing decisions about the needs, wants as well as desires of a consumer.
Consumer behaviour deals with the study of various stages through which a consumer goes
through before making a purchasing decisions so, it is important for a marketing team to have
proper insights of behaviour of their customers.
According to the opinion of Buccoliero, Mazzola and Solinas, 2018., it is the quality,
price and characteristics of products which significantly affect the behaviour of customers. The
author also states that low price and high quality are the two factors which positively influence
consumers to buy specific goods. However, it has been argued by other authors that it is the
marketing as well as other promotional activities that are conducted by companies encourages
people to buy products or services of particular brand. As per the perception of author (), it is the
perception of an individual which positively influence them to buy products or services. The
other authors argue that experience as well as satisfaction which is gained by an individual by
buying products or services from particular brand has great influence the buying decision of
consumer. According to the opinion of Leonidou, Samiee and Aykol, 2018, it is the continuous
interaction by companies which positively influence the behaviour of customers and encourage
them to buy goods or services. However, it has been argued by other authors that flow of
continuous advertisement has great influence on the behaviour as well as buying decision of
customers. According to the perception of Nguyen, de Leeuw and Dullaert, 2018., brand
advertisement plays very much crucial role in stimulating the people to buy specific brand.
However, it has been argued by other authors that E-marketing is the best marketing strategy
which has positive as well as long-lasting effect on the behaviour of customers.
According to Howard sheth model, it is required by marketing manager in global firms to
develop the promotional plans considering the different factors which might influence the
behaviour of customer at each phase of the decision-making procedure related to buying goods
of specific brand. However, it has been argued by other authors that global firms in order to
change the behaviour of customers towards them at international level is required to re-strategies
their promotional activities. According to the opinion of Spence and Velasco, 2018, content
marketing strategy can be adopted by multinational firm, as it will assist them in attracting more

numbers of customers. However, the other authors argue that ethical marketing activities should
be conducted by multinational organization at global level as it will assist firms in positively
influencing people to buy products or services. As per the view of Sisodiya and Sharma, 2018,
who stated that Multinational organisation are required to adopt the customer centric approach
while developing the marketing strategies, as it will provide them an ease in accomplishing
desired marketing objectives. However, it has been argued by other authors that product centric
marketing is the strategy which can be used by global companies for promoting brand at
international level. The author also states that if global companies adopt the product centric
marketing strategy, international marketing will play mediating role between globalization as
well as consumer behaviour which might further lead to the homogeneity in behaviour of
consumer.
CONCLUSION
From the above essay it had been concluded that the growth of international marketing
has important to manage by company for achieve high growth by providing best and effective
product and its services. The report has covered by the objectives which has give proper schedule
to project outline. With the help of this, report has done in effective manner by proper market
research. Market research has important for the business and its growth in positive and effective
manner. This has also covered by the background and overview of three successful retail
companies which has provide the best product and services to customers by satisfying needs and
wants. It had been concluded that the various contemporary international issues which has faced
by the company at international market.

REFERENCES
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ONLINE :
Modes of Entering into international market. 2019. [ONLINE]. Available
Through:<https://www.marketingteacher.com/modes-of-entry/>.