International Marketing: Tassal's Market Selection Report

This report assesses the international market selection for Tassal, a company specializing in Atlantic salmon. The analysis focuses on comparing Japan and South Korea, evaluating their macro and microeconomic factors, market opportunities, and potential threats. The report highlights South Korea as the more favorable market for Tassal's expansion due to its high urbanization, growing demand for imported foods, government support for foreign investments, and the country's established aquaculture industry. The report also considers Japan's political stability, but notes the challenges of overfishing and the shift in consumer preferences towards non-seafood options. The conclusion provides a comprehensive justification for market selection, emphasizing the fit between Tassal's product offerings and the South Korean market's demands, technological advancements, and the staple diet of seafood consumption.

Running head: INTERNATIONAL MARKETING
The above analysis on the countries, Japan and South Korea state that both the countries are
rich, highly developed, technologically advanced and urbanized but in comparison to Japan,
South Korea is the ideal country for expansion of the company, Tassal. Most of the important
factors that need to be assessed before making any investment decisions suggest that most of
the factors of South Korea are favorable for foreign investments and expansion of the
business.
South Korea is a highly urbanized city and is ranked amongst the most popular countries in
the world. The local agriculture of the country is suffering however agribusiness, imported
products and foreign foods are growing in the market that will be favorable for the company
Tassal that shows that the country is growing in terms of foreign food and imported products
and thus the company will have an opportunity to grown in the South Korean market
(Ivanova and Latyshov 2018).
The government of South Korea is open to international trade and foreign investments and
has laws and regulations that align and support the companies who come from outside who
have a huge role to play in the development of the economy of South Korea (John 2016).
This makes it favorable for the company Tassal to come and expand their business compared
to Japan who has a stable economy and supportive government however the country has
rivalry with major countries like Russia, China and Taiwan that can negatively impact the
company.
South Korea does not only import seafood but also exports seafood like China, japan and
Thailand (Van 2016). This shows that South Korea has their own successful aquaculture as
well when compared to Japan as they export the most percentage about 39.5% to Japan. This
can be an opportunity for the Tassal to grow and expand their business in South Korea as the
country exports fishes that prove the successful aquaculture within the country that the

1INTERNATIONAL MARKETING
company can explore in order to expand their business by farming other fishes that are in
demand as well.
South Korea has a decrease in the unemployment rate however this has led to irregular
workers because of the social inequalities (Fleckenstein and Lee 2017). This can be an
opportunity for Tassal company as the company can expand their business, create a work
environment free of social inequalities that will help the company grow in the market and this
initiative of extinguishing social inequalities will help the company in garnering a lot of
appreciation that will help the company gaining a positive reputation in the market that may
positively impact in the sales of the country.
The seafood industry has been facing challenges because of the government’s plan and
decision on reducing fishing boats; motive of being this is the long term sustainability of the
fisheries industry and for the expansion of aquaculture in the country (Lee 2018). This will
initially be a challenge for the company Tassal however in the long run it is going to help the
company flourish in the Korean market as expansion of aquaculture in the market mean the
growth and development of the company in the near future. This will help the company to
meet their long term goals. On the other hand Japan has political stability and the government
has not come up with any initiatives and laws as such and encourages aquaculture in the
country which may benefit the company Tassal initially however with the growing problem
of overfishing in Japan will eventually negatively impact the company as it will not be able to
explore the marine areas there (Iwata and Sulit 2016).
South Korea is a technologically advanced and driven company. Technology has helped the
country transform their economy from being one of the poorest to one of the richest (Pranav
and Katiyar 2018). This advancement in the technology is one of the major reasons for
companies getting attracted to the country and wanting to expand their business in the Korean
market. The innovation and technology will be beneficial for the company Tassal as

2INTERNATIONAL MARKETING
innovative technology may help to contribute in the smooth operations in the company that
will pave way for success.
Both South Korea and Japan are highly populated countries. In Japan many people are old
and thus need nutritious food that fishes like Salmon, tuna that provide easily digestable
protein. (Yamaguchi et al. 2018).This creates a demand for the company Tassal in Japan as
well however South Korea has people of all age who consume fish on a daily basis and fishes
are always at a high demand that makes the country import fish having a good aquaculture
within the country because of the increased demand thus making South Korea more favorable
than Japan for expansion.
The South Korean peninsula is surrounded by water and thus seafood is the staple diet of the
Koreans. Staple diet means the diet that is included in the everyday meal of a person that
proves the high demand of seafood in the country as most of the people for protein intake
consume fish (Rahim and Hastuti 2017). This will be an opportunity for Tassal to introduce
high quality salmon to the market that will attract customers and make them buy the product
at a regular basis because fish being their staple diet. On the other hand Japan is also one of
the largest importers of seafood and have been importing a huge number of seafood annually
like tuna and salmon however with westernization people in Japan have been highly
influenced by the culture and have adopted many aspects of the culture resulting in, the
people consuming more meaty products like pork and chicken and has paved for the decline
in the demand of seafood in the country that makes South Korea the ideal country for
expansion (Watson et al. 2016)
South Korea is an ideal country for Tassal to expand their business because of the high
demand, long term development plan, technology and the people however there are many
minor threats that may arise that may affect the company but with a strong and strategic

3INTERNATIONAL MARKETING
marketing plan the company will overcome all the small problems that may arise in the
business and help the business grow and develop successfully in the South Korean market.

4INTERNATIONAL MARKETING
Reference
Fleckenstein, T. and Lee, S.C., 2017. The politics of labor market reform in coordinated
welfare capitalism: comparing Sweden, Germany, and South Korea. World Politics, 69(1),
pp.144-183.
Ivanova, S. and Latyshov, A., 2018. Sustainable entrepreneurship: agrarian policy in South
Korea. Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues, 5(4), pp.748-760.
Iwata, T. and Sulit, V.T., 2016. Coping with overcapacity/overfishing: Experience of Japan.
Secretariat, Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center.
John, J.V., 2016. Globalization, National Identity and Foreign Policy: Understanding'Global
Korea'. The Copenhagen Journal of Asian Studies, 33(2), pp.38-57.
Lee, Y.S., 2018. Law and Development: Lessons from South Korea. Law and Development
Review, 11(2), pp.433-465.
Pranav, S.K. and Katiyar, A., 2018. Transformation of South Korea from a Third World
Agrarian economy to a Technologically Advanced First World Country.
Rahim, A. and Hastuti, D.R.D., 2017, December. Demand Estimation of Fresh Sea Fish with
Panel Data Model”. In Proceeding International Conference on Education, Science, Art and
Technology (ICESAT) (Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 278-287).
Van, H.T.H., 2016. Intermediate goods trade between Vietnam and China.
Watson, R.A., Green, B.S., Tracey, S.R., Farmery, A. and Pitcher, T.J., 2016. Provenance of
global seafood. Fish and Fisheries, 17(3), pp.585-595.
Yamaguchi, M., Takahashi, K., Kikushima, R., Ohashi, M., Ikegawa, M., Yakushiji, T. and
Yamada, Y., 2018. The Association between Self-Reported Difficulty of Food Access and

5INTERNATIONAL MARKETING
Nutrient Intake among Middle-Aged and Older Residents in a Rural Area of Japan. Journal
of nutritional science and vitaminology, 64(6), pp.473-482.