International Business Management Lecture 9

International Business Management - Lecture Notes

• Lecturer: Dr. Sabir S. Abdulkhaliq
• Email: [email protected]
• Academic Year: 2024-2025
• Lecture: 9
• Date: Dec 1st, 2024

Learning Outcomes

• Define and understand the strategy of international business
• Define and understand Global Marketing
• Understand Challenges and Strategies of Global Marketing
• Define and understand Global R&D and its Challenges
• Integration of Global Marketing and R&D

Global Marketing

• Global marketing is the process of planning, creating, positioning, and promoting a company's products or services in a global marketplace.
• It considers the entire world as a potential market and designs strategies that can be consistently implemented across different countries and cultures.
• The primary goal is to use a company's resources and expertise to expand market share and gain a competitive advantage in international markets.

Challenges of Global Marketing

• Cultural Differences and Sensitivity: Adapting to different cultural norms is vital for effective communication.
• Language Barriers: Accurate translation is essential, but idioms and references might not translate universally.
• Legal and Regulatory Compliance: Following varying legal requirements across markets is complex and non-compliance can harm reputation.
• Economic Change: Economic conditions affect pricing, consumer purchasing power, and demand, often influenced by currency fluctuations.
• Logistics and Supply Chain Management: Establishing efficient global distribution channels presents unique logistics challenges.
• Political Instability: Political changes can disrupt market strategies and long-term operations.
• Competitive Landscape: Understanding global competition is crucial because local and international competitors employ different strategies.
• Technological Challenges: Adapting to different technological landscapes, including connectivity issues, presents significant challenges.
• Brand Consistency: Balancing global brand consistency with local adaptation is a crucial challenge.
• Consumer Behavior Changes: Continuous research is needed to predict and understand varying consumer behaviors across different markets.

Strategies of Global Marketing

• Standardization: Maintaining a consistent marketing mix (product, price, promotion, place, process, and people) across international markets. Businesses decide on using standardized or adapted marketing approaches globally.
• Localization: Adapting marketing strategies to align with the unique characteristics of each local market, including marketing messages, product features, and promotional activities.

Further Strategies

• Product Adaptation: Adapting products or services to meet the specific needs and preferences of different markets. This might entail changes in products, packaging, and/or promotional methods.
• Global Branding: Creating consistent, recognizable brand image on a global scale.
• Market Research: Gathering, analyzing, and interpreting information about a market, including potential customers, competitors, and industry trends.

Global Research and Development (R&D)

• R&D activities are conducted by a company or organization on a global scale to innovate, create, and introduce new products, services, or processes to meet market demands.
• R&D is essential for innovation and competitiveness in the global marketplace.

Challenges of Global R&D

• Intellectual Property Risks: Risks related to intellectual property can have legal, financial, and strategic implications for companies.
• Cross-Cultural Collaboration: Successful collaboration requires overcoming cultural differences that affect communication, decision-making, and overall team dynamics.
• Time-to-Market Pressure: The need to quickly introduce products to maintain competitiveness, capture market share, and meet customer demand.
• Global Talent Shortages: Identifying skilled professionals for global R&D, especially in specialized industries.

Integration of Global Marketing and R&D

• Cross-functional Collaboration: Global success often necessitates close collaboration between global marketing and R&D teams, making sure that the products are not only innovative but also marketable globally.
• Feedback Loop: Gathering and analyzing feedback from customers, employees, and other stakeholders to improve products, services, and operations. Positive feedback leads to increased sales, negative feedback can lead to product or service improvements preventing dissatisfaction.

Explore the essential strategies of global marketing and the challenges it presents in the international business arena. This lecture focuses on integrating global marketing with research and development. Understand how to effectively position products and services in a diverse marketplace.