Marketing

Economic exchange, most recently in the form of global trade, has been one of the keys to human progress. The mechanisms of modern-day international trade, to a large extent, are subsumed under the term marketing. The American Marketing Association (2007) provides a formal definition of the concept: “Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings [i.e., products and services] that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.”

International marketing is the performance of business activities designed to plan, price, promote, and direct the flow of a company's goods and services to consumers or users in more than one nation for a profit. The only difference between the definitions of domestic marketing and international marketing is that, in the latter case, marketing activities take place in more than one country. Marketing concepts, processes, and principles are universally applicable, and the marketer's task is the same, whether doing business in Texas or Tanzania. The uniqueness of foreign marketing comes from the range of unfamiliar problems and the variety of strategies necessary to cope with different levels of uncertainty encountered in foreign markets.

What makes marketing interesting is the challenge of molding the controllable elements of marketing decisions (regarding product, price, promotion, distribution, and research) within the framework of the uncontrollable elements of the global marketplace (competition, politics, laws, consumer behavior, level of technology, etc.) in such a way that marketing objectives are achieved. Even though marketing principles and concepts are universally applicable, the environment within which the marketer must implement marketing plans can change dramatically from country to country or region to region. The difficulties created by different environments are the international marketer's primary concern.

The successful manager constructs a marketing program designed for optimal adjustment to the uncertainty of the business climate. Assuming the necessary overall corporate resources, structures, and competencies that can limit or promote strategic choice, the marketing manager blends price, product, promotion, channels of distribution, and research activities to capitalize on anticipated demand. The controllable elements can be altered in the long run and, usually, in the short run to adjust to changing market conditions, consumer tastes, or corporate objectives. That effort—the adaptation of the marketing mix to these environmental factors—determines the outcome of the marketing enterprise.

Aspects of the domestic environment include home-country elements that can have a direct effect on the success of a foreign venture: political and legal forces, economic climate, and competition. A political decision involving domestic foreign policy can have a direct effect on a firm's international marketing success. For example, in recent decades, the U.S. government placed a total ban on trade with Libya to condemn Libyan support for terrorist attacks, imposed restrictions on trade with South Africa to protest apartheid, and placed a total ban on trade with Iraq, whose actions were believed to constitute a threat to the national security of the United States and its allies. In each case, the international marketing programs of U.S. companies, big and small, were restricted by these political decisions. The U.S. government has the constitutional right to restrict foreign trade when such trade adversely affects the security or economy of the country or when such trade is in conflict with U.S. foreign policy.

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