International marketing refers to marketing activities carried out across national borders. It involves applying the same marketing principles used domestically but on a global scale. International marketing is more complex than domestic marketing due to differing legal, cultural, political, and economic factors between countries. The key functions of international marketing include choosing market entry strategies, selecting target markets and products, and developing appropriate pricing, distribution, and communications strategies for foreign audiences.

1. By Dr Anushruti Neema

2.  International marketing refers to marketing
carried out by companies overseas or across
national borders. This strategy uses an
extension of the techniques used in the home
country of a firm.
 International marketing is simply the
application of marketing principles to more
than one country.

3.  According to American Marketing Association
(AMA), international marketing is the
multinational process of planning and
executing the conception, pricing,
promotion, and distribution of ideal goods
and services to create exchanges that satisfy
individual and organisational objectives.

4.  International marketing involves all the
activities that form part of domestic
marketing.
 An enterprise engaged in international
marketing has to correctly identify, assess
and interpret the needs of the overseas
customers and carry out integrated
marketing operations to satisfy those needs.
 In other words, the basic functions are the
same in international marketing as well as in
domestic marketing.

5.  At the same time, there are several
characteristics that are unique to international
marketing.
 When the business crosses the national borders
of a given country, it becomes enormously more
complex. The resulting problems and
management situations transcend those of
marketing, finance and production.
 A wide range of legal, political, cultural and
sociological dimensions enter the picture, adding
a lot of complexity to the task. And, the one
factor that contributes maximum to the
complexity is the environmental and cultural
dynamics of the global markets.

6. Let us briefly touch upon the main functions
involved in International marketing. They
are:
 Choosing the basic route for global marketing
 Market selection and product selection
 Selection of distribution channels
 Developing pricing strategy
 International marketing communication
 Mastering the procedural complexities
 Organizational adaptations
 Handling business ethics

7. A properly conceived entry strategy is the
starting point. There are five basic routes to
enter a foreign market:
 Exports
 Licensing of technology and know how
 Multinational trading
 Joint venture
 Full-fledged global operation

8. SN Domestic Marketing International Marketing
1 Domestic marketing refers
to carrying out marketing
activities within the
national boundaries.
International marketing
refers to carrying out
marketing activities outside
the national boundaries also.
2 It refers to doing
marketing in local market
and it’s scope is limited.
It refers to doing marketing
in global market and it’s
scope is wide.
3 There is one nation, same
language and one culture.
There are many nations,
many languages and culture.
4 Well familiarity with
domestic or local market.
Lack of familiarity with
global or foreign market.
5 Low risk factors more risk factors

9. SN Domestic Marketing International Marketing
6 requires less investment requires more investment
7 stable business
environment.
unstable business
environment.
8 It relatively deals with
homogeneous market.
It relatively deals with
diverse market.
9 competitors behavior is
easy to predict.
competitors behavior is
difficult to predict.
10 Less government
intervention.
Government intervention is
to a greater extent because
of the laws and policies vary
from country to country.

10.  Customer Value and the Value Equation
The task of marketing is to create customer
value that is greater than the value created
by competitors. value for the customer can
be increased by expanding or improving
product and/or service benefits, by reducing
the price, or by a combination of these
elements.

11.  Competitive or Differential Advantage
A competitive advantage is a total offer, vis-à-
vis relevant competition that is more
attractive to customers. The advantage can
exist in any element of the company’s offer:
the product, the price, the advertising and
point-of-sale promotion, or the distribution
of the product.
V = B/P
V = Value
B = perceived benefits – perceived costs
P = price

12.  Focus
The third international marketing principle is
focus, or the concentration of attention.
Focus is required to succeed in the task of
creating customer value at a competitive
advantage.

13.  The form and substance of a company’s
response to global business opportunities
depend greatly on management’s
assumptions or beliefs – both conscious and
unconscious – about the nature of the world.
The worldview of a company’s personnel can
be described as ethnocentric, polycentric,
regiocentric and geocentric.

14.  A person who assumes his or her home country is
superior compared to the rest of the world is
said to have an ethnocentric orientation. The
ethnocentric orientation means company
personnel see only similarities in markets and
assume the products and practices that succeed
in the home country will, due to their
demonstrated superiority, be successful
anywhere.
 Ethnocentric companies that do conduct business
outside the home country can be described as
international companies they adhere to the
notion that the products that succeed in the
home country are superior and, therefore, can
be sold everywhere without adaptation.

15.  The polycentric orientation is the opposite of
ethnocentrism. The term polycentric
describes management’s often-unconscious
belief or assumption that each country in
which a company does business is unique.
 This assumption lays the groundwork for
each subsidiary to develop its own unique
business and marketing strategies in order to
succeed; the term multinational company is
often used to describe such a structure.

16.  The geocentric orientation represents a
synthesis of ethnocentrism and polycentrism;
it is a “worldview” that sees similarities and
differences in markets and countries, and
seeks to create a global strategy that is fully
responsive to local needs and wants.
 A regiocentric manager might be said to have
a worldview on a regional scale; the world
outside the region of interest will be viewed
with an ethnocentric or a polycentric
orientation, or a combination of the two.

17.  The ethnocentric company is centralized in
its marketing management, the polycentric
company is decentralized, and the
regiocentric and geocentric companies are
integrated on a regional and global scale,
respectively.

18.  Endurance: india which has abundant natural resources
and treasure of biodiversity that it can survive within its
resources even if there is a resource crunch. Even then it
has to carry out trading with other countries to get oil and
armaments for its own survival.
 Progress of overseas markets: The US has found that India
is the biggest market in the world for consumer and
engineering products. The world market is four times
larger than US market.
Ex- Amway.
 Sales promotion: The case of Coca-Cola clearly emphasizes
the importance of overseas markets. Coca-cola is coming
up with milk based products as majority of the Indians and
Asians do not relish the taste of aerated drinks which are
supposed to be having caffeine and is addictive.

19.  Diversification: In the international market cyclical
factors as recession and such seasonal factors as
climate affect the demand for most of the product.
Due to these variables there are sales fluctuations,
which frequently is substantial enough to cause, lay
off of personnel. One way of diversifying a company’s
risk is to consider foreign markets as a solution for
variable demands.
 Inflation and wholesale price index: The best way to
control inflation is to earn foreign exchange through
exports.
 Employment and placements: With the liberalization
of economic policy 1991, India has gained
tremendously with the inflow of foreign direct
investment as a result of which the employment in
the country has tremendously improved.

20.  Standard of living/style: Trade affords
countries and their citizen’s higher standard
of living than otherwise possible. Without
trade, product shortages force people to pay
more for less.
 Marketing process: International marketing
should be considered a special case of
domestic marketing. With the improvement
in information technology the access to
international market has become easy as the
whole world has become a small global
village.