Friday, December 7, 2012

International Marketing

There are more reasons why international marketing has grown so much during this decade. One reason is a development and enlargement of market opportunities. Nowadays, there's greater economic security which makes producers expand their markets. Some nations have complementary economic bases and they offer and produce similar products or services. Therefore, producers have started realizing that some of their products might be even more successful abroad. Another reason is that political relations between countries are much better and more positive than they were in the past. A market arrangement between the countries is very important. The countries with a very similar culture have the biggest of making free trade agreements too. Cultural similarities support the economic cooperation with other nations. Three major factors that support development of international marketing are economic, political, and cultural factors.
There's many  reasons why it's beneficial to sell product in foreign market.
1. Poor trading conditions in the home market
2. Potential to increase profits and to earn more money
3. Spreading risks between different markets
4. Saturated new markets
5. Experience
Political Differences:
The change of government as well as terrorism or other threats might cause instability  in countries and might lead to destruction of a company's assets.  This could really hurt your business, so before  you start doing business in some country, you should check its political situation. For example: Egypt (it was attacked by terrorists, and there is an instability caused by the change of president & government).
Economic & Social Differences:
Difference in tax rates, interest rates, the age structure of the population, importance of marriage, and the role of women play a huge role in your marketing activities. In order to be successful in your international marketing, you should realize that living standards of countries vary across the globe. For example: There are so many economic and social differences between countries like U.S. and Ethiopia.
Legal Differences:
Some products like weapons are in some countries illegal. Just because you can sell and buy them in one country doesn't mean that they are sold everywhere. Product labeling control are much stricter in some countries than in the others. For example: North Korea is known for its production of nuclear weapons. On the other hand, it's illegal to sell or produce nuclear weapons in South Korea.
Cultural Differences:
Even though cultural differences are not laws that you have to follow, they play a significant role in people's behavior which affects marketing. For example: In some countries you cannot really use a woman as a model in a advertisement. It's just not acceptable. For example: Many Arabic/Muslim countries have totally different culture than Europe. Women rights and etc...
Differences in Business Practices:
Accounting standards and rules vary in parts of the world. Also some formalities might take much more time in one country than in another one. For example: In the UK it can take a few days to set up a limited company. On the contrary, in Sierra Leone it might take one year.

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