INTERNATIONAL MARKETING MANAGEMENT

International Marketing Management

Table Of Content

PART I3

Introduction3

Importance of the issue4

Literature6

Integrating the various issues: a case study12

PART II17

Organisation's international marketing activities17

Behavioral Segmentation17

Business Travel17

Pleasure Travel18

Demographic Segmentation:19

Geographic Segmentation19

Psychographic Segmentation20

CONCLUSION21

REFERENCES22

BIBLIOGRAPHY24

International Marketing Management

Part I

Introduction

In this paper I would discuss the international marketing segmentations within the organisation issue in the international marketing management with the help of a case study.

With the increasing globalization of the business world, international segmentation becomes an ever moare important concept in international marketing. The globalization forces now at work push many companies to extend or reorganize their marketing strategies across borders and target international segments of consumers. It is the purpose of this paper to review the international market segmentation literature and to identify its future prospects and threats in part II.

International market segmentation has become an important issue in developing, positioning, and selling products across national borders. It helps companies to target potential customers at the international -segment level and to obtain an appropriate positioning across borders. A key challenge for companies is to effectively deal with the structure of heterogeneity in consumer needs and wants across borders and to target segments of consumers in different countries. These segments reflect geographic groupings or groups of individuals and consist of potential consumers who are likely to exhibit similar responses to marketing efforts.

Importance of the issue

International segmentation becomes a particularly challenging issue when companies adopt a global or pan-regional strategy, that is, a strategy integrated across national borders. In many industries, national borders are becoming less and less important as an organizing principle for international activities, rendering multi-domestic strategies less relevant (Yip, 1995). Developments accelerating this trend include regional unification, shifts to open economies, global investment, manufacturing, and production strategies, expansion of world travel, rapid increase in education, literacy levels, and urbanization among developing countries, convergence of purchasing power, life-styles and tastes, advances in information and communication technologies, the emergence of global media, and the increasing flow of information, labor, money, and technology across borders (Gielens; Hassan; Hassan; Parker and Yip). Many global companies such as Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Sony, British Airways, Ikea, Toyota, and Levi-Strauss have successfully integrated their international strategies. The forces that are now at work drive many companies to extend their operations abroad and target international market segments. By globalizing their strategies, such companies benefit from several advantages, including cost reductions through economies of scale, improved quality of products, and increased bargaining and competitive power (Levitt and Yip).

Despite the obvious importance of international market segmentation for marketing as a discipline in general and international marketing in particular, it has received relatively little attention in the literature. In a review of about 900 articles on international marketing, it was found that just over 1% (11 papers) dealt directly with international market segmentation (Aulakh & Kotabe, 1993). A similar observation applies to international versus domestic market segmentation: “Segmentation is a central issue in domestic marketing strategy. Yet, in international markets, it has received little attention” (Douglas & Craig, 1992, p. 312). One exception is the review by Walters (1997), which ...