EVOLUTION TO GLOBAL MARKETING

STAGES & ELEMENTS

OVERVIEW
Global marketing is marketing on a worldwide scale by taking commercial
advantage of global operational differences, similarities, and opportunities in order to
meet global market demands. (“Global Marketing” n.d.) Global marketing is not a
revolutionary shift; rather an evolutionary process. Companies evolving towards global
marketing happens gradually.

The company has to undergo the different stages of the marketing evolution
before becoming a global brand. Domestic, export, international, and multinational
marketing are what we call the stages of evolution to global marketing. (Schlegelmilch,
2016) The domestic stage focuses its activities towards their home market. Stage two
has the company still focusing domestically but has exports. By international marketing
stage, the company has realized that they need to adapt their marketing strategy
geared towards overseas countries. The concentration then moves to multinational
marketing where the consolidation of marketing strategies in done on a regional basis.
Thus, adaption has become crucial. The last stage – the global marketing stage has the
company creating value when it extends its programs and products to serve worldwide
markets. Definitely, there are no definite time periods to this evolution process. (Global
Marketing: S. D. I. E., 2016)

BACKGROUND

Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating,

communicating, delivering, and exchanging products and services that are of value to
society at large. Marketing is not just selling; it also encompasses the entire company’s
market orientation toward customer satisfaction in a competitive environment. In other
words, marketing strategy requires close attention to both customers and competitors.

It is increasingly difficult for companies to avoid the impact of competition from

around the world and the convergence of the world’s markets. As a result, many
companies are now drawn into pursuing marketing activities outside their home country.
Therefore, knowing the dynamics of the evolutionary development of international
marketing involvement is important as it helps in the understanding of how companies
learn and acquire international experience and how they use it for gaining competitive
advantage over time. (Helsen, 2010)

DISCUSSION

EVOLUTION TO GLOBAL MARKETING

The increasing intensity of competition in the global markets is a challenge facing
companies at all stages of involvement in international markets. As markets open up,
and become more integrated, the pace of change accelerates, technology shrinks
distances between markets and reduces the scale advantages of large firms, new
sources of competition emerge, and competitive pressures mount at all levels of the
organization. Companies which previously focused on protected domestic markets are
entering into markets in other countries, thus creating new sources of competition. Not
only is competition intensifying for all firms regardless of their degree of global market
involvement, but the basis for competition is changing. Competition continues to be
market-based and ultimately relies on delivering superior value to consumers. However,
success in global markets depends on knowledge accumulation and deployment.
Today, more and more marketing companies specialize in translating products from one
country to another. (“Global Marketing”, n.d.) And in order for a company to reach a
global status it needs to undergo the stages of evolution to global marketing:

DOMESTIC MARKETING
A marketing restricted to the political boundaries of a country is called "Domestic
Marketing". A company marketing only within its national boundaries only has to
consider domestic competition. Even if that competition includes companies from
foreign markets, it still only has to focus on the competition that exists in its home
market. Products and services are developed for customers in the home market without
thought of how the product or service could be used in other markets. All marketing
decisions are made at the company headquarters. (“Evolution to Global Marketing” n.d.)

Domestic marketers tend to be ethnocentric and pay little attention to changes

taking place in the global marketplace, such as changing lifestyles and market
segments, emerging competition, and better products that have yet to arrive in their
domestic market. Ethnocentrism is defined as a predisposition of a firm to be
predominantly concerned with its viability worldwide and legitimacy only in its home
country that is, where all strategic actions of a company are tailored to domestic
responses under similar situations. As a result, they may be vulnerable to the sudden
changes forced on them by foreign competition. (Helsen, 2010)

EXPORT MARKETING
Export marketing is the practice by which a company sells products or services to
a foreign country. Products are produced or distributed from the company’s home
country to buyers in international locations. (Fleming, 2018)
 Usually, export marketing begins with unsolicited orders from foreign customers.
When a company receives an order from abroad, initially the company may fill it
reluctantly, but then the company gradually learns the benefit of marketing overseas. In
the early stage of export marketing involvement, the internationalization process is a
consequence of incremental adjustments to the changing conditions of the company
and its environment, rather than a result of its deliberate strategy. (Helsen, 2010)
Compared to other forms of market entry modes, exporting offers considerably more
flexibility due to its small resource commitment and limited risks.7 If an export market
development in a particular region does not turn out to be quite what was expected,
exporting companies can relatively easily retreat from the market.(Schlegelmilch, 2016)

Export marketers still tend to take an ethnocentric approach to foreign markets

as being an extension of their domestic market and export products developed primarily
for home country customers with limited adaptation to foreign customers’ needs.
(Helsen, 2010)

INTERNATIONAL MARKETING
Once export marketing becomes an integral part of the company’s marketing
activity, it will begin to seek new directions for growth and expansion. We call this stage
international marketing. A unique feature of international marketing is its polycentric
orientation with emphasis on product and promotional adaptation in foreign markets,
whenever necessary. Polycentric orientation refers to a predisposition of a firm to the
existence of significant local cultural differences across markets, necessitating the
operation in each country being viewed independently, thus all strategic decisions are
thus tailored to suit the cultures of the concerned country. (Helsen, 2010)

In international marketing, companies buy firms in foreign countries to take

advantage of relationships, storefronts, factories, and personnel already in place. These
offices still report to headquarters in the home market but most of the marketing mix
decisions are made in the individual countries since that staff is the most knowledgeable
about the target markets. (“Evolution to Global Marketing” n.d.)

MULTINATIONAL MARKETING
At this stage, the company markets its products in many countries around the
world. We call this stage multinational marketing. Multinational marketing uses the
regiocentric approach. This approach suggests that product planning may be
standardized within a region (United Kingdom, North America, etc.). Products may be
manufactured regionally as well. Similarly, advertising, promotion, and distribution costs
may also be shared by subsidiaries in the region. In order for the company to develop
its regional image in the marketplace, it may develop and acquire new regional brands
to beef up its regional operations.

GLOBAL MARKETING
 The last stage of the evolution is Global Marketing. There are only few company
that can actually achieve this stage. It is a marketing approach in which companies are
actually standardizing all their marketing mix across the national, regional, and global
markets. There are three main activities in this stages which are standardization efforts,
coordination across markets, and global integration. (Saputra, I. E. C., n.d.)

1. Standardization efforts—standardizing marketing programs across different

countries particularly with respect to product offering, promotional mix, price, and
channel structure. Such efforts increase opportunities for the transfer of products,
brands, and other ideas across subsidiaries and help address the emergence of
global customers

2. Coordination across markets—reducing cost inefficiencies and duplication of

efforts among their national and regional subsidiaries

3. Global Integration—participating in many major world markets to gain competitive

leverage and effective integration of the firm’s competitive campaigns across
these markets by being able to subsidize operations in some markets with
resources generated in others and responding to competitive attacks in one
market by counterattacking in others. (Helsen, 2010)

When a company becomes a global marketer, it views the world as one market
and creates products that will only require weeks to fit into any regional marketplace.
Marketing decisions are made by consulting with marketers in all the countries that will
be affected. The goal is to sell the same thing the same way everywhere. (“Evolution to
Global Marketing” n.d.)

ELEMENTS OF GLOBAL MARKETING

Just like every other form of marketing; product, price, placement and promotion are the
elements of global marketing. All global marketing strategies are hinged on these four
factors.

PRODUCTS
Your product or service should consider the primary elements of all the markets.
However, the language in which the product is named can be changed; whereas the
content can remain the same. (Profitable Venture, 2019)

The product itself needs to have an influence on customer perception and

purchase intentions. List all tangible features plus intangibles, such as personality, look
and feel, and packaging — these are the aspects (both rational features and emotional
impressions) of your product that influence customer perception. (Hiam, 2014)
Marketing for Dummies

PRICING
When marketing globally, the price of your product or service is never constant. It
should be decided after reviewing the market and the currency of the country. The
variables which affect prices are location where the product is being produced, cost of
ingredients, transportation charges, labor charges and so on. (Profitable Venture, 2019)
Additionally, the product’s position in relation to the competition influences the ultimate
profit margin. Whether this product is considered the high-end, expensive choice, the
economical, low-cost choice, or something in-between helps determine the price point.

PLACEMENT
Placement is how the product is distributed and how it reaches the targeted
market. For instance, in developing countries where there is lack of super stores; your
products can be placed or sold at ordinary shops. Placement decisions must also
consider the product’s position in the market place. For example, a high-end product
would not want to be distributed via a “dollar store” in the United States. Conversely, a
product promoted as the low-cost option in France would find limited success in a pricey
boutique. After the product is developed and distributed, it should be promoted
precisely. (Profitable Venture, 2019)

PROMOTION
After product research, development and creation, promotion (specifically advertising) is
generally the largest line item in a global company’s marketing budget. At this stage of a
company’s development, integrated marketing is the goal. The global corporation seeks
to send out the same message worldwide in a relevant and cost effective way.
(Profitable Venture, 2019)

CONCLUSIONS
Global marketing is simply marketing done on an international level, which
involves understanding the similarities and differences to take advantage of the
opportunities to attain the goal of doing business globally. Before a company goes
global, the company needs to undergo several stages in the evolution to global
marketing. Namely: Domestic marketing, Export marketing, International marketing,
Multinational marketing, and Global marketing.
REFERENCES
BOOKS
Helsen, Kristiann, Kotabe, Masaaki. (2010) “Global Marketing Management” 5th Edition.
Wiley and Sons, Inc.

Hiam, Alexander (2014) “Marketing for Dummies” 4th Edition. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Hoboken, New Jersey.

Lancaster, Geoff & Massinger, Lester (2011) “Essentials of Marketing Management”

Routledge. Abingdon, Oxon.

Schlegelmilch, Bodo B. (2016) “Global Marketing Strategy: An Executive Digest.”

Springer International Publishing Switzerland. 2016.

ONLINE SOURCES
Cleverism. (September 2016) “Global Marketing: Strategies, Definition, Issues,
Examples.” Retrieved from: https://www.cleverism.com/global-marketing-
strategies/

Fleming, Chris (May 29, 2018) “What is Export Marketing?” Retrieved from:
http://blog.interlogusa.com/what-is-export-marketing/ (Fleming

Market Info. “Marketing: Global Marketing.” Retrieved from:

http://marketininfo.blogspot.com/2016/06/global-marketing.html

Profitable Venture. “Introduction to Global Marketing Strategies and Branding” Retrieved

from: https://www.profitableventure.com/introduction-global-marketing-strategies-
branding/

Saputra, Eric C. “International Marketing: Evolution to Global and International

Marketing.” Retrieved from: https://www.scribd.com/doc/86216521/
INTERNATIONAL-MARKETING-EVOLUTION-TO-GLOBAL-AND-
INTERNATIONAL-MARKETING

Scribd. “Evolution to Global Marketing.” Retrieved from:

https://www.scribd.com/document/28977435/Evolution-to-Global-Marketing