Define international marketing. How it is different from domestic marketing? International marketing is the performance of business activities designed to plan, promote and direct the flow of a company’s goods and services to consumers or users in more than one nation for a profit. Compared with domestic marketing, International marketing activities take place in more than one country. This apparently minor difference, “in more than one country”,accounts for the complexity and diversity found in international marketing operations. So the difference between domestic and international marketing is the environment within which marketing plans must be implemented. The uniqueness of foreign marketing comes from the range of unfamiliar problems and the varity of stragies necessary to cope with difference levels of uncertainty encountered in foreign markets.Explain charateristics of economic union ,such as European union.No trade barriers among member nations,Member counties establish common tariff and trade barriers against nonmember countries.No restinction on the movement of factors of production ,labor ,capital ,or technology across borders.Harmonizes monetary policies.Expected economic of European Union growth from eliminating transaction costs and economics of scale will be attained as production becomes conantiated ,And the products can be freely sold across to millions of new consumers.What are the incentives of rural\urban migration? Are there any pressure for the cities with more and more population?Migration from rural to urban ares, which can consist of domestic on international moves, is largely a result of a desire for greater access to sources of education, health care, and improved job opportunities. With more and more population,the city will face the excessive pressure on sanitation systems, water supplies, social services and hard traffic.Compare domestication with confiscation.Confiscation is the most severe political risk,the host country can immediately transfer a certain amount of wealth and resources from foreign companies without payment. Domestication means that the host country force foreign investors to share more of the ownership, management and profits with relations.It occurs when host countries gradually cause the transfer of foreigh investments to national control and ownership through a series of government decrees that mandate local ownership and greater national involvement in a company’s management.It is less severe. Please try to compare high and low context cultures with example(s).In high context cultures,what is not being said can carry more meaning than what is said,Besides what is said ,it is really important for international markets to focus on the following aspects:how,when,where,who. In low context cultures,what is meant is what is said. For example,if you cooked a meal,and you ask a German,how was it?He said :”Yes,I like it.” That means he really liked it.Because German,being very low-context oriented,just deliver the information without any social padding. But once you had this answer from a person from China,you have to think,”Does he really like my meal ? Or just don’t want me to lose face.” As Chinese is high-context oriented,he would pad the response with something.What are the three major components of a product?The three major components of a product are core component,packing componet and support services compont.The core component consist of the physical product---the platform that contains the essential technology---and all its design and functional festures.The packing component includes style features,packaging,labeling,trademarks,brand name,quality,price,and all other aspects of a product’s package.The support services component includes repair and,maintance,instructions,installation,warranties,deliveries,and the availability of spare parts.Please state your understanding of promotional mix strategy.Promotional mix strategy consists of pull strategy and push strategy. Pull strategy is a strategy which depends on mass communication tools (advertising of consumer-oriented goods) to reach target audiences with long distribution,including sales promotion,public relations and advertising. Push strategy focus on personal selling,considered essential in interational marketing of industrial goods,which have shorter channels of disstribution and smaller target populations.Descibe the disadvantages of litigation for international marketersLitigation will create a poor image and damage public relations between the international markets. International marketers may be treated unfair in a foreign court. It is difficult for international marketers in collecting a judgement that may otherwise have been collectect in a mutual agreed settlement through arbitration. The relatively high cost,frusting delays,and extended aggravation that these cases produce are more oppressive by far than matter of comparable size. Litigation is public,unlike arbitration and conciliation proceedings,which are confidential,will make internation marketers loss the confidence.Explain the four angencies who are responsible for conducting marketing research.Answer: the four angencies who are responsible for conducting marketing research are outside research, decentralized research, centralized research and coordinate research. It’s helpful to use outside research when the head office are dealing with the following problems: large-scale international marketing research. Highly specialized research skills and unfamiliar with local environment. The head office of decentralized research may be inability to anticipate the influence of market differences on market research, but there are communication problem. In centralized research, there are must control by headquarters. Coordinated research means to use an intermediary such as an outside research angency to bring headquarters and country operations together.How might starbucks improve profitability in Japan?Firstly, since starbucks in Japan has a huge competition factor,they should start to reconsider their pricing strategy.A lot of people tend to reconsider their pricing strategy. A lot of people tend to think starbucks overprices their coffee so choose a competitor instead, After cutting the ribbon on its first Japan store in 1996,the company bagan opening stores at a furious pace. Secondly ,new shops attracted large crowds, but the effect wore off as the market became starbucks and Japan was a success when they first opened new stores. They need to research their customers and market to find out the sudden change. By being more answer of their customers and their likes and dislikes,they will be able to find out what adjustments are needed to become more successful. Thirdly,introducing a dynamic decision-making style and corporate governance policies.Identify the controllable and uncontrollable elements that Starbucks has encountered in entering global markets.The controllable elements:Price: Italian coffee is cheaper than U.S., Americans pay about $1.5 for an espresso, in northern Italy, the price is 67 cents, in the south, just 55 cents. Product: In the late 1990s, Schultz though that offering $8 sandwiches ,desserts and CDs in his stores and selling packaged coffee in supermarkets would significantly boast sales. Promotion: Starbucks is so smart that it promotes itself by relying on mystique and word-of-mouth. Therefore, it can save much money on advertising. As the case mentions, Starbucks spends only 1 percent of revenues on advertising. Firm characteristics: (cash) Starbucks is nearly free of debt, it fuels expansion with internal cash flow. (Place) The firm’s 12000 locations in the United States are mostly in big cities, affluent suburb and shopping malls.The uncontrollable elements:As for the arcane regulations and genenus labor benefits in France. Only by doing this can Starbucks gain the popularity and enhance its sales in France. The cultural forces: French seen to be ready for sweeter taste. And in Italy, the coffee bars provides coffee as well as food. It’s a kind of food culture.The competitive forces: In Japan, Starbucks has successfully developed a broader menu for its stores, but McDonald’s also is attacking the Japanese market with the induction of its McCafe coffee shops. Level of technology: Starbucks continued to try other fundamental store changes. It announced expansion of a high-speed wireless Internet service to about 1200 Starbucks locations in North American and European.Critique Starbucks’ overall corporate strategyFirstly, there are the cultural conflict and the low profit. For example, in culture conflict, in china, the small coffee model of Starbucks in the Chinese market has not fared well, in island model as the representative of the coffee model is formed encirclement and suppression of Starbucks ,and has become the mainstream of the coffee chain. More than 1 million chain Starbucks worldwide, but in the huge coffee market, Starbucks share a little. In the Chinese market, for example, according to Eurom onitor-International, Starbucks as an industry leader in china’s market share reached 70% in 2009. Secondly, the large-scale expansion and the enterpriseservice are deviating .Starbucks has once an old tradition, the store will be closed weekly or monthly to train the staff two hours. But now only a few stores , there are many stores don't know there is the tradition. More deadly is Starbucks product quality has dropped because of the expansion. In china, for example, Starbucks china stores’ milk suppliers have changed from nestle for the mengniu.What are the major sources of risk facing the company?discuss potential solutions.1,Global exoansion.global expansion poses huge risks for starbucks,for one thing ,it makes less money on each overseas store because most of them are operated with local partners.While that makes it easier to start up on foreign turf,it reduces the company’s share of profits to only 20 percent to 50 percent.Potential solutions:Firstly,do scientific and reasonable location of the expansion’s purpose.Secondly,carefully select the strategies and methods of expansion of business.Thirdly clear direction of development issues after the expansion of business.2.The challenge of the future. Moreover,starbucks must cope with some predictable challenges of becoming a mature company in the united states, Not only are the activies among them turned off by the power and image of the well-known brand,but many others say that Starbucks’latte-sipping sophisticates and piped-in Kenny G music are a real turnoff.They don’t fell worried in a place tha t sells designer coffee at $3 a cup. Potential solutions;Do more effortsti enhance brand name recognition.3.Employees.starbucks is becoming a far less special place for its employees.For a company modeled aroud enthusiastic service,that could have direct consequences for both image and sales.Its perks are no longer enough to keep all the worker’s happy.Starbucks’ pay doesn’t come close to matching the workload it requires complain some staff. Potential solutions:Firstly,reform and improve allowance mechanism.Secondly,do a good job in training,keeping professionals4.Cultural differences.As starbucks spreads out,Schultz Will have to be increasingly sensitive to those cultural challenge. Now , starbucks is waking up the grande challenges faced by any corporation bent on becoming a global powerhouse. Potential solutions: firstly, cultural integration.secondly, carry out cross cultural traing.Thirdly,shape the shared vision and build a learning organization.。
