International market: moving your brand image up market

                         International market: moving your brand image up market.

     International marketing occurs when a business directs its products and services toward consumers in more than one country. While the overall concept of marketing is the same worldwide, the environment within which the marketing plan is implemented can be drastically different. Common marketing concerns—such as input costs, price, advertising, and distribution—are likely to differ dramatically in the countries in which a firm elects to market. The key to successful international marketing is the ability to adapt, manage, and coordinate a marketing plan in an unfamiliar and often unstable foreign environment.

     Businesses choose to explore foreign markets for a host of sound reasons. Commonly, firms initially explore foreign markets in response to unsolicited orders from consumers in those markets. In the absence of these orders, companies often begin to export to: establish a business that will absorb overhead costs at home; seek new markets when the domestic market is saturated; and to make quick profits. Marketing abroad can also spread corporate risk and minimize the impact of undesirable domestic situations, such as  recessions.

     While companies choosing to market internationally do not share an overall profile, they seem to have two specific characteristics in common. First, the products that they market abroad, usually patented, have high earnings potential in foreign markets; in other words, the international sale of these products should eventually generate a substantial percentage of the products' total revenue. Also, these products usually have a price or cost advantage over similar products or have some other attribute making them novel and more desirable to end users abroad. Second, the management of companies marketing internationally must be ready to make a commitment to these markets. They must be willing to educate themselves thoroughly on the particular countries they choose to enter and must understand the potential benefits and risks of a decision to market abroad.

     There are four general ways to develop markets on foreign soil. They are: exporting products and services from the country of origin; entering into joint venture arrangements with one or more foreign companies; licensing patent rights, trademark rights, etc. to companies abroad; and establishing manufacturing plants in foreign countries. A company can commit itself to one or more of the above arrangements at any time during its efforts to develop foreign markets. Each method has distinct advantages and disadvantages and, thus, no single method is best in all instances.

     Companies taking their first steps internationally often begin by exporting products manufactured domestically. Since the risks of financial losses can be minimized, exporting is the easiest and most frequently used method of entering international markets. Achieving export sales can be accomplished in numerous ways.

     International licensing occurs when a country grants the right to manufacture and distribute a product or service under the licenser's trade name in a specified country or market. Common examples are granting foreign firms rights to technology, trademarks, and patents. Although large companies often grant licenses, this practice is most frequently used by small and medium-sized companies. Two particular types of licensing are franchising and management contracts.

     A third way to enter a foreign market is through a joint venture arrangement, whereby a company trying to enter a foreign market forms a partnership with one or more companies already established in the host country. Often, the local firm provides expertise on the intended market, while the multinational firm is better able to accomplish general management and marketing tasks. Use of this method of international investing has accelerated dramatically in the past 20 years.

 Moving brand image up market.

 The  Samsung Group is a South Korean multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous international affiliated businesses, most of them united under the Samsung brand. Samsung Group produces around a fifth of South Korea's total exports^[11] and its revenues are larger than many countries' GDP. And I want to tell about how this company moved its brand on the new gaming market.

    This March Samsung group sponsored the first European championships at Hanover's CeBIT computer industry exhibition. The games at the Samsung Euro Championships were all displayed on the company's 19-inch liquid crystal display flat panel screens, the mobile phone event of the games was played on Samsung's D500 handsets and the company created a special game for the event called Babe Rally. "The games are a platform for us to communicate with the youth sector and early adopters," says Hadrian Baumann, Samsung's general manager for European marketing. Over the past five or six years, Samsung has fought to move its brand image more upmarket to compete with premium names, such as Sony. As a result, much of its marketing strategy has focused on what it calls the "high-life seeker" segment of the market - people who adopt technology early and are willing to pay a high price for it. . Interbrand, the brand consultancy, recently ranked the company as the world's 21st most valuable brand, up from 42nd in 2001. But pressure has mounted on Samsung to keep up its efforts. The company recently slipped back into third place behind Motorola in mobile handset sales. At the same time, Samsung is suffering from falling prices for its LCD screens, due to a glut in the market. Stimulating demand for the screens among gaming fans could be one way to help ramp upsales. Although Samsung scores well in overall brand surveys and is strong in Asia, studies indicate that in Europe it struggles to compete with strong local manufacturers, such as Nokia and Philips. Over the past three years, the company's internal research has shown a 25 per cent increase in positive attitudes towards Samsung in the 18 to 29-year-old age group. Positive attitudes among older consumers, however, have grown more slowly. In order to enhance its hip, youth image, Samsung has also signed a number of partnerships, including one with Quiksilver, the sportswear   label,   and   Xbox, so Microsoft's games console for which it makes DVD drives. Being associated with brands such as these, says Mr Baumann, helps to give Samsung credibility in the youth market: "It is clear that young people have a huge impact over their parents and older people when it comes to choosing technology. We are using younger people as spokespeople for our products."