Analysis of International Marketing by Vern Terpstra and WSJ Article by Dow Jones - Book Report/Review Example

Book and Article Report Table of Contents Part 1: Summary of Chapter 6 1 Part 2: Summary of WSJ Article 2 Part 3: Application of Concepts to Article 3 Works Cited 4 Book and Article Report Part 1: Summary of Chapter 6 The main topic of Chapter 6 of text book International Marketing written by Vern Terpstra, James Foley and Ravi Sarathy is “Global Marketing Research and Data sources”. The main objective of the chapter is to explain the different types of information that are necessary for global marketing research along with the details of marketing environment. It also gives emphasis on the way research details can be used for understanding the different marketing environments. The chapter highlights the fact that international research can affect the marketing mix of a product. The techniques used for analysing the demand pattern of the customers are also explained (Terpstra, Foley and Sarathy 145-168). The chapter starts with explaining the information needed for the accomplishing global marketing research. A firm requires data for expanding beyond its present territory. For this reason they have to acquire more information regarding the target market. The information pertains to demand and supply of the products, demographic features of the market and also the macro-environmental condition, which can influence the business. Understanding a particular market is very difficult if data is not available; however if right information are received regarding the definite features of the market then it is easy for the companies to penetrate a new market. International business environment has vast difference from domestic market (Paul 129). Marketing research is required for the examining the political, economic, social, technological and market related dimensions of the new area. The political dimensions take into account the ideology and structure of politics. The economic dimensions includes economic –performance indicators such as per capita income, Gross Domestic Product (GDP), growth rates, balance of trade, business cycle, balance of payment, labor cost, availability of capital, capacity utilization, inflation rates, employment levels and population demographics. Marketing dimension includes laws concerning consumer protection and physical infrastructure. The use of technology by the market is also very important to understand as the availability is examined. Cultural difference may affect a particular market and even influence its growth (Czinkota and Ronkainen 148; Terpstra, Foley and Sarathy 145-168). In executing multinational research regarding the above mentioned dimensions of numerous markets, a number of errors are encountered. Definition error is caused in manner in which problems are defined in particular country. Frame error occurs when sampling are available from a number of sources. Selection error occurs when actual sample are selected from a frame. Instrument error arises from questionnaire analysis. Apart from primary data, secondary data are also used for understanding a foreign market. It can be quantitative and qualitative in nature. Through the details the competitive landscape of the market can be evaluated. The primary research can be conducted and the reply from the interviewers should be analyzed by using regression or cluster analysis. The market segmentation is done as per the available information regarding the age, sex, demand and supply of the products. However, secondary data is also important, which is obtained from newsletters, newspapers, journals and magazines. Thus, it can be concluded both primary and secondary data can be used in order to understand demand pattern and other demographics of a particular foreign market (Terpstra, Foley and Sarathy 145-168; Onkvisit and Shaw 135). Part 2: Summary of WSJ Article On Thursday, October 2, 2014 there was an article entitled Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg to Meet Modi in India. The article highlighted interesting news regarding international social networking business. Mark Zuckerberg, the renowned owner of Facebook, will be visiting India on tentative date October 9, 2014 to meet the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. Facebook has become viral in India with the increase in rate of usage of internet. However, the rate of internet usage in India is 15% but it is expected to rise in the coming few years. With this hope, it is published by McKinsey Company and Company that by 2018, 300 million more internet users will be added to their circle. Zuckeberg explained that about the non-internet users dwell from the rural areas of India and among them 43% are illiterate and 54% are female (“Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg to Meet Modi in India”). This portion of the population does not have any knowledge regarding the use of internet and social networking sites. In order to enlighten this part of India with internet facility and make an opportunity to experience the social networking activities, the owner will meet the Prime Minister. They will have conversation regarding the improvement of the present status in the rural area of India. He wants to see that increased number of people from the rural have Facebook accounts and share their experience with the company (“Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg to Meet Modi in India”). Presently, about 200 million are internet users, when there are 1.2 billion people in India; moreover among these internet users half of them have Facebook accounts (“Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg to Meet Modi in India”). Narendra Modi is observed to be one of the social media savvy politicians, w ho have extensively used Twitter and Facebook during campaigning of elections. Thus, Zuckerberg felt the need of meeting this politician to encourage him to develop stronger circle through Facebook accounts, In order to do so internet usage is mandatory. Thus, Zuckerberg will discuss regarding the agenda of internet connection in rural of India. Through Facebook even the politician can spread his ideas and decisions to greater part of India during elections. According to McKinsey Company, number users of internet have increased in India by 22% as compared to other countries (9% in China and 7% in United States) (“Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg to Meet Modi in India”). It is observed that half of the internet users who have Facebook accounts use mobile phones to get online. However, like Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia and Egypt, India does not have adequate infrastructure to support people to get online. Half of the population has no access to electricity and does not earn enough money to afford computer or internet connection. Moreover the country is at the early sage to deploy 3G networks. The most interesting news is that India has huge young population (one in three people is about 15 years old), which can be a potential user of Facebook. Thus to target this population, Zuckerberg is eager to met Narendra Modi and sort out ways to improve the access of internet among the population and bring them under the circle of Facebook (“Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg to Meet Modi in India”). Part 3: Application of Concepts to Article While reading the article in Wall Street Journal, I could connect chapter 6 of my textbook to the article. I can explain international business through the social networking site Facebook. Before penetrating India, Facebook has carried out extensive research pertaining to the fact whether the population is interested in social networking. Only after determining its success rate Facebook have penetrated the Indian. However, there is huge section in the population of India who is not aware of the usage of internet connection and Facebook. Thus, it is important for the owner of Facebook to take strategic decision in order to target this population and increase the number of accounts. Information regarding rural India is important and valuable for the company to plan for new strategies. According to Zuckerberg, it is important to collect information from the rural areas regarding their difficulties and give them solutions to make their lives easier than usual. Primary research is helpful in this case as the demand of rural have changed over the years with the increase of their difficulties in living their lives. According to Natural News, Facebook has done psychological test on 7, 00,000 users to identify whether the users can be easily manipulated to express and change their emotions. This is the way of understanding the taste and preferences of the users, which will help the website to modify and add certain features that are demanded. This forms a significant part of primary research, which is executed to get information and feedback from the users. However, the results of the survey revealed mixed reaction; according to some individuals the experiment was meaningless whereas few of them stated that they understood the vulnerability of using unknown sites and how the hackers get easy access of their personal details. Hence, they became aware of the ill-effects of sharing personal information over the internet. Works Cited Czinkota, Michael and Ilkka, Ronkainen. International Marketing. Connecticut: Cengage Learning. 2010. Print. “Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg to Meet Modi in India.” The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company Inc, 2014. Web. 5 Oct. 2014 Onkvisit, Sak and John, Shaw. International Marketing: Strategy and Theory. Oxon: Routledge. 2004. Print. Paul, Justin. International Marketing: Text and Cases. London: Tata McGraw-Hill. 2008. Print. Terpstra, Vern, James Foley and Ravi Sarathy. International Marketing. Suite: Naper Publishing Group LLC. 2010. 2012. Print.   Read More