Globalization and What It Means for International Marketing - Case Study Example

Topic: “Globalization today: what it is and what it means for international marketing” ISSUE: The term globalization has many connotations in accordance to different perspectives. In general it is about the process of integration that results from the exchange of different views, thoughts, ideas, products, services and other several aspects, at international level (Hill, & Jain, 2007). The globalization is about the worldwide movement and progress leading towards social, economic, financial, communication and trade integration (McManus, White, & Botten, 2008). It is about the capacity and inclination of the different business and investments to go beyond the national and domestic markets into other markets of the world and increase the interconnectedness of several other global markets (Peng, 2009). BACKGROUND: Different meaning of the word: The term globalization broadly entails the opportunity of local and domestic point of views towards an independent and interconnected world with the movement of goods, services and capital all over the world. However, globalization does not include the movement of labor (Rugman, & Collinson, 2009). Implications of globalization in international marketing: The concept lies behind the globalization in international marketing is based on the fact that it is defined as the set standards of marketing elements that are used in the hoe country as well in other foreign host countries (Lages, Jap and Griffith, 2008). The rise in the world trade among different countries has encouraged the interest of all the relevant aspects towards the standardization of marketing. Globalization – A broader aspect: Another definition of the term globalization defines with the reduction and elimination of the hindrances and hurdles exist between the national borders of the countries to assist the flow of capital, labor, goods and services (Verbeke, 2013). In the present the impact and implications of globalization have seen in almost all sectors including industrial, financial, political, legal, ethical, technological and in terms of competition (Wit, and Ron, 2010). In international marketing the advent of globalization has reduces the cost of operation to several businesses. Now organizations are tend to access cheap and affordable resources and means of production along with labor in many developing countries of the world. This facilitation is not just in terms of price reduction, but it has provides the international players of the market with an opportunity to reach broad markets (Wheelen, & Hunger, 2011). Technological Advancements and Increasing Communication: The latest advancements in technology and communication has spared their advantages all over the world which has facilitated several campaigns of international marketing that are coordinated from a domestic base. With that, globalization has also increased the competition and has raised the significance of effective international marketing. For some organizations it is very difficult to maintain their position as the sole player in their domestic market and hence this led to emergence and entrance of new players and competitors from different markets at the platform of international market. All in all, the technological advancements, along with innovation is a significant driving element behind the globalization as well as an integral aspect of global business strategies of the organization (Lawlor, 2007) At present majority of the business activities are global in terms of their scope and nature. In due course the role of technology, capital investment, research, production, marketing distribution all these factors have global dimensions. Globalization has facilitated many regional economic agreements and many multilateral trade agreements have escalated the speed of global integration. A good example of it is seen in the form of GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) which is approved by around 120 countries and has facilitated the WTO (World Trade Organization) to protect and promote free trade. Globalization in the Context of Market and Industrialization: In international marketing the role of globalization is comprehensively seen in the defining the needs and wants of the market. Now the marketer’s works as a change agent, they are there to create the need of consumers deliberately. With the passage of time it is revealed that all over the world the needs and wants of the consumers are converging with the passage of time and this is creating an opportunity for global marketing. The implications of globalization in international marketing in the industrial context have witnessed the evolution of production markets all over the world along with the broader access to different foreign products especially the movement of goods and materials across national boundaries. However, despite of increase in economic rates with the advent of globalization it has also exposes the companies as well as the economies with intense competitive pressure (Kaplinsky, 1998) Economic and Financial Aspects: When it comes to economic and financial aspects, the world has seen the emergence of financial markets all over it along with an improved access for borrower to external financing. In terms of economy the apprehension of the existence of global common market have taken place, which is based on the fact that economic players have provided with the freedom of substituting goods and services. In due course the developing countries are attaining higher rates of growth every year and in this way the less developed countries have been provided with several opportunities for their business sector so that they can expand their business operations all over the world. Further globalization also facilitated the financial integration that links a country with international capital markets (Prasad, Rogoff, Wei and Kose, 2003) KEY CONSIDERATION: Globalization and Business Opportunities: The entire process of globalization have incorporated many opportunities for organizations, in order to make the large scale plants efficient, many industries are unable to rely on single markets to attain the economies of scale, what is important is to tap the new markets. Further, in international marketing, globalization provides a platform to reach several cost drivers that include many global sourcing advantages. This is achieved by making the cost savings through contracting with the low wage supplier countries. Globalization has developed a major strength of a company by assisting it in developing its ability to inspect and examine the whole world, new channels, new approaches, and new supply chains that enable the companies to attain a competitive advantage and deal with the world markets more effectively and efficiently. In this way globalization turns out to be a strategic effort that treats the world as a single plat form for all sorts of businesses (Tallman & Fladmoe-Lindquist, 2002). Taking the domain of the subject conceptually, Cavusgil, Yeniyurt and Townsend (2004) postulated that there are primarily six factors that contribute in the degree of globalization for an organization. This includes the corporate strategy, the structure of the organization, its marketing strategy, its culture, the leadership and people of the organization and the overall managerial processes. (Cavusgil, Yeniyurt and Townsend, 2004) According to them, the very initial geocentric corporate strategy entails that in any organization the senior management including the chief executive officer maintain and up hold the vision of the organization, this vision integrates the global vision, global leveraging, global commitment, global sourcing, the resource allocation of the organization at global level, its participation in the market, its competitive moves, the global partnerships and the location of different value added activities into its implementation at the right time, right place and for right purpose. And there have been a comprehensive literature that gives an ample support to the significance of the dimension (Ghoshal, 1987; Hamel & Prahalad, 1985; Yip, 1992). In addition to that the role of globalization is very significant in developing international marketing strategy. This helps the organization in determining its global performance especially when it is a multinational organization (Cavusgil & Zou, 1994; Zou & Cavusgil, 2002). The third dimension is about the global structure of the organization, this reflects the extent of an organization to relate and merge its global strategy with the local preferences s (Johansson & Yip, 1994; Roth et al., 1991). The fourth dimension, which is about the visionary leadership and people of the organization, is related to human capital which is regarded as the most critical asset of an organization. Hence for any efforts for the facilitation of corporate globalization, there a bunch of mangers who have a very comprehensive understanding of the world and they are ones who are initially prepared to take up the challenges and to deal with the complexities coming on the way of their organizations. This requires the adaptability of uncertainty, learning the approach to face the global markets (Conn & Yip, 1997; Kedia & Mukherji, 1999; Paul, 2000). The fifth dimension is about the culture of the organization that integrates the values, behaviors, norms, policies, procedures and systems via which the organization is able to adapt and incorporate the convolutions at the global arena. Further a comprehensive corporate culture of an organization play an essential role in the formulation and implementation of the corporate strategy of the organization at global level (Yip, Johansson, & Roos, 1997). According to the postulate, the last dimension is related with the managerial processes and routine engagements of the multinational organizations. In order to meet the global challenges and to sustain the global presence with substantial success it is very important for organizations to design new tools and mechanisms that will incorporates all the functions of the organization with derailing back over its centralized control. This calls for the need of integrating the contemporary communication and information technology systems that have a potential and capability to facilitate the organizations with the exchange of idea, practices as well as the data (Boudreau et al., 1998). All in all globalization in international marketing is about standardization of core and essential business processes across the globe at the same time facilitating adequate flexibility for all sort of local adaptation at manufacturing and production level. It further involves the integration of complicated tools to aid the decision making at the organization and let them incorporate the recent information about the existing and emerging markets, current and potential customers, their competitors, products, services, and so on. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS: Below presented are some additional readings for the readers of this publication that has been especially chosen keeping in mind the relevant area of interest and domain of Chief Executive Officers of the organizations. 1. Way of a Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman (Book): The book is written by Dan Millman, a former athlete. This book is based on the true story of the authors’ life that talks about the ups and down in his life and the way he has faced it. The book tells us that whatever the situation is you have got to believe in yourself. You have to listen to your heart. The entire takes the reader to the journey of light and darkness, magic and romance, mind, body and the spirit. The book provides the reader with piercing truths as well as with humorous wisdom along with the depiction of quest for happiness. 2. The Best Performing CEO’s in the world (Article): The stated article is about the performance of leading CEO in the world, it is published on the website of Harvard Business Review. The article has presented the way they judge the performance of the CEO, the degree of their goodness. What are the assisting factors that help the CEP to perform well, their education level, their standards and others (HBR, 2010). 3. The one attribute all servant leaders have in common (Article): This article is written by Dan Veitkus and published on the ceo.com website. The article talks about leadership and especially servant leadership. The article basically based on attitude of gratitude and the way the existence of this attitude in the leadership facilitates others at any place (Veitkus, 2014). 4. Ted.com The website of Ted is of great benefit for the CEOs in a way that the website offers the ideas that are worth spreading. The website works as a global community that welcome people from all over the world belonging from different culture and disciplines. It highlights the power of ideas, changing lives, attitudes and ultimately changing world. 5. Forbes.com Forbes is the well-known virtual platform that has some really good columnists and contributors in the business sector. The website offers hard news and reviews along with the rich editorial content. 6. Ceo.com Ceo.com is a website that offers an original and aggregated content that is especially and specifically designed and presented for the chief executive officers of the world. The websites present the trend in the business sector what is in and what is out, what is hot and what is not along with the tips and advices for the CEOs. References Boudreau, M. -C., Loch, K. D., Robey, D., & Straud, D. (1998). 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