When designing a marketing plan for the company that intends to enter the global market, it is necessary not only to address the environmental variables that sometimes change rapidly and unexpectedly but also to provide suitable solutions. In this paper, environmental factors and their importance for the trade on the global market will be discussed.
Critical Environmental Factors
Although all environmental factors need to be considered in the plan, I believe that economic and political factors play the major role in international trade and heavily influence its efficiency. Economic policies of the countries, as well as the direction of development of their market, are the factors that need to be considered because the profitability of the product is connected to them directly (Doole & Lowe, 2012). As some of the markets are only rising (e.g. Russia, Brazil), their demand for various products is significant; thus, such markets can provide profitable opportunities for the company (Doole & Lowe, 2012).
It seems reasonable to discuss political factors as they can either bring risks to the business or provide unique opportunities. However, as the governments tend to change policies and laws, any possible changes need to be regarded to understand if the product will bring profits from this market. Investment restrictions can have an adverse impact on the business and the advertisement of the product. Unstable governments are a threat to business as they can cause severe losses or bankruptcy.
Opposing Argument
An opposing argument would be to evaluate the cultural differences of the market to understand how they are able to influence the trade. Although cultural and ethical differences are always considered during the development of the marketing plan, their influence is often not as crucial as the influence of economic and political factors. If the product that the company plans to manufacture and trade is not based on cultural or religious differences (e.g. a cell phone, a camera, a computer), successful sale of it will not be hindered by cultural factors (Keegan & Green, 2012). Nevertheless, it is not advisable to ignore cultural differences completely.
Solutions
To develop a sense of ownership of the plan, it would be reasonable to ask Michelle and Elena to provide more information about their company and the product so that they perceive themselves as the owners of the plan as well. Both Elena’s suggestions and Michelle’s concerns need to be expressed in the plan clearly and determine the marketing strategy that will be chosen. None of the ideas expressed or handed by Michelle and Elena should be diminished; otherwise, it will destroy the sense of ownership and make them feel that they were not involved in the development of the plan (Liu, Wang, Hui, & Lee, 2012). Ideas expressed by the board are also valuable, and if they are not included in the plan, they might be regarded as additional solutions and suggestions.
Solutions recommended for the board would include a closer look at the global market environment and how it has been changing during the last 20 years. Segmenting, targeting, and positioning are the strategies that will help the company understand what countries or regions are more suitable for their product. After the global marketing entry strategy is defined, the company will be able to decide if either direct or online marketing will be more profitable. Perhaps a combination of those is also a solution that the board will find attractive since the modern trade cannot rely either on the direct or online marketing only.
A compromise is feasible as it is impossible to design a detailed marketing plan that will ignore one of the parties’ concerns. It is suggested to present the product to a foreign market but with similar environmental variables as in the USA. It is also possible to redesign the product to make it more suitable for the global market, even if it loses some of its original features.
References
Doole, I., & Lowe, R. (2012). International marketing strategy: Analysis, development and implementation. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
Keegan, W. J., & Green, M. C. (2012). Global marketing. Boston, MA: Pearson.
Liu, J., Wang, H., Hui, C., & Lee, C. (2012). Psychological ownership: How having control matters. Journal of Management Studies, 49(5), 869-895.