Major events in the world have triggered international marketing and globalization. According to Goldin, Reinert and World Bank (21), there are three major stages of international marketing and globalization. The first stage started in 1870 and ended in 1914 as a result of the First World War.
The second stage started after the end of Second World War and ended during the1970s. The third stage started after the end of the second stage and has continued up to the present moment. In most widely accepted definitions, globalization has been largely equated to the influence of international business and trade among various economies. As a matter of fact, the impact of globalization has been immensely felt when importing and exporting goods and services more than in socio-political life.
Consequently, the world has become a global village since operations across the world have been decentralized. For instance, exporting companies have assumed the operations of international marketing in the same way as it is the case for local businesses. In other words, their competitors are located in oversees countries as compared to local rivals for local companies.
There are a number of techniques used by international companies to be successful and especially those which export and import goods and services. This paper succinctly explores the concept of international trade and exporting business using Crystal International Corp. as case study.
Crystal International Corporation
This is an exporting company dealing with distribution services and freight forwarding. The company is based in New Orleans, Los Angeles, United States of America. It is well versed with matters of export management and consolidations. The company has so far made great in-roads since its inception and has already completed a number of transactions in international trade.
Moreover, Crystal International Corporation has been noted to be making more than six transactions in a year in exporting business. Some of the products that are currently exported include snacks, grocery products and specialty foods. As will be discussed, the company uses a number of techniques to win the international market and make profits. Among others, it has applied effective competitive analysis and capitalized on the strengths that it has and building strong mechanisms to counter the weaknesses and threats.
International trade and Crystal International Corporation
As noted earlier, the concept of international trade can be compared to globalization. Globalization refers to bringing international issues, especially in management together. International trade refers to exchange of goods and services internationally. International trade as a form of globalization was triggered by developments in major areas such as technology.
For example, the development of railroads and steam engines was important in connecting various countries together. According to Key (5), international trade cannot be excluded in discussion of imports and exports. This is because traditional concept of international trade had movement of goods and services to and from a country and crossing of a country border.
In essence, the classification of international trade is mentioned in exporting and importing of goods and services. However, the present concept of international trade has encompassed more than just making goods and services cross the border.
For example, international relations and part of diplomacy issues have been equated to globalization. Since diplomacy and international relations have relations with export of ideas, it can be said that they form part of international trade. The only differentiation is that the real concept of international trade involves profitability of a company. Movements of labor and capital contribute to the concept of globalization.
The two have helped in increasing capital flows in various nations, and the most benefiting nation being the United States of America. There are various benefits that can be drawn from globalization and international trade. For example, countries can produce goods which may have costs which are of lower opportunity costs. Also, it is possible to increase competition which can lower the prices for customers. In open economies, globalization and international trade can help in increasing advancement in technology as well as its innovation.
Crystal International Corporation deals with international business. Specifically, the company deals with exporting of manufactured goods to other countries. It is considered as an international company because it has established itself in more than one country. It is based in America but had to move out and established itself in more than 70 countries. This means that its competition is not confined locally; rather, its competitors can also found in other countries.
The company deals in exportation of household items and a few of electronics. It has managers who are fully qualified in matters of exporting and importation, and more so international trade. The biggest help has come from the commerce department departments and programs that help in understanding of international market.
As would be analyzed, some of the programs that are used in making greater depths in the international market are like carrying out marketing research and application of modern forms of marketing techniques. These techniques have made to place the company in a good position in the international market to compete.
This company uses direct and indirect forms of exporting its goods and services. In this kind of business, the management of the company must consider the degree of control the company has in the competitive market. The company must also be ready to seize opportunities that present themselves in the market. This is the kind of marketing strategies and operations in the international trade that Crystal International Corp applies in the competitive market.
On daily basis, the company strides to be bigger by day because the bigger the company or brand image, the bigger the possibilities of winning in the market. This company is big enough because it is already in more than 70 countries in the world. The management of this company is also highly qualified and therefore the possibilities of covering more grounds are very high. The following discussion looks at a number of strategies that this company has used to make impacts in the market.
Marketing strategies for Crystal International Corporation
Analysis of competition
According to Doole and Lowe (236), a company that moves into the market without first analyzing the kind of competition in existence risks making huge losses. This is because looking at the outside of the market may not tell a lot about the strengths and weaknesses of existing companies in the market.
This is one of the strengths of Crystal International Corporation, where, it has to first analyze its competitors before moving to new markets. Crystal International Corp deals with direct and indirect forms of exportation which need a lot of international trade skills and mostly on competition to succeed. This company has a number of competitors in international marketing/trade, and especially in exportation of goods and services.
The biggest competitors are like, American Chung Nam, Weyerhaeuser, Du Pont, and Cargill among others. Even though these companies have been identified as not specifically dealing with the business of household items as Crystal International Corp, they nevertheless form part of a big competition cycle.
Carrying of situational researches
Research is a very useful tool in management of any kind of business, and mostly in international trade (Botto 104). This is because researches establish the need to move into the business. A situation research is capable of establishing whether the company and its products and services can be accepted in a particular market. It has a great economic impact because the company makes to plan well.
This is one of the strategies that this company has managed to employ effectively. Situational researches as applicable in this company help in establishing the suitability of moving its products in the new markets. Even where some products may not be needed in particular country due to issues such as culture, this company has made to modify and customize for the purposes of acceptance.
High technological ad advancement and use
Technology can never be ignored when considering quality of goods and services. That has been recognized as the issue dividing successful and unsuccessful organizations and institutions. According to Boone and Kurtz (340), compromising quality in management and movement of goods and services due to failure in use of technology is just writing off the company. Crystal International Corp has established itself as one of the companies in the world in exportation of household items.
High use of innovations and especially by utilization of technology has been argued to be the reason behind the successes in this company. Technology as used in this company has enabled to always improve on quality and level of production for this company. Therefore, this company is able to give high goods in terms of quality as well as mass production to manage competition.
Inherent challenges
Even though this company has widely developed its network in international trade and especially in exportation, there are numerous challenges that it has been facing. However, these challenges have not managed to pull down its relevance in international business. Instead, it has made the company grow by leaps and bounds.
Firstly, it is recognized that the company competes with companies which have covered lots of ground and are big in size and production. This company has faced lots of logistical challenges and some contractual issues. As well, international trade and more so in exportation business require a lot of resources which should be added regularly.
Being a small company as compared to others which came before it, the company has had to cope with the fact that it does not have huge resources. The presence of these challenges in this company has not managed to deter success; though in small ways. Rather, some of these have only made the company cover more grounds in the market.
Product life cycle in this company
Product life cycle is a concept of management and refers to use of succession strategies when a product is moving through a life cycle. According to Stark (234), even products must move in stages, the same way human beings are born, and pass through some various stages before they finally die.
Crystal International Corp utilizes all of the life cycle strategies for its product. Mostly, this is done from the point the raw materials are introduced in the company and finally getting to the final customers. When the raw materials for the household goods are entering the company, they have to be verified and must be bought in mass to ensure that cost is brought down.
The next stage is to maximize the raw materials during the production of the household items and afterwards there is additional of values after their production before they get into the market. Effective marketing strategies are highly applied to make sure that the value of the products is passed to the right customers/final users.
Conclusion
Due to globalization, trade has broken the tight physical borders that used to exist earlier on. Most successful companies in the world are those that have wider marketing base and possibly engaging in international trade. These are companies which have established themselves in overseas locations other than their countries of origin.
In international trade, the strategies used in marketing are not the same as when a company is dealing with local competitors. The latter is mainly attributed to the fact that other countries may have different cultures as compared to local culture. For this therefore, any company must first carry out initial assessments in analyzing competition and readiness of the market. This paper has analyzed strategies used in international trade in order to wrestle with market competition.
In addition, the paper has discussed Crystal International Corp; an international company dealing with exportation of household goods alongside other varieties of assortment goods. The paper has also focused on the strategies that have been put in place by the company in order to improve profitability. Finally, operational challenges that have been faced by the company in international trade have also been explored.
Works Cited
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Doole, Isobel & Lowe, Robin. International marketing strategy: Analysis, development and implementation. Belmont: CengageBrain Learning, 2008.Print.
Goldin Ian, Reinert, Kenneth & World Bank. Globalization for development: Trade, finance, aid, migration, and policy. Washington. DC: World Bank Publications, Inc, 2006. Print.
Key, Clement M. Principles of classification: Export and Import. Mooresville: Trafford Publishing, 2004.Print.
Stark, John. Product lifecycle management: 21st century paradigm for product realization. London: Springer Verlag, 2011.Print.