Global marketing

Developing strategies for international marketing was one of the major management preoccupation of the 80s. With the advent of the single market at the start of 1993, the likely growth of the market to 18 plus, the opening up of trade to the remnants of the former EFTA group, and the break up of the Eastern European block, the total approach to markets has undergone a dramatic and major change. With our home market now embracing some 380 million consumers, marketing should have taken on a radically new dimension for most UK companies. Not only is there going to be more intense competition within the UK regional market from other EU based companies but also from “overseas companies” that have set up manufacturing bases in the EU to enable them to trade within the Union. The EU has also got to compete on a global basis with the other great trading groups and the emerging giants. As yet the future role of many of the former Eastern European countries and the Arab nations is uncertain. The author discusses the organisational implications, structure of organisations, potential markets and customers, market research, developing the marketing mix, and management of the global marketing process