The Nature of Doing Business Globally

Exports of goods and services from the United States account for only 13.5 percent of U.S. gross domestic product, so the nation is still largely a domestic, continental economy. What happens inside the United States largely determines the strength of the economic recovery. In contrast, as a percent of gross domestic product (GDP), exports

Advantages and Disadvantages of Doing Business Globally

Firms have numerous reasons for formulating and implementing strategies that initiate, con­tinue, or expand involvement in business operations across national borders. Perhaps the greatest advantage is that firms can gain new customers for their products and services, thus increasing revenues. Growth in revenues and profits is a common organizational objective and often an expectation

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The Global Challenge

Few companies can afford to ignore the presence of international competition. Firms that seem insulated and comfortable today may be vulnerable tomorrow; for example, foreign banks do not yet compete or operate in most of the United States, but this too is changing. Thomson Reuters annually compiles a list of the world’s most innovative

Tax Rates and Tax Inversions

1. Tax Rates Tax rates in countries are important in strategic decisions regarding where to build manufactur­ing facilities or retail stores or even where to acquire other firms. High corporate tax rates deter investment in new factories and also provide strong incentives for corporations to avoid and evade taxes. Corporate tax rates vary considerably

American Versus Foreign Business Culture

To be successful in world markets, U.S. managers must obtain a better knowledge of historical, cul­tural, and religious forces that motivate and drive people in other countries. For multinational firms, knowledge of business culture variation across countries can be essential for gaining and sustaining competitive advantage. An excellent website to visit on this topic

Business Culture across Countries

Managers, marketers, salespersons, and virtually all businesspersons can be more effective in doing business with persons and companies in other countries if they have an understanding and appreciation of business culture variation across countries. Thus, let’s focus here on a few coun­tries to compare and contrast their business cultures with the U.S. business culture.

Business Climate across Countries

The World Bank and the International Finance Corporation annually rank 189 countries in terms of their respective ease of doing business (http://www.doingbusiness.org/rankings). The index ranks nations from 1 (best) to 189 (worst). For each nation, the ranking is calculated as the simple average of the percentile rankings on how easy is it to (1)

MINI-CASE ON DOMINO’S PIZZA, INC. (DPZ) TO GROW GLOBALLY THE RIGHT WAY = FOLLOW DOMINO’S?

Headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Domino’s is the second-largest pizza chain in the United States behind Pizza Hut. Domino’s has over 10,000 delivery-only stores in about 70 countries and in all 50 states. Among the 5,000+ Domino’s in the United States, only about 400 are company-owned; all others are franchised. Between 2011 and 2015,

The Value of Marketing

Finance, operations, accounting, and other business functions won’t really matter without sufficient demand for products and services so the firm can make a profit. In other words, there must be a top line for there to be a bottom line. Thus, financial success often depends on marketing ability. Marketing’s value extends to society as

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The Scope of Marketing

To be a marketer, you need to understand what marketing is, how it works, who does it, and what is marketed. 1. WHAT IS MARKETING? Marketing is about identifying and meeting human and social needs. One of the shortest good definitions of marketing is “meeting needs profitably.” When Google recognized that people needed to

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Core Marketing Concepts

To understand the marketing function, we need to understand the following core set of concepts (see Table 1.1). 1. NEEDS, WANTS, AND DEMANDS Needs are the basic human requirements such as for air, food, water, clothing, and shelter. Humans also have strong needs for recreation, education, and entertainment. These needs become wants when directed

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The New Marketing Realities

The marketplace is dramatically different from even 10 years ago, with new marketing behaviors, opportunities, and challenges emerging. In this book we focus on three transformative forces: technology, globalization, and social responsibility. 1. TECHNOLOGY The pace of change and the scale of technological achievement can be staggering. The number of mobile phones in India

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A Dramatically Changed Marketplace

These three forces—technology, globalization, and social responsibility—have dramatically changed the mar­ketplace, bringing consumers and companies new capabilities. The marketplace is also being transformed by changes in channel structure and heightened competition. 1. NEW CONSUMER CAPABILITIES Social media is an explosive worldwide phenomenon. In Germany, the percentage of consumers over 65 accessing the Internet increased

Marketing in Practice

Given the new marketing realities, organizations are challenging their marketers to find the best balance of old and new and to provide demonstrable evidence of success. “Marketing Memo: Reinventing Marketing at Coca-Cola” describes some of the many different ways that that top marketing organization has changed. 1. MARKETING BALANCE Companies must always move forward,

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Company Orientation toward the Marketplace

Given these new marketing realities, what philosophy should guide a company’s marketing efforts? Let’s first re­view the evolution of marketing philosophies. 1. THE PRODUCTION CONCEPT The production concept is one of the oldest concepts in business. It holds that consumers prefer products that are widely available and inexpensive. Managers of production-oriented businesses concentrate on

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Updating the Four Ps Marketing mix

Many years ago, McCarthy classified various marketing activities into marketing-mix tools of four broad kinds, which he called the four Ps of marketing: product, price, place, and promotion.61 The marketing variables under each P are shown in Figure 1.5. A complementary view of the four Ps can be found in Marketing Insight: Understanding the

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Marketing Management Tasks

Figure 1.7 summarizes the three major market forces, two key market outcomes, and four fundamental pillars of holistic marketing that help to capture the new marketing realities. With these concepts in place, we can identify a specific set of tasks that make up successful marketing management and marketing leadership. We’ll use the fol­lowing situation

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Marketing and Customer Value

The task of any business is to deliver customer value at a profit. A company can win only by fine-tuning the value delivery process and choosing, providing, and communicating superior value to increasingly well-informed buyers. 1. THE VALUE DELIVERY PROCESS The traditional—but dated—view of marketing is that the firm makes something and then sells

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Corporate and Division Strategic Planning

Whether they let their business units set their own goals and strategies or collaborate in doing so, all corporate headquarters undertake four planning activities: Defining the corporate mission Establishing strategic business units Assigning resources to each strategic business unit Assessing growth opportunities We’ll briefly look at each process. 1. MARKETING MEMO What Does It

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Business Unit Strategic Planning

The business unit strategic-planning process consists of the steps shown in Figure 2.4. We examine each step in the sections that follow. 1. THE BUSINESS MISSION Each business unit needs to define its specific mission within the broader company mission. Thus, a television- studio-lighting-equipment company might define its mission as “To target major television

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