"CHALLENGES FACING INTERNATIONAL MARKETERS" IN THIS MILLENIUM
1.0 Introduction
The prevailing arena in business this millennium has powerful forces which are transforming markets and spectacularly changing ways of doing business. There has been increased movement of people, goods and organizations across borders which have resulted in the emergence of global market segments and the growth of globally integrated markets. Advances in communications and information systems technology have shrivel distances, linking markets through flows of information, images and ideas across markets. These trends facilitate the management of operations on a global scale and accelerate the need to deal effectively with global competition. As a result, firms need to acclimatise and reorganise strategies to respond to these globalizing forces, charting direction for future growth, realigning operations in the light of emerging market and competitor dynamics.
In the past, research relating to international marketing has tended to focus on initial market entry decisions and the need for adaptation of various elements of the marketing mix to differing market conditions (Jain 1989). This provided an appropriate focus for firms in the initial stages of involvement in international markets, those determining which country markets to enter and how to modify their tactics in local markets. However, as markets become increasingly integrated and interlinked, management needs to chart direction for future growth relative to world markets as a whole rather than on a country-by-country basis.
The dramatic changes in the global marketing environment that are opening up new opportunities as well as ways of operating in these markets have implications for how managers ...