People talk about the large segment of the world population that is poor and therefore supposedly excluded from any international marketing efforts; the World Bank’s former president called them the 3 billion $2-a-day poor. By contrast, international marketers see them as an attractive $6 billion-a-day opportunity for valuable exchanges.
What is more is that global marketing provides the opportunity to acquire resources without the deployment of force. Why fight if you can trade? Countries that have been historic enemies such as France, England, and Germany are now all united in their close collaboration though international marketing. The field is, therefore, at the very least contributing to freedom from war while providing additional choices for consumption.
But the cost of freedom is rising. Terms such as “free trade” or “free choice” are misleading since they all come with a price. Global marketers pay that price in terms of preparing their shipments, scrutinizing their customers, and conforming to government regulations.
This is an excerpt from Dr. Czinkota’s book Global Business: Positioning Ventures Ahead, co-authored by Dr. Ilkka Ronkainen.
Michael R Czinkota and Ilkka A Ronkainen, Global Business: Positioning Ventures Ahead (New York: Routledge, 2011), pg. 235.
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Indeed, more global marketers are including less affluent world customers in their strategic marketing plans. P&G has announced that it intends to reach 5 billion of the world’s 6.8+ billion people by 2014/15. It alreadys sells at least one of its products to 4 billion of us. For sophisticated global marketers, reaching developing world customers will generally mean selling quality branded products but at lower price/value tiers. In other words, they will probably sell branded products that are structured to provide a set of benefits at a price that developing world customers can afford without cannibalizing their premium brands in other parts of the world.
This is mostly a positive trend since developing world customers will have greater access to quality products. However, inevitably, unethical companies will also approach this market. We are already seeing accusations of unethical practices in microfinance. This is something worth monitoring.