The Effect of International Operations on the Marketing Function
When a company ceases to do business in only one country and expands its operations to multiple nations, the effect is felt throughout the organization. Accounting, finance, production, human resources and marketing are all affected by the shift to a global perspective. It can be argued, however, that marketing is the area of the company that is most affected. The marketing mix, composed of four key components, is directly affected by a company's decision to become an international organization, and these four components, in turn, affect the rest of the organization. This research considers the effect of an international strategy on the marketing function, and how a company's strategy might shift due to a global orientation.
The marketing mix is composed of four components: product, distribution (place), promotion and price (Evans & Berman, 1995). Product refers to the specific product or service that is being offered for sale, and is the foundation for the remainder of the marketing decisions. Even within a particular product category, decisions must be made about the exact characteristics that a product will have, and whether the company will market variations on its primary product. For example, companies that sell salsa must decide not only on the basic recipe for the salsa, but whether the salsa will be available in both mild and "hot" varieties (or whether additional gradients will be added to the product line) (Villas-Boas 138).
In addition to the physical characteristics of the product itself, the product question is also concerned with the type of packaging and image associated with a particular product. Some of these decisions can be strictly aesthetic, such as using brightly colored packaging for products such as corn chips. Salsa, for example, can be made available in jars, or in bottles, and can be designed for pouring (squirting) or for us...