International marketing – the issues 631
global brands are few. Coca-Cola and Pepsi-
Cola are seen as archetypal global brands, but
remember that they are also fast moving con-
sumer goods and that they both satisfy a very
basic need, i.e. thirst. IBM as a brand has been
less successful in maintaining the stranglehold
over personal computers that Microsoft has
achieved worldwide but, again, here is a
worldwide need for information technology
being satisfied by an industry that is interna-
tionally concentrated. On the other hand, Gucci
has been very successful in opening shops in
China, where the per capita disposable income
is amongst the lowest in the world, proving the
point that there is always a market segment to
be found that is willing to pay a premium for
prestige, status and quality.
Markets are constantly changing.
Demographically, Western Europe’s population
is becoming older, while economically it
remains affluent. The challenge arrives early in
the new millennium around 2006–2016, when
the bulk of the population enters retirement
or early retirement. Those in employment will
have to shoulder the responsibility for all those
in retirement. It creates many new marketing
opportunities for creative segmentation, as the
newly retired and affluent still have the health
and the wealth to enjoy themselves. Many new
leisure and tourism opportunities are likely to
arise.
Lifestyle changes have arisen over the years as
a result of lobbying regarding being
environmentally friendly or eating a healthier
lower fat diet or using less packaging or
avoiding certain products entirely (Polonsky et
al., 1997). Consequently, we have fewer
one-product companies. Both Coca-Cola and
Pepsi-Cola have responded to the consumer
demand for new diet products that are low fat,
low calorie, sugar free. Elsewhere, affluent
consumers have to live with themselves for
using disposable nappies, which are not
degradable over anything less than 500 years. A
demand is there to be met for there is as yet
no such supply. Market information is
important to keep abreast of such changes.
Money is not going out of fashion, but
everywhere plastic cards are replacing cash
transactions. Elsewhere, financial creativity is
required when dealing with markets where
there is a willingness to buy, but not the
means with which to pay. Credit and leasing
terms and countertrade have stepped into this
vacuum.
Internationalization of minimum threshold
product and service standards, as embodied in
the ISO 9000 and 1400 series of standards,
creates a new dynamic for international
supplier comparison and partly compensates
also for smaller unknown companies, giving
them the ability to compete internationally
with confidence, almost as a brand. There is
certainly a situation developing where
asymmetries in information exist and these
may prevent firms from supplying goods which
consumers are willing to pay for. At the same
time, as Vertinsky and Zhou (2000) have
pointed out, the move from physical and
functional properties as determinants of quality
to the domain of social and environmental
attributes, where value judgements are
dominant, has made the design and
management of quality certification systems
subject to intensive political processes.
Competitive conditions are going to become
tougher. Competitors should never be
underestimated. Market dynamics create
constant change. Asian ’flu has affected what
has been the powerhouse of international
trade. However, the area known as Central
and Eastern Europe is now a focus of much
economic activity and continuing productivity
gains through harmonization within the
European Union are making Europe a good
place in which to invest once again.
Internationalization is the only means by which
companies can exist in the future. Be proactive
rather than reactive.
Success requires constant market monitoring
and performance evaluation so as to read
market changes, but before the reader starts
to wonder whether he or she can fit in with