MN3326K Assignment 2 SMU – Global Marketing Plan- Evaluating and Entering an International Market, Singapore

Global Marketing Plan- Evaluating and Entering an International Market

You are required to submit the individual report via Moodle (Turnitin) on the date of submission. The report is to be max. 2,500 words in length and must contain a bibliography of all sources referred.

The Scenario

The company you analyzed for Assignment 1 decided to seek growth opportunities and now considers expanding (further) into the global marketplace. The board of your company is asking you to develop a global marketing plan for a country in which your chosen company does not already operate. Your plan will help the board to make a final decision about which country to target.

Your Task – Develop a Global Marketing Plan

• Focus on the company you analyzed in Assignment 1.
• Choose one country that the company is not already operating in. Make sure to justify why you believe this country might be a good market for the company.
• Assess the market attractiveness of the one country that you have chosen for your company and offer strategic and tactical suggestions of how to best enter this market.
• Follow the 5-Step Global Marketing Plan Framework. The report should include information on the potential target markets’ macro and micro environments; recommendations on the market entry strategy and target customer; recommendations on how to adapt (or not adapt) the marketing mix for this country market. It should also include an invest – not invest recommendation. Do not consider costs/budgets.

Suggested Structure of the Final Report

1. Title page naming the company and the one international country market you chose
2. Executive summary (ca. 150-200 words, included in the word count)
3. Introduction
4. Brief Summary of the Company: Summarize the main insights from your analysis in Assignment 1 to introduce the company to the reader.
5. External Analysis of the International Market: conduct an external macro and micro analysis of the international target market
6. Global Market Strategy: market entry strategy, target customer segmentation
7. Global Marketing Programme: standardization versus adaptation of the marketing mix – the level of glocalization
8. Conclusion: Final recommendation for whether or not to invest in the target market
9. Bibliography
10. Appendices (if any)

Marking Criteria of The Final Report

1. Strength of Executive Summary (10%)

2. Analytic Depth and Intellectual Quality (30%) Analytic Depth and Comprehensiveness of the External (Macro/Micro) Analysis of the International Market Analytic Depth and Comprehensiveness in the Development of the Global Marketing Strategy/Programme

3. Structure and Organisation of the Argument (20%) Logical and consistent application of the Global Marketing Plan Framework Effective Argumentation and Comprehensiveness of how the Analysis translates into the Global Marketing Strategy/Programme Effective Argumentation and Comprehensiveness of how the Analysis and the Development of a Global Marketing Strategy/Programme translate into the Invest – Not Invest Recommendation

4. Level of Reading and Use of Academic and Industry Data (20%)

5. Reference Style (10%)

6. Writing Style (10%)

Step 1: Internal Analysis of Company

Use the insights from your analysis in Assignment 1 to provide a short summary of the company/brand. This will help you to evaluate the fit between the company’s current marketing operations and the potentially new ones in the international market under investigation. This summary will also provide insights of how the company should/could enter the new market.

Step 2a: External Macro Analysis of the International Target Market

Economic forces

• Economic stability
• Degree of economic freedom
• Economic development (national production: GNP, GDP, GDP per capita)
• Stage of market development (worldbank)
• Income and wealth (to determine people’s purchasing power) (income growth rate, personal or household disposable income, purchasing power parity (PPP); income distribution)
• Infrastructure: transportation, education, health care
• Economic integration (free trade areas)

Socio-cultural forces

• Values, belief systems, tastes
• Religion
• Language
• Education
•  Trends
• Rituals, routines, manners, customs
• Classifying culture to formulate cultural differences and similarities
• High and low context cultures
• Hofstede’s culture dimensions Market similarity/Psychic distance (from home base to foreign market)

Step 3: Developing a Global Marketing Strategy

Develop recommendations about:

• how to enter the
• market market entry mode: export, licensing, franchising, strategic alliances, joint venture, wholly owned subsidiaries – pick the most suitable mode(s) of entry.
• waterfall versus shower, concentration versus diversification – as it applies for your company & country (you can consider these strategies within country level. For instance, will you enter one city/region in the country first (waterfall) or will you launch in multiple places (shower)?) micro segmentation who are the target customers; what are your segmentation criteria?

Recommendations should be informed by, and in line with, the internal company analysis and the external country analysis.

Step 4: Designing a Global Marketing Programme

Develop a proposal about:

• How to standardize or adapt the domestic marketing mix to fit the new international target market
• Consider comparing the domestic marketing mix with the new target market’s marketing mix
• Visualize the need to standardize/adapt using a dot plot table

Your proposals should be informed by, and in line with, the internal company analysis and the external country analysis.

Step 5: Conclusion by Invest – Not Invest Recommendation

Close the report with a clear enter-not enter/invest-not invest recommendation. Reflect on, and take into consideration, the general market attractiveness of the international market for your company. Draw from the key insights from your analysis to build up the argument. Consider, for example, variables and questions such as:

• Political stability
• Cultural similarity
• State of economy
• Extent of adaptions to marketing mix necessary
• Complexity of market entry
• Strategic importance of market
• Availability/accessibility of the target customer
• Growth opportunities
• Etc.
• What are the opportunities and threats associated with entering this market?
• Would the marketing mix you recommend be feasible to handle?
• Would the market help with the company’s image and competitiveness?
• Will there be enough demand in the upcoming years?