4.9 Key Terms

Age: Age bands, such as 18–24, 25–34, etc., are great predictors of interest in some types of products. For example, few teenagers wish to purchase denture cream. 4.6

Antiglobals: Are skeptical that global companies deliver higher-quality goods. They particularly dislike brands that preach American values and often do not trust global companies to behave responsibly. Given a choice, they prefer to avoid doing business with global firms. 4.1

Credit Union Power: Both technology and the playing field have changed at a moderate pace, making this the most stable scenario. Even with moderate change in these areas, however, the changing basis of competition, new business models, human resources challenges, and industry dynamics are different enough to pose significant challenges for many financial services companies. 4.4

Demographic Research: This may include a variety of other characteristics used to separate a country’s population into groups that fit a company’s target customer profile. 4.6

Education: Level of education is often tied to consumer preferences, as well as income. 4.6

Gender: Males and females have different physical attributes that require different hygiene and clothing products. They also tend to have distinctive male/female mindsets and roles in the family and household decision-making. 4.6

Geography: Area of residence, urban vs. rural, and population density can all be important inputs into marketing strategy and decisions about where and how to target advertising and other elements of the promotion mix. 4.6

Global Agnostics: Do not base purchase decisions on a brand’s global attributes. Instead, they judge a global product by the same criteria they use for local brands(Holt, Quelch, & Taylor, 2004). 4.1

Global Citizens: Rely on the global success of a company as a signal of quality and innovation. At the same time, they worry whether a company behaves responsibly on issues like consumer health, the environment, and worker rights. 4.1

Global Dreamers: Are less discerning about but more ardent in their admiration of, transnational companies. They view global brands as quality products and readily buy into the myths they portray. They also are less concerned with companies’ social responsibilities than global citizens. 4.1

Income Brackets: Indicating level of wealth, disposable income, and quality of life. 4.6

Macro-Segmentation: Or country-based segmentation identifies clusters of countries that demand similar products.  Macro-segmentation uses geographic, demographic and socioeconomic variables such as location, GNP per capita, population size or family size to group countries into market segments, and then selects one or more segments to create marketing strategies for each of the selected segments. 4.5

Micro-Segmentation: Or consumer-based segmentation involves grouping consumers based on common characteristics using psychographics and/or behaviouristic segmentation variables such as cultural preferences, values and attitudes, and lifestyle choices. 4.5

Openness: The more open a country’s economy, the more likely it is that global intermediaries can freely operate there, which helps multinationals function more effectively. 4.1

Political System: A country’s political system affects its product, labour, and capital markets. In socialist societies like China, for instance, workers cannot form independent trade unions in the labour market, which affects wage levels. 4.1

Religion: Is linked to individual values as well as holiday celebrations, often tied to consumer preferences and spending patterns. 4.6

Segmentation: This is an important strategic tool in international marketing because the main difference between calling a firm international and global is based on the scope and bases of segmentation. An international firm has different marketing strategies for different segments of countries, while a global firm views the whole world as a market, and then segments this whole world based on viable segmentation bases. 4.5

Social-Class: Bands such as wealthy, middle, and lower classes. The rich, for instance, may want different products than the middle and lower classes and may be willing to pay more. 4.6

Technocracy: The wide-scale adoption of the Internet by US consumers has led to massive technological innovation for financial-services companies, increasing the range of distribution channels as well as the products, services, and geographic scope of financial-services organizations. Regulations and other changes in the playing field, however, have been slow to follow. 4.4