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workforce values are compelling organisations to search for business. The former involves more complexities that are
new and more human ways of increasing productivity and related to intra-firm transactions and to unfamiliar host-
competitiveness. The biggest changes have been due to the country environment - regulatory, economic and financial,
impact of information and communication technology. political and legal, socio-cultural and many others.
The ability to access vast information resources within a As international business is normally carried on in an unfa-
matter of minutes and to communicate across huge dis- miliar environment it is rather imperative to get acquainted
tances at ever lower costs and improving quality and con- with the various types of environment in which such busi-
venience is transforming the way people and companies nesses are transacted - regulatory environment dealing the
interact. Virtually, it is becoming harder to achieve market type of trade, Foreign Direct Investment FDI (overseas in-
leadership and to stay on top. As a result, the road to suc- vestments by multinational corporations) regulations at the
cess is topsy-turvy. There is no question of preparing an national and international level as well as the economic
omelet without breaking the egg - target success in busi- integration schemes in different parts of the globe. Politi-
ness and stay ahead of the competition; constantly expand- cal, economic, legal as well as socio-cultural environment
ing the network; seamless connections to other parts of the that differ from one country to the other influence such a
world via your hubs. business to a significant extent.
That is why, substantive understanding of global market- It has rightly been viewed that "the information age man-
ing, giving due regard to contemporary international mar- agement systems depend on knowledge and creative abili-
keting environment, applying marketing concepts to sev- ties that can position the company in a competitive advan-
eral decision areas in the domain of international market- tage rather than relying on old fashioned procedures that
ing, adequate exposure to several sub-areas of global mar- caused delays and inefficiencies. ICT-age companies regard
keting would go a long way to bolster trade in the interna- the customer as the king and therefore respond to demands
tional arena. at the right time, with the right product, price and qual-
ity".
For that matter a good understanding of the key market-
ing techniques is essential in today's global marketing envi- Clearly, dressing, production systems, entertainment, lan-
ronment - to develop entrepreneurs' capability to identify guage and education have been influenced by the emerg-
and create values for their organisation to excel in the in- ing technology to the extent that the world is becoming
ternational market, to have a deep appreciation of inter- more or less a homogeneous society rather than being
national marketing and global brand management and at heterogeneous as it used to be.
the same time a deeper understanding of brand manage-
ment and international marketing which are the life forces To address these market changes, understanding the lan-
of any successful international business. guage of the customer is important as the necessity has
arisen to have to focus not just on what somebody is doing,
This, in turn, forms the very base on which ultimate mar- but why they are doing it. the redistribution of consumer
keting success depends. Valuable customers are acquired purchasing power will be a key driver of change over the
and retained while at the same time major problems are next few years, and the "anytime anywhere" workplace will
encountered while offering an intangible product and thus go on driving business change. Especially, in today's world,
one has to tackle the same with more confidence. when blending physical and digital experiences are on , the
crucial need is there to have a much more systems-design,
At this very juncture, the size and complexity of interna- engineering-oriented approach to work, among others.
tional business is required to be comprehensively weighed.
It is to be borne in mind that international business, in the The top challenge is now the very competition from beyond
true sense of the term, is totally different from domestic traditional rivals!!
“Historically, PR, Marketing and Advertising budgets are the first to be cut; however, that could be one of the first
mistakes a business makes in an economic crisis.”
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