International Marketing and Branding Practice Flashcards

Flashcards covering international marketing principles, cultural impacts, research methodologies, and brand management concepts.

International marketing

Marketing across countries while adapting to different cultures, economies, laws, politics, technology, competition, geography, and consumer behavior.

Main challenge of international marketing

A company must adapt the things it can control to foreign conditions it cannot control.

Controllable marketing factors

Product, price, promotion, distribution/channels, research, and firm decisions.

Uncontrollable factors

Outside forces a company cannot control, such as politics, law, economy, culture, competition, technology, geography, infrastructure, and distribution systems.

Domestic uncontrollables

Home-country forces such as domestic political/legal forces, domestic economic climate, and domestic competition.

Foreign uncontrollables

Foreign-market forces such as political/legal forces, economic forces, culture, technology, competition, distribution, geography, and infrastructure.

International marketing task

Adapting product, price, promotion, distribution, and research to uncontrollable domestic and foreign environments.

Variety in foreign markets

Countries are different from each other in culture, politics, economics, class structure, religion, law, and consumer behavior.

Variability in foreign markets

Foreign market conditions can change quickly because of politics, economic crisis, inflation, new laws, or cultural shifts.

Self-Reference Criterion / SRC

Unconsciously using your own culture, values, and experiences to judge or make decisions in another culture.

Why SRC is dangerous

It makes marketers assume people in other countries think and buy the same way as people at home.

Ethnocentrism

Judging another culture by your own culture’s standards and believing your culture or country knows best.

SRC vs ethnocentrism

SRC is unconscious cultural bias; Ethnocentrism is believing your culture’s way is better.

Global awareness

Understanding and respecting cultural, political, economic, and legal differences between countries.

A globally aware marketer

Studies foreign markets, avoids cultural bias, respects local customs, and adapts strategy.

No direct foreign marketing

The company does not actively sell abroad, but its products may reach foreign markets through others.

Infrequent foreign marketing

The company sells internationally only occasionally, usually when it has extra inventory or random foreign orders.

Regular foreign marketing

The company consistently sells abroad and may use distributors or agents.

International marketing stage

The company actively plans and adapts marketing strategies for foreign markets.

Global marketing stage

The company views the world as one connected market while still adapting when needed.

Culture

Shared values, beliefs, customs, language, symbols, behaviors, and ways of thinking of a group.

Culture’s impact on marketing

Culture affects what people buy, how they buy, what ads work, what products are accepted, and how businesses communicate.

Supply-side culture impact

Culture affects company decisions like pricing, product, promotion, communication, and management.

Demand-side culture impact

Culture affects consumer needs, wants, consumption, priorities, and buying behavior.

Origins of culture

History, geography, religion, language, education, social institutions, politics, economy, and technology.

History’s role in culture

History shapes national identity, attitudes toward other countries, fears, pride, and business customs.

Geography’s role in marketing

Climate, resources, topography, population distribution, infrastructure, and trade routes affect demand and distribution.

Why climate matters

Climate changes product demand, such as jackets in cold countries or sunscreen in hot countries.

Why infrastructure matters

Infrastructure affects how easily goods can be transported, stored, and sold.

Population in global markets

Population size, age, income, education, urbanization, and migration affect market potential.

Large population does not always mean good market

A country may have many people but low income, weak infrastructure, or cultural barriers.

Trade routes

Paths used to move goods between markets; they affect shipping cost, speed, and access.

Values

Shared beliefs about what is good, bad, important, or normal.

Norms

Accepted rules of behavior in a society.

Language in marketing

Language affects advertising, brand names, packaging, negotiation, and communication.

Why translation is not enough

Words may translate literally but lose meaning, humor, slang, or cultural context.

Religion in marketing

Religion can affect food rules, clothing, holidays, gender roles, ethics, and buying behavior.

Social structure

Family roles, social class, gender roles, age roles, and group relationships in a society.

Aesthetics

Cultural ideas about beauty, color, design, music, symbols, and style.

Material culture

The technology, tools, infrastructure, and material lifestyle of a society.

Individualism

A culture focused on independence, personal goals, personal success, and standing out.

Collectivism

A culture focused on group harmony, family, community, loyalty, and social approval.

Marketing to individualist cultures

Use messages like “be unique,” “express yourself,” or “made for you.”

Marketing to collectivist cultures

Use messages like “bring your family together,” “trusted by your community,” or “for everyone you love.”

Cultural adaptation

Changing marketing strategy to fit the values, habits, and expectations of a foreign market.

Examples of cultural adaptation

Changing product features, packaging, brand names, advertising, language, price, distribution, or service.

Marketing research

Systematic gathering, recording, and analyzing of data to help marketing decisions.

Why marketing research matters

It reduces risk and helps companies make better product, price, promotion, and distribution decisions.

Macro information

General country-level information like economy, culture, politics, population, infrastructure, and law.

Micro information

Specific market information about product demand, consumers, pricing, promotion, distribution, and competition.

Three types of international marketing research information

General market information, forecasting future trends, and specific market information for marketing decisions.

Research process step 1

Define the research problem and objectives.

Research process step 2

Determine sources of information, either primary or secondary.

Research process step 3

Consider the costs and benefits of the research.

Research process step 4

Gather relevant data.

Research process step 5

Analyze, interpret, and summarize the results.

Research process step 6

Communicate the findings to decision makers.

Primary data

New data collected specifically for the current research problem.

Examples of primary data

Surveys, interviews, focus groups, observation, and experiments.

Secondary data

Information that already exists and was collected by someone else.

Examples of secondary data

Government statistics, trade reports, academic studies, company reports, industry databases, and online sources.

Advantages of secondary data

It is faster, cheaper, and useful for background research.

Problems with secondary data

It may be outdated, inaccurate, incomplete, biased, unreliable, or not comparable across countries.

Advantages of primary data

It directly fits the current research problem and answers specific questions.

Problems with primary data

It is expensive, time-consuming, and can be affected by culture, language, or dishonest answers.

Qualitative research

Exploratory research focused on opinions, feelings, meanings, motivations, and behavior.

Examples of qualitative research

In-depth interviews, focus groups, and observation.

Quantitative research

Research based on numbers, measurement, statistics, and structured questionnaires.

Examples of quantitative research

Surveys, polls, statistical analysis, and large questionnaires.

Qualitative vs quantitative

Qualitative explains why people think or act a certain way; Quantitative measures how many people think or act that way.

In-depth interview

A one-on-one qualitative interview where the person can speak freely about a topic.

Focus group

A guided group discussion used to understand opinions, motivations, and attitudes.

Observation method

Watching consumer behavior instead of only asking people what they do.

Why observation is useful

People may say one thing but actually behave differently.

Problems in international research

Language issues, cultural misunderstanding, unreliable data, lack of comparability, unwilling respondents, and interpretation problems.

Netnography

Qualitative research that studies online communities to understand consumer behavior.

Examples of netnography sources

Reddit, blogs, Instagram comments, TikTok comments, forums, reviews, and online brand communities.

Text mining

Using software to analyze large amounts of text and find patterns, meanings, or brand associations.

Netnography vs text mining

Netnography observes online communities for meaning; Text mining uses software to analyze large text data for patterns.

Why combine netnography and text mining

Netnography gives cultural meaning, while text mining gives large-scale pattern analysis.

Brand

A name, term, sign, symbol, design, or combination that identifies a seller’s product and differentiates it from competitors.

Why brands matter to customers

They reduce risk, save time, create trust, help identify products, and express identity.

Why brands matter to companies

They create differentiation, loyalty, legal protection, positioning, and brand equity.

Identification component of brand

The visible parts of the brand, such as name, logo, symbol, packaging, and design.

Perceptual component of brand

The thoughts, meanings, and associations consumers connect to the brand.

Fiduciary component of brand

Trust and confirmed expectations that the brand will deliver what it promises.

Brand functions for customers

Assurance, orientation, playfulness, personalization, and practicality.

Brand functions for manufacturers

Capitalization, positioning, and protection.

Search goods

Products consumers can evaluate before buying, such as clothing, groceries, and furniture.

Experience goods

Products consumers must try before judging quality, such as restaurants, hotels, and streaming services.

Credence goods

Products consumers may not be able to fully judge even after buying, such as insurance, medical, or financial services.

Why brands matter for experience and credence goods

Consumers rely on brand reputation because quality is hard to judge.

Brand equity

The added value a brand gives to a product or service.

Aaker’s brand equity categories

Awareness, perceived quality, loyalty, brand associations, and exclusive brand resources.

Brand awareness

How well consumers recognize or remember a brand.

Perceived quality

The consumer’s belief about the quality of a brand.

Brand loyalty

Repeated preference for the same brand over competitors.

Brand associations

Ideas, emotions, images, or meanings connected to a brand.

Exclusive brand resources

Assets like patents, trademarks, and exclusive channels that protect brand value.

Keller Brand Equity Pyramid

A model showing how brand equity builds from awareness to loyalty.