Abstract
A company that engages in global marketing focuses its resources on global market opportunities and threats. Successful global marketers such as Nestlé, Coca-Cola and Honda use familiar marketing mix elements – the 4 PS – to create global marketing programs. Marketing, R&D, manufacturing and other activities comprise a firm's value chain; firms configure these activities to create superior customer value on a global basis. Global companies also maintain strategic focus while relentlessly pursuing competitive advantage. The marketing mix, value chain, competitive advantage, and focus are universal in their applicability, irrespective of whether a company does business only in the home country or has a presence in many markets around the world. However, in a global industry, companies that fail to pursue global opportunities risk being pushed aside by stronger global competitors.
A firm's global marketing strategy (GMS) can enhance its worldwide performance. The GMS addresses chiefly 3 basic issues. 1. The nature of the marketing program in terms of the balance between a standardization approach to the marketing mix elements and a localization (adaptation) approach that is responsive to country or regional differences.2. The concentration of marketing activities in a few countries or the dispersal of such activities across many countries. 3. The pursuit of global marketing activities requires cross-border coordination of marketing activities
