business analytics
the knowledge, skills, and technology that allow for the exploration and investigation into business strategies and activities to gain insight and drive future strategy development and implementation
- 3 types (descriptive, predictive, prescriptive)
descriptive analytics
simple statistics (demographics, market share and trends)
predictive analytics
advanced statistical techniques to identify and build predictive models to identify trends and relationships (cause and effect, market sizing etc)
prescriptive analytics
management science (applied mathematical techniques)- how to best use resources
the marketing mix
the choices the firm offers to its targeted market (is comprised of the 4Ps)
the 4 Ps
Product- product attributes
Place- distribution strategy
Promotion- communication strategy
Price- pricing strategy
market segmentation
- identifying distinct groups of consumers whose purchasing behavior differs from others in important ways
- segments- purchasing/needs and wants are similar
- segmentation by:
- geography: urban/rural, country
- demography: gender, age, education
- sociocultural factors: social class, values, lifestyle
- psychological factors: personality
summarize localization strategies and why it makes sense to vary products from country to country
*the current consensus is that while the world is moving towards global markets, global standardization is not possible because of these things:
- cultural differences among nations (product, promotion)
- economic differences among nations (pricing)
- infrastructure, trade barriers- distribution (place)
- differences in product and technical standards (product, price)
the differences between countries in the structure of market segments:
- may have to develop a unique marekting mix to appeal to a certain segment in a given country
- ikea store design in china
the existence of segments that transcend national borders
- when segments transcend national borders (known as intermarket segments) a global stratey is possible
- example ikea in europe
distribution strategy
- the means the firm chooses for delivering the product to the consumer
- depends on market-entry strategy
- firms that produce locally: sell directly to consumer, retailer, or wholesaler
- firms that produce outside of the country may also sell to an import agent (utalize export agent)
retail concentration (recall why and how firms distribution strategy might vary among countries)
- concentrated retail system has a few retailers (developed countries)- like walmart (short channels)
- fragmented retail systems (has many (developing countries) none of which has a major share of the market- like mom and pop retailers (long channels)
channel length
- number of intermediaries
- short channel: sells directly to the consumer (developed countries/concentrated systems)- or maybe one middleman
- long channel: has many intermediaries- import agent, wholesaler, retailer (developing countries and fragmented systems)- require a few middleman to help get product to market
channel exclusivity
how difficult for outsiders to access the channel (Mcdonlds only using coke products not pepsi)
- japan’s system is very exclusive
- relationships and history
channel quality
- expertise, competencies and skills of established retailers and their ability to sell and support the products of international businesses
- good quality:generally developed countries and varies in emerging markets
- firms may devote considerable resources to upgrade channel quality
example: how apple does their stores
distribution- channel quality example apple
- expertise- education
- competencies- customer support
- skills of established retailers
- ability to sell and support products
- point of sale for new or sophisticated products
communication channels available to a firm include (why and how promotional strategies might vary among countries)
- direct selling- sales people
- sales promotion- media and non-media marketing
- direct marketing- communicate directly with consumers
- advertising- paid promotional communication
when looking at different communication channels, need to be mindful of:
cultural barriers
source and country of origin effects
noise levels
cultural barriers
difficult to communicate messages cross culture
- local input and cross cultural literacy (need to develop these so we can make certain we communicate effective and are respectful)
source and country of origin effects
- source effects- status and image of message sender (football player taking about insurance aka likeable and image reflects positively)
- country of origin effects- place of manufacturing influences product evaluation (french wine vs. polish wine)
noise levels
- competitive messages
- mindful of what competition is doing in international markets so we can plan the quantity of ads necessary to overcome competitive messages
two communication strategies
- push strategy
- pull strategy
push strategy
- emphasizes personal selling (business-to-business relationships)
- industrial products or complex products
- short distribution channels
- few print or electronic media
- “pushing” our product on to the consumer
pull strategy
- emphasizes mass media advertising (an ad pulling you into the store to purchase)
- long distribution channels
- sufficient print or electronic media to carry the message
