GLOBAL MARKETS

Global marketing is a firm's ability to market to almost all countries on

the planet. With extensive reach, the need for a firm's product or services is
established. The global firm retains the capability, reach, knowledge, staff,
skills, insights, and expertise to deliver value to customers worldwide. The
firm understands the requirement to service customers locally with global
standard solutions or products, and localizes that product as required to
maintain an optimal balance of cost, efficiency, customization and
localization in a control-customization range to best meet local, national and
global requirements to position itself against or with competitors, partners,
alliances, substitutes and defend against new global and local market
entrants per country, region or city. The firm will price its products
appropriately worldwide, nationally and locally, and promote, deliver access
and information to its customers in the most cost-effective way. The firm also
needs to understand, research, measure and develop loyalty for its brand
and global brand equity (stay on brand) for the long term.
At this level, global marketing and global branding are integrated.
Branding involves a structured process of analyzing "soft" assets and "hard"
assets of a firm's resources. The strategic analysis and development of a
brand includes customer analysis (trends, motivation, unmet needs,
segmentation), competitive analysis (brand image/brand identity, strengths,
strategies, vulnerabilities), and self-analysis (existing brand image, brand
heritage, strengths/capabilities, organizational values)
A global marketing and branding implementation system distributes
marketing assets (website, social media, Google PPC, PDFs, sales collateral,
press junkets, kits, product samples, news releases, local mini-sites, flyers,
posters, alliance and partner materials, affiliate programs and materials,
internal communications, newsletters, investor materials, event promotions
and trade shows to deliver an integrated, comprehensive and focused
communication, access and value to the customers, that can be tracked to
build loyalty, case studies and further establish the company's global
marketing and brand footprint.
MARKETS AND BUYERS
Markets can be more tightly defined as people who have a true need or
want for the companys offering, the ability to pay for it, and the willingness
and authority to buy it. A buyer a party which acquires, or agrees

to acquire, ownership (in case of goods), or benefit or usage (in case

of services), in exchange for money or other consideration under a contract
of sale. It also called purchaser. See also customer. It can also be
a purchaser specializing in a specific group of materials, goods, or services,
and experienced in market analysis, purchase negotiations, bulk buying,
and delivery coordination.
The total number of buyers must be large enough to be profitable for the
company. A market is one of the many varieties
of systems, institutions, procedures, social
relations and infrastructures whereby parties engage in exchange. While
parties may exchange goods and services by barter, most markets rely on
sellers offering their goods or services (including labor) in exchange
for money from buyers. It can be said that a market is the process by which
the prices of goods and services are established. Markets facilitate trade and
enable the distribution and allocation of resources in a society. Markets allow
any trade-able item to be evaluated and priced. A market emerges more or
less spontaneously or may be constructed deliberately by human interaction
in order to enable the exchange of rights of services and goods.
Markets can differ by products (goods and services) or factors (labor
and capital) sold, product differentiation, place in which exchanges are
carried, buyers targeted, duration, selling process, government regulation,
taxes, subsidies, minimum wages, prices ceilings, legality of exchange,
liquidity, intensity of speculation, size, concentration, information
asymmetry, relative prices, volatility and geographic extension.
In mainstream economics, the concept of a market is any structure
that allows buyers and sellers to exchange any type of goods, services
and information. The exchange of goods or services, with or without money,
is a transaction. Market participants consist of all the buyers and sellers of
a good who influence its price, which is a major topic of study
of economics and has given rise to several theories and models concerning
the basic market forces of supply and demand. A major topic of debate is
how much a given market can be considered to be a "free market", that is
free from government intervention. Microeconomics traditionally focuses on
the study of market structure and the efficiency of market equilibrium, when
the latter (if it exists) is not efficient, then economists say that a market
failure has occurred. However it is not always clear how the allocation of

resources can be improved since there is always the possibility

of government failure.
CONSUMER MARKETS, BUSINESS MARKETS AND GOVERNMENT
MARKETS
The micro environment refers to the business itself and to all the
challenges that come from inside the business. Businesses can therefore
take control over all the challenges and influences in the micro environment.
Sometimes, the micro environment is also known as the internal
environment. The micro environment refers to the forces that are close to the
company and affect its ability to serve its customers. It includes the
company itself, its suppliers, marketing intermediaries, customer markets
and public.
Marketing intermediaries refers to resellers, physical distribution firms,
marketing services agencies, and financial intermediaries. These are the
people that help the company promote, sell, and distribute its products to
final buyers. Resellers are those that hold and sell the companys product.
They match the distribution to the customers and include places such
as Wal-Mart, Target, and Best Buy. Physical distribution firms are places such
as warehouses that store and transport the companys product from its origin
to its destination. Marketing services agencies are companies that offer
services such as conducting marketing research, advertising, and consulting.
Financial intermediaries are institutions such as banks, credit companies
and insurance companies.
Another aspect of micro-environment is the customer market. There
are different types of customer markets including consumer markets,
business markets, government markets, international markets, and reseller
markets.
The consumer market is made up of individuals who buy goods and
services for their own personal use or use in their household. It is dominated
by products and services designed for the general consumer. Consumer
markets are typically split into four primary categories: consumer
products, food and beverage products, retail products,
and transportation products. Industries in the consumer markets often have
to deal with shifting brand loyalties and uncertainty about the future
popularity of products and services.

Business markets include those that buy goods and services for use in
producing their own products to sell. This is different from the reseller market
which includes businesses that purchase goods to resell as is for a profit.
These are the same companies mentioned as market intermediaries.
Marketplaces where organizations purchase raw materials, natural
resources and components of other products for their resale or for use
in manufacturing another product. Business markets are generally made up
of businesses which buy products and raw materials for their own operation.
The government market consists of government agencies that buy
goods to produce public services or transfer goods to others who need them.
International markets include buyers in other countries and includes
customers from the previous categories. Competitors are also a factor in the
micro-environment and include companies with similar offerings for goods
and services. To remain competitive a company must consider who their
biggest competitors are while considering its own size and position in the
industry. The company should develop a strategic advantage over their
competitors. In the United States, the government market spends the
most money of any other consuming group, and so presents an
attractive marketing target for some businesses, although it can involve
filling out considerable paperwork and other significant challenges.