My academic experience taking a four-week intensive course at University of Nebrija was nothing short of amazing. While in Madrid, I had the opportunity of to take two business classes: International Business and International Trade Marketing.
My International Business class was different than any international business class I have taken before. It had a strong focus on cultural boundaries and differences highlighting the key challenges associated with entering a new business or product to international markets. The class was taught from the perspective of American nationals entering foreign markets and I thought this was interesting as I was able to contribute my perspective and background knowledge to the class. Furthermore, expanding on the lectures, this class required a case group project where we were required to introduce and American company to any foreign market. We were warned that this would be a challenge because most American businesses fail abroad as they do not consider the parameters or deeper cultural differences as they relate to business. One of the biggest assumptions made by domestic firms entering to market is that they often believe that their business practices and model are the “universal standard” of success. This is most likely never the case. We see this with the case of Starbucks entering the Australian market. Starbucks failed entering the Australian market because they essentially did not understand the cultural differences and consumer preferences in the new market they were entering. One of their biggest downfalls was their inability to recognize that just because Australians spoke English as their primary language, there were key differences in their consumer profiles that were not in alignment with the Starbucks store concepts they were establishing abroad. Australians did not value the traditional American Starbucks product offerings because the coffee offerings were too sugary. We learn that Australian consumers preferred less sugary options and more of a local coffee shop ambience as they have long history of coffee shops. With this, my group decided to launch Gopuff in Canada due to the similarities of the economic market and their cultural blend and some dependence on American market generally. This was an exciting project that I found very rewarding and relevant today.
The International Trade Marketing class was also one of my favorite marketing classes as it offered a more current and real-world application of marketing as our professor was able to exemplify and support her teachings with her direct experiences working as a Marketing Director at Kellogg’s in Spain. This class also required a case presentation creating a marketing plan for the introduction of an American firm to a new country. My group decided to introduce High Noon, the hard seltzer company, in Mexico. This project was very interesting as we identified an interesting opportunity when entering this product to Mexican market from performing extensive strategic analysis. Overall, I learned a lot from this class and I have new appreciation for international marketing.
Published by
Source link
All Materials on this website/blog are only for Learning & Educational purposes. It is strictly recommended to buy the products from the original owner/publisher of these products. Our intention is not to infringe any copyright policy. If you are the copyright holder of any of the content uploaded on this site and don’t want it to be here. Instead of taking any other action, please contact us. Your complaint would be honored, and the highlighted content will be removed instantly.