International Banking & Finance

Course Project 4

For course project number four I picked Marketing your Products by Mr. Jeffrey P. Graham as my article of interest. I chose this article because marketing is one of the most important aspects of business. A good marketing program can make a company very successful and without one, a company may not be able to survive in the market place. The focus of this article is on import-export marketing. After a basic overview the article started with a look at how international trade is facilitated. In this section knowledge of trade regulations was very important. Trade intermediaries or “middlemen” were introduced. The article clarified the misnomer that intermediaries find both the buyer and seller and bring them together for a commission. In reality, the intermediaries work solely for the buyer or seller. This section of the article also outlined the two types of import-export transaction. The first type being distributor/intermediary purchases, the second being sourcing and procurement buying.

I found the part of the article on identifying foreign customers very informative. It explained how difficult this task can be. Even with the help of the World Wide Web this task still proves to be a challenge. The main problem with the web is the vast amount of information that is present. The challenge is in assimilating the large amount of information into the business enterprise.

The article concluded by outlining some of the success factor involved in international marketing. Budgeting was an important factor this involved having enough money set aside to meet the goals of the business. The next important factor involved the localization of the product or service to the taste of the perspective clients. This section ended by high lighting the final factors of excellent quality, collateral materials, and placing the internet in its proper perspective.

As a whole the article did a good job of explaining international marketing and...