Phases of International Marketing Involvement

1) No direct foreign : This first phase depicts a situation where a firm like Diagold Designers, Abia Nigeria sends a consignment of products to trading companies in Mali or other prospective customers without active solicitation by the customers there. On the other hand, numerous customers of diagold designers may on their own send products made bt the company without its knowledge to the foreign market in the same vain, an unsolicited order from a foreign buyer could be responded to. This scenario is what usually arouses the interest of a firm to test the waters of a foreign market.

2) Infrequent Foreign Market : At this level, variations in production and demand in the domestic market may lead to temporary surpluses. And using the same firm to illustrate this development could lead to infrequent marketing in the foreign markets by siagold designers. Here, sales can only be made as the products are available with little or no intention of maintaining a continuous market representation. Foreign marketing activities are withdrawn as soon as domestic demands increases to absorb surpluses. The organisation and the company product line remains unchanged.

3) Regular Foreign Marketing : When diagold designers now develops a permanent production capacity devoted to the making of garments to be marketed on a continuous basis in foreign markets,it could rightly be said that the firm is at the stage of regular foreign marketing. One of the strategies may be to employ the services of foreign or domestic middlemen or build its own sales force or sales subsidiaries in targeted foreign markets. At this period, the focus on production run is to meet domestic market demands. Further more, investment in manufacturing and or assembly marketing, and management effort overseas becomes a task for the firm. Here also some product  may be adapted to meet the needs of the individuals foreign markets.pricing strategy and profit speculation equates with the domestic market while profit made overseas become a dependable profit centre.

4) International Marketing : Firms in this stage of involvement are fully commuted in international marketing activities. They exploit marketing opportunities throughout the world with strategic production runs to cater for each prospective market. The production facilities could also be built in any part of the world as the company becomes an international or multinational marketing firm depending fully on foreign revenues. Coca-cola, Nestle etchave developed to this stage with full representation in many countries of the world.

5) Global Marketing : Companies that operates at this global marketing level treat the entire world including their home market as one homogeneous market. A firm with a global strategy and out look adopts standardization of its business process as reflected in the legendary 4ps to meet the needs of consumers across the world in order to maximize return on investment. This is in total contrast to the multinational companies approach that sees the world as consisting of series of distinct markets ( their home markets inclusive) with identifiable sets of market characteristics which requires the crafting of different marketing strategies.