CHAPTER 7
Developing Products for the Foreign Market LET EVERY MAN — CERVANTES
MIND HIS OWN BUSINESS.
(and its various market segments) has its own way of viewing the goods and services offered to it by international marketeers. Even in domestic markets, a product could do very well in one region and get a middling reception by another less than 100 miles away. When marketing entails a movement across national borders, the differences will be more dramatic (even when the nations share a language, climate, or geography). A good example of this disparity can be seen in national cuisine. Why are the Belgians beer drinkers and the French wine fanatics? Why does China have a long history of complex cooking while Russia makes do with much plainer fare? While neighbors Argentina and Chile both have lengthy coastlines, large fishing fleets, and thriving cattle industries, why is it that the former’s menus concentrate on beef while the latter favors seafood and chicken? If these examples of cuisine are any indication, crossing a border with a product is almost like cooking from scratch.
EVERY NATION
Carrying an Established Product Across Borders There are many reasons to consider breaking out of your domestic market and selling across borders. The following section discusses many of the possible motivations. SATURATION
Finding that the home market has peaked and is now saturated with your product is the most common reason for focusing a marketing effort overseas. Although true saturation is rarely achieved, it’s sometimes easier to penetrate foreign markets than new domestic ones, especially if you operate in a large country. Moscow businesses find it easier, and more lucrative, to sell products in eastern Europe than they do in far-flung Vladivostok. DECLINING INTEREST
Every product has a life span in a particular market before it’s overtaken by new or improved products, which are often developed internally (e.g., Windows superseded by Vista). The original product, whose development costs have long since been recouped, may still be useful in markets untouched by the original product line. Much of the West’s technology was given just such a new “product cycle” in the emerging markets, some of which are decades behind in technical
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