International Marketing

The main focus of this project is to develop an international marketing plan to launch an existing Qatari brand on a foreign market where it is not present yet.

I.             Choosing a brand for your project

When selecting the brand for which you will develop the international marketing plan you should consider the following:

• The brand should be Qatari. Exceptionally, you can choose a non-Qatari brand that originates from another GCC country, but you should first get the approval of your instructor in this case.
• The brand’s main products should be tangible goods (not services or ideas).
• The brand can already have international presence (i.e. distributed outside Qatar), as long as it is not distributed in the countries that you will research for your project.
• The brand of your choice should have a strategic advantage and potential to compete on international markets and attract foreign consumers.

II.      Project outline

The marketing plan will revolve around the three following parts.

Part 1 (2 pages single spaced): A brief analysis of the chosen brand and its current marketing

This part should include the following:

• A brief history of the chosen brand

• If the brand is already distributed on foreign markets (i.e. outside Qatar), this paragraph should also include a brief summary of its internationalization history
  • The target market of the brand and its brand positioning on the Qatari market
  • A brief description of the product strategy of the brand on the Qatari market:
  • What is the current product range and how is it organized (i.e. in terms of product lines)
  • What are the main benefits offered by these products
  • What additional products/services, if applicable, are associated with the core products of the brand (e.g. warranties, training, installation, etc.)
  • A brief description of the pricing strategy of the brand on the Qatari market:
    • What are the current prices for your product range
    • What are the underlying pricing objectives and strategies
  • A brief description of the promotion strategy of the brand on the Qatari market:
    • What are the promotional objectives
    • What are the main elements of the promotional mix of the brand
    • What is (are) the main message(s) in the company’s current communication
  • A brief description of the distribution strategy of the brand on the Qatari market:
    • What distribution channels are used by the company for this brand
    • Where is the brand mainly distributed in terms of outlets
  • The conclusions can you draw from this marketing audit:
    • Summarize the key strengths, weaknesses and challenges of the brand regarding its internationalization project
    • Draw clear recommendations to address these challenges

PS: This part should be based on strong marketing research and supported by credible data.

Part 2 (2 pages single spaced): Choice of a foreign market and market analysis

This part should include the following:

• Choice of a foreign market where the brand is not present yet. For the current project, you are required to target a member country of the European Union. You will describe in your report the following elements:

• The market selection process that you have used when choosing this country. You should clearly highlight in your description of the process the market selection criteria that you have used and why you have chosen these criteria.
• How does the market of your choice comply with these criteria.
  • Analysis of the relevant marketing environment of the chosen market in terms of the Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Ecological and Legal forces. Remember that you should mainly identify the factors and forces within these categories that can have an impact on your marketing plan.
  • Analysis of the competitive environment for your brand on the selected market. Remember that your competitive analysis should include all the relevant competitive forces and not only the direct competitors.
  • Analysis of the market size and potential. You should describe here the target market for the brand within the new country both quantitatively (e.g. size of the target market, demographics, income, etc.) and qualitatively (e.g. needs and benefits, behaviors towards the product category, etc.).
  • The conclusions can you draw from the study of the chosen market:
    • Summarize the key opportunities, threats and challenges that the brand will face when entering this market
    • Draw clear recommendations to address these challenges

PS: This part should be based on strong marketing research and supported by credible data.

Part 3 (3 pages single spaced): The adaptation of the marketing startegy to the new country

This phase should include the following:

• Your positioning:

• Do you need to modify your positioning in the new market and why?
• In this case what is your new positioning?
  • Your product strategy:
• Will you launch your products under the same brand name? Will you modify any other elements of your branding? And why?
• How will your product be better than the existing competition (if any)?
• Will you make any modifications to the product attributes and features? And why?
• Will you make any modifications on the product range? And why?
• Will you make any modifications to the additional products/services associated with the core products of the brand? And why?
  • Your pricing strategy:
• What are your pricing objectives and strategies on the new market?
• What factors are particularly important for your pricing strategy on this market?
• Provide your prices vs. those of comparable products on the market
  • Your promotion strategy:
• What are your promotional objectives for the launching of the brand on the new market?
• What will be your key advertising message.
• What elements of the promotional mix will you use and why?
  • Your distribution strategy:
• What distribution channels will you use on the new market and why?
  • Conclusions and a brief presentation of the key recommendations for the future development of the brand on the chosen market

III.      Important deliverables and deadlines

Students are to form groups of 5 members. Every group should have a leader who will be in charge of the communication with the instructor, mainly for the submission of the reports. The groups should be formed by the end of the third week of the semester.

When communicating the names of the group members, each group will also submit the name of the brand chosen for the project, with a short description of the brand and the reason behind your choice (not more than one page). After the instructor approves the brand choice, the team can proceed with the project.

Each report should cover all the points indicated above in the project outline. In addition, each report should also include:

• A cover page, including the University name and logo; the company/brand name and logo, the title of the project phase, the names of all the group members and their IDs (specifying the group leader), the name of the course, the section and instructor, as well as the semester of submission

• A table of contents with page numbers. It should be included just after the cover page.
• An executive summary of no longer than one page, summarizing the key points of the report
• References
• Appendix (for instance, detailed data collected on the country, the market, etc.)

Late Assignments will not be accepted.

IV.       Grading

The list of topics in the project outline is an expectation and will form the grading criteria in every phase.

Special attention will be given to:

• The consistency within every part
• The consistency of every part with the preceding part.
• The credibility of the data and the quality of the underlying marketing research
• The quality of the recommendations (i.e. specific, applicable, realistic and objective, consistent)

Failing to abide by the aforementioned guidelines for the report format (i.e. cover page, executive summary, references, etc.) will also lead to grade penalties.

V.           References

Regarding Part 1 of the project, you are strongly advised to refer to your course notes for Principles of Marketing as well as to the related textbook:

• Kerin, Hartley, and Rudelius, Marketing. McGraw Hill. 2013.

You will also find valuable information for your international marketing research on the following web links.

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