Globalization is the growing interdependence of national economies – involving primarily
customers， producers， suppliers and governments in different markets. Global marketing
therefore reflects the trend of firms selling and distributing products and services in many
countries around the world. It is associated with governments reducing trade and investment
barriers， firms manufacturing in multiple countries and foreign firms increasingly competing
in domestic markets.
For many years， the globalization of markets， caused by the convergence of tastes across
borders， was thought to result in very large multinational enterprises that could use their
advantages in scale economies to introduce world-standardized products successfully.
In his famous 1994 book， The Global Paradox， John Naisbitt has contradicted this myth，
especially the last part:1
The mindset that in a huge global economy the multinationals dominate world business
couldn’t have been more wrong. The bigger and more open the world economy
becomes， the more small and middle-sized companies will dominate. In one of the
major turn-arounds in my lifetime， we have moved from ‘economies of scale’ to ‘diseconomies
of scale’; from bigger is better to bigger is inefficient， costly and wastefully
bureaucratic， inflexible and， now， disastrous. And the paradox that has occurred is， as
we move to the global context: the smaller and speedier players will prevail on a much
expanded field.
When the largest corporations (e.g. IBM， ABB) downsize， they are seeking to emulate the
entrepreneurial behaviour of successful SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) where
the implementation phase plays a more important role than in large companies. Since the
behaviours of smaller and (divisions of) larger firms (according to the above quotation)
are convergent， the differences in the global marketing behaviour between SMEs and LSEs
(large-scale enterprises) are slowly disappearing. What is happening is that the LSEs are
downsizing and decentralizing their decision-making process. The result will be a more
decision- and action-oriented approach to global marketing. This approach will also characterize
this book.
In light of their smaller size， most SMEs lack the capabilities， market power and other
resources of traditional multinational LSEs. Compared with the resource-rich LSEs， the
complexities of operating under globalization are considerably more difficult for the SME.
The success of SMEs under globalization depends in large part on the decision and implementation
of the right international marketing strategy.
The primary role of marketing management， in any organization， is to design and execute
effective marketing programmes that will pay off. Companies can do this in their home
market or they can do it in one or more international markets. Going international is an
enormously expensive exercise， in terms of both money and， especially， top management
time and commitment. Due to the high cost， going international must generate added value
for the company beyond extra sales. In other words， the company needs to gain a competitive
advantage by going international. So， unless the company gains by going international，
it should probably stay at home.
1Naisbitt， J. (1994) The Global Paradox， Nicholas Brealey Publishing， London， p. 17.
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