Country notebook example

Mkt 404 International Marketing the Country Notebook-

A Guide for Developing a Marketing Plan

Introduction

For the final project you will conduct the planning process for developing a Country Notebook. The goal of creating a country notebook is to conduct numerous areas of research to prepare your company to enter that market, as well as to see if your product will be a good fit/successful in that country/region.

You will choose a company, product and country to enter. Your research will be a bit easier if you choose an existing product/company. You may not choose a product that has already been introduced to the chosen country.

The data collected in the cultural analysis section of the country notebook includes information that helps the marketer make market planning decisions. However, its application extends beyond product and market analysis to being an important source of information for someone interested in understanding business customs and other important cultural features of the country.

The information in this analysis must be more than a collection of facts. Whoever is responsible for the preparation of this material should attempt to interpret the meaning of the cultural information. That is, how does the information help in understanding the effect on the market? For example, the fact that almost all populations of Italy and Mexico are Catholic is an interesting statistic but not nearly as useful as understanding the effect of Catholicism on values, beliefs, and other aspects of market behavior. Furthermore even though both countries are predominantly Catholic, the influence of their individual and unique interpretation and practice of Catholicism can result in important differences in market behavior.

Reference: Cateora, P., Gilly, M., & Graham, J. (2014). International marketing (17th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin.

Activity Instructions

You may work in teams of up to four students.

Minimum of 10 scholarly resources for the final project

Once you have chosen a company, a product and a country and it has been approved, you will write a country notebook. See the Country Notebook Writing Guide (p. 613 in your textbook and linked above) as a reference.

The minimum requirements for the 15-page paper are:

Part One (Presentation 1)

1. Cover page

2. Table of contents

3. Introduction

A) What company (Our Company is kingdom Dates Co. http://www.kingdomdates.com.sa)

B) The product to be exported (All kinds of dates)

C) The country with which you wish to trade (Indonesian)

4. Company Profile (Origins, History, Etc.)

5. Country:

a. Brief discussion of the country's history

b. Geographical setting: location and climate

c. Population

d. Economic Statistics & Activity (GNP/GDP etc.)

e. Trade Restrictions

f. Channels of Distribution

g. Media