Knowledge about Microeconomics and Management can be helpful for a better understanding of the topics discussed in this course.

The course is aimed at providing students with knowledge and tools to understand the social and economic changes worldwide and define effective international marketing strategies.

At the end of the course, the student will acquire the ability to analyze the factors affecting country choice, foreign demand and local competitors, entry modes and positioning. Indeed, students will acquire the competences to deal with product and brand strategy as well as communication and sales policies.

The knowledge acquired will make students able to

• interpret economic and social changes in different countries and their impact on the company's strategy;
• use theories and tools for analyzing and choosing foreign markets;
• international product management between adaptation and standardization;
• misure advantages and disadvantages of entry modes and distribution channels;
• consider price strategy effectiveness;
• identify communication strategy and media/web tools;
• develop critical thinking and problem solving skills in evaluating international strategies;
• work in team, share knowledge and absorb new knowledge and methods.

In order to face the economic and social changes worldwide, companies have to know how to analyze changes and adapt marketing to new competitive scenarios by defining new strategic paths.

The course analyses the international marketing strategies to make companies competitive in the global marketplace. Even though marketing principles are universally applicable, environmental factors and marketing plans can change dramatically from country to country.

The course is therefore aimed at providing knowledge about some critical issues, like country choice, foreign country entry, market segmentation and targeting, and international marketing mix to make products suitable to foreign consumers (product management and branding, pricing, promotion and distribution channels).

The contents of this course include the following topics:

Part I - The international marketing environment

International marketplace

Economic environment

Trade policy and institutions

Cultural environment

Legal and political environment

Emerging markets

Part II - International market entry

Strategic planning

Research process

Market analysis and segmentation

Market entry and expansion

Part III - Developing global marketing strategies

Global product management and branding

International logistics and material management

Global pricing

Integrated marketing communication and web marketing

Channel distribution and international sales management

(A) Philip Cateora, John Graham, Mary Gilly, Bruce Money and Graham Cateora (2024), International Marketing, 19th Edition, McGraw Hill Education, UK.

(C) Michael R. Czinkota, Ilkka A. Ronkainen and Annie Cui (2023), International Marketing, 11th Edition, Cengage, Indipendence, KY, United States.

Slides and in-depth readings will be provided to students.

• The course's teaching method follows both a theoretical approach - aimed at providing understaning and knowledge about international marketing strategies - and an empirical approach through assignments and case studies submitted to students during the course.

  Lectures are interactive and aimed at developing critical thinking and class discussion.

  During the course students will work in group to develop a project work, aimed at analyzing the international strategies of a company, and will make their presentation at the end of the course.

  The course includes follow-up seminars by involving managers, professionals and economic operators.

  
  

• The student's assessment is based on two parts: the project work and the final exam.

  
  

  • The project work is a teamwork, where each student develops a specific task in analyzing a session of a significant business case study. Group members will present the results of their project in class at the end of the course. Students have to write an essay about the project's contents, which will be submitted when they make their presentation. The project work assessment concerns both the essay and the presentation (speech clarity, terminology, accuracy and coherence of the topics). The projecy work is evaluated out of thirty (30/30) and affects the student's overall evaluation for 30%.
  • The final exam is a written test with open-ended and multiple choice questions. The exam is aimed at verifying the level of knowledge about international marketing issues and their interrelations as well as the acquisition of an appropriate terminology in this field. The grade is expressed out of thirty (30/) and affects 70% of the overall evaluation.

  
  

  The grade (coming from project work and written test) will then be averaged with the grade achieved in module B of the course. Therefore, the overall mark can be recorded only when the student has passed the exam about both modules.

  The exam of module A and module B must be attended in the same day. If the student fails the exam about one of the two modules, she/he can apply for other calls as long as they belong to the same exam session. Otherwise, the grade of the module passed will no longer be valid and the student will have to take both tests again.

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