Definition of marketing research

Marketing research is the function that links the consumer, customer, and public to the marketing through information-information used to identify and define marketing opportunities and problems; generate, refine, and evaluate marketing actions; monitor marketing performance; and improve understanding of marketing as a process.

Marketing research specifies the information required to address these issues, designs the method for collecting information, manages and implements the data collection process, analyzes the results, and communicates the findings and their implications.

Marketing research is the systematic and objective identification, collection, analysis, dissemination, and use of information for the purpose of improving decision making related to the identification and solution of problems and opportunities in marketing.

Marketing research is the systematic gathering, recording, and analysis of data about issues relating to marketing products and services.


Marketing research are often confused. 'Market' research is simply research into a specific market. It is a very narrow concept. 'Marketing' research is much broader. It not only includes 'market' research, but also areas such as research into new products, or modes of distribution such as via the Internet. 


Marketing research is the function that links the consumer, customer, and public to the marketer through information - information used to identify and define marketing opportunities and problems; generate, refine, and evaluate marketing actions; monitor marketing performance; and improve understanding of marketing as a process. Marketing research specifies the information required to address these issues, designs the methods for collecting information, manages and implements the data collection process, analyzes, and communicates the findings and their implications.

The Marketing research proces

We conceptualize the marketing research process as consisting of six steps. Each of these steps is discussed in great details in the subsequent chapters; thus the discussion here is brief.

Step 1: Problem Definition

The first step in any marketing research project is to define the problem. In defining the problem, the researcher should take into account the purpose of the study, the relevant background information, the information needed, and how it will be used in decision makers, interviews with industry experts, analysis of second data, and perhaps, some qualitative research, such as focus groups. Once the problem has been precisely defined, the research can be designed and conducted properly.

Step 2: Development of an Approach to the problem

Development of an approach to the problem includes formulating an objective or theoretical framework, analytical models, research questions, and hypotheses and identifying the information needed. This process is guided by discussions with management and industry experts, analysis of secondary data, qualitative research, and pragmatic considerations.

Step 3: Research Design Formulation

A research design is a framework or blueprint for conducting the marketing research project. It details the procedures necessary for obtaining the required information, and its purpose is to design a study that will test the hypotheses of interest, determine possible answers to the research questions, and provide the information needed for decision making. Conducting exploratory research, precisely defining the variables, and designing appropriate scales to measure them are also a part of the research design. The issue of how the data should be obtained from the respondents (for example, by conducting a survey or an experiment) must be addressed. It is also necessary to design a questionnaire and a sampling plan to select respondents for the study. More formerly, formulating the research design involves the following steps:

-Definition of the information needed

-Secondary data analysis

-Qualitative research

-Methods of collecting quantitative data

-Measurement and scaling procedures

-Questionnaire design

-Sampling process and sample size

-Plan of data analysis

Step 4: Fieldwork or Data Collection

Data collection involves a field force of staff that operates either in the field, as in the case of personal interviewing (in-home, mall intercept, or computer-assisted personal interviewing) , from an office by telephone (telephone or computer-assisted telephone interviewing), or electronically (e-mail or Internet). Proper selection, training, supervision, and evaluation of the field force help minimize data-collection errors.

Step 5: Data Preparation and Analysis

Data preparation includes the editing, coding, transcription, and verification of data. Each questionnaire or observation form id inspected or edited and, if necessary, corrected. Number or letter codes are assigned to represent each response to each question in the questionnaire. The data from the questionnaires are transcribed or keypunched onto magnetic tape or disks, or input directly into the computer. The data are analyzed to derive information related to the components of the marketing research problem and, thus, to provide input into the management decision problem.

Step 6: Report Preparation and Presentation

The entire project should be documented in a written report that addresses the specific research questions identified; describes the approach, the research design, data collection, and data analysis procedures adopted; and present the results and the major findings. The findings should be presented in a comprehensible format so that management can readily use them in the decision-making process. In addition, an oral presentation should be made to management using tables, figures and graphs to enhance clarity and impact. The internet is also being used to disseminate marketing research results and reports which can be posted on the Web and made available to managers on a worldwide basis.

The Limits to Global Marketing

There are four important limits on the degree to which a company should pursue global marketing.

-Negative industry drivers. Not all industries have the right characteristics for a global strategy. That is, the five “globalization drivers” (market, competition, cost, technology, and government) may not be conducive to a global approach. In particular, lack of homogeneous markets and persistent differences in customer preferences across countries may prohibit globalization of marketing.

-Lack of resources. Not all companies have the required resources (managerial, financial) to implement global marketing effectively. Instituting a global marketing strategy requires some financial resources up front for the necessary investment in advertising prototypes, platform designs, and global communication capabilities. Even more important, a global effort requires managers with international experience and the necessary temperament and administrative skills to deal with the unavoidable managerial conflicts and threats against morale at local units.

-Localized mix requirements. Not all marketing mix elements lend themselves to a global treatment. For example, while product design can often be uniform across several countries, language and cultural barriers make it difficult to standardize salesmanship.

-Antiglobalization threats. Close coordination of strategies across countries can make the firm more vulnerable to antiglobalization actions. As an extreme example, a firm that is not sensitive to local conditions will be a more likely target for terrorist activities.

Advantages and disadvantages of online marketing

Advantages:

Global reach of the business: Internet advertising ensures that your business is marketed globally and is not confined to any specific region. Local reach of the business means lesser exposure, while global reach means global exposure. From an entrepreneur’s perspective, this is a golden opportunity to showcase his/her products and services to the world.

Internet marketing is great from the perspective of customers too, who can lay their hands on indigenous products from another continent, for example.

Cheaper investments: Internet marketing ventures are cheaper than conventional forms of business. This form of business is not really capital-intensive in nature and does not require huge investment as such. Thus, this provides just about every aspiring entrepreneur the opportunity to take a plunge without really worrying too much about losing capital. There are plenty of examples of entrepreneurs starting out humbly and making it big with Internet marketing.

Easy access to training: Aspiring entrepreneurs have an easy access to training on how to conduct business on Internet. The worldwide web is awash with training materials that are really helpful for aspiring entrepreneurs.

Disadvantages:

Attracting customers may not be easy: Making it big on the Internet becomes a lot easier when an entrepreneur has an access to techniques like article directory subscription and pay per click inclusions. An access to these techniques requires financial investments in varying degrees, which not every entrepreneur may be able to make. Until then, the entrepreneur may have to rely solely on cheaper options like SEO marketing. Obviously, the results will pour in slowly.

Possibility of fraud: The Internet is a place where it may be difficult at times to ascertain the identity and credentials of a potential customer. This could prove to be a big problem if not handled well. There are multiple instances of financial fraud where the victim was really unable to take any step purely because the identity of the fraudster could not be ascertained. Obviously, the entrepreneur needs to take every step very carefully.

The disadvantages must not deter any aspiring entrepreneur from taking to Internet marketing. The disadvantages can be worked out, and the positives in fact outweigh the negatives. Long term vision and well thought out strategies and their execution will be a sure-shot recipe for success in Internet marketing.

The Product Life Cycle

A new product progresses through a sequence of stages from introduction to growth, maturity, and decline. This sequence is known as the product life cycle and is associated with changes in the marketing situation, thus impacting the marketing strategy and the marketing mix.

The product revenue and profits can be plotted as a function of the life-cycle stages as shown in the graph below:

      Product Life Cycle Diagram    

Introduction Stage

In the introduction stage, the firm seeks to build product awareness and develop a market for the product. The impact on the marketing mix is as follows:

-Product branding and quality level is established and intellectual property protection such as patents and trademarks are obtained.

-Pricing may be low penetration pricing to build market share rapidly, or high skim pricing to recover development costs.

-Distribution is selective until consumers show acceptance of the product. Promotion is aimed at innovators and early adopters.

-Marketing communications seeks to build product awareness and to educate potential consumers about the product.

Growth Stage

In the growth stage, the firm seeks to build brand preference and increase market share.

-Product quality is maintained and additional features and support services may be added.

-Pricing is maintained as the firm enjoys increasing demand with little competition.

-Distribution channels are added as demand increases and customers accept the product.

-Promotion is aimed at a broader audience.

Maturity Stage

At maturity, the strong growth in sales diminishes. Competition may appear with similar products. The primary objective at this point is to defend market share while maximizing profit.

-Product features may be enhanced to differentiate the product from that of competitors.

-Pricing may be lower because of the new competition.

-Distribution becomes more intensive and incentives may be offered to encourage preference over competing products.

-Promotion emphasizes product differentiation.

Decline Stage

As sales decline, the firm has several options:

-Maintain the product, possibly rejuvenating it by adding new features and finding new uses.

-Harvest the product - reduce costs and continue to offer it, possibly to a loyal niche segment.

-Discontinue the product, liquidating remaining inventory or selling it to another firm that is willing to continue the product.

Definitions of marketing

There are many definitions of marketing. The better definitions are focused upon customer orientation and the satisfaction of customer needs:


Phillip kotler and Gray Armstrong says-"Marketing is the process by which the companies create value for customers and build strong customer relationships in order to capture value from customers in return."


Etzel, Walker and Stanton says-" Marketing is a total system of business activities designed to plan, price, promotion, distribute want-satisfying products to target markets to achieve organizational objectives."

Marketing is an activity. Marketing activities and strategies result in making products available that satisfy customers while making profits for the companies that offer those products.

Marketing is "the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.

Marketing is the social process by which individuals and organizations obtain what they need and want through creating and exchanging value with others.

Marketing is the management process for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably.

Marketing the all-embracing function that links the business with customer needs and wants in order to get the right product to the right place at the right time.

Marketing is the achievement of corporate goals through meeting and exceeding customer needs better than the competition.

Marketing is the management process that identifies anticipates and supplies customer requirements efficiently and profitably.

Marketing is may be defined as a set of human activities directed at facilitating and consummating exchanges.

Marketing is a business-wide function – it is not something that operates alone from other business activities.

Marketing is about understanding customers and finding ways to provide products or services which customers demand.

Types of Marketing

Lots of people are talking about all the new forms of marketing a company can pursue. It’s true, certain traditional marketing has been around for a long time and is still used today, but with the Internet now playing such a huge role in any company’s success, people are coming out with more and more ways to market their products or services. The more we thought about all the different varieties of marketing, the more we realized there are so many different ways to promote something. Here’s a list of marketing terms that we hope you find useful:


Internet Marketing

Internet marketing is any marketing strategy that takes place online. Also referred to as online marketing, it encompasses a variety of marketing forms like video advertisements, search engine marketing and e-mail marketing. It is the opposite of offline marketing, and can also fall under digital marketing.  Internet marketing needs a good approach in areas of design, development and advertising. A company with a total web site marketing plan will have more success online than one that has just designed a web site without thinking of how to market their company through it.

Offline Marketing

Offline marketing, the opposite of online marketing, includes all forms of marketing that aren’t done on the Internet. Examples of offline marketing are local advertising in newspapers and on television. In today’s marketing world, companies are finding ways to leverage their offline marketing campaigns with their online ones, making them complement each other.

Outbound Marketing

When you think of marketing, the different forms you come up with are mostly outbound marketing (also called traditional marketing). In fact, the majority of companies today are using different types of outbound marketing to reach their potential customers. Outbound marketing includes any marketing efforts that are taken to introduce a product or service to someone who isn’t looking for that product or service. Some examples are cold calling, sending newsletters, billboards, and banner ads on different web sites.

Inbound Marketing

Inbound marketing focuses on having your company found by customers, as opposed to reaching out to them directly like in outbound marketing. The important thing to remember here is that a person starts out with the want/need to purchase a product or service, and they go out to find it. When they search for that product/service on a search engine, the search engine results page will show inbound marketing results. Instead of using paid advertisements, inbound marketing is the search engine optimization (SEO) part of web marketing.

Newsletter Marketing

Newsletter marketing and email marketing refer to ways of promoting your company through emails. Typically, a firm using newsletter marketing will have a group of contacts that they will send a newsletter containing some interesting information to. The success of newsletter marketing depends on grabbing attention, writing good content and reaching a large number of potential clients.

Article Marketing

Businesses will often write articles related to the industry they are in and distribute them online and offline. These free articles will inform people about an important topic and give the company that wrote it more credibility within the market. The organization can also include their business contact information in the article, allowing them to get new clients.

Trade Show Marketing

Companies that want to reach a large number of potential customers can participate in public or private trade shows. Trade shows and other forms of event marketing are often a large investment to participate in, but trade shows allow companies to demonstrate new products and examine what is going on in the industry.

Search Marketing

Search engine marketing (SEM) is the way in which companies promote their business through paid placement on search engines like Google. Instead of increasing the organic search results that a website has, companies will pay to have their advertisements in the sponsored section of search engines. This is also known as Pay Per Click Advertising or PPC.

Direct Marketing

Direct marketing’s main goal is to send a message directly to consumers, without having to use any third party outlets. Examples of direct marketing include mail marketing, telemarketing and direct selling. Direct marketing is often preferable because the results can be easily measured, giving the marketer a better understanding of the success of that campaign.

Niche Marketing

When a product or service is not being readily supplied to a certain portion of a market, a company can focus their efforts on that niche to address a need that isn’t currently being addressed. This targeted marketing is successful because the marketer has identified a need that isn’t being resolved by mainstream providers. Sometimes it is beneficial for a company to focus on a niche instead of trying to compete in a larger market.

Drip marketing

Drip marketing is the act of sending out scheduled targeted emails that are all coordinated to a specific goal of client conversion. The sender uses email marketing software that allows them to setup multiple emails at one time and let them “drip” over time. This sometimes includes phone calls to check in on the clients along the way.

Social Media Marketing

Social network marketing and social media campaigns provide a window to market a product or service on the Internet through different social networks. Companies can use these outlets for their marketing, customer service and sales. The most common and successful means of social media marketing are found on sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and even company blogs.

Referral Marketing

One of the less strategic types of marketing, referral marketing relies on a company’s customers to refer new customers to that company. Also called word of mouth marketing, this is a more spontaneous way of receiving new business, and can not be solely relied on because results aren’t very predictable. However, word of mouth is still a powerful part of a company’s efforts to bring in new business, especially in the social media community where communication travels freely.

Guerrilla Marketing

With a smaller budget, guerrilla marketing makes a splash by relying on energy, timing and unusual approaches to get the consumer’s attention. The unconventional marketing involved tries to get the most out something small, and make a lasting brand image in the consumer’s mind.

Promotional Marketing

Promotional marketing is a common form of marketing strategy that companies use to motivate a consumer to make a decision and purchase their product. There are a number of ways that businesses will promote a product or service, including holding contests to win a prize, offering coupons for purchasing a product at a discount, and having samples of the product so people can experience it before they purchase.

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing most likely involves four different groups that contribute to the marketing effort. The Merchant is the company that is producing and selling the product, the Network is the outlet that is used to promote the affiliate link, the Publisher or Affiliate is the person who has the website with the affiliate ad and of course the customer doing the purchasing. Affiliate links are found on all types of websites, and they are used to drive traffic to outside websites.

Viral Marketing

This type of marketing relies on the message of a marketer being spread quickly through various social networks in order to increase brand awareness. The name viral marketing stems from the rapid spread of viruses in general. Typically, a viral marketing campaign will not last as long as other marketing efforts, but if a company can come up with a good idea for viral marketing and reach the right people, it will become highly successful in a short amount of time.

B2B Marketing

Any type of business, whether an organization, individual, government or other institution that markets to other businesses is involved in business to business marketing. Since B2B marketing involves companies trying to sell mass quantities of product to one another, there is a more personal relationship that needs to be established between businesses. If your company sells to other businesses, your marketing efforts will most likely be more direct.

B2C Marketing

Business to consumer marketing campaigns try to reach a category of people that will be likely to purchase their product or service. The marketing efforts the company takes should be more broad than B2B, which focuses on specific companies. B2C marketing can involve different marketing techniques such as door to door marketing, promotion marketing, newspaper marketing, television marketing and radio marketing. In today’s marketing world, B2C Internet marketing is becoming more important to reach consumers.

Mobile Marketing

Along with Internet marketing, mobile marketing is part of the newest groups of marketing activities. Companies have been experimenting with the certain ways to reach consumers through their phones, especially with the rise of Apple’s iphone. Some ways to marketing a product or service through a mobile phone include SMS marketing, in-game marketing, banner marketing on different web pages and location based marketing.

Reverse Marketing

This form of marketing is similar to inbound marketing. The goal of reverse marketing is to market a product in a way that will cause the consumer to seek the firm doing the marketing. Reverse marketing can be conducted through such means as television, print and Internet marketing. If a company has a product that solves a problem in the market, they will have more success using reverse marketing because they will seek out that product.

Telemarketing

A form of direct marketing, telemarketing’s focus is on reaching consumers by phone. Most of what we thing of as telemarketing is cold call marketing, which is unpopular and has lead to laws being created against it. However, telemarketing can be effective if the right person is reached on the phone at the right time.

Direct Mail Marketing

Most people receive large quantities of marketing material in the mail, which is considered direct mail marketing. Companies will send paper mail with promotions or other information to a list of addresses, usually in a common geographical area. This form of marketing is also called junk mail by some, because the customers receiving the mail aren’t expecting it and usually don’t want to open it.

Database Marketing

Database marketing is similar to other types of direct marketing, but the focus is more directed towards analyzing data. Companies try to narrow their marketing efforts down to certain groups of people, and they use database marketing to analyze statistics like name, address, or sales history, in order to create the most accurate model possible.

Personalized marketing

The goal of personalized marketing is to create a unique offer for each individual customer. This form of marketing doesn’t work for every company, but certain ones can capitalize on their unique products and customer demographics to market to individuals. With the Internet becoming a more popular place for marketing, companies are finding that personalized marketing is affective in cases when they can track a customer’s specific interests and send them more information for future suggestions.

The Marketing Process

Under the marketing concept, the firm must find a way to discover unfulfilled customer needs and bring to market products that satisfy those needs. The process of doing so can be modeled in a sequence of steps: the situation is analyzed to identify opportunities, the strategy is formulated for a value proposition, tactical decisions are made, the plan is implemented and the results are monitored.

Marketing Process

Situation Analysis

| V

Marketing Strategy

| V

Marketing Mix Decisions

| V

Implementation & Control

01. Situation Analysis

A thorough analysis of the situation in which the firm finds itself serves as the basis for identifying opportunities to satisfy unfulfilled customer needs. In addition to identifying the customer needs, the firm must understand its own capabilities and the environment in which it is operating.

02. Marketing Strategy

The situation analysis thus can be viewed in terms an analysis of the external environment and an internal analysis of the firm itself. The external environment can be described in terms of macro-environmental factors that broadly affect many firms, and micro-environmental factors closely related to the specific situation of the firm. The situation analysis should include past, present, and future aspects. It should include a history outlining how the situation evolved to its present state, and an analysis of trends in order to forecast where it is going. Good forecasting can reduce the chance of spending a year bringing a product to market only to find that the need no longer exists. If the situation analysis reveals gaps between what consumers want and what currently is offered to them, then there may be opportunities to introduce products to better satisfy those consumers. Hence, the situation analysis should yield a summary of problems and opportunities. From this summary, the firm can match its own capabilities with the opportunities in order to satisfy customer needs better than the competition. There are several frameworks that can be used to add structure to the situation analysis:

-5c Analyses- company, customers, competitors, collaborators, climate. Company represents the internal situation; the other four cover aspects of the external situation.

-Pest Analysis- for macro-environmental political, economic, societal, and technological factors. A PEST analysis can be used as the "climate" portion of the 5 C framework.

-SWOT Analysis- strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats - for the internal and external situation. A SWOT analysis can be used to condense the situation analysis into a listing of the most relevant problems and opportunities and to assess how well the firm is equipped to deal with them.

Once the best opportunity to satisfy unfulfilled customer needs is identified, a strategic plan for pursuing the opportunity can be developed. Market research will provide specific market information that will permit the firm to select the target market segment and optimally position the offering within that segment. The result is a value proposition to the target market. The marketing strategy then involves:

-Segmentation
-Targeting ( target marketing selection)
-Positioning the product within the target market
-Value proposition to the target market

03. Marketing Mix Decisions

Detailed tactical decisions then are made for the controllable parameters of the marketing mix. The action items include:

-Product development - specifying, designing, and producing the first units of the product.
-Pricing decisions
-Distribution contracts
-Promotional campaign development


04. Implementation and Control

At this point in the process, the marketing plan has been developed and the product has been launched. Given that few environments are static, the results of the marketing effort should be monitored closely. As the market changes, the marketing mix can be adjusted to accommodate the changes. Often, small changes in consumer wants can addressed by changing the advertising message. As the changes become more significant, a product redesign or an entirely new product may be needed. The marketing process does not end with implementation - continual monitoring and adaptation is needed to fulfill customer needs consistently over the long-term.

Global Marketing

Global marketing refers to marketing activities coordinated and integrated across multiple country markets. The integration can involve standardized products, uniform packing, identical brand names, synchronized product introductions, similar advertising messages, or coordinated sales campaigns across markets in several countries. Despite the term “global”, it is not necessary that all or most of the countries of the world be included. Even regional marketing efforts, such as pan-European operations, can be viewed as example of global marketing.

Global Marketing definition

Global marketing refers to marketing activities coordinated and integrated across multiple markets. Jonny K Johansson defines Global Marketing as a bigger brother to international marketing i.e. more of an extension. Muhlbacher, Helmuth, and dahringer defines Global Marketing as Global/transnational Marketing focuses upon leveraging a company’s assets, experience and products globally and upon adapting to what is truly unique and different in each country.

Evolution to global marketing

Global marketing is not a revolutionary shift, it is an evolutionary process. While the following does not apply to all companies, it does apply to most companies that begin as domestic-only companies.

Global marketing advantages

1. When a business goes global, it is important that you should benefit from the countless opportunities that the internet provides.

2. Aside from endless sales potential the business will eventually enjoy having an established world wide presence, this is very rewarding because a particular brand for example can be advertised on internet resources and customer can readily relate to it wherever they may be in the world.

3. Increased sales, higher profits, new knowledge and experience

Global marketing disadvantages

1. The competitive differences over various brands and product development.

2. The differences in consumer patterns such as needs and wants as influenced by their own regional.

3. Differences in legal concerns that may create conflict to that of the home market.

4. Language barrier, additional costs, changed mindset.

International Marketing

International Marketing is an older term encompassing all marketing efforts in foreign countries, whether coordinated pr not, involving recognition, of environmental differences, foreign trade analysis, and so no. As describe earlier, in our historical perspective, “multinational marketing” meant marketing strategies that assumed all markets to be “multidomestic” , or having strong local preferences, and is a predecessor term to global marketing, with its emphasis on standardization and integration.

Defining International Marketing:

Marketing is defined as a process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need & want by creating and exchanging products and value with others.

Evolution of International Marketing:

Firms, depending on their level involvement in foreign markets, pass through following five evolutionary phases.

1. Domestic marketing

–Domestic marketers tend to be ethnocentric (focus is solely on domestic market) & pay little attention to changes taking place in the global market place.
–Such firms produce and sell products and services only in their home country.

–Firms that keep focus only on their domestic markets may be vulnerable to the sudden changes forced on them from foreign competition, when foreign firms enter the markets or even when foreign firms develop better or cheaper products.

2. Export marketing

–Exporting firms fulfill unsolicited / solicited orders from foreign countries.
–For growth in export marketing, however, a company requires physical, financial and managerial resources.

–When a firm attempts to export it faces many issues that include difficulties in import/export restrictions, cost and availability of shipping, collection of money, development of distribution channels etc.

–Export marketers still tend to take ethnocentric approach, since they mostly make products in their home countries and have no direct involvement in the foreign markets.

3. International marketing

–An international marketing firm has polycentric orientation with emphasis on product and promotional adaptation in foreign markets whenever necessary.
–They make strategic decisions that are tailored to suit the cultures of the foreign countries.

–The company may establish an independent foreign subsidiary in each and every foreign market it services – such efforts are also called multi-domestic marketing.

4. Multinational marketing

–Multinational firms are those that sell products or services in many countries.
–Economies of scale in product development, manufacturing, and marketing are achieved by multinational firms by consolidation of some of their activities on regional basis.

–In this regiocentric approach product planning may be standardized within a region (e.g. a group of contiguous and similar countries).

5. Global marketing Emphasizes

–Global marketing firms sell products and services in most countries around the world.
–Through global operations firms achieve reduction of cost inefficiencies and duplication of efforts among their national and regional subsidiaries.

–Global operations allow opportunities for the transfer of products, brands, and other ideas across subsidiaries.

–Opportunities to operate worldwide are supported by the emergence of global customers.

–Improved linkages among national marketing infrastructures leading to the development of a global marketing infrastructure.