Marketing: Marketing and International Business Essay

Submitted By Edamercan1
Words: 1029
Pages: 5

REFLECTIVE ESSAY:
I chose BA in international Business because of the growing globalisation of companies. Business is now a truly international opportunity and choosing to study at Middlesex University placed me in an advantageous position for my career choice. My Father was also an inspiration. Watching him return from overseas with new stock, discussing margins, costs and exchange rates opened my eyes to what business is and the key aspects involved with doing it. My future plan is to take on all and seize the opportunity of the newly formed East African Community (EAC); which has opened trading amongst all East African countries, leaving room for expansion into the membership states. Studying this course and especially Marketing subject has enabled me to develop knowledge and understanding of how different countries interact at business level and prepare me for any pitfalls.
Getting the chance to study at Middlesex University and having Principles and Practices of Marketing as one of my modules of study was a dream come true. More to this is the fact that most of the students in my group are international studies. I have gained relevant knowledge and skills of successful marketing strategy and orientation in order to satisfy customer needs and meet their expectations, as Jobber, 2010 specifies creating customer value and satisfaction, a key marketing principle. Learning about the seven Ps (Product, Place, Promotion, Price, People, Processes and physical evidence) widened my understanding further as regards creating customer value. The lectures and seminars have been of vital importance as clarification from the lecturer and seminar tutor helped me to draw more attention to the realities in business, especially the group work and presentations. I found these very challenging but yet rewarding. Working alongside other students as part of a team helped me to improve my confidence, communication skills and gained more knowledge about how business operates in foreign countries where they come from.
Much emphasis of this essay and module in particular is drawing attention on knowledge and skills gained from the three main topics, which are; Marketing Research and Information Systems, The International Environment and Social and Green Marketing. All knowledge i attained from will enable me to achieve my future goal, as stated in paragraph one. Studying Marketing Research and Information Systems provided me with the relevant information required for marketing decision making. Marketing Research which is one of the components of Marketing Information Systems, is vital to understanding customers, helping the company to customize the marketing mix and get more information about the external environment and not rely on internal manager because it is risky, (Jobber, 2010). The outcome of research helps to make informed decisions about the marketing framework and information about markets and market reaction to various products, price, and distribution channel and promotion, hence the marketing mix. According to Jobber (2010),this process involves different stages, from research planning, exploratory research which involves collecting primary and secondary data, main data collection involving deciding sample size, designing questionnaires which can be done internally by the company or employ external agencies to do the research. Analysing and interpreting data collected through use of mathematical tools is important and finally writing marketing report on that research. This knowledge is vital to my future business prospects and employability because research about customer expectations, market size, barriers to trade, is crucial to opening a business whether locally or globally.
Attending the International Environment lecture opened my eyes more to theory underlying international business and trade. Any international business motive aims at expanding sales, acquiring resources, minimising risk, meeting customer expectations,