4.6.1 (HL)—International marketing

International marketing plans how a business creates and delivers value across national borders. It must account for cultural, legal, economic, currency and infrastructure differences rather than simply exporting a domestic mix.

Standardisation can lower cost and keep a global identity; adaptation can improve local fit but adds complexity. The decision depends on customer needs, regulation, scale and brand risk.

Compare the target country with the home market, identify which element needs adaptation and justify the trade-off.

A snack brand keeps its global logo but changes ingredients and labelling to meet local tastes and food rules.

International marketing is not “use the same advert everywhere”; local context can change the product, message, channel and price.

Evaluate entry and operation as a balance of opportunities and threats. Opportunities include access to a larger customer base and faster growth, economies of scale if higher output lowers unit cost, and diversification when results depend less on one national market. Threats include cultural mismatch, unfamiliar laws and compliance costs, exchange-rate changes that alter prices or profits, strong local or global competitors, longer or less reliable logistics, and political risk such as instability or policy change. The same factor can cut both ways: international scale is valuable only if demand and operating control are sufficient, while diversification fails when markets face the same shock. A strong answer links each factor to revenue, cost, cash flow, reputation or strategic control in the specific context before reaching a conditional judgment.