Abstract:

In the context of this paper, I have restricted the term "International Marketing" to cover only the marketing of consumer goods with substantial advertising appropriations, i. e. appropriations aimed at and intended to create consumer demand for a brand. My material is based on work with some forty major companies on international marketing and marketing research problems and on some five more detailed case studies which I outline below. The significant comparative features of pre-war home marketing lay in the management and control procedures adopted. These have changed drastically in the last fifteen years but in international marketing the earlier methods are still current and exceptions are about as rare as they were in the home market in pre-war days. The organisational structure I describe below refers to the norm rather than to the exceptions. An understanding of the present structure and likely changes is necessary to explain not only how market research is currently used in this field, but also what developments can be expected, or seem desirable.