Multinational companies Multinational Corporations (MNCs) are large organizations having operations in multiple international locations.

They are the major players in international business segment. The definition of MNCs can be done by size and structure. The size of the company is measured by means of market value, sales, profits and return on equity when used to identify the yield. It is not unusual for corporate size in terms of sales to be used as a primary requirement for judging whether a company is MNC or not. According to United States Economic and Social Affairs, companies with less than $100 million sales are not qualified as MNC. Structural requirements include the number of countries in which the company does business and citizenship of the corporate owners and top managers. According to Ahroni, an MNC has three significant dimensions: structural, performance and behavioural. International Marketing vs Domestic Marketing Following are some important differences of international and domestic marketing a. Sovereign Political Entities Each country is a sovereign political entity in order to safeguard their national interest impose several restrictions. The traders in international marketing have to observe such restrictions. i. Tariffs and customs duties on import and export of goods and services in order to make them costly in the importing country and not to ban their entry into the country completely. In the post war period, through the efforts of GATT, there has been a significant reduction in tariff globally and on regional basis due to the emergence of regional economic groupings. ii. Quantitative restrictions are also imposed with an intention to restrict trade in some specific commodities. The major objective behind the restriction is the protection of home industries from the competition of the foreign commodities. iii. Exchange control is another restriction imposed by almost every sovereign state. The Government in some cases, does not ban the entry of goods in the country but the importer is not allowed the necessary foreign exchange to make the payment for the goods imported. But, in some cases, exchange control and quantitative controls are put together along with the grant of import licence. iv. Imposition of local taxes on imported goods with an object to make the imported goods costly is one of the restrictions. b. Different Legal Systems Difference in the operating method of legal systems make the task of businessmen more difficult as they are not sure which particular system should apply to their transactions. This difficulty will not arise in domestic transactions as the law is same for entire country. c. Different Monetary Systems Difference in the monetary systems and exchange rates for each country are fixed under the rules framed by IMF. In the recent years, the exchange rates are fluctuating and are being determined by demand and supply forces. d. Lower Mobility Factors of Production Mobility of the factors of production are lesser between nations than domestic. The mobility of labour and capital is not as much as it is within the country itself. e. Differences in Market Characteristics

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There are differences in the market characteristics of each segment such as demand pattern, distribution channel and methods of production etc. Differences in Procedure and Documentation The very old laws and customs of trade in each country makes different procedures and documentary requirements for the import and export of the goods and services.

Though society and culture do not appear to be a part of business situations, yet they are actually key elements in showing how business activities will be conducted. Discuss. Socio-cultural elements are having a good impact on how business activities are conducted. Some of the social and cultural elements are described below. g. Attitudes and beliefs: The set of attitudes and beliefs of a culture will influence nearly all aspects of human behaviour, providing guidelines and organization to a society and individuals. h. Attitude towards time: Internal national business attitudes towards time are displayed in behaviour regarding punctuality, responses to business communication, responses to deadlines and time amount of time that is spent waiting for an appointment. i. Attitude towards Achievement: In many Industrial societies, personal responsibility and the ability to take risks for potential gain are considered valuable instruments in achieving goals. j. Attitudes towards Change: The international manager must understand what aspects of a culture will resist change and how the areas of resistance differ amount cultures, how the process of change takes place in different cultures and how long it would take to implement change. k. Attitude towards Job: The type of Job that is considered most desirable or prestigious varies greatly according to different countries. Cultural Attitudes vary among countries due to the influences of religious families. To determine the cultural aspects of markets, we must analyse each society without the benefit of guiding generalisations. Religions are the major factor of the moral and ethical standards to a large part in the business process. Family systems are also key elements of business activities, which fall into three categories. One, traditionally places the wife in a subordinate and secluded role with few rights and little control over the family affairs. The second pattern is wife having influence only minor matters of the family and all major decision making are done by the husband. The third pattern is having equal rights for both husband and wife. As far as the educational systems are concerned, the obvious marketing factors are the literacy rate and the general level of education which run parallel to the pattern of economic development. 2. Discuss the entry model adopted by McDonalds to build a presence in foreign markets. What are its limitations?

E-Marketing Approaches- Internet marketers use many approaches for internet marketing. Some of them are explained below Banner Ads Banner ads are graphical promotional messages that appears in a web page. When the visitor clicks on the banner ad, they will be taken to the advertisers website. Banners can be used to create brand recall or recognition. Sponsorship In this approach the advertiser is given an ad space on the hosts website and pays sponsorship fee to the host for the volume of click or duration of the ad. Pop-up and Pop-Under This refers to the promotion technique often shown as overlay or underneath popup windows on visiting certain websites. The pop-under windows appear after closing the main window. Portal Use Some web portals give prominent position to a companys offer for a fee. When a visitor follows directed search the marketers name appears prominently at or near the top of the list. Email Marketing Companies send promotional email to their clients and visitors with their promotional information. It is effective if the email database is genuine and targeted. Interstitials These ads appear on the computer screen while a visitor is waiting for a sites content to download. Push Technologies Some companies publish screen savers, desktop backgrounds etc to gain direct hit to the companys website. This approach is a push approach rather than wait for consumers to locate. Sales Promotions Many companies effectively use sales promotions such as contents, sweepstakes to generate customer interest.