International Marketing

Introduction

The following report has been complied according to your request for an analysis of overseas opportunities for international development of Cornflower Blue.

It therefore comprises the following four elements:

* An assessment of the key SLEPT factors that will impact on the company's operations.

* An outline of the Marketing Research undertaken to help the analysis of this opportunity.

* A brief look at the strategic options open to the organisation, followed by recommendations on the right strategy to adopt to market its range/services in Spain.

* An explanation of the proposed pricing policy and the promotional strategy.

The report also includes my recommendations for various elements of the marketing mix as well as appendices containing important forms required to be filled before starting business in Spain.

Executive Summary

The proposed International expansion plan for Cornflower Blue is as follows:

Recommended location - Madrid, Spain

Level of Demand - High

GDP - $1.07 trillion.

Target Market - Middle income Spaniards and Tourists

Mode of Entry - Local Production

Pricing - Same policy as in the UK

Promotion Strategy - Print and Outdoor media

Findings and Recommendations

Relevant Micro and Macro Factors

Over the last five years, GDP growth in Spain has been 68% above the European Union average. With the continuing growth of the economy, there is rapid spread in interest in all things healthy.

Also given the ease of establishment of a new business within the EU, and the fact that consumer behaviour within the EU is relatively alike, Spain would be the most appropriate choice for expanding overseas.

Spain is the third largest country in the EU with a population of about 44 million and it enjoys urbanisation of about 80%. Castilian Spanish is official language and about 74% of the Spaniards speak Castilian.

According to the CIA world fact book the GDP of Spain is currently at $1.07 trillion, making it one of the world's leading countries in terms of the size of its economy.

Madrid, which is the recommended location for the expansion of Cornflower Blue, is one of the global cities of the world and has a population of about 5.84 million.

Madrid is a cosmopolitan city, a business centre and the headquarters for the Public Administration, the Government, the Spanish Parliament as well as the home of the Spanish Royal Family, While, Madrid also plays a major role in both the banking and industrial sectors it also enjoys a large percentage of the 80 million tourists who visit Spain each year.

The language spoken by a vast majority of the population in Madrid is Castilian Spanish, thus it is essential that Mr. John Smith learn a bit of Spanish and we also recommend, that the name Corn flower Blue, be translated into Spanish and rechristened as 'Azul Aciano' in Madrid. However, keeping in mind the fact that Madrid has a huge tourist influx along with a large number of English tourists, we recommend that the present Cornflower Blue logo be retained, to maintain association and familiarity.

Marketing Research

During a marketing survey* conducted by an independent agency (based in Spain) for Cornflower Blue, early this year, it was found that health products are all the rage in Madrid, with demand far outstripping supply .In the light of the fact that the survey also revealed only two small competitors it is recommended that we adopt the leader position and dominate the market share.

The survey also confirmed our assumption that our target market should be middle class Spaniards along with tourists visiting Spain due to high levels of disposable income that they posess.

As explained earlier it is recommended that the Spanish name 'Azul Aciano' be used to overcome language barriers

Given the fact that we are at the introduction stage (product launch) in the product life cycle graph, our marketing objective will be to create demand, awareness and arouse curiosity.

In order to achieve our marketing objectives it is recommended that we focus on a low cost, high impact promotional campaign involving the most popular media, namely print and outdoor advertising. The recommended print media is the El Pais newspaper which enjoys a circulation of more than 430,000 copies daily.**

*Copy of the survey available on request.

**Requests for writing advertisement briefs, specifically designed to meet your

business objectives complete with campaign slogan, are welcome.

Strategic Options

Market Entry Mode

Assuming that the research confirms our expectations, Cornflower Blue could export finished products or start a joint venture with a local company. Cornflower Blue could also have agents, distributors or franchises in Spain or even merge with a similar company.

However given the fact that Spain is a high income country and health oriented products have such a high demand and that the market has very low entry barriers due to its location in the EU, the company would enjoy more profits if it produced