Learning gained and contribution to  analytical and behavioural skills

I found this module informative and motivating and I believe that my knowledge and skills have increased after I attended it and done my assignment. My knowledge of marketing has been significantly expanded as a result of attending classes, to include global approach to the marketing issues. In fact, I found out that the practice of marketing for businesses has become much more complicated due to the influence of globalisation to it.

I updated my knowledge in such areas of international marketing as the impact of global factors to company management decision-making, strategies of choosing and entering new markets, developing new products for international markets, the characteristics of marketing research for international markets, international marketing mix elements etc.

Our group was able to find during international marketing classes that the rules of games have changed in the business world in many aspects because of opportunities and threats globalisation presents. I understood that global marketplace has become much more competitive due to the increasing forces of globalisation, technological advancements, and the increasing role of Internet in professional and private lives of people. And all of this have affected the ways decisions are taken in companies, including decisions taken by marketing executives.

I started to appreciate the importance of developing global mindset for modern marketing executives as a result of becoming closely familiar with the differences of marketing in it’s traditional meaning, and international marketing. The main differences turned out to be the increasing number of factors modern markers need to take into account the speed of decision-making and requirement for modern marketing executives to be more creative.

The importance of creativeness and “thinking out of box” was especially highlighted during the classes as one of the necessary attributes of modern marketers. The valuable these skills were found to be in finding efficient and innovative marketing methods that were cost efficient at the same time. For example viral marketing, and marketing by posting clips on YouTube web-site are the results of creative thinking.

Traditional strategic tools for decision making like SWOT and PESTEL analysis took a new meaning when looked at from the point of view of global perspectives. To be more specific, considerably more amount of various factors needs to be taken into account in global SWOT and PESTEL analysis than the traditional one.

I must also state here that tutor had a good communication and teaching style, was encouraging and motivating us, and that factor has positively contributed to the amount of interest I formed towards the subject. Moreover, all the teaching materials were comprehensive and informational as well.

I was shown during classes how to spot global marketing opportunities by referring to real-life case studies in a global business world. Moreover, I was surprised to realise that traditional marketing mix elements have become too complicated when trying to implement in the global settings. This is because when a company operates in home country only it’s marketing mix elements will be the one for the whole country which makes life easier for the marketer. International marketing mix elements, on the other hand, were found to be different in each Market the company operates in.

I understood during international marketing classes that Internet has transformed the way businesses are done, and also it has affected the marketing aspect of businesses as well. For instance students were shown that such a popular Internet marketing methods like Facebook, viral marketing, blogging, marketing through YouTube and others were not around only 10 years ago. Nevertheless, they are very popular marketing methods today. In this way I understood international marketing to be very dynamic, and companies needed to be proactive, rather than reactive in order to gain benefits through Innovational advertising methods.

I found frequent discussions that took place during classes very motivating and encouraging. And, although at first I was reluctant to participate in them, gradually I started to contribute to classroom discussions as well which has developed my self-confidence and communication skills.
I became familiar with the foundations of a marketing research in international marketing, appreciated the importance of international market intelligence and became more comfortable dealing with primary and secondary sources of data.

Another difference between marketing in its traditional meaning and marketing management that I was able to spot consists from the fact that much more analytical skills are required from the marketing manager when he is faced with the issues of global marketing. This conclusion was made after becoming familiar trying to solve several real-life case studies involving the issues of global marketing that were part of the program.

I have to confess that I was not very comfortable with case studies at the beginning of the program because thought that they were very long to read. However, once I realised that case studies mainly consisted from real-life business situations that I might face in my future career, I changed my attitude towards case studies dramatically, and started approaching them more seriously, and even found them encouraging and motivating towards the end of the course.

Also, I found the new product development for international markets more challenging than new product development for domestic markets, because product life cycle was found to be considerably shorter in international markets due to increased level of competition.

Moreover, before attending international marketing classes I never knew that cultural issue were so important in marketing. The issues of cross-cultural awareness were addressed during classes in a way that, the lack of cross-cultural knowledge could result in marketing messages aimed at international markets being misunderstood or misinterpreted by the target audiences. Therefore, international managers need to possess a good knowledge about cultures of their markets in order to eliminate the possibility of such problems.

Contribution of the class to future employability

I believe that skills and knowledge I gained in international marketing classes will positively contribute to the level of my future employability. The main skills and knowledge obtained during classes can be summarised as forming a global mindset, ability to spot global marketing opportunities, communication skills, creative thinking, analytical skills, a comprehensive knowledge about Internet marketing, and marketing research skills in international scope.

I will definitely benefit from the global mindset that I had formed towards the issues of International business i in general, and international marketing in particular.

This is a valid statement taking into account the fact that the forces of globalisation are ever increasing and traditional decision making mindset of managers would not suffice to meet the challenges globalisation presents for businesses.

As a part of my formed global mindset I also believe that during the classes I have obtained necessary knowledge to help me to spot and utilise global marketing opportunities in a most efficient manner. This knowledge would benefit me as a professional business manager as well because I would be able to utilise global marketing opportunities in a cost effective manner.

There is no argument about the importance of communication skills for business managers. Now that my communication skills have been improved as a result of engaging in group discussions I have a competitive edge in the work market as a business graduate over most of other business graduates.

I also believed that the level of my personal creativeness has increased and nowadays I tend to think ” outside of box” in order to find solutions to the complex problems. This particular skill was improved due to studying case studies relevant to the module and learning about and analysing business cases where marketing and business innovations were achieved as a result of creative thinking.

Another point where skills and knowledge I have obtained during the classes will help me for my future employability relates to the fact that I started to appreciate more the role of Internet in various business processes in general, and in marketing activities in particular. During interviews for the job I can mention this fact by bringing specific examples of how I will use my advanced knowledge about potential of Internet to help to achieve aims and objectives of that particular organisation.

My marketing research skills can be applied in various settings and circumstances to assist decision making processes. Moreover, now that I am familiar with the principles of primary and secondary sources of data, how to collect them and analyse them my future employability perspectives have been greatly enhanced.

I can say that the level of my self-confidence has improved as well, along my communication skills, as a result of engaging in group activities and discussions. My increased level of self confidence will help me throughout my career starting from the point where I participate in job interviews until I became a senior level executive. Because only self-confident managers are in a position of communicating their vision for the future of the company to the stakeholders in an efficient way, and also gather people around himself to make this vision happen.