International Trade Blog

With Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth more than double that of the United States and the United Kingdom during the past decade, India is one of the most promising and fastest growing economies in the world.

Its skilled managerial and technical manpower and its enormous middle class—approximately 300 million strong—offer a value proposition that businesses across the globe find hard to resist.

India’s time-tested institutions such as a free and vibrant press, a well established judiciary, a sophisticated accounting and legal system, and a user-friendly intellectual infrastructure offer foreign marketers and investors a transparent environment that is conducive to long-term success if the right business models are developed and implemented.

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As the world’s largest country in terms of area that is 1.8 times the size of the United States and spanning 11 time zones from Eastern Europe to Northern Asia, Russia and its a population of almost 142 million people represent a huge market opportunity for participants in many industries.

Although Russia has experienced some bumps in the road to a free-market economy, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has grown an average of approximately six percent annually over the past 10 years. Since the financial crisis of 1998, investment in Russia has increased, poverty has decreased, and the size of the middle class is expanding.

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As the fifth largest country in the world and the largest on the South American continent, Brazil has traditionally been an agricultural and commodity based economy.

Brazil has consolidated its democracy, constructed a diversified and financially sound economy, solidified its manufacturing base and enhanced its participation in the globalized world. It’s little wonder that Brazil is now considered one of the top four emerging markets in the world.

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In 1994, Mexico joined a North American Free Trade Area. The underlying agreement commonly referred to as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was signed by the United States, Mexico and Canada amid heated controversy in all three countries.

Looking back it can be argued that ultimately the free trade agreement has brought economic benefits to all three countries.

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Everyone is talking about the People’s Republic of China (PRC or China), and not just because the country is hosting the next Olympic Games. Today China stands tall as a one of the fastest growing economies in the world.

In the last three decades, as per the latest figures, China’s economy grew by 10.6%. The Chinese economy has gone from being a lumbering agrarian economy 25 years ago to a rapidly developing economy today.

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For businesses wanting to crack a foreign market, determining where to start and what approach is best can be confusing and daunting. There are many ways in which your company can enter the foreign market: direct or indirect exporting, licensing, joint ventures, strategic alliances, and foreign direct investment (FDI).

In this article I will discuss how to use licensing as a mode of entry into an international market from marketer’s perspective. No legal or intellectual property related issues or recommendations will be provided.

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The year was 1997. The management at MasterCard (a credit card company) came to the rude awakening that their branding and positioning strategies left much to be desired. Their brand did not stand for any one thing nationally or globally.

Over the years MasterCard had run through five different advertising campaigns without much marketing success.

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