• Describing challenges and opportunities of marketing in emerging markets;
• Understanding and critically assess theories of emerging market marketing;
• Know practical tools for market assessment and marketing in emerging markets,
• Apply marketing theories and tools to concrete cases of marketing in western companies moving into emerging markets.

High growth rates, the emergence of middle classes with strong purchasing power, pent up demands, and improved marketing infrastructures are attracting western companies to emerging markets. They all want to be part of the market opportunities of these, the world’s growth drivers. However, many of these companies realize that the marketing and branding practices developed in their home countries are ineffective when applied to emerging markets. In the 1990s, Kellogg’s ventured into India with a $65 million investment and failed miserably due to lack of cultural sensitivity. Renault’s “people’s car,” the Logan, was a hit in Eastern Europe and other parts of the world, but it failed in India. Amazon, Uber in China and GM, KFC in India have fallen short in achieving their growth and expansion objectives.

Cultural specificities, institutional voids and informality, in-transparent business networks, underdeveloped infrastructures, and industrial structures render standard western marketing thinking inadequate in emerging markets. The course is aimed at assisting students in understanding the specificities of marketing in emerging market contexts and provide them with tools that allow them to work with marketing in emerging markets. 

The course will put special focus on the largest emerging economies (China and India etc.), which are performing robustly with strong domestic demand, consumption, and investment. More specifically this course covers and focuses on theory and insights, the potentials and challenges of the emerging economies. The capacities of growing markets, fast developing local consumer markets, ample low-cost labor, and the rising middle class have attracted general attention about the nature of the rapid economic transformations these countries are currently undergoing. The realities in terms of market heterogeneity, sociopolitical governance, the chronic shortage of resources, unbranded competition, and inadequate infrastructure, requires rethinking the core assumptions of marketing, such as market orientation, market segmentation, and differential advantage.

Experts with practical experience from marketing in emerging markets will provide up-to-date knowledge about the different markets based on their own experience and research. Thus, students will get a comprehensive knowledge of the global emerging market with insights into the latest business dynamics in these markets through real-world embedded projects while case studies discussions, theories, and literature will form the backdrop for reflective understanding.

The themes are as follows:

1. Why emerging markets are important for international marketing and yet so volatile?
2. Why do well-established products fail in emerging markets? Is it lack of sensitivity to local culture or lack of adaptation to local marketing infrastructures?
3. Why do companies underestimate the cost of entering the emerging markets? Which strategies companies can adapt to reduce these costs?
4. Should a company extend its marketing mix or should it adjust it to suit the local markets? Is there a single recipe for all the emerging markets?
5. What are the institutional factors that influence marketing in emerging economies
6. What is the right entry strategy for marketing products in these markets: Direct export, franchising/licensing, agent/ distributor, and joint ventures/ fully owned subsidiaries?
7. How to put theory practice and develop a realistic and viable international marketing plan.

S. Tamer Cavusgil Pervez N. Ghauri & Ayse A. Akcal (2013) Doing Business in Emerging Markets (2nd edition). SAGE Publications. ISBN 978-1-84920-153-7.

Sheth, J. (2011): “Impact of Emerging Markets on Marketing: Rethinking Existing Perspectives and Practices”, Journal of Marketing Vol. 75 (July 2011), 166 –182, 17p

Tarun Khanna & Krishna G. Palepu (2010). Winning in Emerging Markets: A Road Map for Strategy and Execution. Harvard Business Press. ISBN 978-1-4221-6695-6.

Stephanie Jones (2012). BRICs and Beyond: Lessons on Emerging Markets. ISBN 978-1-119-96269-4.