Marketing is increasingly becoming an integral element of the overall organizational decision-making

rather than a method for communicating to the customers as argued by P. Kotler and K. L. Keller
(2005)1.The fact that marketing should be the process of adding value to the customer in the overall
sales process than the strive for selling anything to the customer as argued by P. Kotler and K. L. Keller
(2005) further justifies that the redefinition of marketing and its spread in various spheres of
development are worth analysing to achieve a better understanding of the concept of marketing. In this
paper a critical review on the two scholarly journals by S. T. Cavusgil et al (2005)2 on International
marketing and C. Grnroos (2006)3 on the definition of marketing in the changing world is presented to
the reader.

The key aspect of marketing as argued by P. Kotler and K. L. Keller (2005) mentioned earlier is the
ability to deliver value to the customer. This is evident from the arguments by C. Grnroos (2006) as it
is evident that the customer value is a complex process involving the value addition pre-sales in the
form of developing and communicating value propositions to the customers whilst supporting customer
to realise value through the goods/service purchased post-sales is also a key aspects to customer value.
The process of value addition is widely acclaimed as the key aspect in reaching different market
segments in a given target market both at the national and the international marketing arena as argued
by F. Brassington and S. Pettit (2003)4. The arguments by S. T. Cavusgil et al (2005) that the promotion
of the globalization strive by an organization through the customization of its products and services to
deliver the desired value to the customers in the chosen target market segment justifies the
aforementioned. This makes it clear that both S. T. Cavusgil et al (2005) and C. Grnroos (2006) agree
with the customer value as a process encompassing the pre and post-sales scenario. The arguments by
S. T. Cavusgil et al (2005) that better understanding of the customers in the chosen regions as well as
the global customer whilst striving to establish a global brand is critical successful sales of the products
or service offered by an organization justifies the aforementioned.

Local knowledge is deemed as a critical aspect to the overall success of the deployment of a marketing
strategy in a chosen target market segment as argued by G. Johnson and K. Scholes (2003)5. The
concept of establishing strong customer relationship is primarily accomplished through proving to the
customer that the purchase of a specific product/service generates sustainable value addition as argued
by F. Huber et al (2007)6. This makes it clear that the idea of treating international marketing as a field
of study should be focused mainly on applying the concepts marketing or the definition of marketing in

1 P. Kotler and K. L. Keller (2005), Marketing Management 12th Edition, Prentice Hall Ltd
2 S. T. Cavusgil et al (2005), International Marketing as a Field of Study: A Critical Assessment of
Earlier Development and a Look Forward, Journal of International Marketing
3 C. Grnroos (2006), On defining marketing: finding a new roadmap for marketing, Marketing
Theory, Volume 6(4)
4 F. Brassington and S. Pettit (2003),Principles of Marketing, FT Prentice Hall
5 G. Johnson and K. Scholes (2003), Exploring Corporate Strategy Texts and Cases, Prentice Hall
Ltd
6 F. Huber et al (2007), Measuring customer value and satisfaction in services transactions, scale
development, validation and cross-cultural comparison, International Journal of Consumer Studies 31
(6), 554564
the broader perspective of a global consumer base. The aforementioned can be seen in the arguments of
S. T. Cavusgil et al (2005) where the authors present the international marketing study as the
application of the fundamental concepts into the global market place.

The customer relationship is also deemed as one of the critical factors for creating sustainable
competitive advantage by an organization in a given market segment as argued by K. L. Keller (2002) 7.
From the arguments of S. T. Cavusgil et al (2005) that the marketing process in a global organization
should mainly reflect on the customer needs and appeal to the local social culture in order to encourage
customer relationship proves that the relationship factor is a critical element and diverse in nature from
an international perspective whilst the fundamental definition of customer relationship is unaltered.
Thus the context of the application of the theory to realize a business benefit as is the key for
distinguishing the nature of application or realizing a specific element of marketing like customer value
or customer relationship.

Similarities in the perception of other significant elements of marketing like the channels of marketing,
the communication strategy and the management strategy to deliver a marketing promotion plan for a
given market segment exists in the journals by S. T. Cavusgil et al (2005) and C. Grnroos (2006). The
latter strives to present a generic definition whilst former applies the definitions in the light of
international marketing to prove that the generic definitions do include subtle variables like local
knowledge, consumer behaviour, market research etc., to deliver a successful marketing strategy for the
organization. D. E. Knapp(1999)8, further argue that the integration of the marketing strategy as part of
the overall organizational strategy is essential to ensure the end-to-end management of the product
delivery to the customer at an optimum level is accomplished. This makes it clear that the marketing is
not a single point of operation within an organization to deliver a marketing plan for the sales of the
product but mainly to act as the communication channel between the production, distribution and sales
of the products in various market segments in order to ensure that a balance between production and
demand in the market is accomplished. The arguments by C. Grnroos (2006) that the marketing
management is not one organizational function are proved in the aforementioned statements. A
classical example for the case above is the integrated marketing communication strategy deployed by
Procter & Gamble (Company Profile, 20079) in promotion of the Pantene range of hair care products in
the global market alongside another popular brand Head & Shoulders in the same industry across the
globe. The integrated communication strategy to present Pantene as a product focused on the hair care
and treatment with focus on various states of hair whilst focusing Head & Shoulders as a brand focused
on the anti-dandruff hair care product line in the global FMCG market proves the application of the
marketing strategy beyond the traditional 4Ps framework.

7 K. L. Keller (2002), Strategic Brand Management (International Edition), Prentice Hall

8 D. E. Knapp(1999), Brand Mindset : Five Essential Strategies for Building Brand Advantage
Throughout Your Company, OH, USA: The McGraw-Hill Companies
9 Company Profile (2007), The Procter & Gamble Company, Datamonitor Inc
Finally, the international marketing although has its roots in the fundamental definition of marketing,
the fact that the global market and the consumer group presented by the market is diverse in nature
proves that a detailed study on the demography as well as the application of the concepts in the light of
the local and global competition justifies that international marketing should be treated as a field of
study. Furthermore, the definition of the marketing based on the promise concept proves that the
competitors in the market must adhere to deliver the promised quality of service in order to realise the
benefits of modern marketing management to gain sustainable competitive advantage.

Word Count = 1099 words

References:
C. Grnroos (2006), On defining marketing: finding a new roadmap for marketing, Marketing Theory,
Volume 6(4)
Company Profile (2007), The Procter & Gamble Company, Datamonitor Inc
D. E. Knapp(1999), Brand Mindset : Five Essential Strategies for Building Brand Advantage
Throughout Your Company, OH, USA: The McGraw-Hill Companies
F. Brassington and S. Pettit (2003),Principles of Marketing, FT Prentice Hall
F. Huber et al (2007), Measuring customer value and satisfaction in services transactions, scale
development, validation and cross-cultural comparison, International Journal of Consumer Studies 31
(6), 554564
G. Johnson and K. Scholes (2003), Exploring Corporate Strategy Texts and Cases, Prentice Hall Ltd
K. L. Keller (2002), Strategic Brand Management (International Edition), Prentice Hall
P. Kotler and K. L. Keller (2005), Marketing Management 12th Edition, Prentice Hall Ltd
S. T. Cavusgil et al (2005), International Marketing as a Field of Study: A Critical Assessment of Earlier
Development and a Look Forward, Journal of International Marketing