Pedagogical Elements

The tenth edition of International Marketing contains a number of teaching elements to support student and practitioner learning. The overall goals are to ensure that the practical (application) aspect of each chapter is drawn out for the reader and to support critical learning objectives such as significant theories.

Each chapter contains the following common set of elements:

• Learning Objectives: Each chapter begins with a list of the key learning goals for that chapter. This helps instructors to understand the main learning objectives and provides the reader with an overview of what to expect in the chapter.
• Key Terms: The key terms in each chapter are set off with bold type and accompanied by marginal definitions. This treatment makes key terms easy to recognize and emphasizes their importance to the reader.
• Special Topic Boxes: Each chapter contains a number of topic boxes to further illustrate particular issues. These boxes often present specific company examples to help the reader relate to the topic or issue. They also address issues specific to emerging markets such as China.
• Chapter Summary: Chapters end with a summary of the key points made in the chapter to reinforce for the reader the chapter's learning objectives.
• Key Terms: Located at the end of each chapter is a list of the key terms defined and discussed in that chapter. These terms are also included in the book’s glossary.
• NASBITE CGBP Topics: A unique feature in each chapter is the list of the six-digit task/knowledge statements (rubrics) from the CGBP Practice Delineation discussed in that chapter. For students or practitioners studying for the NASBITE Certified Global Business Professional, this list can be used as a guide to which issues within that chapter are particularly important to study. These rubrics are cross-referenced again in the master list at the end of the book in the section “Studying for the NASBITE CGBP Exam.” The text addresses all of the CGBP Domain 2 rubrics—International Marketing. In addition, the text also discusses many of the rubrics from the other three domains.
• Questions and Research: Each chapter includes a list of questions or research assignments that students can use in class to apply the knowledge included in the chapter. Many of these questions direct the reader to websites or other resources in support of international trade research. These questions and research tasks also work well within a distance-learning environment as either individual assignments or as discussion board topics.
• Team Project Assignment: Another unique feature of the book is the team assignment at the end of each chapter. Each chapter assignment takes the team through the steps needed to formulate an international marketing plan for a specific company. (The project also works as an individual assignment.) The specific team assignment for a chapter directly relates to the topic discussed in that chapter. If the semester is shorter than 15 weeks, assignments from more than one chapter can be combined or eliminated.

The team project works well within a facilitated (face-to-face) class. In these situations, the team could potentially develop an international marketing plan for a local company that the team could visit. Then the final marketing plan would be presented to the client both in written and verbal form. The team project also works well within a distance-learning class, in which case the instructor might assign a company that the student could research from Internet resources. In either case, the series of tasks takes the team/student through the full process of developing an international marketing plan, including:

• initial client and industry SWOT
• political/economic/cultural assessment
• development of foreign market demand and risk indicators
• creation of a foreign market selection matrix (spreadsheet)
• choice of entry mode
• research on possible foreign partners
• competitive assessment
• trade finance issues, including payment method and foreign exchange (fx) issues
• supply chain implication
• product or service selection and development issues
• overall execution of the marketing plan, including strategy, timetable, and implementation issues

Depending on the course requirements and time constraints, instructors can select only a few of the team assignments (such as only doing a foreign market selection matrix) or assign the full range of tasks.

• Cases: Each chapter includes one or several cases supporting the learning objectives for that chapter. Some of the cases are quite short and work well for in-class or distance-learning discussion assignments. The longer cases tend to cover multiple learning objectives across chapters and can be used in the same way as shorter cases or for individual reports.