Building Global Business Relationships - Dr. Said El Mansour Cherkaoui;

Email: saidcherkaoui@sbcglobal.net
saidcherkaoui@glocentra.com
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All Rights Reserved to GLOCENTRA
Building Global Business
Relationships
Said Cherkaoui, Ph.D.

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Marketing does not begin/stop at the
end of the loading dock!
• Marketing should be involved
from the conception of the
product to the ultimate user.

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4 Eras in Marketing
2. SALES ERA:
–"Creative advertising & selling will overcome customer resistance &
convince them to buy”
– Between 1925 & early 1950's
– Selling was main focus of marketing

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4 Eras in Marketing
3. MARKETING ERA:
–"The consumer is king! Find a need & fill it!”
–Early 1950's to early 1990’s
• Emergence of the Marketing Concept
• *CONSUMER ORIENTATION

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4 Eras in Marketing
• 4. RELATIONSHIP MARKETING
–Long-term, value added relationships developed
over time with customers and suppliers
–Strategic Alliances

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5 Types of Nontraditional
Marketing
1. Person Marketing
– To cultivate attention, interest, & preference of
a target market toward a person
2. Place Marketing
– Attract visitors to a particular area
3. Cause Marketing
– Identification & marketing of a social issue,
cause, or idea to selected target markets
4. Event Marketing
– Marketing of sporting, cultural, & charitable activities
to selected target markets
Ex. Visa & Olympics
5. Organizational Marketing
– Seek to influence others to accept the goods of,
receive the services of, or contribute in some
way to an organization

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ELEMENTS OF A
MARKETING STRATEGY
1. The Target Market
2. The Marketing Mix Variables (4Ps)
Once target market is chosen, how these variables are mixed determines
the success of marketing.
A. Product
B. Pricing
C. Place (Distribution)
D. Promotion

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ELEMENTS OF A
MARKETING STRATEGY
3. THE MARKETING ENVIRONMENT
• The marketing environment is important because it provides a
framework for all marketing activity.
– 5 Forces
1. COMPETITION
2. POLITICAL-LEGAL
3. ECONOMIC
4. TECHNOLOGICAL
5. SOCIAL-CULTURAL

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Strategic Alliances & Marketing Costs
• Strategic Alliances
• Partnership that creates competitive advantages e.g. Delta
and Disney
• Marketing Costs
• Creating time, place and ownership utility costs
• Most estimate that marketing costs are 40-60% of all overall
product costs

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Role of Relationships
 Personal relationships
and connections are keys
to successful business.
 Emphasize harmony
rather than conflict

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Planning is Important!

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Making Contacts: Some
Important Programs
• U.S. Commercial Service
• International Partner Search (IPS)
• Gold Key Service
• State Sponsored International Trade Agencies
• Foreign Trade Promotion Agencies and
Embassies.

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Initiating / Nurturing the
Relationship
 All successful relationships are built on understanding,
trust, confidence, mutual respect, and on achieving a
positive image / reputation. Business relationships are no
exception.
 The need to nurture and develop such relationships
become more crucial when we are dealing with a foreign
entity that may differ from us in their business and social
practices, cultures, habits, etc.
 Generally, successful firms are the ones that extend
themselves in building positive and lasting relationships
with partners and customers.

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Initiating / Nurturing the
Relationship
 To achieve successful relationships, businesses must:
 Initiate the appropriate contacts.
 Learn to properly respond to inquiries.
 Learn as much as possible about their potential foreign
customers/partners, especially their business practices.
 Work assiduously on nurturing the relationship once it has been
established.

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Responding to Inquiries
• Many successful exporters first started their international business
by responding to an inquiry from a foreign firm.
• Do not judge the foreign firm by American standards of
presentation or from grammatical or typographical errors in their
correspondence.
• Establish reliability by responding promptly, completely, clearly
and courteously. Provide an adequate introduction to the firm, to
its products/services, and to its policy on exports (cost, terms,
delivery). Also provide reputable bank and other references.
• Send your response by airmail, with copies by fax and/or e-mail.

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Learning About Potential Clients
• What You Need To Know
A description of their company
Their business reputation
Their credit rating
Their business practices
Their culture

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Learning About Potential Clients
• Sources of information on Potential Partner
 The commercial sections of foreign embassies and consulates have directories
of firms.
 Credit reports on foreign companies are available from many private sector
sources as well as from the U.S. Foreign Commercial Service.
 International bankers have access to vast amounts of information on foreign
firms and are usually willing to assist corporate customers.
 Several publications in the library list and qualify international firms. They also
house many regional and country directories.

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Nurturing the Relationship
• Maintaining Contact
 Once a relationship has been established it is important that it be nurtured and
maintained.
 A foreign contact should be treated and served as well as a domestic contact.
 Communication should be maintained by regular visits, mail or telephone contact.
• Credibility
 Keep promises and win the trust of your customer.
 The biggest complaint from foreign importers about U.S. suppliers is failure to
ship as promised.
 A first order is particularly important because it shapes the image formed of the
firm as either dependable or undependable.

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Nurturing the Partnership
• Social Practices
 Try your best not to disrespect or offend your foreign customer.
 Be polite and courteous.
 Be friendly, but avoid undue familiarity or slang.
• Correspondence
 Be wary of very brief letters. Some overseas firms view the usual brief U.S. business
letter as lacking in courtesy.
 Personally sign all letters.
 Form letters should be avoided as far as possible.

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Developing Your Image Using Promotional Tools
• Proper promotion of one’s company and
products/services is absolutely important to
initiating/developing meaningful and lasting
business relationships and to gaining a
market.
• It’s difficult to succeed if potential business
partners and customers don’t have some
positive image about who you are or what you
represent. Promotion can give you both the
needed visibility and impact, even with a
limited budget.
• There are several avenues available for
meeting this requirement. Among the most
effective are the Worldwide Web, Satellite
conferences, and Targeted Overseas
Promotion.

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Using Promotional Tools –
Worldwide Web
• The Global image you have created for your company and products is major key to
building solid and lasting business relationships.
• This image can be crafted globally by advertising on the Internet, where you can
potentially be seen by almost anyone in the world.
• You can design your company website as a virtual company/product catalog, with
text, images, price sheets, order forms, etc., and program it to respond with follow-up
letters or invoices.
• You should link your company to as many reputable search engines and trade sites as
possible.
• Web-page set-up costs are fairly low.

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Satellite Conferences
In a rapidly changing technological environment, satellite-delivered conferences allow
companies to access and share live information about their company and
products/services with foreign companies and agents.
Companies can also be served by discussions/negotiations based around live video
conferences. These services are offered by the U.S. Commercial Service and many
other state sponsored agencies.
Live conferences can motivate businesses by helping initiate and build relationships, as
well as identifying business opportunities, all at a reasonable cost.

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Targeted Overseas Promotion
• Overseas Trade Shows
 Nothing beats show and high quality impact
 You gain immediate access to hundreds or thousands of potential prospects at once.
• Overseas Trade Missions
 Traveling with a group can lend impact to your visit, since an “official delegation” has more
prestige.
 You are usually assured red carpet treatment and personalized matchmaking assistance.
• Personal Overseas Business Trips
 Face to face promotion can be persuasive.
 To facilitate your time schedule, individual trips can be organized for you to meet with
specific companies, groups, and organizations.

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Types of Relationships
• 2 Main types of relationships
– Direct
Your client is selling and has some physical presence
in the market.
– Indirect
The client’s presence in the market is based on
another entity or person.

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Teams or Teaming
• Means forming a mutually
beneficial relationship to achieve
a desired end. Teaming can
encompass several different forms
of other types of relationships
including manufacturer-supplier,
contractor-sub-contractor or
manufacturer-vendor.

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Partners
• Distributors should be thought as long-
term partners. It’s where the the U.S
firm appoints an independent party in a
foreign country who purchases its
products and resells them to users or
other parties.

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Partners
• Marketing Representative: A
company appoints an independent party
to act as its marketing representative.
This representative can’t legally bind
the company it has to send contracts
and agreements back to U.S. for
execution and approval.

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Partners
• Licensing/Franchising: U.S. firm
grants independent part right to use
proprietary intangible assets such as
trade secrets, copyrights, trademarks,
patents, data, business system, etc.

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Partners
• Agent: A parent or sponsoring company
appoints an independent party in foreign
country to act as its legal representative in
selling products or services; an agent can
negotiate on behalf of the parent company
and legally bind parent to agreements.

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Cultural Adaptations
• Before Business; Chat
• Build a Win-Win Relationship
• Show Formality Until Cued
• Avoid political conversations
• Meal etiquette

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