Global marketing challenges and opportunities for manufacturers’ representatives

Abstract

Global marketing expansion is being widely promoted in both the professional and domestic communities. Domestic markets alone cannot provide the revenue and growth opportunities required by many business organizations. Many business firms want to sell in international markets but lack the expertise and financial resources to sell overseas effectively. In domestic markets, manufacturers’ representatives currently provide the sales function for many such firms, especially small manufacturers. Investigates the potential role that manufacturers’ representatives will play in global marketing expansion. A survey of 119 representative agencies was made to identify and study their experiences and/or perceptions about expanding their client base to world markets. Results show that 60 per cent of representatives were optimistic about their future opportunities in a global economy but were hardly aggressive (up to now) when it comes to entering world markets. Over 80 per cent of the representatives had enquiries from foreign principals, but only 47 per cent initiated the contacts. Moreover, only 23 per cent sought global markets for their current principals’ products.

Citation

Stephens, M. (1996), "Global marketing challenges and opportunities for manufacturers’ representatives", Marketing Intelligence & Planning, Vol. 14 No. 5, pp. 25-30. https://doi.org/10.1108/02634509610127545