Comparison of country and city marketing. Country Marketing

Website sections

Editor's Choice:

Advertising

home - Type samples

The text of the work is posted without images and formulas.
The full version of the work is available in the tab "Work Files" in PDF

Introduction

For a company to successfully enter the foreign market, first of all, it is necessary to determine the goals and strategies of the company's international marketing. To do this, she must decide how much foreign sales she needs. Most companies, entering other markets, start small. Some plan small volumes for the future, considering international sales as an insignificant part of their business. Other companies have more extensive plans; they see international business as equal to their “home” business or even more important.

The company must also decide in how many countries it is going to operate. In general, it makes more sense to work in fewer countries, penetrating deeply into each of them. It is also important what types of countries to go to. The attractiveness of a country depends on a particular product, geographical factors, average annual income and population, political climate and other factors.

Today, consumer understanding alone is not enough. The time has come for intense competition in local markets, and especially in foreign ones. The economies of many countries are less and less regulated by the state, which encourages the development of market processes. The European Union removes trade barriers between European countries, as a result of which many markets that were previously protected from the invasion of foreign companies become unregulated. Multinational corporations are very persistently moving into the markets of Southeast Asia and create global competition. As a result, companies have no choice but to be competitive. They should pay no less attention to the analysis and observation of the actions of their competitors in foreign markets than to the analysis of their target consumers.

In accordance with the concept of marketing, companies achieve a competitive advantage by developing proposals that satisfy the needs of target consumers to a greater extent than the proposals of competitors. Thus, international marketing strategies should take into account not only the needs of customers, but also the strategies of competitors in foreign markets. The first step in this direction is the analysis of competitors, i.e. the process of identifying and evaluating major competitors. The next step is the development of international marketing competitive strategies that allow the company to take a strong position in the fight against competitors and provide the most powerful advantage possible over competitors in foreign markets.

FEATURES OF MARKETING OF DIFFERENT COUNTRIES

One of the most important aspects of effective internationalization of a company is the construction of a competent system of marketing of goods / services. To do this, the company's management must familiarize themselves with the country's marketing environment, which is planned to enter the market. Consider the key features of marketing in different countries.

1.Marketing in Japan

Peter Drucker once wrote the following about Japan: "While the rest of the world was just talking about marketing, the Japanese put it into practice." This suggests that Japan places a great emphasis on marketing, it is an integral part of any company. All this is because in Japan "the client is God." Paul Herbig, in his book Japanese Style Marketing, identified three key elements of Japanese marketing:

Unconditional priority of the consumer;

Information Technology;

Entrepreneurial spirit, stimulating creativity.

Modern marketing, according to the Japanese, should be based on fast, flexible planning of initiatives, in the center of which should always be the consumer. Initiative, ambitious companies are more likely to focus on creating needs and satisfying them, rather than simply responding to a need. The Japanese are not profit-oriented, as they realize that with maximum satisfaction of consumer needs, profit will increase naturally.

The distinguishing features of Japanese marketing include the following:

The customer is God. Everything is focused on meeting his needs;

The Japanese are constantly collecting customer information in order to keep abreast of their needs and track changes.

2. Marketing in China

When entering the Chinese market, it is important to remember the main features of the Chinese consumer:

All that the Chinese use at home is cheap and locally produced. Those goods that the Chinese buy with the thought that not only his family will see them are foreign-made and expensive. In Confucian society, social status is an investment. Therefore, consumers are willing to spend large sums on mobile phones and expensive booze. But for the home, price is crucial, so every yuan is saved.

The Chinese love foreign brands. In them they see the best quality, attractive appearance and a variety of choices. Their possession is associated with a sense of freedom and financial viability.

In all respected the principle of "Yin-Yang."

In China, femininity and beauty is a tool with which a woman makes her way into life. Plastic surgery is very popular. Beauty helps a young girl to get a good job more than her husband. This trend is observed in South Korea.

The Chinese pay great attention to the taste of food. This is explained by the following: “if I cook deliciously, then my family will eat more. If my family eats more, they will get more vitamins. If they get more vitamins, then no one will get sick. If no one gets sick, then no one will lose their job. If no one loses his job, then there will be harmony in the family. If the family has harmony, peace and quiet, then we can think about procreation. ”

The Chinese pay great attention to education. Priority is the mind. The fitness sector, in contrast to America, is not very popular.

The Chinese are very wary of germs. Microbes are a great evil. The main duty of the Chinese mother is to protect the child and family from their invasion. That is why air conditioners, washing machines, soap, food, dishwashers and televisions are glued with “no germs” stickers.

Much attention should be paid to branding, slogans and the use of hieroglyphs. Maxim Mitrokhin, manager of Kaspersky Lab, made such recommendations for companies operating in the Chinese market: “I would advise any company that intends to enter the Chinese market to hire local specialists who are well aware of this specificity and will help adapt the corporate advertising strategy under the needs of Chinese consumers. In general, flexibility and willingness to adapt is the key to success for someone who wants to work in China. ”

3. Marketing in the USA

The USA is the center of global creativity. The following principles apply in the US market:

First, you need to know your own customer as accurately as possible, using the feedback methods that are appropriate for the company. Only by placing the buyer at the forefront, taking into account him and using the knowledge, the company can construct a proposal that he will not refuse.

Secondly, it is necessary to promptly and essentially adopt new technologies in marketing.

Thirdly, it is important to realize that it’s not marketing as a highly functional part of an organization that must confirm the need to stay at the meeting table, but all the functional parts of an organization that must consider the importance of marketing and accept the value of the buyer as their duty.

Fourthly, a marketer cannot consider his own work as a need to manage, give a forecast and regulate, turning creativity into a bureaucracy; rather, he must be a creator obsessed with the spirit of entrepreneurship.

4. Marketing in Russia

Regarding Russia, here marketing is still quite young. On the one hand, our Motherland has the opportunity to build its own marketing system, based on the experience of foreign countries, on the other hand, Russia has its own specifics, both economically and culturally, which means that it is necessary to carefully choose marketing behavior. Similarly, in Russia there is an unevenness in the development of marketing. Marketing is developing more actively in areas where competition is most pronounced. This is, first of all, the service sector, including legal activities, education, medicine and banking. The decline in commodity production has led to the fact that marketing is relatively poorly developed in the manufacturing sector.

There are the following reasons for using marketing in Russian companies:

Under the pressure of market circumstances (sales problems, strengthening

competition, etc.);

At the initiative of modern top managers (ahead of the problems).

And thus, we can conclude that in Russia marketing is more reactive.

Conclusion

To summarize, I would like to cite as an example the words of Alexander Ilyashenko, Deputy Head of Direct Investment Directorate of Ingosstrakh IJSC: “First, you need to make your brand quite popular and easily recognizable in your country. Then it will not go unnoticed by potential customers and partners, not only in China, but also in other foreign countries. ” If the company managed to build its brand inside its country, it will be much easier for it to work in the foreign market. This fact is confirmed by the activities of any multinational company.

Bibliography

Akulich NL, “International Marketing”, Riga, 2006

Burov AS, “International Marketing”, ed. "Dashkov and K", 2005

Vasiliev G.A., "International Marketing", M .: ed. UNITY, 2005

Didenko NI, Samokhvalov VV "Fundamentals of international marketing." - S.-Pb .: "Polytechnic", 2000

Karpova SV, “International marketing”, M .: ed. “Exam”, 2005

http://marketing.onset.ru/

http://www.marketing.spb.ru/

Marketing of the country is not associated with a change in its borders and is non-profit, although quite a lot can be distinguished of the most important indirect economic results of such marketing. These are the effects of the implementation of geophysical, financial, technical and technological and human resources (the use of internal resources outside the territory and the attraction of external resources), growth in volumes and intensification of foreign economic activity, results of participation in international projects, etc.

A key aspect of the country's marketing activity is the purposeful formation, positive development and promotion of the country's image. The image of the country (as well as the region and other territories) exists at several levels of awareness - household, socio-economic, business, financial, etc.

The image of a country, as defined by the World Tourism Organization, is a combination of emotional and rational ideas arising from a comparison of all the attributes of a country, its own experience and rumors that influence the creation of a certain image. All of these factors allow you to immediately build a chain of associations in relation to a given country when the name is mentioned.

The socio-economic image of the country is assessed using a comprehensive indicator of its well-being. This is very significant for migration flows, tourism, and others. According to the modernized methodology of the World Bank, four main indicators are used: the share of GNP per capita, as well as the level of security of the population: production resources (fixed assets, roads, buildings); natural resources; human resources (level of education).

The country's business image is characterized by the concept of its competitiveness.

Cities are leaders in both municipal and regional and federal development in general. This role is played primarily by large cities, in which huge economic potential is concentrated. Some cities create far more wealth than entire nations.

The most important tool for positioning, assessing the marketing attractiveness of the city is the urban product per person. This is an indicator of urban labor productivity. At its core, it is similar to gross national product, shows the total production in the city and is determined by the methodology adopted for the system of national accounts.

Particular emphasis in city marketing is placed on the functioning arguments. To a large extent, the traditional anti-marketing orientation in the organization of public services acts as a brake on their effectiveness.

Marketing tools (in particular, the positioning of goods and services) can significantly alleviate the problems of urban reform. We illustrate this with an example of assessing the functioning of the park economy and solving the problems of recreation, recreation for residents and visitors of the city.

The main arguments for marketing a country as well as a city are improving the living standards and well-being of its citizens and firms, political stability, creating sophisticated domestic demand, a civilized market, promising goals and strategies, spreading modern organization methods and a high level of company management, increasing the investment of domestic residents in domestic production, an active state policy aimed at supporting these changes while maintaining the openness of the country's economy, including for international oh competition.

Send your good work in the knowledge base is simple. Use the form below

Students, graduate students, young scientists who use the knowledge base in their studies and work will be very grateful to you.

The image of the country at the level of household psychology

What does modern Russia look like in the everyday minds of ordinary people in other countries? According to a survey conducted in 1998 by Around the World magazine with foreign correspondents, the collective image of Russia in the eyes of residents of the United States, France, South Africa, Japan and Australia consists of: vodka, cold, borsch, economic crisis, poverty, gloomy moods , lines, here and there scattered McDonalds, in which, supposedly, you can buy something only for dollars. Many foreigners are not averse to drinking with the Russians, but they certainly would not want to live in Russia. It turns out that, according to some, Lenin was already removed from the mausoleum. The good news is that, according to foreigners surveyed, bears no longer walk on Red Square.

What criteria determine the degree of respect for their country by the Russians themselves, and what do they think about their homeland in this regard? To a certain extent, the results of a survey of 2,000 Russians conducted by the Center for Research and Statistics of Science of the Russian Academy of Sciences answer this question.

Two questions that were very significant in the context of country marketing were asked:

What, first of all, should a country possess in order to arouse respect of other states?
What, first of all, causes respect for Russia from other states today?

The results of the study (see the diagram in Fig. 1) showed: among the most significant factors most often were the high level of well-being, the high level of development of science and technology, military power, respect for human rights, a highly developed culture and rich natural resources. At the same time, Russia, according to 23% of respondents, is worthy of respect for its natural resources, 13% noted the military power of the fatherland, including the availability of nuclear weapons, 8% - a large territory and 4% - a highly developed culture. Moreover, almost half (49%) did not find at all a single factor by which Russia can be respected.

Figure 1. Assessment of Russia's prestige in the world (% of the number of respondents)

How are they trying to improve the image of the country?

Obsolete and obsessed in their teeth about the British as conservatives, whose country is full of castles, double-decker buses and ridiculous police "bobby", in accordance with the concept of the new Prime Minister, should be a thing of the past. Thatched old houses with well-kept gardens and hanging baskets at the entrances should be transformed into multi-storey buildings, and Her Majesty Elisabeth II's well-trained guards, bowler gentlemen hurrying to work in the City, old women with poodles and the splendor of the parades at the Queen's Palace will no longer be considered symbols of “London, because, according to the Labor Party, are outdated and look dull. The old image does not allow Britain to spread its wings and declare itself as a new powerful state. The authors of the concept believe that it is necessary to forget about Westminster Abbey and the royal treasury in the Tower, as about British symbols and focus on the interests of youth.

Tony Blair made a decision: to create a committee called "Panel 2000", in which to convene the most fashionable designers, artists and public figures. “Their energy and strength - this is the positive image that Britain needs” - was said in an official statement.

It should be noted that from the day this decision was made public, criticism and indignation fell on the heads of the government. The focus on fashion and youth culture, instead of focusing on the historical past, seemed to most Englishmen, from the media, a bad dream. The premiere was remembered by the presence of the Spice Girls jumping on the stage and the absence of the queen in the official film about Britain, contacts with youth idols of England who had dubious moral qualities. Without a doubt, changing the image of the country is a very, very difficult both foreign and domestic political task, which marketing is called to solve.

Romania. Although not many years ago, Romanian resorts attracted a considerable number of tourists, every year they come to Romania less and less. The reasons are clear: the hotels are dilapidated and look outdated, service remains poor and prices are high. The question arose: why did foreigners go to Romania, which they simply did not see there?

Figures of the Romanian tourism business decided, correcting the situation, to answer precisely this question and start by creating a kind of “information springboard”. This is exactly what 36 firms will do, united in the National Association of Conference and Exhibition Organizers (NAOKV). The association has serious opportunities: last year, 160 thousand tourists who visited Romania used the services of the companies included in it. Travel agencies are determined to break into the global “event market”; include the country in international travel catalogs, including business tourism, take part in competitions for international events. The Association decided to create its own catalog of events in Romania until 2015, participation in which may be of interest to foreign customers.

The trump card for Romania-99 was the fact that from all European countries only here it was possible to observe a total solar eclipse on August 11, 1999. An exceptional natural phenomenon has served tourists as a good bait. Hotel reservations were booked four months before the event. Big business was done with special sunglasses. The influx of tourists allowed catering enterprises, souvenir dealers, etc. to earn money.

Country competitiveness

Development stages and main factors. M. Porter defined the competitiveness of the state as productivity, which is understood as the effective use of labor and capital and is resulting in the value of national income per capita. He also developed a system of determinants of the competitive advantage of countries, called the “competitive diamond” in terms of the number of main groups of such advantages.

These include:

factor conditions: human and natural resources, scientific and informational potential, capital, infrastructure, including quality of life factors;
conditions of domestic demand: quality of demand, compliance with trends in the development of demand in the world market, development of demand.
related and serving industries (industry clusters): areas of receipt of raw materials and semi-finished products, areas of receipt of equipment, areas of use of raw materials, equipment, technologies.
strategy and structure of firms, intra-industry competition: goals, strategies, organization methods, company management, intra-industry competition.

According to M. Porter, the development of a country's competitiveness goes through four main stages: movement by factors, movement by investment, movement by innovation and movement by wealth.

Porter argues: state policy is not important in itself, but by its influence on the "competitive diamond." He recommends that the state invest in the creation of factors, especially developed ones (education, infrastructure, science). Porter emphasizes the importance of such a state function as improving the quality of domestic demand by using tools such as public procurement to create early and complex demand, ensuring procurement procedures that facilitate innovation (for example, free testing), and not discourage foreign competitors. The state also has the function of supporting and strengthening clusters (including regional ones), encouraging internal diversification, rather than acquisitions, while facilitating the foreign economic activity of firms.

The main thesis, the main recommendation of Porter: Promising competitive advantages are created not from the outside, but in the domestic markets! And the marketing of Russian territories is necessary inside them, including so that marketing of Russia as a whole, as a competitive country, can successfully develop.

Technology and valuation. Socio-economic image countries is estimated using a comprehensive indicator of its well-being. This is very significant for migration flows, tourism, etc. According to the modernized methodology of the World Bank, four main indicators are used: the share of GNP per capita, as well as the levels of population security: production resources (fixed assets, roads, buildings); natural resources; human resources (level of education).

Business image country is characterized by its concept competitiveness. To analyze the competitiveness of countries, experts from the International Institute for Management Development use 288 evaluation parameters based on statistical data and expert reports. The results of this analysis are presented in Figure 2.

Figure 2. World ranking of countries competitiveness in 2000 (1999)

An example of more private levels of a country's business image (for certain aspects of business) is the assessment of factors of investment attractiveness of a country. One of the models of such an assessment, developed by specialists from the American non-governmental foundation Heritage, is presented in the main features in the table in Fig. 3.

According to this model, the investment attractiveness of the countries of the so-called “second tier”, that is, those that are developing fairly quickly, are moving towards a state of economic freedom, was evaluated. Among the 24 countries that made up the final list, Russia, unfortunately, was not. The following developing countries were recognized as the most attractive for investment: Botswana, Indonesia, Israel, Panama, Portugal.

Factors

Indicators

Economic growth rate	Gross Domestic Product Growth
Political stability	The danger of personal stay in the country and coups d'etat over the past 10 years
Market size	Per capita gross domestic product and population
Dependence on foreign aid	Sign of unfree economy, inhibition of reform, inability to develop
Sizes of external debt	Structural orientation of borrowed funds and the share of export income on debt servicing
Currency Convertibility	Freedom of foreign currency convertibility and the ability to repatriate profits
Currency strength	Currency inflationary stability (relative to the basket of leading world currencies - SDR)
Level of internal savings	The difference between GDP and consumption, optimally 24% of GDP, gives 4-5% of GDP growth per year
Infrastructure development level	The provision of roads, energy, communications and the uniformity of their presence

Figure 3. Factors of investment attractiveness of countries

The consequences of lowering the country's investment rating. The main organizations for determining the rating in the USA and Great Britain announced in October 1996 the following rating of bond loans of the Russian government: MOODY "S (Moody" s Investor Service, USA): Ba2; S&P (Standard and Poor ", USA): BB; IBCA (The international Bank Credit Analist, UK): BB +. The levels of the given ratings corresponded to the ratings of Mexico, Argentina, Hungary. But exactly two years later the rating of Russia as a borrowing country fell to critical CCC level, and no Russian region can be indifferent to this: after all, according to international rules, the rating of any region cannot be higher than the rating of the country as a whole.

After lowering the credit rating, a turning point in the very nature of foreign investment may occur. Instead of supporting existing Russian companies and the budget at the expense of cheap borrowed money, they will be focused on the so-called restructuring of enterprises, that is, on investments in the property of bankrupt Russian companies. And to reduce the cost of their purchase, lenders usually initiate bankruptcy proceedings.

A downgrade is extremely painful for the state budget if it is dependent on external borrowing and / or on the market for domestic government securities. But an even more dangerous long-term consequence of this may be that the state, whose rating has decreased, is gradually being squeezed out of the financial market. At the same time, the role of direct investment is increasing, and the foreign presence is expanding.

The country and its neighbors in the region. Among the numerous ratings of business attractiveness of countries, special attention should be paid to ratings operating in specific regions of the world. Russia is a Eurasian country and, no doubt, cannot be indifferent to its perception in the Asian region. In Asia, one of the most qualified organizations active in this area is The Japan Bud Research Institute (JBRJ). This institute has ranked several Asian countries based on the values \u200b\u200bof country risk as “the risk of the impossibility of repaying debts or exporting invested capital due to adverse changes in the political, economic or social situation in the country”

So that Russia could count on expanding technical cooperation with foreign countries and attracting foreign investment from them, Japanese economists, in particular, recommend focusing on the following factors: the introduction of a simple and transparent taxation scheme; improvement of legislation on foreign investment, production sharing, etc .; compliance with contract discipline; prioritization of industrial policies; differentiation of the role of central government and regions; stimulating the return of Russian capital, exported abroad, estimated at 120 billion US dollars and the influx of domestic investment in the amount of 30 billion US dollars, held by the population. In this case, the necessary condition should be the stability of the political situation in the country.

What is already being done

Country marketing and loans. The directions of creating a positive business image of Russia were probably first identified in the draft Concepts for Creating a Positive Image of Russia prepared by the public relations department of the Russian Center for the Promotion of Foreign Investments under the Ministry of Economy of the Russian Federation. In this document, they were formulated as follows:

preparation and presentation of investment projects;
preparation of a databank on legislative, regulatory, economic conditions for foreign investors of the Russian economy;
involvement of domestic and foreign media in covering the advanced sectors of the Russian economy;
preparation of special publications, holding conferences for large-scale coverage of the conditions and advantages of the Russian investment market;
coordination of actions of state bodies.

So, in the third decade of March 1998, the optimization of the placement of Russian Eurobonds in German marks was greatly hindered by the announcement of the dismissal of the subject of the loan, the Russian government, unexpectedly held two hours before it. Losses were expressed not so much in the growth of interest, but in the decrease in the actual amount of proceeds from the sharp depreciation of the German mark, which is experiencing a fairly strong influence of the ups and downs of Russian politics and economy.

A severe blow to the country's prestige was dealt by the economic crisis that erupted in August 1998, and above all - bank default. However, a sovereign default - the state’s refusal to pay its obligations - leads to even more serious consequences, threatening the country with international isolation. And in this regard, the key importance of the activities of the main economic institutions of the country can hardly be overestimated.

Example of MES. Among other federal ministries, the activities of the Ministry of the Russian Federation for Civil Defense, Emergencies and Disaster Relief (EMERCOM of Russia) can serve as a definite positive example in this regard.

Humanitarian actions are not free. International operations are most often funded by the United Nations, in some cases from national reserves (targeted gifts from governments). The main types of products: food, blankets, tents, medicines, machinery, building materials, services for the transport of goods, maintenance and repair of equipment, training for local staff. The work of specialists and their equipment in crisis zones is also financed.

The main objects of competition in the market for international humanitarian actions are: the country's international prestige, multi-million dollar orders, additional jobs, opportunities for subsequent commercial promotion of goods, the conclusion of new contracts, the development of new sales markets, additional equipment of national rescue services, and further training.

Over the past three years, EMERCOM of Russia has been actively expanding its presence in international markets for humanitarian actions, working with a number of international organizations. In this way, the Ministry promotes the revival of Russia's international prestige on a new, humanitarian basis, the return of domestic industry to the markets we lost for us, and the promotion of goods (and with them the services of specialists) that are not in demand in developed, but very competitive, countries in distress. In addition, the Ministry of Emergency Situations earns certain funds for the country and frees rescuers from significant costs for modern equipment.

How to ensure a positive image of the country? The opinions of politicians in this regard do not diverge too much. So, the leader of one of the independent countries that recently appeared on the world map, the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev identified the following main factors of the attractiveness of his republic: political stability, friendly relations with neighbors, the degree of development of a market economy. Russian politicians and leaders speak in a similar vein. Thus, Yuri Luzhkov, the mayor of the capital of Russia, names stability and development (including construction), as well as the transformation of the capital from industrial into a scientific center of the country, among the leading factors of Moscow's appeal.

Summarizing the above, the following can be stated. In relation to the country, marketing is focused on increasing (maintaining) its image, attractiveness to other countries, their business entities, other social institutions and the population, prestige in international organizations. Country marketing does not aim at specific acts of sale and is non-profit, although there are a lot of the most important indirect economic results of such marketing. These are the effects of the implementation of geophysical, financial, technical and technological and human resources (the use of internal resources outside the territory and the attraction of external resources), growth in volumes and intensification of foreign economic activity, results of participation in international projects, etc.

The main arguments of the country's marketing are raising the standard of living and well-being of its citizens and firms, political stability, creating sophisticated domestic demand, a civilized market, promising goals and strategies, spreading modern organization methods and a high level of company management, increasing the investment of domestic residents in domestic production, active state policy aimed at supporting these changes while maintaining the openness of the country's economy, including for international competition ii.

In relation to the country, marketing is focused on increasing (maintaining) its image, attractiveness to other countries, their business entities, other social institutions and the population, prestige in international organizations. Marketing of the country is not associated with a change in its borders and is non-profit, although a lot of the most important indirect economic results of such marketing can be identified. These are the effects of the implementation of geophysical, financial, technical and technological and human resources (the use of internal resources outside the territory and the attraction of external resources), the growth of volumes and the intensification of foreign economic activity, the results of participation in international projects, etc. The key aspect of the country's marketing is targeted formation, positive development and promotion of the country's image. The image of the country (as well as the region and other territories) exists at several levels of awareness - household, socio-economic, business, financial, etc. The image of a country, as defined by the World Tourism Organization, is a combination of emotional and rational ideas arising from a comparison of all signs of the country, their own experience and rumors that affect the creation of a certain image. All of these factors allow you to immediately build a chain of associations in relation to a given country when the name is mentioned.

The image of the country at the level of household psychology

To identify the image of the country in the minds of the population, that is, at the level of household psychology, they use a number of well-established characteristics, parameters: symbols, features of the mentality of the nation, its culture, negative aspects of life support, communicative obstacles. What does modern Russia look like in the everyday minds of ordinary people in other countries? According to a survey conducted in 1998 by Around the World magazine with the participation of foreign correspondents, the collective image of Russia in the eyes of residents of the USA, France, South Africa, Japan and Australia consists of: vodka, cold, borsch, economic crisis, poverty, gloomy moods , lines, here and there scattered McDonalds, in which, supposedly, you can buy something only for dollars. Many foreigners are not averse to drinking with the Russians, but they certainly would not want to live in Russia. It turns out that, according to some, Lenin was already removed from the mausoleum. The good news is that, according to foreigners surveyed, bears no longer walk on Red Square. What criteria determine the degree of respect for their country by the Russians themselves, and what do they think about their homeland in this regard? To a certain extent, the results of a survey of 2,000 Russians conducted by the Center for Research and Statistics of Science of the Russian Academy of Sciences answer this question. Two questions that were very significant in the context of country marketing were asked:

What, first of all, should a country possess in order to arouse respect of other states?
What, first of all, causes respect for Russia from other states today?

How are they trying to improve the image of the country?

Great Britain. Many Englishmen realized that they needed a leader who would improve their British image. This is precisely what the new Prime Minister Labor Laborer Tony Blair, who replaced the Conservatives, decided to do. It turned out that this is a political issue. Obsolete and obsessed in their teeth about the British as conservatives, whose country is full of castles, double-decker buses and funny police "bobby", in accordance with the concept of the new prime minister, should be a thing of the past. Thatched old houses with manicured gardens and hanging baskets at the entrances should be transformed into multi-storey buildings, and Her Majesty Elisabeth II’s well-trained guards, bowler gentlemen hurrying to work in the City, old women with poodles and the splendor of the parades at the Queen’s palace will no longer be considered " symbols of London, because, according to the Labor Party, are outdated and look dull. The old image does not allow Britain to spread its wings and declare itself as a new powerful state. The authors of the concept believe that it is necessary to forget about Westminster Abbey and the royal treasury in the Tower, as about British symbols and focus on the interests of youth. Tony Blair made a decision: to create a committee called "Panel 2000", in which to convene the most fashionable designers, artists and public figures. “Their energy and strength is the positive image that Britain needs,” the official statement said. It should be noted that from the day this decision was made public, criticism and indignation fell on the heads of the government. The focus on fashion and youth culture, instead of focusing on the historical past, seemed to most Englishmen, from the media, a bad dream. The premiere was remembered by the presence of the Spice Girls jumping on the stage and the absence of the queen in the official film about Britain, contacts with England's youth idols who had dubious moral qualities. Without a doubt, changing the image of the country is a very, very difficult both foreign and domestic political task, which marketing is called to solve. Romania. Although not many years ago, Romanian resorts attracted a considerable number of tourists, every year they come to Romania less and less. The reasons are clear: the hotels are dilapidated and look outdated, service remains poor and prices are high. The question arose: why did foreigners go to Romania, which they simply did not see there? Figures of the Romanian tourism business have decided, straightening the situation, to answer exactly this question and start by creating a kind of "information springboard". This is exactly what 36 firms will do, united in the National Association of Conference and Exhibition Organizers (NAOKV). The association has serious opportunities: last year, 160 thousand tourists who visited Romania used the services of the companies included in it. Travel agencies are determined to break into the global "event market"; include the country in international travel catalogs, including business tourism, take part in competitions for international events. The Association decided to create its own catalog of events in Romania until 2015, participation in which may be of interest to foreign customers. The trump card for Romania-99 was the fact that from all European countries only here it was possible to observe a total solar eclipse on August 11, 1999. An exceptional natural phenomenon has served tourists as a good bait. Hotel reservations were booked four months before the event. Big business was done with special sunglasses. The influx of tourists allowed catering enterprises, souvenir dealers, etc. to earn money.

Country competitiveness

Development stages and main factors. M. Porter defined the competitiveness of the state as productivity, which is understood as the effective use of labor and capital and is resulting in the value of national income per capita. He also developed a system of determinants of the competitive advantage of countries, called the "competitive diamond" in terms of the number of main groups of such advantages. These include:

factor conditions: human and natural resources, scientific and informational potential, capital, infrastructure, including quality of life factors;
conditions of domestic demand: quality of demand, compliance with trends in the development of demand in the world market, development of demand.
related and service industries (industry clusters): areas of receipt of raw materials and semi-finished products, areas of receipt of equipment, areas of use of raw materials, equipment, technologies.
strategy and structure of firms, intra-industry competition: goals, strategies, organization methods, company management, intra-industry competition.

According to M. Porter, the development of a country's competitiveness goes through four main stages: movement by factors, movement by investment, movement by innovation and movement by wealth. Porter argues: state policy is not important in itself, but by its influence on the "competitive diamond." He recommends that the state invest in the creation of factors, especially developed ones (education, infrastructure, science). Porter emphasizes the importance of such a state function as improving the quality of domestic demand by using tools such as public procurement to create early and complex demand, ensuring procurement procedures that facilitate innovation (for example, free testing), and not discourage foreign competitors. The state also has the function of supporting and strengthening clusters (including regional ones), encouraging internal diversification, rather than acquisitions, while facilitating the foreign economic activity of firms. The main thesis, the main recommendation of Porter: Promising competitive advantages are created not from the outside, but in the domestic markets! And the marketing of Russian territories is necessary inside them, including so that marketing of Russia as a whole, as a competitive country, can successfully develop. Technology and valuation. Socio-economic image countries is estimated using a comprehensive indicator of its well-being. This is very significant for migration flows, tourism, etc. According to the modernized methodology of the World Bank, four main indicators are used: the share of GNP per capita, as well as the levels of population security: production resources (fixed assets, roads, buildings); natural resources; human resources (level of education). Business image country is characterized by its concept competitiveness. To analyze the competitiveness of countries, experts from the International Institute for Management Development use 288 evaluation parameters based on statistical data and expert reports. The results of this analysis are presented in Figure 2.

Figure 2. World ranking of countries competitiveness in 2000 (1999) An example of more private levels of a country's business image (for certain aspects of business) is the assessment of factors of investment attractiveness of a country. One of the models of such an assessment, developed by specialists from the American non-governmental Heritage foundation, is presented in the main features in the table in Fig. 3. According to this model, the investment attractiveness of the countries of the so-called "second tier", that is, those that are developing fairly quickly, are moving towards a state of economic freedom, has been evaluated. Among the 24 countries that made up the final list, Russia, unfortunately, was not. The following developing countries were recognized as the most attractive for investment: Botswana, Indonesia, Israel, Panama, Portugal.

Factors

Indicators

Economic growth rate	Gross Domestic Product Growth
Political stability	The danger of personal stay in the country and coups d'etat over the past 10 years
Market size	Per capita gross domestic product and population
Dependence on foreign aid	Sign of unfree economy, inhibition of reform, inability to develop
Sizes of external debt	Structural orientation of borrowed funds and the share of export income on debt servicing
Currency Convertibility	Freedom of foreign currency convertibility and the ability to repatriate profits
Currency strength	Currency inflationary stability (relative to the basket of leading world currencies - SDR)
Level of internal savings	The difference between GDP and consumption, optimally 24% of GDP, gives 4-5% of GDP growth per year
Infrastructure development level	The provision of roads, energy, communications and the uniformity of their presence

Figure 3. Factors of investment attractiveness of countries The consequences of lowering the country's investment rating. The main organizations for determining the rating in the USA and Great Britain announced in October 1996 the following rating of bond loans of the Russian government: MOODY "S (Moody" s Investor Service, USA): Ba2; S&P (Standard and Poor ", USA): BB; IBCA (The international Bank Credit Analist, UK): BB +. The levels of the given ratings corresponded to the ratings of Mexico, Argentina, Hungary. But exactly two years later the rating of Russia as a borrowing country fell to critical CCC level, and not a single Russian region can be indifferent to this: after all, according to international rules, the rating of any region cannot be higher than the rating of the country as a whole .. Downgrading, as a rule, seriously inhibits the implementation of projects implemented with borrowed money, if their guarantors or participation The government structures are nicknames, after a decrease in the credit rating a turning point in the nature of foreign investments can occur. Instead of supporting existing Russian companies and the budget due to cheap borrowed money, they will be oriented towards the so-called restructuring of enterprises, that is, investments in property of bankrupt Russian companies. to reduce the cost of their purchase, lenders usually initiate bankruptcy proceedings. A downgrade is extremely painful for the state budget if it is dependent on external borrowing and / or on the market for domestic government securities. But an even more dangerous long-term consequence of this may be that the state, whose rating has decreased, is gradually being squeezed out of the financial market. At the same time, the role of direct investment is increasing, and the foreign presence is expanding. The country and its neighbors in the region. Among the numerous ratings of business attractiveness of countries, special attention should be paid to ratings operating in specific regions of the world. Russia is a Eurasian country and, no doubt, cannot be indifferent to its perception in the Asian region. In Asia, one of the most qualified organizations active in this area is The Japan Bud Research Institute (JBRJ). This institute has ranked several Asian countries based on the values \u200b\u200bof country risk as “the risk of the impossibility of returning debts or the export of invested capital due to adverse changes in the political, economic or social situation in the country” so that Russia could count on expanding technical cooperation with foreign countries and to attract foreign investment on their part, Japanese economists, in particular, recommend focusing on the following factors: the introduction of simple and transparent a full taxation scheme; improvement of legislation on foreign investment, production sharing, etc .; compliance with contract discipline; prioritization of industrial policies; differentiation of the role of central government and regions; stimulating the return of Russian capital, exported abroad, estimated at 120 billion US dollars and the influx of domestic investment in the amount of 30 billion US dollars, held by the population. In this case, the necessary condition should be the stability of the political situation in the country.

What is already being done

The main conductors of the country's image abroad are the subjects of international spheres: diplomacy, foreign economic activity (including the financial sector), tourism, transport, hospitality. Unfortunately, a comprehensive program of such activities in Russia does not exist, although individual actions in this direction are carried out, in particular, in relations with the World Bank and other financial institutions in connection with the implementation of a certain financial and credit budgetary policy. Country marketing and loans. The directions of creating a positive business image of Russia were probably first identified in the draft "Concepts for Creating a Positive Image of Russia" prepared by the public relations department of the Russian Center for the Promotion of Foreign Investment under the Ministry of Economy of the Russian Federation. In this document, they were formulated as follows:

preparation and presentation of investment projects;
preparation of a databank on legislative, regulatory, economic conditions for foreign investors of the Russian economy;
involvement of domestic and foreign media in covering the advanced sectors of the Russian economy;
preparation of special publications, holding conferences for large-scale coverage of the conditions and advantages of the Russian investment market;
coordination of actions of state bodies.

However, the project remained a project, and the actual practice of the Russian authorities is still far from a genuine marketing approach and, moreover, demonstrates inconsistency of position. An example of this is the unsuccessful placement of Russian bonds ("Eurobonds") on world financial markets. The efforts of a separate ministry (in this case, the ministry of finance) are clearly not enough for such work. So, in the third decade of March 1998, the optimization of the placement of Russian Eurobonds in German marks was greatly hindered by the announcement of the dismissal of the subject of the loan, the Russian government, unexpectedly held two hours before it. Losses were expressed not so much in the growth of interest, but in the decrease in the actual amount of proceeds from the sharp depreciation of the German mark, which is experiencing a fairly strong influence of the ups and downs of Russian politics and economy. A severe blow to the country's prestige was dealt by the economic crisis that erupted in August 1998, and above all - bank default. However, a sovereign default - the state’s refusal to pay its obligations - leads to even more serious consequences, threatening the country with international isolation. And in this regard, the key importance of the activities of the main economic institutions of the country is difficult to overestimate. Example of MES. Among other federal ministries, the activity of the Ministry of the Russian Federation for civil defense, emergency situations and natural disaster response (EMERCOM of Russia) can serve as a definite positive example in this regard. Humanitarian actions are not free. International operations are most often funded by the United Nations, in some cases from national reserves (targeted gifts from governments). The main types of products: food, blankets, tents, medicines, machinery, building materials, services for the transport of goods, maintenance and repair of equipment, training for local staff. The work of specialists and their equipment in crisis zones is also financed. The main objects of competition in the market of international humanitarian actions are: the country's international prestige, multi-million dollar amounts of orders, additional jobs, opportunities for subsequent commercial promotion of goods, the conclusion of new contracts, the development of new sales markets, additional equipment of national rescue services, and further training. Over the past three years, EMERCOM of Russia has been actively expanding its presence in international markets for humanitarian actions, working with a number of international organizations. In this way, the Ministry promotes the revival of Russia's international prestige on a new, humanitarian basis, the return of domestic industry to the markets we lost for us, and the promotion of goods (and with them the services of specialists) that are not in demand in developed, but very competitive, countries in distress. In addition, the Ministry of Emergency Situations earns certain funds for the country and frees rescuers from significant costs for modern equipment. How to ensure a positive image of the country? The opinions of politicians in this regard do not diverge too much. So, the leader of one of the independent countries that recently appeared on the world map, President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev identified the following main factors of the attractiveness of his republic: political stability, friendly relations with neighbors, the degree of development of a market economy. Russian politicians and leaders speak in a similar vein. Thus, Yuri Luzhkov, the mayor of the capital of Russia, names stability and development (including construction), as well as the transformation of the capital from industrial into a scientific center of the country, among the leading factors of Moscow's appeal. Summarizing the above, the following can be stated. In relation to the country, marketing is focused on increasing (maintaining) its image, attractiveness to other countries, their business entities, other social institutions and the population, prestige in international organizations. Country marketing does not aim at specific acts of sale and is non-profit, although there are a lot of the most important indirect economic results of such marketing. These are the effects of the implementation of geophysical, financial, technical and technological and human resources (the use of internal resources outside the territory and the attraction of external resources), growth in volumes and intensification of foreign economic activity, results of participation in international projects, etc. The main arguments of the country's marketing are raising the standard of living and well-being of its citizens and firms, political stability, creating sophisticated domestic demand, a civilized market, promising goals and strategies, spreading modern organization methods and a high level of company management, increasing the investment of domestic residents in domestic production, active state policy aimed at supporting these changes while maintaining the openness of the country's economy, including for international competition entsii.

Read:

How and where to sell things on the Internet? Profitability of home turkey breeding business Marketing department what does Benefits of Green Giant Brand Products How to open a pawnshop in Russia