Country Attractiveness And Competitive Strength

immature economies; while those falling into the 40-54 category are high risk countries. A score of less than 40 suggests that no serious consideration should be given to such a market.

A second macro screening technique is the shift-share approach (Green and Allaway, 1985; Papadopoulos and Denis, 1988). Using this technique, the average growth in the rate of imports for a particular product in a group of countries cart be calculated. Each country's actual growth is compared to the average growth rate, and the difference is termed the 'net-shift', thus identifying growing and declining markets.

While both the approaches outlined here have some merit, they are limited in that the BERI index focuses on political stability and the shift-share method on imports and their relative growth. It can be argued that they do not take enough account of other macro criteria or, especially in the case of micro or smaller enterprises, the crucial influence of the entrepreneur or owner-manager.

A third approach which does try to include the competencies of the individual firm is an adaptation of the Boston Consulting Group's growth-share matrix. The two single dimensions are replaced with composite dimensions based on market/ country attractiveness and competitive strength. These composite dimensions are based on the variables detailed in Table 6.4.

These criteria can be scaled and weighted as appropriate to the individual company, and the end result would be the plotting of the markets/countries within the matrix (Figure 6.2). Thus, markets/countries can be seen as primary markets (A countries) which offer the best opportunities; secondary markets (the B countries) which have some economic or political risk suggesting some caution; and the tertiary or C countries, which are high risk and any involvement would be short-term and opportunistic.

Table 6.4 Criteria for market/country attractiveness and competitive strength

Market/country attractiveness Competitive strength

Table 6.4 Criteria for market/country attractiveness and competitive strength

Market/country attractiveness Competitive strength

Continue reading here: Conclusion of international marketing strategy

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