Chapter 15 The Global Marketplace
MyMarketingLab
If assigned by your instructor, complete these writing sections from your Assignments in the
MyLab.
15-17. What is the World Trade Organization? What is its purpose, and what has it
accomplished? (AACSB: Communication)
15-18. Visit www.ikea.com and compare a catalog from one country to that of another.
Note the prices of some of the products. Convert some of the foreign prices to U.S.
dollars and compare them to the prices in the U.S. catalog. Are the prices equivalent? Are
they consistently higher or lower? (AACSB: Written and Oral Communication;
Reflective Thinking)
GREAT IDEAS
Barriers to Effective Learning
1. Many students today have traveled internationally, and perhaps even studied abroad.
However, this chapter will introduce concepts that most likely will not have crossed their
minds before. Free trade agreements may be known in name, but not in what they
actually do. The analytics of deciding whether to go global and if so, which countries to
enter, will certainly not have been encountered before. This chapter will serve as an
excellent introduction to these ideas.
2. The terms involved in the international trade system (tariff, quota, embargo, etc.) are
generally unfamiliar to most students. Go through these carefully and use examples from
recent press. Ask the students to express their feelings about tariffs, quotas, embargoes,
etc. How does government policy affect free trade? Why would these barriers be erected?
How do they feel about NAFTA? Do they think that it will be good for trade? When
would trade barriers be justified?
3. The economic and political-legal environments will also most likely be unfamiliar to
most students. Some students might have done some mission or humanitarian work in
foreign countries with economies and political systems vastly different from our own. If
you are lucky enough to have them in your class, have them relate their experiences.
Economics majors, or those who enjoyed an economics class, may also be able to relate
what they have learned about these issues from a different point of view.
4. On deciding whether to go international, many students will believe that it is simply a
matter of the company deciding to expand. The concept of being forced to go into other
countries because of customers pulling you along, or having to fight a global competitor
on your home turf, will surprise some of them. Challenge them to think about how small
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