INTERNATIONAL MARKETING RESEARCH: BASIC CHARACTERISTICS AND THEIR IMPORTANCE FOR ECONOMY IN TRANSITION

Abstract

This paper aims to highlight the basic characteristics of international marketing researches and their importance to the economies in transition. The idea, which the author has always had in mind when he wrote the following lines, is how to describe and explain in concise and affordable way the basic principles governing research in an international environment, as well as the possibility of their fastest and easiest implementation, always emphasizing the differences between international and national, local, market. Unlike the more developed countries where the concept of marketing and marketing research is implied, in less developed countries and countries in transition, it is not the case. The latest Global Competitiveness Report by World Economic Forum for 2011-2012 indicates a forementioned conclusion. Companies that adopt marketing as a concept of their development, the international market as the focus of their interest and which use marketing research in implementation of their business objectives, have a greater chance of prosperity in economically uncertain times ahead. The paper is based on the compilation of most significant marketing and research guidelines from the literature that deal with the aforementioned topics, as well as the analysis of the role and importance of international marketing research in transition economies, especially in view of BiH, which is based on the findings of the above mentioned report of the World Economic Forum.