Foreign Market Servicing by Multinationals: An IntegratedTreatment

Abstract

In conventional international business literature, the marketing and transport functions are either ignored or assumed to be governed by the same factors that determine production. An attempt is made to introduce the integration that is long overdue. The factors which determine the decisions of location and internalisation are examined, and analysis is made of the important role played by information flows in the planning of an integrated channel system. The conclusion is that simplistic categorisations are too crude, and that an integrated treatment, recognising the interdependencies and cost implications of each function, is essential for a complete conceptualisation of the foreign market servicing decision.