| IV. The Place | | | | barriers to entry. The world shrank to become a |
| Some countries are geographically disadvantaged. | | | | veritable "global village". |
| Recent studies have demonstrated how being | | | | The value of knowledge (processed information) has |
| landlocked or having a tropical climate carry a hefty | | | | fast risen to surpass that of classical (physical) goods |
| price tag in terms of reduced economic growth. These | | | | and services. Information has some of the properties |
| unfavorable circumstances can be described as | | | | of a public good (for instance, nonrivalry) - coupled with |
| "natural discounts" to a country's price. | | | | all the incentives of a private good (e.g., profit-making). |
| What can be done to overcome such negative factor | | | | Thus, the very nature of distribution had been |
| endowments? | | | | irrevocably changed. The distribution channel, the path |
| In classical microeconomics, the element of "place" in | | | | from producer to consumer (in our case, from country |
| the marketing plan used to refer to the locus of | | | | to foreign investor or tourist, for example) is less |
| delivery of the product or service. Well into the 19th | | | | encumbered by topography than it used to be. |
| century, the "place" was identical to the region where | | | | Even the poorest, most remote, landlocked, arid, and |
| the product was manufactured or the service | | | | disadvantaged country can nowadays leverage air |
| rendered. In other words, textiles weaved in India were | | | | flight, the Internet, television, cell phones, and other |
| rarely sold in Britain. American accountants were | | | | miracles of technology to promote itself and its unique |
| unlikely to practice in Russia. Distribution was a local | | | | offerings (knowledge, plant and animal species, |
| affair and networks of dissemination and marketing | | | | scenery, history, minerals, cheap and educated |
| were geographically confined. | | | | manpower, cuisine, textiles, software, and so on). |
| A host of historical and technological developments | | | | The key to success is in a mix of both direct and |
| drastically altered the scene and frayed the | | | | indirect marketing. Nowadays, countries can (and do) |
| straitjacket of geography. | | | | appeal directly to consumers (ads targeted at tourists |
| The violent disintegration of the old system of | | | | or road shows aimed at investors). They present |
| geopolitical alliances led to the formation of massive, | | | | themselves and what they have to offer, |
| multiplayer trading blocs within which and among which | | | | circumventing brokers and agents of all kinds |
| the movement of goods and, increasingly, services is | | | | (disintermediation). Still, they should not fail to cultivate |
| friction-free. | | | | more traditional marketing channels such as investment |
| The vast increase in the world's population - matched | | | | banks, travel agents, multilateral organizations, or trade |
| by the exponential rise in purchasing power - created | | | | associations. |
| a global marketplace of unprecedented wealth and a | | | | With many of the physical obstacles to marketing |
| corresponding hunger for goods and services. The | | | | removed in the last few decades, with the very |
| triumph of liberal capitalism compounded this beneficial | | | | concept of "place" rendered obsolete, promotion |
| effect. | | | | emerged as the most critical facet of nation branding |
| The advent of mass media, mass transport, and mass | | | | and place marketing. |
| communications reduced transaction costs and | | | | |