Marketing lecturer publishes foreign market entry and growth textbook
Moore School marketing lecturer Doug Quackenbos (’92 IMBA) has recently co-authored a new book called “Foreign Market and Growth,” which simulates the foreign market entry and growth process of a sellable good.
His fellow author on the project was Martin S. Roth, the former chair of the International Business department at USC and the current president of the University of Charleston.
Quackenbos has been a full-time member of the Moore School marketing faculty since 2016. Prior to joining USC, he had a 27-year corporate career in global business development, a decade of which was spent overseas in Europe and Latin America.
He and his family have continued learning about other cultures by hosting international students over the past decade as part of an exchange program with Davidson College, where his wife, Lola Santamaria, teaches Spanish. Quackenbos said being exposed to a younger generation of college students allows him to calibrate their ideas and better understand their cultures from today’s perspective. These shared experiences contributed to his ability to further understand international market entry and growth.
The “Foreign Market and Growth” textbook does not primarily focus on cultural and language differences but rather the technical activities of a business entering the market beyond its native country’s borders and its overall international growth, said Quackenbos. The book accompanies the renowned marketing simulation tool CountryManager, a software that simulates for students taking a fictitious toothpaste brand to international markets. The accompanying textbook focuses on the often-complicated issues of international market entry and expansion.
“The book is bundled and aligns with the simulation program when considering marketing functions such as country entry selection, product, pricing and branding considerations,” he said. “But, it’s not a manual or guidebook.”
According to Quackenbos, “Foreign Market and Growth” stands out from other marketing books because of its flexibility and delivery.
“This textbook is part of a bundle that is hosted on a student learning platform and creates a complete learning experience,” he said. “With seven chapters, it’s designed to work seamlessly with a 14-week semester format or a more accelerated seven-week graduate course.”
Quackenbos says the book plus the CountryManager bundle helps students better understand global marketing by allowing them to apply their learning in a simulated and competitive environment.
“Student teams go head-to-head to create and implement a strategy for regional market entry — either in Latin America or Asia — in a gamified computer program with a product everyone is familiar with — toothpaste,” he said. “The textbook helps the student learn how to approach these fundamental international marketing activities — such as strategy, brand formulation or price setting — for maximum success.”
Writing this textbook did not come without its difficulties. Quackenbos says the biggest challenge was clarifying and simplifying concepts that seem obvious, such as when do international sales end and international marketing efforts begin.
The obstacles did come with great rewards once the project was complete for Quackenbos.
“Distilling what I have practiced throughout my professional career and bringing personal experience and insights to life in text form is undoubtedly the most rewarding part,” he said, “getting to share something you believe to be truly valuable.” “Working alongside [Martin] Roth was also a rewarding professional experience.”
With a global pandemic still raging, studying abroad has been difficult for many students. Quackenbos says this book and the interactive marketing experience can help simulate that journey abroad.
“While not the same physical experience, the CountryManager and textbook bundle allows a student to get ‘real’ applied experience in better understanding foreign markets and how to market products within them — be it an individual country or an entire region,” he said.
-James Culbertson