Article | MIT Sloan Management Review | fall 2010

Selling to Many Countries Within the U.S.

by Frank V. Cespedes and Michael Wong
 

Abstract

In pursuing growth, many companies have plans to sell to emerging markets like the so-called B-R-I-C nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China), but they overlook significant ethnic markets within the United States. For example, the combined African-American and Hispanic markets in the U.S. are larger than the economies of all but 13 countries, and more than 2 million people in the U.S. speak Chinese. The article discusses why many "multicultural marketing" efforts are both limited and limiting, and how firms can go beyond demographic data to craft effective strategies for selling to ethnic markets within the U.S.

Keywords: Emerging Markets; Sales; Marketing Communications; Ethnicity Characteristics; Debates; Business Growth and Maturation; Growth and Development; Business Plan; Management Style; Business Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; United States;

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Citation:

Cespedes, Frank V., and Michael Wong. "Selling to Many Countries Within the U.S." MIT Sloan Management Review 52, no. 1 (fall 2010).

About the Author

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Frank V. Cespedes
MBA Class of 1973 Senior Lecturer of Business Administration
Entrepreneurial Management

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