Export Marketing in Transition Economies: Case Studies from Kosovo

Abstract

This paper investigates the state, barriers, challenges and perspective of implementing the export marketing in Kosovo through a number of case studies by using the methodology of target sample survey, which to some extent can make generalizations. Like many developing countries, Kosovo faces a huge trade deficit. While researchers in generally tend to focus on macroeconomic policies to find the causes of deficit in foreign trade and the government undertakes reforms to improve the balance by boosting export, the largest part of the game often has to be played by the companies themselves under whatever macroeconomic actual policies at home and abroad. This is what the findings from this paper suggest when exploring the level and forms of export marketing in the surveyed companies. Although the companies engage in different export marketing activities, none of them reported any prepared marketing strategy in this respect. Instead, they still consider export marketing, which they use as synonymous with international marketing, to be part of their overall marketing strategy and export within department for export. What appears that they need more, is a merger or specialization of these two (export and marketing) into one separate department or the export marketing.