The marketing challenges within the enlarged Single European Market

Abstract

Purpose – The aim of the paper is to present an overview and an assessment of the challenges and opportunities for businesses that emerge from the greater diversity and complexity in doing marketing in the expanding EU. Design/methodology/approach – The paper examines how marketing issues have emerged, progressed and diversified with the process of EU enlargement. Findings – The paper argues that marketers' perceptions of marketing in the EU have changed with the market expansion of companies in the new EU accession states. From first being seen externally as a protectionist fortress, marketing in the EU has emerged internally at least as a protector of diversity across its current member states. Originality/value – The paper is a reflection on the changing nature of marketing and the new priorities of companies in their marketing strategies and tactics in the largest single regional integration bloc in the world.