Global Business Analytics Models: Concepts and Applications in Predictive, Healthcare, Supply Chain, and Finance Analytics

4. Predictive Analytics

4.1 Predicting International Customer Behavior

A rapid globalization of business activities over the past several decades prompted many firms to explore a possibility of entering foreign markets. The penetration of foreign markets, however, is more challenging due to a greater uncertainty, risk, and unfamiliarity associated with foreign customer behavior. Business analytics can come into play in understanding and predicting foreign customer behavior. Generally, there are four influencing factors that shape up customer behavior: (1) cultural, (2) social, (3) personal, and (4) psychological factors (Kotler and Keller 2014).

To elaborate, since many individuals make decisions based on a set of values or dominant beliefs ...