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This study provides a comprehensive framework of adaptation in triadic business relationship settings in the service sector. The framework is based on the industrial network approach (see, e.g., Axelsson & Easton, 1992; Håkansson & Snehota, 1995a). The study describes how adaptations initiate, how they progress, and what the outcomes of these adaptations are. Furthermore, the framework takes into account how adaptations spread in triadic relationship settings. The empirical context is corporate travel management, which is a chain of activities where an industrial enterprise, and its preferred travel agency and service supplier partners combine their resources. The scientific philosophy, on which the knowledge creation is based, is realist ontology. Epistemologically, the study relies on constructionist processes and interpretation. Case studies with in-depth interviews are the main source of data.

Adaptation of foreign market strategy and its performance outcomes have been among the key research topics in international business and international marketing. The present chapter provides new evidence on the contingent nature of the adaptation-performance relationship. Drawing from the institution-based view, we argue that adaptation increases legitimacy in the foreign market, hence improving foreign market performance. This relationship can be expected to gain importance for higher levels of institutional distance. Conversely, we expect that a successful development of foreign market relationships can be an alternative way of gaining legitimacy. These statements are supported with quantitative data from 284 firms and qualitative evidence from 8 firms.

This study examines the influence of marketing strategies on export ventures undertaken by micro and small enterprises (MSEs) established in emerging countries and in Brazil specifically. We aim to determine whether a direct relationship exists between marketing strategies and internationalization performance results and to evaluate the influence of entrepreneurial marketing (EM) on export marketing strategy (EMS) and performance. A conceptual model based on the work of Cavusgil and Zou (1994) is developed and used to analyze MSE characteristics (firm and products), EMS, EM, and export marketing performance. An empirical survey was conducted on 173 Brazilian MSEs across various sectors, and data analysis was performed using structural equation modeling. The results highlight the importance of marketing activities in shaping MSE export performance, mainly by adapting prices to targeted markets, thereby improving product competitiveness. The study also emphasizes the importance of company international competence (expertise) and EM as influencers of export performance. The study contributes to the field through its application of the EM construct, by adapting the conceptual MSE model and by filling empirical gaps knowledge. The results will guide MSE management strategies that will be critical to the Brazilian economy and to other emerging countries.

How do you sell a Norwegian invention, Cheese in a Tube, to a world used to cheese coming as a block or in slices? This is something Kavli has succeeded in doing despite established cultural norms for cheese and related food products. Adapting to new cultural environments requires a reexamination of the market mix and positioning of the product, especially when the product has a strong home country cultural specificity. More distant markets have different preferences and environments and may require some degree of adaptation of the firm's marketing mix. The capacity of the firm to adapt to these differences and to respond to this challenge can make the difference for the future survival and long-term success of the firm.

The aim of this chapter is to approach marketing organization from a research perspective, research that reflects contemporary practices of the time. This is done through a review of some of the central texts in the field. The chapter starts by drawing attention to two previous attempts to review and revisit the field, two influential and frequently cited researchers and texts: Achrol’s (1991) frequently cited article entitled “Evolution of the marketing organization: New forms for turbulent environments” and Homburg and colleagues’ (2000) review a decade later entitled “Fundamental changes in marketing organization: The movement toward a customer-focused organizational structure.”

The chapter then reviews the field around 2010, leading into the author’s own concluding reflections on how circumstances internal and external to organizations have affected the organizing of marketing. The chapter argues that while some ideas and changes after 2010 might be viewed as new, other changes are apparently old changes in new shapes. Attention is drawn to six areas of marketing organization research that have emerged and taken a central position in marketing organization research: (1) the adaptation of marketing practice and organization to various business trends, (2) market- and customer-oriented organizations, (3) shifts in marketing’s general role and influence within the firm, (4) marketing’s strategic role and connection to business management, (5) marketing’s interactions with other internal functions, and (6) marketing organization and the application of a wider spectrum of organization theories.

This chapter adopts the midrange theories schema to expand Pels and Sheth (2017) matrix on business models to serve the low-income consumers (LIC): market adaptation, mission focus, radical innovation, and inclusive ecosystems. To this end, it identifies the underlying general business theories (systems theory and neo-classical economics) and ontological theories (positivism and interpretivist) nested in each of the matrix’s four cells.

Understanding the general theories from which concepts and guidelines are drawn allows a two-way contribution. On one hand, it comprehends which other concepts can be integrated into the LIC literature. Alternatively, it highlights what insights generated from the study of the LIC markets bring to these theories.

The author introduces a strategic responsiveness model that reflects an organization’s ability to sense environmental changes and learn from emergent adaptive responses that attempt to realign organizational activities and gain a better fit with the changing conditions. The author shows in computational simulations how superior strategic adaptation is associated with higher average returns and lower performance risk among firms that compete in the same industry contexts and generate negatively skewed outcome distributions consistent with empirical observations. The model is refined to incorporate an interactive strategy-making process, where experiential insights from decentralized initiatives update forward-looking projections in central planning. The ensuing analysis demonstrates how this adaptive strategy-making approach further enhances the favorable risk-return outcomes. The author discusses these findings and the implications for the study of dynamic adaptive strategy-making processes.

Communities around the world are already vulnerable to disasters, the “Global Assessment Report: Disaster Risk Reduction” presents compelling new evidence of concentration of risk in many developing countries. The “Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report” reports that climate change is expected to be accompanied by an increased frequency and intensity of extreme climate events in many parts of the world. Moreover, climate change will aggravate many of the socioeconomic factors that drive vulnerability.