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This paper aims to deal with international marketing of products, analyzing how adaptation/standardization and network development are achieved when marketing products in Bangladesh.

By applying a qualitative method, the study was conducted at four multinationals, British American Tobacco, Perfetti Van Melle, Tetrapak and Reckitt Benckiser, operating in Bangladesh. Data were collected through semistructured interviews, direct observation and official documents. The analysis was conducted through construction of themes that were identified from the data set.

The study demonstrates that business relationships related to a local market should be adapted to customer preferences. The research suggests that a balanced combination of product quality and development of new, innovative products adapted to the needs of the market and the customers establishes trust and networks. Cultural and market context were found to influence multinational companies (MNCs)s to standardize the quality of the products and adapt marketing mix components to the needs of consumers.

The paper contributes to international marketing literature with a model of product marketing based on context, trust, networks and adaptation/standardization. The model introduces the cultural dimension of femininity/ masculinity and the innovation of products and market structure. The study is limited to one emerging market. Further studies should explore other emerging market economies and MNCs.

The results suggest that to meet the challenges of emerging market economies and achieve success, managers should take people and market needs into consideration.

This paper extends product marketing literature by presenting a context-based model for MNCs’ product marketing.

The aim of this study is to develop and evaluate a market-oriented business model (MOBM) and analyze how it contributes to internationalization of SMEs' disruptive innovation.

Based on market orientation literature, an MOBM is developed and assessed through collaboration among companies, researchers and networking partners. For the evaluation of the model, qualitative data was collected through workshops, interviews and participatory observations at four case SMEs. Methodologically, the implementation of the MOBM consists of a systematic knowledge development process by following four work packages to support the companies' market-oriented internationalization.

The results show that SMEs face internal barriers to developing innovativeness that hinder them from creating effective disruptive innovation for the international buyer chain. The study finds that SMEs need to work with an MOBM for developing market intelligence within the organization and seek external support for entering the international market.

The methodological strength allows application, evaluation and modification of the MOBM in close collaboration with the SMEs that directly benefit from its implementation. Modifying the principles of market orientation by practical application, SMEs can apply the MOBM to analyze their internationalization capacity for high-tech disruptive innovations.

This article contributes to new thinking by introducing market orientation to SMEs' internationalization of disruptive innovation. The study highlights the less researched field of disruptive innovation by developing the MOBM to deal with SMEs' internationalization.

This study aims to increase understanding of factors influencing the international marketing (IM) strategy of products from emerging markets (EMs) to international markets.

This study conducted case studies by collecting qualitative data through semistructured interviews with respondents from four food product companies in Bangladesh.

This study finds that the firms employ local Bangladeshi people who are knowledgeable in the company culture. They strategically focus on countries where the Bangladeshi diaspora lives and initially target them, approaching natives later. They adapt and customize products to the importers’ requirements to make them visible and increase understanding between product providers and local customers. The findings show that EM firms encounter a mentality that poor countries produce poor quality products; this mindset makes the internationalization of their business difficult.

This research contributes to international product marketing of EM firms by constructing a model of a modern people-oriented marketing strategy for food products. This study contributes to literature on culture by illustrating that the cultural dimensions of collectivism and uncertainty avoidance enhance the development of networks and trust and impact marketing strategy.

This study theorizes the importance of context and an innovation-driven modern people-oriented IM strategy that adapts to customers’ preferences for food products and emphasizes the contribution of diaspora. This research reveals that Bangladeshi firms face challenges both because customers link the country and the companies to low-quality products and because governmental regulations prevent them from establishing a local presence in other countries. This study analyzes challenges EM firms face in the process of IM and the factors affecting Bangladesh in particular.

The purpose of the study is to identify and analyze critical mediating and moderating market intelligence challenges faced by the SMEs when implementing corporate social responsibility (CSR) based on an applied market-oriented business model (MOBM).

Focusing on developing CSR-integrated market intelligence, this study uses an action research method by analyzing four case studies. Data is collected through interviews, interactive and knowledge-sharing meetings and on-site observations. The study is part of a larger European Union project using the developed MOBM to follow the four companies' CSR implementation and learning process over a 14-month period. The action research includes seven meetings; between these, the researchers introduced the SMEs to different business focus areas, where CSR is a vital part of the MOBM.

This study shows that the SMEs are too technology-focused and have little initial idea of how to integrate CSR advantages for market intelligence into their internationalization. The MOBM model offers insights and knowledge on the strength and weakness of the internal organization to meet challenges in internationalization.

Via case study and action research, this study spotlights the challenges that SMEs face in the CSR implementation process and how they deal with those challenges to develop market intelligence competence internally. Instead of following a traditional research approach, the current study applies a CSR-based method where the SMEs go through a knowledge development process that originated from a theoretically designed MOBM.

Focusing on customization, this paper aims to examine how service providers market health care in emerging markets through medical tourism.

Using a qualitative method, researchers conducted 18 semi-structured interviews with managers from five health-care providers and supporting organizations in the Philippines. For analysis, data from the service providers are compared.

Customization is found to play crucial role in offering health-care services. The customization takes place by adapting to emotional, social and cultural needs; alleviating knowledge asymmetry; and moderating the negative impact of the unfamiliar context experienced by international patients.

The empirically grounded theoretical framework needs to be tested in different contexts for generalization.

The study focuses on understanding and responding to the needs of international patients, also demonstrating that health-care marketing must be developed through a joint effort by both the medical and business sides of health-care providers.

The paper acknowledges the need for health-care marketing and the novel role of health-care providers.

Using a marketing lens, this study sheds light on the underexplored industry of medical tourism.

In this chapter, the main research outcomes are discussed and analyzed in connection with relevant studies in the field. The ambition has been to focus on whether the result matches with the present body of the literature or not, and what new thoughts and ideas can be generated by comparing and matching the literature and the results of the underlying study. Emphasis is on the changes that have taken place during the operation of the ventures over a longer period. In the cases, the business operations have been discussed in three phases and sometimes in two phases. But for the purpose of the literature linkage, changes are analyzed in two steps. Step one discusses major changes in the beginning (mainly phase one), while step two covers changes that have taken place in the other two phases.

This chapter presents a description of transition economies of Europe focusing different aspects related to the economic development of this area. First, the transition economies are introduced. Later on, political conditions, cultural factors affecting these countries, and economic situation are presented. Referring earlier studies and different factors, a new classification of transition economies is offered.

To have critical perspective, some of the performances of transition economies are compared with BRICS countries, which have been particularly focused as major economies of the emerging markets. Finally, the case countries are presented.

In this chapter, the authors provide an overview of the results of their research on the subject of strategic alliances until 2001. Specifically, they summarize their findings published in Strategic Alliances in Eastern and Central Europe (2003). The authors conducted 20 case studies of Swedish firms involved in strategic alliances with firms in Eastern and Central Europe. This chapter also presents a brief account of the authors' other research on the same phenomenon which resulted in several conference papers and journal articles. The theoretical framework developed and applied in the 2003 book is also briefly presented in this summary chapter. The method applied in writing the book and the justification for applying this specific method are also discussed. Following this, an updated review of the literature of strategic alliances is conducted to discuss the research work covered and the issues examined after 2003. The overview of the authors' strategic alliances studies and the updated review of the literature together highlight the overall logic behind this new book, Transformation of Strategic Alliances in Eastern and Central Europe.

This chapter illustrates the theoretical foundation of the study. Several issues such as motives, resources, learning, networking, and institutional and environmental impacts are elaborately discussed to point out why strategic alliances are formed and how the firms attempt to fulfill different goals by collaborating with partners. Furthermore, it is taken up how the issues are intertwined and jointly contribute to strengthen the alliance activity. From a longitudinal perspective, a theoretical framework has been drawn not only to show the links but also to highlight the dynamism in the relationship over time. This theoretical framework is used to collect, organize, and analyze the data to finally draw conclusions of the study.