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With competitive rivalry eroding traditional product differentiation, legally protected brands have gradually become one of the most prized assets of multinational corporations. The defense of domestic brand shares and the expansion of well-known brands into new foreign markets have become important tasks of corporate managers. Yet, to date, there is no clear recognition of this increasing role of brands in the economic theory of international trade. This paper explores the implications of strong brands for intra-industry trade, for Vernon’s product-cycle model and for international trade overall. On balance, the ascent of global brands is shown to raise trade in standardized products, exacerbate the shift toward intra-firm trade, and sustain the dominance by large centralized multinationals.

This article attempts to synthesize the contributions of Jagdish Sheth to the discipline. This is done by following the development of the field in various subdisciplines such that one can observe the impact Sheth's thinking has had on the field. This is the career of an “accidental marketer” who started as a social scientist, got interested in buyer behavior, and made his mark in that field. Noticing similarities between organizational buyer behavior and individual buyer behavior, he ventured into that field too. As a visionary, he started developing theories in international marketing in the seventies, which was a popular area that time. Similarly, he published a handbook on Customer Relationship Marketing and worked in the area before it became a major area of emphasis. As a multifaceted person, he has contributed to the practitioners through books and consulting projects. However, this article focuses mainly on his academic contributions including his research, teaching/mentoring, and his philanthropic activities.

It is a great honor to be selected as a marketing legend, and 117 of my refereed journal articles are published in nine volumes by Sage India as part of the Legend series. In this chapter, I discuss my preparation for an academic career and the trajectory my research has followed. I reflect on my research contributions to marketing by selectively summarizing the key contributions in each of the nine volumes and draw out some lessons and principles I have learned in the process.

This chapter complements the one that appeared as “History of the AIB Fellows: 1975–2008” in Volume 14 of this series (International Business Scholarship: AIB Fellows on the First 50 Years and Beyond, Jean J. Boddewyn, Editor). It traces what happened under the deanship of Alan Rugman (2011–2014) who took many initiatives reported here while his death in July 2014 generated trenchant, funny, and loving comments from more than half of the AIB Fellows. The lives and contributions of many other major international business scholars who passed away from 2008 to 2014 are also evoked here: Endel Kolde, Lee Nehrt, Howard Perlmutter, Stefan Robock, John Ryans, Vern Terpstra, and Daniel Van Den Bulcke.