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This paper aims to identify the archetypes of marketing mix standardization-adaptation in MNC subsidiaries and to examine the relationships between MNC subsidiary strategy, environment and performance through the theoretical lenses of fit and equifinality.

The authors use a mail survey to collect data from MNC subsidiary business units located in multiple countries. They apply a novel archetypal analysis method to identify the diverse archetypes of marketing mix standardization-adaptation in MNC subsidiaries. Finally, through cross-tabulation and regression analysis, they examine the relationships between MNC strategy, environment and performance.

They identify four archetypes of MNC subsidiary standardization-adaptation including a new archetype that is not recognized in the literature. This analysis finds partial support for both fit and equifinality, suggesting complementarity between the two theories.

The study could be extended with longitudinal data to examine the dynamics in MNC marketing mix strategy and performance in response to the changing business environment.

The findings suggest that MNC subsidiary managers could deploy a broader set of international marketing strategy configurations than those currently prescribed to enhance performance.

The authors use a novel configuration-based archetypal analysis method and extend the theoretical typology of international marketing strategies pursued by MNC subsidiaries. The partial support for both fit and equifinality expands the theoretical lens through which we can examine the relationships between MNC marketing strategy, environment and performance.

For over 40 years academicians and practitioners have debated the standardization versus adaptation of international marketing strategy. Despite the importance of, and tremendous interest in the topic, and the volume of scholarly activity this topic has generated, the debate remains unresolved. Why? Here, it is argued that the last 40 years of scholarly research has advanced without a strong underlying theoretical framework. The historical foundations of the standardization/adaptation perspective are presented, followed by a critical evaluation of the field under the guiding framework of the fundamentals of theoretical construction. Suggestions for developing a stronger theoretical foundation, as well as directions for future research are addressed.

Although the relation between standardization/adaptation strategy and performance has been extensively examined in the international marketing literature, the findings concerning these factors are still inconclusive. The conflicting results might relate to the analysis approach adopted in prior research, which tends to focus on the direct effect of marketing strategies. By utilizing the contingency theory, the purpose of this paper is to uncover the moderation factors for the strategy‐structure‐performance paradigm in the export sector. Internal, external and product‐related factors are explored.

This study focuses on four strategy and structure combinations: The global approach (standardization‐centralization); the glocal approach (standardization‐decentralization); the regcal approach (adaptation‐centralization); and the local approach (adaptation‐decentralization). The interactive effect of the four approaches and a set of contingent factors are examined based on the experience of 151 exporting firms operating in the EU region. The respondent firms operate in various manufacturing and service industries.

It is revealed that firm size, international business experience, consumer characteristics, the legal environment, cultural distance and the nature of the products play a moderating role between a firm's adoption of a particular approach and its performance, as measured by market share and sales growth, dependent on the relevant marketing program elements (i.e. product, price, promotion and place).

The research findings presented in the paper have significant implications for future research and strategic application.

The recent increase in the presence of emerging market firms (EMFs) in global markets requires a closer examination of their international marketing strategies (including branding). The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors behind the standardization or adaptation of global marketing strategies adopted by EMFs for their cross-border acquisitions.

This paper examines the determinants of the marketing strategies adopted by Indian and Chinese firms for their cross-border acquisitions. The drivers of the standardization/adaptation of marketing strategies (including branding) are identified using both quantitative data collected in 168 cross-border acquisitions conducted by the EMFs mentioned above and the institutional theory and organizational identity literature.

Institutional factors have a stronger effect than organizational identities on global marketing strategies, including branding. The standardization of the EMFs’ marketing strategies is driven by the private statuses of the acquirers, legal distances, target countries’ economic development, and the ethnic ties that exist between the home and host countries. The acquirers’ decisions to retain the targets’ brand identities, thus adapting their global marketing strategies, are related to the cultural distances, economic freedom distances, and sizes of the targets.

In this study, two large emerging markets – India and China – are used to gather the empirical data; future works can expand upon this line of research and examine other EMFs.

The acquiring companies have to decide whether to adopt an adaption marketing strategy, with reference to the acquired targets’ local stakeholder requirements, or to incorporate their targets’ brands into their own global marketing strategies.

Typically, previous work on the adaptation vs standardization of global marketing strategies adopted in the wake of cross-border deals has focussed on acquisitions involving companies from developed countries; this paper extends the field of research to the EMFs of two of the most important developing countries: China and India.

Focuses on the issue of product standardization versus adaptation, with special reference to the practices of Japanese multinational companies (MNCs) operating in the Middle East. Reveals that the degree of adaptation of Japanese goods is generally moderate, with labelling, packaging and internal features attracting most alterations. Product adaptations were more profound among firms producing consumer goods, as well as those having a long presence in the Arab market. Also suggests that the impact of factors affecting the standardization/ adaptation decision differed according to the specific product aspect, with demographic and political‐legal forces being the most influential overall. With respect to future product strategy, participant firms stated that they would proceed more or less as at present, the only exception being some additional adaptations as regards external characteristics of the product.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the marketing “processes” of governing multiple export relationships under the theoretical framework of governance value analysis (GVA). Specifically, this work examines the internal exchange attributes of transaction-specific investments and psychic distance on the adaptation/standardization of relational behavior and detailed contracting and how process adaptation/standardization influences new product outcomes and jointly created value in the focal export relationship.

A survey was conducted of 151 US manufacturers regarding their relationship with their primary foreign buyers. Data were analyzed with partial least squares estimation.

The results indicate that high levels of transaction-specific investments lead to the adaptation of relational behaviors whereas high levels of psychic distance lead to less adaptation of detailed contracting. The adaptation of relational behaviors and detailed contracting reflect differential direct effects on export performance. Furthermore, the results indicate that there is a significant positive interaction effect between the adaptation of relational behavior and detailed contracting on jointly created value in the focal export relationship.

The findings of the study reveal that adaptation of the marketing process related to relationship governance strategies can play an important role in the export marketing process, but managers must proceed with caution in balancing relational behavior and detailed contract adaptation. The results also point to the importance of understanding the underlying source of uncertainty and adapting appropriate aspects of governance for enhancing jointly created value in the export relationship.

The value of this research lies in its goal to highlight the issue of marketing process adaptation across multiple export relationships. Less attention has been paid to the marketing “processes” of governing multiple export relationships in the international marketing strategy literature relative to “program” standardization/adaptation. This is one of the first empirical studies on marketing process adaptation of governance employing the theoretical framework of GVA.

This paper aims to evaluate the marketing decisions made by European tour operators. It seeks to assess the extent of marketing standardisation/adaptation across and within the Nordic region and to identify the centric profiles of the sample firms in terms of marketing decision‐making.

A multiple case study approach was employed and the research design combined a range of empirical data gathered from regional headquarters and one subsidiary.

These indicate that the case study firms manage marketing regionally, at the same time; certain activities are adapted to local market and competitive conditions. It is clear that the “think regional‐act local” philosophy or “cooperative centralisation” is a challenge for tour operators to manage and that the level of international marketing standardisation is affected by situation‐specific factors such as product and industry characteristics.

Any bias in the research as a result of basing findings only on the views of executives interviewed and upon company documentation is tempered with reports from outside sources. Further research needs to be undertaken at the corporate level, in other source markets, and longitudinally. It would also be interesting to carry out a comparative study of other types of firms.

This paper contributes to our knowledge of marketing standardisation/adaptation from the perspective of a regional market‐place by investigating the strategic approach chosen for the establishment of marketing decisions. In exploiting the concept of centricity, it is more conceptually grounded than some previous studies.

Given the fact that emerging economies have idiosyncratic characteristics, international marketing strategies of emerging-market exporting firms have been firmly acknowledged to be rather peculiar compared to exporting firms based in developed countries. In this sense, it is therefore incumbent to synthesize the stream of research on international marketing strategy with a particular focus on emerging-market exporting firms. Accordingly, the main purpose of this study is to critically assess the related empirical body of research, and to build a conceptual framework for further development by drawing on the knowledge gaps identified.

To serve the research objective, this study adopts a systematic literature review methodology. In this sense, 51 articles were content-analyzed as to theoretical underpinnings, scope of research, research methodology, and empirical issues; and a comprehensive conceptual framework and research propositions were developed.

The findings of this review delineate that the pertinent literature is characterized by some contextual, methodological, and empirical weaknesses. In a nutshell, although the last decades have witnessed a burgeoning interest; the pertinent literature is still at the introductory stage and needs additional improvement.

By addressing the research gap concerning the requirement to synthesize and compile the empirical line of research on international marketing strategy of emerging-market exporting firms, this review study provides novel and valuable insights into the existing knowledge on the subject.

This research examines consumer assessments of brand value derived from the redeployment of brand-related assets following a crossborder acquisition (CBA). The current study synthesizes research on international marketing standardization/adaptation to the context of crossborder horizontal acquisitions as the market entry strategy to investigate consumer evaluations of the postacquisition choice of brand name and brand positioning.

A pretest and two studies were conducted in Taiwan to empirically examine effects from the theory-driven model of product legitimacy (PL) on an entity's postacquisition brand value, as well as any moderating effects of consumer localism.

Postacquisition brands were evaluated more positively when positioned in a manner that was in accordance with perceived PL. Consumer localism as another contingency factor reflected consumers' favorable attitude toward marketing adaptation following CBAs.

This article is a pioneering work to draw on the consumer perspective to investigate asset redeployments between the acquirer and target following a crossborder horizontal acquisition. Specifically, this research introduces PL as a contingency factor to examine consumers' evaluation of brand value, which is derived from the redeployment of brand name and brand positioning in the context of a developed-country firm's acquisition of an advanced emerging-market firm for entry into the market.

This study aims to examine the impact of branding aspects on firm performance in several markets of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Specifically, the question of brand promotion standardization is the focus of attention.

After literature review, a conceptual model suggests that the standardization of brand promotion, as well as a long-term brand vision provided by management, positively influences firm performance in the target market. Furthermore, the model considers the external environmental factors of media infrastructure and customer homogeneity. Data gathered from a survey with managers allow testing the hypotheses through structural equation modeling.

The results of the quantitative study largely support the hypotheses. A positive relationship between media infrastructure and promotion standardization was found. Promotion standardization and brand vision both have a significant impact on firm performance in the target market. The relationship between customer homogeneity and promotion standardization could not be supported.

The conceptual model depicts a highly specific area of investigation. Future research may include other variables and/or focus on different markets or regions to further add to the generalizability of the results.

The existing media infrastructure in the foreign target markets of Central and Eastern Europe should be thoroughly considered. A standardized approach toward brand promotion is recommended for Central and Eastern European markets to enhance firm performance.

This study contributes to the literature by considering branding in an international context which is still underrepresented in international management and marketing research.