Search results

By standardizing the marketing effort over similar worldwide segments and differentiating it across dissimilar worldwide segments, the international marketing manager is able to reap the advantages of both standardization and customization. The choice of the variables by which to segment the global market is crucial. Traditionally, purely environmental bases (geographic, political, economic, and cultural) were used as bases for international market segmentation. Proposes that international marketers group relevant markets based on both environmental as well as marketing management bases. The marketing management bases are classified as: (1) product‐related; (2) promotion‐related; (3) price‐related; and (4) distribution‐related. Derives number of propositions with direct implications for international marketing strategy and segmentation with respect to these bases. Highlights the managerial implications of the variables encompassed by these bases. Proposes the empirical investigation of the derived propositions as a research agenda for the future.

Explores perceptions of exporting education in sporadic and regular exporting firms as a means of enhancing organizational knowledge to improve the firm’s long‐term competitive advantage in global markets. Export development and performance are dependent on the acquisition and utilization of relevant knowledge in exporting. An analysis of sporadic and regular exporting firms’ views toward formalized export education programs that contribute to long‐term organizational knowledge is the central focus of this study. Results indicate that sporadic and regular exporting firms, although similar in many respects, vary significantly with regard to export planning activity, educational attainment of employees, export proportion of sales, and exporting experience. In addition, sporadic exporters are less interested in formal export education programs and are more reliant on the government as a source of exporting knowledge and information. The types of information offered through such sources frequently do not lead to a sustainable competitive advantage in exporting and make only a limited contribution to organizational learning. A discriminant model correctly classifies 86 per cent of exporting firms into sporadic and regular groups. Discusses conclusions and managerial implications.

Examines the characteristics of firms which undertake exporting under their own volition and in the absence of external stimuli. In this context, internally‐induced export initiation is viewed as an innovative behaviour. The classification scheme employed in this study has a high degree of internal and discriminant validity with successful classification of 86 per cent of innovative firms by the resultant discriminant model. The findings indicate that innovative firms do not vary significantly with regard to general firm characteristics from other exporters, but that they do vary significantly with regard to critical export‐related activities. Innovative firms consider exporting an ongoing activity, have greater export proportion of sales and average export order size, make greater use of export information, and tend to use different sources of data from other exporting firms. In addition, they are more likely to maintain export‐specific organizations.

Using information effectively has become a critical determinant for gaining competitive advantage and enhancing business performance. In this context, the need for further research into export information use is particularly pressing, given the increased recognition that mere export information acquisition is not sufficient to ensure optimal decision‐making quality for foreign markets. Information use has been conceptualised in the past as a multi‐dimensional construct encompassing instrumental, conceptual, and symbolic use, with most studies focusing on the first two dimensions. However, the nature of the export‐non‐export dichotomy within firms sets the scene for political information‐related activity and thus symbolic use of export information. This paper presents a multidimensional conceptualisation of symbolic use of export information, anchored in a cross‐disciplinary review of the literature. Key propositions regarding the impact of symbolic use of export information on export performance are also proposed. Conclusions are drawn and a future research agenda is outlined.

Building on the entrepreneurship, marketing and strategic management literature, we propose a conceptual model to investigate the effects of entrepreneurial strategic posture (ESP), perceived environmental uncertainty and international diversifi cation strategy on performance. The ESP‐International diversification‐Performance relationship is investigated using a contingency framework. Entrepreneurial strategic posture is postulated to influence the use of international diversifi cation strategy of entrepreneurial fi rms. Moreover, perceived environmental uncertainty is hypothesized to strengthen the relationship between a firm’s entrepreneurial strategic posture and international diversification strategy, which ultimately affect the firm’s performance. Propositions for further empirical studies are provided in addition to managerial and theoretical contributions.

Export information acquisition has mostly been examined disparately as researchers have tended to focus on certain modes of information acquisition independently of others. Furthermore, past studies have typically employed single‐item measures to operationalize information acquisition. The present study attempts to redress these deficiencies by considering a comprehensive set of export information acquisition modes and by developing psychometrically sound measures for each. The results show the adequacy of considering three broad export information acquisition modes (export marketing research, export assistance, and export market intelligence), each of which is operationalized by means of a multi‐item scale. The latter are shown to be reliable and to possess content, convergent, discriminant, and nomological validity.

To develop a framework for systematically defining the relevant market for intermediate goods that incorporates downstream market conditions.

We combine the well-established “Hicks-Marshall” conditions of derived demand for inputs with “critical loss/critical elasticity of demand” to yield insights into the definition of antitrust markets for intermediate goods and the competitive effects from a merger.

We show that examining “Hicks-Marshall” conditions can provide a more rigorous framework for analyzing relevant markets for intermediate goods. We also show that solely examining demand substitution possibilities for direct customers of an input can lead to an incorrect market definition.

Our framework may be difficult to apply in circumstances when several different downstream products use the input being examined and each of those downstream products has a different elasticity of demand.

We illustrate how reasonable ranges for key parameters relating to the ability of firms to substitute to other inputs and to adjust to downstream market conditions will often be sufficient to define antitrust markets for intermediate goods in practice.

Previous antitrust analysis has not systematically analyzed the impact of downstream market conditions in assessing market definition for intermediate goods. The framework we develop will be useful to future researchers attempting to define relevant markets for intermediate goods and evaluating the competitive effects of a merger.

This paper studies the moderating effect of industry structure on strategy-performance relationships in international markets.

We have carried out a survey among a sample of German, Norwegian and Singaporean small and medium sized firms, and test – using structural equation modelling (EQS) – four hypotheses founded in industrial organisation,

We find that industry structure indeed matters. The general picture is that cautious internationalisation strategies are more effective in fragmented industries than in concentrated industries. Also, with somewhat more nuance, global marketing strategies – such as standardisation and integration – seem by and large to be more effective in concentrated industries than in fragmented industries.

The operationalisation of industry structure in an international context is challenging and we have deviated from the traditional Herfindahl–Hirschman Index. This may be a limitation but we also consider it a strength, given the weaknesses of this index in an international setting. The study is cross-sectional and should ideally follow each firm over time, again a challenging endeavour.

Despite a considerable amount of studies on strategy – performance relationships in international markets, there is no general agreement on the topic. We argue that a contingency approach needs to be taken, and that industry structure is one important factor not yet analysed.

The performance effects of product‐market and international diversification were examined in a sample of 156 U.S. corporations. Three sets of performance measures were used: (1) profitability, (2) risk‐adjusted returns, and (3) growth. Results suggest independent effects on profitability, and interactive effects on risk‐adjusted returns and growth. Results also clarify seemingly conflicting findings on product‐market and international diversification effects on performance.