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Purpose – This chapter presents a framework useful in conducting multicountry marketing and advertising research. For the purpose of illustrating the series of steps involved in conducting such investigations, a six-country study examining global consumer culture positioning (GCCP) is presented. The suggested steps are relevant for the exploration of a wide variety of marketing- and advertising-related topics.

Methodology/approach – Steps essential to a well-planned research design are addressed in detail, including: theory identification, stimuli selection, hypotheses formulation, measurement development, country selection, fictitious ad development, survey design, cross-national data equivalence, and hypotheses testing. Particular attention is given to construct specification (in this case for soft-sell and hard-sell advertising appeals) and fictitious ad development. General consumers in six countries responded to the ads. Specific procedures for validating formative constructs and testing their cross-country equivalency are suggested.

Findings – The chapter provides practical recommendations for conducting cross-cultural research. These recommendations are likely to prove useful to both researchers conducting multicountry investigations, and to instructors teaching graduate-level courses in international marketing and advertising research.

Originality/value of paper – Multicountry research requires a series of challenging decisions. Although a well-planned research design is particularly essential in a cross-cultural setting, little attention has been given in providing researchers and instructors with methodological recommendations. This chapter is intended to be a useful reference for these audiences.

International advertising standardization/adaptation has been a dominant area in the international marketing literature. In this chapter, we explore the evolution of thought related to international advertising standardization/adaptation beginning in the 1920s. Through a stage theory historical analysis, we decompose thought in international advertising standardization/adaptation into three unique stages: (1) practitioner evolution, (2) scholarly initiation and (3) conceptual and empirical refinement. Given this approach, we contend that the factors considered in earlier stages were necessary for later development. Further and more importantly, we argue that, for the evolution of thought in relation to international advertising standardization/adaptation to evolve, researchers must begin to engage in a number of acts central to building a unified foundation. We propose a series of issues that need to be addressed in order to advance our understanding of international advertising standardization/adaptation.

This paper provides a review of the academic literature regarding examining the standardization vs. specialization debate during the 1990s. While numerous studies have examined the validity of both strategies, it is clear that many companies are adopting an approach where broad strategy is standardized but actual advertising executions are localized as necessary. There is a need for future researchers to focus on how to effectively develop and implement standardized strategies as opposed to examining whether advertising should be standardized. Suggestions for further research are provided.

The pervasiveness of the globalization phenomenon has triggered a significant number of studies related to the measurement of globalization and its implications for firms. Interestingly, most of the work is based on objective data, neglecting the importance of subjective and perceptual measures of degree of company globalization (DoCG). This study reviews the preliminary attempts to develop a subjective construct and a perceptual measurement tool for company globalization. Based on the work of Cavusgil, Yeniyurt, and Townsend (2004) a confirmatory factor analysis with partial least squares (PLS) path modeling illustrates relevant factors that capture the degree of globalization from a sample of multinationals. Post-hoc tests for the applicability of the generated framework are conducted to examine the consistency of results from the factor analysis. We also test the relationship between subjective and objective measures of company globalization. Although the small sample size does not allow the generalizability of the findings, this study contributes to the body of research aspiring to clarify the nature of a global company, offers a subjective measure for this phenomenon that can stimulate survey-based research with corporate elites, and thus provides a platform for further research.

This paper examines the information content of print advertisements for high involvement products in Australia, by Australian, Japanese and U.S. firms. Paired comparisons between firms found that the information in Japanese firms, Australian advertising is relatively more similar to information in Australian firms' advertising than is the information in U.S. firms' Australian advertising. Comparisons between the results of this study and previous works found that the information used in Australian advertising by both Japanese and U.S. firms differed from advertising within the two respective home markets. This may support the view that there is some localization of information taking place.

This study compares the informativeness and the appeals used in magazine advertising in China with those used in France and in the United States. It provides international marketers with a snapshot of current magazine advertising tactics and provides scholars with an assessment of how consistently expectations based on seminal cross-cultural research predict the informativeness and the appeals used in magazine advertising in each country. Surprisingly, the expectations based on the literature were most often inconsistent with the observations. These findings should serve as a reminder to international marketing scholars that the seminal cross-cultural works, as useful as they are in providing cultural insights, were never intended to apply equally to all subgroups (e.g., the Little Emperors) within a culture.

For well over forty years, academics have debated the effectiveness of the standardization/adaptation of international advertising, with practitioners beginning four decades earlier. As the debate has progressed, a critical distinction in the literature has developed related to this issue, that of process and program standardization. In this study, we examine the association of process and program standardization, inclusive of consumer market and environmental similarity, within a sample of U.S. multinationals operating in India. Results indicate a positive association between process and program advertising standardization of U.S. multinationals operating in India. Implications for academics and practitioners are presented.

Market entry strategies range from foreign direct investment to licensing with varying levels of commitment, risk and opportunity. Exporting products or services is one of the most common of the intermediate market entry strategies. It is typically accomplished through authorized international channels of distribution. However, when significant price differences exist between markets, alternative, parallel channels of distribution are almost certain to arise. These parallel channels, often referred to as gray marketing, are generally legal but unauthorized distribution channels that create an alternative export market entry. After a review of the literature, a case study highlights these complex issues from the perspective of both manufacturer and parallel marketer. The case study provides a tool for evaluating theory and a basis for discussing this important alternative mode of market entry. The case and the discussion which follows also highlight the role of international trade shows as an important element of the marketing mix for entering many foreign markets.

After graduating with a Bachelor's degree in Mathematics and teaching Advanced Calculus, Advanced Linear Algebra, and Statistics for over 3 years at Sichuan University in Chengdu, China, my life took a major turn that forever changed my career path: I got an opportunity to join the MBA program at Michigan State University!

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.