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This paper employs organizational learning theory to examine the short-term effect of past export performance, and internal (management) and external (market) forces on marketing strategy adaptation and current export performance. Results from a survey of over 500 export managers indicate that current-period performance improvement (in terms of performance achievement, export intensity, and performance satisfaction in the current year) is influenced by the firm's commitment to exporting. Further, the authors found that while performance satisfaction feeds performance improvement in the following year, both the previous year's export intensity and export performance achievement produce a negative impact on current-period performance improvement. More importantly, the level of development in the export market facilitates marketing strategy adaptation in the short term, as does export intensity in the previous year. However, satisfaction with previous-year performance negatively influences the degree of distribution adaptation. Implications for international business researchers and practitioners are also discussed.

This study addresses a long-standing debate in the literature regarding the appropriateness and performance consequences of marketing strategy standardization vs. adaptation. Much of the relevant literature represents the headquarters' viewpoint and broadly assesses antecedents of standardization or adaptation across widely varying markets. Using strategic fit as the theoretical platform for analysis, the study investigates international marketing strategy for a specific product or line within subsidiaries of U.S., Japanese, and German multinational corporations (MNCs) operating in the U.K. The results indicate that degree of strategy standardization is significantly related to similarity between markets with respect to regulatory environments, technological intensity and velocity, customs and traditions, customer characteristics, a product's stage in its life cycle, and competitive intensity. On the critical question of performance consequences, the findings suggest that superior performance results from strategy standardization only to the extent that there is fit or coalignment between the MNC's environmental context and its international marketing strategy choice.

Despite the strong interest in global marketing, there is no consensus in the literature about what constitutes a global marketing strategy and whether it affects a firm's global market performance. The authors develop a broad conceptualization of global marketing strategy, the GMS, that integrates three major perspectives-namely, the standardization, configuration-coordination, and integration perspectives-of global marketing strategy. They also develop a conceptual model that links the GMS to a firm's global market performance. On the basis of a survey of business units competing in global industries, the authors find support for the broad GMS perspective and the fundamental relationship between the GMS and firms' global market performance. The authors also discuss theoretical and managerial implications of their findings.

This study examines how international experience shapes managerial judgment in the formation of effective export promotion strategies. Drawing from contingency theory and the organizational learning perspective, the authors develop and test a model of the effects of different forms of international experience—duration, scope, and intensity—on the performance outcomes of promotion adaptation. Using data from 336 export ventures, the authors find that promotion adaptation relates positively to performance when duration is short and intensity is low, but there is a nonsignificant moderating effect for scope. However, the subsequent analysis suggests that scope, together with sociocultural distance and promotion adaptation, exerts a complex three-way effect on export performance, highlighting the need for more research attention in this area.

This study examines the marketing strategies of companies originating in small and open economies as they expand into foreign markets. It distinguishes two major globalization paths (that of born globals and that of globalizing internationals), contrasts them with traditional internationalizers, and describes their characteristics. It then outlines a framework and hypotheses regarding the marketing strategies used in foreign expansion and examines them empirically in the information and communication technology field. The authors examine two important strategic marketing issues: the breadth of product offering and the standardization of marketing strategies across countries. The empirical results show that foreign expansion path, foreign business experience, and external globalization pressure have an impact on the selection of marketing strategies. The study also finds that the fit between these contextual factors and the standardization of marketing strategy has a positive effect on performance. The novel results regarding the importance of foreign expansion paths in the selection of marketing strategies have important implications for both academicians and practitioners in the field of international marketing.

Comprehensiveness has long been recognized as a key feature of marketing strategy decision making. However, few studies have examined its antecedents and the conditions under which it influences performance. This study attempts to contribute to a better understanding of marketing strategy by investigating project-level antecedents and outcomes of marketing strategy comprehensiveness (MSC). Drawing on contingency and institutional theories perspectives, the authors develop and test the effects of output and process rewards, task conflict, and project members' intra- and extraindustry relationships on MSC. They find that whereas process reward and extraindustry relationships are positively related to MSC, task conflict (when combined with conflict avoidance) hinders its development. Furthermore, the results indicate that MSC has a more positive effect on performance when implementation speed is higher. Finally, the authors discover that technology and market uncertainties differentially moderate the relationship between MSC and performance; the former has a positive effect, and the latter has a negative effect. The authors also discuss the theoretical and practical implications of their findings.

The purpose of this study is to extend the traditional environment—strategy—performance framework by including network theory to examine when a foreign firm can use its multinational corporation (MNC) network strength to buffer market turbulence and technological turbulence and when the foreign firm can deploy it to support the influences of marketing strategic postures (i.e., market responsiveness and product innovation) on firm performance. The author tests the hypotheses on data collected from 140 foreign firms in China. Although prior research has demonstrated that firms often use multiple strategies and resources to cope with environmental forces, the findings illustrate that different environmental segments have unequal bearings on market responsiveness, product innovation, and MNC network strength. In addition, despite the direct positive influences of individual marketing strategic postures and MNC network strength on firm performance, their combined effects are mixed. The author concludes with a discussion of the implications of these results for research and practice.

This paper describes a study that assesses the performance implications of matching marketing strategy to business strategy. In order to conduct this study we first reviewed the literature on marketing strategy to identify its key dimensions. We then conducted a survey of 1000 senior marketing executives about the strategic marketing practices adopted in their respective firms or business units, and developed scales to describe 11 strategic marketing activities. We next performed a K-means cluster analysis using these scales to develop a taxonomy of marketing strategy types consisting of: Aggressive Marketers, Mass Marketers, Marketing Minimizers, and Value Marketers. We then observed that superior performance at the firm or SBU level was achieved when specific marketing strategy types were matched with appropriate Miles and Snow (1978) business strategy types.

The international marketing literature has produced divergent findings regarding the effect of a standardized marketing strategy on firm performance among large multinational corporations (MNCs). Prior research has typically considered external or environmental factors to reconcile different findings. This study employs multiple perspectives of strategic fit (moderation, mediation, profile deviation, and covariation) to examine the effect of the internal fit among strategy, structure, and processes of MNCs and explores their effects on firm performance. Empirical results based on 206 MNCs support the mediation, profile deviation, and covariation perspectives, but they fail to confirm the moderation perspective.

Over the past four decades, there has been a considerable number of studies that have examined the determinants and outcomes of export pricing. However, despite this large volume of studies, the knowledge of the determinants and consequences of export pricing is characterized by a fragmented, diverse, and inconsistent collection of findings that hinders scholarship and practical advancement in the field. A major reason for this absence of clear insights is the lack of synthesis and assimilation of the fragmented knowledge. To address this gap in the literature, the authors review and evaluate 98 articles published between 1971 and 2010. The results indicate that although significant progress has been made in recent years, research on export pricing is still characterized by the lack of a strong theoretical basis, the failure to agree on the relevant determinants of export pricing, and some weakness in research designs and analytical techniques, which may explain the many contradictory and confusing findings in the literature. On the basis of these findings, the authors discuss several implications, and consider directions for further research.