Strategy fit and performance consequences of international marketing standardization

• Published in: Strategic management journal Vol. 27; no. 9; pp. 867 - 890
• Main Authors: Katsikeas, Constantine S., Samiee, Saeed, Theodosiou, Marios
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chichester, UK John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 01.09.2006; John Wiley and Sons
• Subjects: Advertising restrictions; Brands; Business strategies; Business structures; Customers; Economic regulation; Industrial regulation; international marketing; International markets; Internationalization; Management science; Market performance analysis; Marketing; marketing standardization; Marketing strategies; Multinational enterprises; Standardization; strategy fit
• ISSN: 0143-2095; 1097-0266
• DOI: 10.1002/smj.549

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.