The mutual forbearance hypothesis states that when the same competitors meet in multiple markets, rivalry is deterred. Our study highlights how pressures for local responsiveness impact the veracity of this hypothesis for multinational corporations (MNCs) in host countries. We develop theory to explain how subsidiary ownership, home-host cultural distance, host country regulatory restrictions o…
Many other countries are placing innovation at the top of their national agendas. They are creating forward-looking education and talent-development policies, pouring money into large-scale initiatives, and snapping up new assets in the form of intellectual capital and infrastructure. What does this new innovation world means for companies, and what are the implications for the people who lead …
The Mahindra & Mahindra Group, one of India's best-known business houses, is trying to become bigger, more global, and more innovative--all at the same time. In India's post-economic-reforms gold rush, the group, whose 2007 sales were $6.6 billion, has invested in a slew of unrelated businesses, from aircraft manufacture to film production. The flagship tractor and SUV businesses are readying t…
Global account management (GAM)--which treats a multinational customer's operations as one integrated account, with coherent terms for pricing, product specifications, and service--has proliferated over the past decade. Yet according to the authors' research, only about a third of the suppliers that have offered GAM are pleased with the results. The unhappy majority may be suffering from confus…
A critical new battleground is emerging in China: It's the "good-enough" market segment--home of reliable-enough products at low-enough prices to attract the cream of the country's fast-growing cohort of mid-level consumers. Traditionally, foreign multinationals have dominated China's premium segment, while a plethora of domestic companies have served the low end, often unprofitably. But as mid…
Deciding on the boundaries of a firm as it expands abroad is a critical decision for managers. Despite the rapid growth in research addressing this issue, many questions remain unanswered. In this article, the authors review the international entry mode choice literature, identify weaknesses and shortcomings, and provide suggestions on how researchers can add to the knowledge of mode choice and…
Although the US has been one of the leading actors in international trade, limited evidence exists as to individual US company relationships with overseas customers. On the basis of a sample of 201 US exporting manufacturers, a comparison between harmonious and problematic foreign business relationships is drawn. The findings reveal that, as opposed to problematic cases, firms with harmonious r…
This study examines sales channel strategies for international expansion as a means of compensating for constantly decreasing unit prices and margins in the personal computer (PC) industry operation in the European Union market. The development from single (direct or indirect) to multiple (dual or hybrid) sales channel strategy for international expansion is described and analyzed on the basis …
Over the past decade, several studies have questioned the stage models of the internationalization process. Many of these studies concentrate on the exporting versus nonexporting factor, identifying an increasing number of firms that are active in international markets shortly after establishment. Limited empirical evidence exists as to whether this actuality indicates simply a reduced time fac…
Using the structure-conduct-performance paradigm along with Porter's (1990) international factor conditions, a conceptual framework to explain the antecedents and consequences of a firm's brand-name standardization/adaptation strategy is proposed and empirically tested. Survey research and structural equation modeling results show that firms adapt (vary) their brand names when market structure …
This study investigates the standardization/adaptation issue in international advertising from an organizational perspective, introducing two variables: knowledge of local market conditions at the center (exporter/headquarters level) and headquarters' influence on local marketing decisions. One-hundred-and-fifty Norwegian exporters were interviewed by mail on their experience in this respect. T…
Recent export studies have focused on the internal/controllable determinants of export performance. The external/uncontrollable determinants of export performance have received scant research attention. In this study, two key external/uncontrollable factors are examined, namely, industry concentration and firm location, in the context of Chinese manufacturing firms. In addition, several frequen…
In business-to-business marketing, managers are often tasked with developing effective global pricing strategies for customers characterized by different cultures and different utilities for product attributes. The challenges for formulating international pricing schedules are especially evident in global markets for service offerings, where intensive customer contact, extensive customization r…
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. This study develops a broad conceptualization of global marketing strategy, the GMS, that integrates three major perspectives - namely, the standardization, configuration-coordination, and integrati…
This study examines influences on the level of corruption in countries from a strategic perspective. Corruption is one of the country-level influences on market entry, investment, and other decisions fundamental to strategic management at the international level. The study examines the impact on corruption of change in levels of foreign direct investment (FDI). It uses the Corruption Perception…