Boryana V. Dimitrova

Business and Cultural Aspects of Psychic Distance and Complementarity of Capabilities in Export Relationships

Psychic distance is a key element in the field of international marketing. Unfortunately, the literature exhibits a lack of consistency with respect to its effects. To help increase understanding of the influence of psychic distance, the authors investigate business and cultural psychic distance as separate constructs. They develop a model in which an export managers business and cultural psychic distance influences the structuring of the export relationship (i.e., whether it has complementarity of capabilities) and explore whether business and cultural psychic distance enhances or dampens the leveraging of complementary capabilities to increase an export managers satisfaction with export performance. The results, based on a survey of 151 U.S. export managers, indicate that when export managers perceive greater business psychic distance, they select export partners with fewer complementary capabilities. Although more complementarity of capabilities results in greater satisfaction with export performance, this relationship is moderated by psychic distance. Specifically, greater cultural psychic distance enhances the positive influence of partner complementarity of capabilities on satisfaction with export performance, whereas greater business psychic distance dampens the positive influence of partner complementarity of capabilities on satisfaction with export performance.

Standardization Versus Adaptation in Global Markets: Is Channel Strategy Different?

The argument over standardization versus adaptation of marketing strategy in international markets has raged for several decades. This argument has generally taken place at the aggregate level to include all four strategic areas of the marketing mix (product, price, promotion, and place) taken together. This article disaggregates the standardization-versus-adaptation argument by focusing on just one strategic area of the marketing mix—channel strategy. We argue that three underlying phenomena or forces in global markets (culturally distant distribution behavior, distributive institution rigidity, and international functional fragmentation) inhibit a firms ability to standardize channel strategy in global markets to a greater degree than is the case for product, price, and promotional strategies.

Does the degree of retailer international involvement affect retailer performance

This study investigates the impact of the degree of retailer international involvement (DRII), which we define as the number of geographic regions in which a retailer operates, on retailer performance. The data cover 16 international retailers over the period 1996–2012. The findings of the study show that DRII is negatively related to retailer performance. We also find that the cultural distance between the home and host country moderates the relationship between DRII and retailer performance.

When and how country reputation stimulates export volume

We examine the linkage between country reputation and export volume by matching data from a global survey in twenty countries around the world with actual export data to fifty of their trading partners. We argue that country reputation can be a novel means to reduce quality uncertainty and relational uncertainty, thereby enhancing export volume. We test the hypotheses using the well-established structural model of international trade. We find that each improvement in a world ranking of a country’s reputation for products in a target country is associated with a 2% increase in exports to that particular country (an effect equivalent to the importing country decreasing a tariff by as much as 2.9%). Furthermore, different aspects of country reputation – for its products and its people – attenuate distinct forms of uncertainty, and thereby stimulate export volume in distinct ways. We examine the linkage between country reputation and export volume by matching data from a global survey in twenty countries around the world with actual export data to fifty of their trading partners. We argue that country reputation can be a novel means to reduce quality uncertainty and relational uncertainty, thereby enhancing export volume. We test the hypotheses using the well-established structural model of international trade. We find that each improvement in a world ranking of a country’s reputation for products in a target country is associated with a 2% increase in exports to that particular country (an effect equivalent to the importing country decreasing a tariff by as much as 2.9%). Furthermore, different aspects of country reputation – for its products and its people – attenuate distinct forms of uncertainty, and thereby stimulate export volume in distinct ways.

The impact of national cultural values on retail structure: Evidence from the World Values Survey

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between national cultural values and retail structure. Design/methodology/approach The authors use a panel data set of 67 countries over the period 1999-2012. Findings The results demonstrate that national cultural values, measured with the World Values Survey’s traditional/secular-rational and survival/self-expression dimensions, affect retail structure. Research limitations/implications While marketing scholars have examined the relationship between demographic and competitive factors and retail structure, there has been a substantial body of anecdotal evidence showing that national culture can also drive retail structure development. In order to enhance the understanding of the relationship between national culture and retail structure, the authors empirically examine the impact of national cultural values on retail structure. Originality/value This study is the first one to empirically examine the impact of national culture on retail structure. The authors thus help advance retail structure research the primary focus of which has been on investigating the impact of demographic and competitive factors on retail structure. This study is especially relevant to international retail managers who coordinate retail operations in multiple countries around the world. These managers need insight into the impact of national cultural values on retail structure in order to devise effective retail strategies for each host market.

Global Country Social Responsibility: What Is It? An Abstract

Corporate social responsibility (CSR), which refers to business practices and corporate resource contributions that help improve societal well-being (Kotler & Lee, 2005), and its impact on a country’s bottom line have attracted increased scholarly interest over the years as corporations recognize the communities in which they operate as significant stakeholders. CSR initiatives thus tend to help corporations boost their reputation and be viewed positively by consumers, investors, and prospective employees (Korschun, Bhattacharya, & Swain, 2014; Sen, Bhattacharya, & Korschun, 2006). Specifically, when firms engage in CSR activities, they communicate to key stakeholders their organizational values, which can reap multiple benefits when they are congruent with key stakeholders’ values (Bhattacharya & Sen, 2003; Galbreath, 2010; Sen et al., 2006). However, given the numerous pressing social issues our world is facing today, it is imminent for the entire countries, not just corporations, to address important societal issues such as health and well-being, peace and security, and environmental sustainability. Recognizing this need, we extend the CSR concept to the country level and introduce the concept of global country social responsibility (GCSR), defined as a country’s practices that contribute to the well-being of its key constituents or stakeholders, including immigrants, emigrants, native citizens, non-native citizens, as well as domestic and foreign businesses.

International Retail Expansion: What’s Ahead?—An Abstract

Retailers are the last and, thus, a crucial link in the marketing channel because they make goods available to millions of consumers where and when they want them on a daily basis. As consumer tastes and preferences are ever evolving, retailers devise new store formats and expand their operations in order to respond to changing consumer behavior trends. As a result, in many countries around the world, the retail industry has become saturated and retailers have sought to explore untapped market potential in foreign markets in a desire to grow. This has led to a heightened level of retail internationalization (RI), which refers to a retailer’s store presence in foreign markets (Reinartz et al. 2011; Vida et al. 2000). And despite the recent growth of online shopping, which enables international retailers to use e-commerce as a foreign entry mode, these retailers still face similar foreign market expansion impediments as retailers expanding internationally through brick-and-mortar stores.

The Impact of National Culture on Retail Structure

In every country in the world, consumers rely on retailers to purchase the products they need for everyday survival and to satisfy their most specialized needs and wants. Retailers from tiny “mom-and-pop” stores to giant modern stores such as supermarkets, hypermarkets, and “big-box” stores provide the retail distributive institutions needed to make vast arrays of products conveniently available to millions of consumers when and where they desire to buy them. And despite the rapid penetration of online shopping in many countries around the world, brick-and-mortar stores still dominate retail structure because “Shoppers want to feel the fabrics, look at the colors, try out styles—all those things that can be lost online…” (2013 Interbrand Best Retail Brands Report, p. 4). Therefore, retail structure, which refers to the number, size, and type of physical retail stores in a given geographic area, will continue to play a crucial role in the everyday lives of millions of consumers around the globe.

Factors Inhibiting the Standardization of Global Channel Strategy

The standardization vs. adaptation debate in the marketing literature has inspired a substantial research stream over the past four decades. What is more, the focus on globalization and the difficulties that many multinational companies have faced while implementing a global marketing strategy have reignited this debate in recent years. Basically, the standardization vs. adaptation debate centers on whether firms operating at an international or global level should standardize their marketing strategies and programs to offer an essentially uniform marketing mix in all of the markets within which they operate around the world (Levitt 1983, Ohmae 1989, Yip 1996, Backhaus and van Doorn 2007). Or, whether the marketing mix should be adapted to reflect differences in macro-environmental factors among various countries (Britt 1974, Buzzell 1968, Douglas and Wind 1987, Katsikeas et al. 2006, DeMooij 2000). Both sides of the debate have been addressed in the marketing literature over the years with arguments offered as to why an emphasis on standardization rather than adaptation should be pursued and vice versa (Douglas and Craig 1986,Theodosou and Leonidou 2003, Vrontis et al. 2009). A definitive outcome to this debate has still not emerged. For the most part, however, the standardization vs. adaptation debate has been conducted at a comprehensive level of marketing strategy. That is, the arguments have generally been presented as if they apply equally to all four strategic components of the marketing mix: product, price, promotion, and place (channels of distribution). Therefore, if a case can be made for standardizing product strategy, the same reasoning would apply to pricing, promotion, and place strategies. This would result in virtually the same product being sold, using the same promotional message, at the same price, and through the same channels of distribution in all different countries being targeted.

Do Retail Foreign Direct Investment Restrictions Affect Retail Channel Structure

The purpose of this study is to contribute to the existing retail channel structure research by investigating the impact of retail foreign direct investment (FDI) restrictions on retail channel structure as well as the moderating impact of a countrys level of economic development on this relationship. Using a panel data set of 79 countries over the period 1999–2012, we show that retail FDI restrictions can influence retail channel structure development and that the relationship between retail FDI restrictions and retail channel structure is moderated by a countrys level of economic development.