The GMS: A broad conceptualization of global marketing strategy and its effect on firm performance.
What about: The article is about a broad conceptualization of global marketing strategy and its effect on firm performance.
Objective of the article: The objective of this article is to present a review of the global marketing strategy, to propose a new conceptualization of global marketing strategy, to develop a conceptual model, to describe the research design and methodology of the study and present the result and discuss the findings and managerial implication.
Main feature: There are mainly three major perspectives of global marketing strategy. These are
- Standardization perspectives
- Configuration-coordination perspective
- Integration perspective
Standardization perspective: basic logics of standardization are economized of scale, low cost and simplification. Key variables are product standardization, promotion standardization, standardized channel structure, standardizes price. Antecedents are convergence of cultures, similarity of demand, low trade barriers, technological advances, and orientation of firm. The effects of standardization are efficiency, consistency, transfer of ideas.
Configuration-coordination perspective: basic logics of configuration-coordination are comparative advantage, interdependency and specialization. Key variables are concentration of value chain activities and coordination of value chain activities. Antecedents are low trade barriers, technological advances, orientation of firm and international experience. Effects are efficiency and synergies.
Integration perspective: basic logics of Integration are cross-subsidization, competitive dislocation and rationalization. Key variables are integration of competitive moves and global market participation. Antecedents are low trade barriers, orientation of firm, international experience, integrated markets. Effects of integration are effectiveness in competition and competitive leverage.
The GMS: the GMS is the degree to which a firm globalizes its marketing behaviors in various countries through standardization of the marketing mix variables, concentration and coordination of marketing activities, and integration of competitive moves across the markets. Here the goal of these perspectives is same. The goal is to enhance the firm’s performance in the global market. The performance of each perspective is different but not mutually exclusive.
Dimensions of the GMS:
Product standardization
Promotion standardization
Standardized channel structure
Standardized price
Concentration of marketing activities
Coordination of marketing activities
Global market participation
Integration of competitive moves
A model of the GMS and firm performance:
two theoretical perspectives are central to explaining the relationship between the GMS and a firm’s performance: the industrial organization (IO) theory and the resource-based industrial view (RBV). The IO theory focuses on the external market to identify drivers of a firm’s strategy and contends that the firm’s performance is determined by its strategy. Competitive advantage is viewed as a position of superior performance that a firm attains through offering either undifferentiated product at low cost or differentiated products. The RBV uses the firm’s internal organizational resources to explain its strategy and performance. According RBV, a firm’s competitive advantages reside in the inherent heterogeneity of the immobile strategic resources the firm controls.
Findings:
GMS is a broad conceptualization of global marketing strategy that incorporates all three perspectives. GMS dimensions are distinctive but related. GMS scale is related to a firm’s global marketing performance, the external globalizing conditions, the firm global orientation and international experience. Thus GMS serves as a broad, unified view of what constitutes global marketing strategy. Another significant finding of this study is that the GMS have a positive and significant effect on a firm’s global market performance. GMS influences firm’s strategic performance positively in the global market. Managers should carefully asses the attractiveness of various markets and carry on marketing activities. An attempt to integrate competitive moves recognizes that the key markets of the world are now tightly interlinked. Standardization of the promotional mix enables firm to gain worldwide efficiencies. Finally a key determinant of performance in global markets lies in manager’s ability to establish common needs among the customer segments worldwide so that core product features are kept intact.
