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 firm's ability to standardize channel strategy in global markets to a greater degree than is the case for product, price, and promotional strategies.     

沃尔玛、家乐福在华市场营销组合比较研究

在综述营销组合及零售营销组合理论的基础上,构建了其分析维度,进而从产品、服务、价格、地点、店面设计、促销、人员、物流配送等方面对沃尔玛和家乐福在华市场的营销组合进行比较研究,同时也对国内零售企业给出相应的几点启示。     

Rice-Buying Behavior of Chinese People in Mainland China,Hong Kong,Singapore, and Canada

This study investigates rice-buying behavior in Chinese people living in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Canada and suggests marketing strategies for rice products. Data were collected from a comprehensive Web-based survey and analyzed using grey relational analysis method. In total, we received 445 valid questionnaires. For China-Chinese consumers, we suggest that the rice marketing mix should focus on higher quality, fair price, extra healthfulness, wide distribution channels, and food safety guarantees during promotion. For China-English consumers, the marketing mix should ensure that rice products contain clear educational instructions and also focus on stable price, convenience of locations, and sufficient communication with consumers during promotion. The results suggest employing different marketing mix strategies for Chinese and English-speaking countries.     

The Earth Is Flat,Almost: Measuring Marketing Standardization and Profit Performance of Japanese and U.S. Firms

ABSTRACT

Globalization has fostered greater interest in all aspects of standardization theory, including the four Ps (product, price, place [distribution], and promotion) of the marketing mix. The study researches the firm's strategy of marketing standardization as it correlates to the firm's profit. Multinational firms from Japan and the United States operating in a global environment were studied in order to correlate marketing standardization to profit performance. The results indicate there is increasing support for a strategy of standardizing marketing mix components and contributing to a firm's profit performance.     

The relationship between the marketing mix and share of category requirements

A criticism of purchase-based brand loyalty measures is that they are confounded by the marketing mix variables that affect brand choice. This paper investigates the magnitude and direction of the associations for share of category requirements (SCR), defined as each brand's share among the group of households who bought the brand at least once during the time period under consideration. We discuss the theoretical foundations for the relationships between SCR and a set of marketing mix variables (price, promotions, retail distribution) and conduct a latent structure regression analysis of brand-level data to test these relationships. We find that, although the relationship between the marketing mix variables and SCR is statistically significant, in real terms the magnitude of the association is fairly low.     

Rethinking the bottom of the pyramid: Towards a new marketing mix

The purpose of this study is to re-conceptualize the conventional marketing mix for Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP) markets and propose a revised framework by reorganizing the elements based on the customer perspective while retaining the principles of services marketing. Primary data was collected through a questionnaire with a sample size of 400 people from both urban and rural markets in the BoP. Findings indicate that the needs and perspective of the BoP members is distinct from the Middle of the Pyramid (MoP). Managers should consider this point while formulating marketing mix strategies for BoP markets. The present study is the first of its kind to present a revised marketing mix framework for customers in the BoP markets. The framework comprises five Ps, including personalization, product, place, the process of service delivery and price. Thus, a theoretical contribution is made in the context of service marketing and the BoP.     

Strategic brand management for higher education institutions with graduate degree programs: empirical insights from the higher education marketing mix

ABSTRACT

Intense competition for student enrollment has created a strong need for higher education institutions, especially those that offer graduate degree programs, to differentiate themselves. This article introduces the concept of strategic brand management as an avenue for higher education differentiation and discusses how higher education institutions with graduate degree programs can strategically manage their brands (i.e. corporate and product) through the higher education marketing mix (i.e. prominence, prospectus, program, price, people, premium, and promotion). Using a closed-ended survey and partial least squares structural equation modeling of a sample of students enrolled in a graduate degree program (e.g. MBA), the study finds that the utilitarian elements (i.e. prominence, prospectus, program, and price) of the higher education marketing mix have a positive direct impact on the product brand (e.g. MBA brand) and an indirect impact on the corporate brand (e.g. university brand) of these types of higher education institutions. However, hedonic elements (i.e. people, premium, and promotion) of the higher education marketing mix do not produce any significant impact on either the corporate or product brands of these institutions. Implications from these findings to theory, practice, and future research avenues conclude.     

Marketing “Gamer Foods”: Qualitative Insights into Responsible Strategy Development

The purpose of this article is to explore the video-gaming experience as a novel consumption occasion for snack foods and to provide insights into responsible marketing strategy development. Consumers' desired food product attributes, their motivating conditions to snack while gaming, and the environment in which this takes place are explored qualitatively through 14 in-depth interviews and 10 separate points of field observation. The findings indicate certain unhealthy food products are valued during the occasion for their social hedonic appeal but also for the basic function of fuelling long marathons of concentration and competition. Results are used to inform strategic considerations which are presented using the traditional marketing mix framework of product, promotion, price, and place of distribution. Therein, management is cautioned toward the obesogenic elements of the consumption occasion and this is a critical consideration throughout. Management is strongly advised to develop and promote healthier snacks as part of facilitating an enabling environment for sustainable food choices.     

Marketing Organic Products: Exploring Some of the Pervasive Issues

ABSTRACT

This article explores the marketing of organic products. It identifies the issues that pervade the national, organisational, and individual differences within the global organic industry. These are discussed using the marketing mix framework of product, price, promotion, and place of distribution. It concludes that a large percentage of customers, who are spread throughout the community, purchase organic products, most of whom only purchase it occasionally. The most important attributes of organic products are health, quality, and environment. Promotion of these benefits has the potential to demonstrate that, even at the higher price, they still offer value for money.     

Consumer Brand Marketing through Full- and Self-Service Channels in an Emerging Economy

A unique characteristic of emerging economies is the wide variety of dominant channel formats. We evaluate the influence of a brand's marketing mix on channel partners and consumer sales in both full and self-service channels in one emerging economy (Brazil). We use monthly stock-keeping-unit (SKU) level sales, and marketing mix data from the beverage category in southeastern Brazil spanning more than four years. In this study, we specify a panel vector autoregression framework with error decomposition to account for endogeneity between sales and marketing mix, cross-sectional heterogeneity among SKUs, seasonality, and the different aggregation of marketing mix elements across the channels. The results show that structural differences in these channels cause differences in the responses to some of the manufacturers' marketing mix elements. Package size variety, price and merchandising have a greater long-term effect on sales in self-service than in full-service channels. Brands' channel relationship programs support price increases in self-service channels without a corresponding decrease in sales. Distribution gains are important in both channels. In the full-service channel, package size variety has the highest long-term effect among all of the modeled marketing mix elements. Our study highlights that marketing mix strategies popular in the self-service dominant channels of the developed economies are not as effective in the full-service formats that remain important in emerging economies.     

Partnerships that go places: How to successfully market products from vendor partners at retail stores from the vendors’ perspective

This study constructed a model using multiple attribute decision making (MADM) to evaluate the successful marketing of products from vendor partners at an on-campus training store. We used the 5Ps of marketing (people, product, price, promotion, and place) as the research framework and applied the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) to calculate the weight of each evaluation criterion. A gap analysis was performed on each evaluation criterion, using the modified VlseKriterijumska Optimizcija I Kaompromisno Resenje (modified VIKOR) to identify the important factors that students at an on-campus training store should prioritize for improvement when formulating marketing strategies from vendor partners. The results indicatae that when collaborating with the on-campus training store, vendor partners placed the greatest emphasis on promotion and the least on people. The results indicatae that when collaborating with the on-campus training store, vendor partners placed the greatest emphasis on promotion and the least on people. The evaluation dimensions were ranked according to their weights in descending order as follows: promotion(0.279), product(0.239), price(0.179), place(0.157), and people(0.143). Based on the overall weights of all evaluation criteria featured in present study, vendor partners placed the top five greatest emphasis on product quality and safety assurance(0.088), social media marketing(0.078), price promotion activities(0.071), product uniqueness(0.069), as well as brand advertising and promotion(0.066). The current research provides practical and appropriate strategies for planning successfully product marketing strategies from vendor partners, and further helping vendor partners increase product exposure and attract consumers to purchase their products at the on-campus training store. The findings may help vendor partners increase and improve product exposure and attract consumers to purchase their products.     

Adaptation of Marketing Mix Elements in International Markets

ABSTRACT

This research identifies the extent to which individual marketing mix elements are adapted for international markets and how company, industry, and market factors influence the level of adaptation. The study is based on a survey of executive-level managers in U.S.-based companies that market products internationally. The survey obtained information on the extent of adaptation across the marketing mix elements and on company, industry, and market factors that influence this process. The results indicate that adaptation is greatest for distribution, followed by price, promotion, and product. Product adaptation is influenced by market factors, price adaptation is influenced by market and industry factors, promotion adaptation is influenced by market factors, and distribution adaptation is influenced by company factors. The results of the research can be used to both understand and manage the extent of adaptation necessary for products in international markets.     

Brand Loyalty and Price Promotion Strategies: An Empirical Analysis

Though brand loyalty has been studied extensively in the marketing literature, the relationship between brand loyalty and retail pricing strategies is not well understood. Designing promotion strategies involves two key decisions: the percentage reduction in price from the existing price point (depth), and the frequency with which a product is promoted. These decisions, in turn, are critically dependent upon how many consumers can be convinced to switch to a brand by temporarily reducing its price, and how many are instead brand loyal. Theoretical models of how the strength of brand loyalty influence optimal promotion strategies have been developed, but there are no rigorous tests of their hypotheses that take into account wholesale price variation. We test how brand loyalty impacts promotion strategies for two frequently purchased consumer packaged good categories. Our results confirm that retailers promote strong brands shallower and more frequently compared to brands with weak loyalty. Our results highlight the importance of carefully modeling wholesale prices when testing behavioral models on retail pricing.     

Marketing Chewing Gum: A Case Study of a Cypriot Company

The purpose of this article is to examine the issues related to the chewing gum marketing practices employed by a Cypriot company importing gum. Thus, the product, its target market, and competition are examined, a SWOT analysis is performed and the marketing mix is presented. Then the results are compared with the international market.

The case study method was employed to gain an initial understanding of the marketing practices employed by the company concerning the production of chewing gum.

The findings showed that the company offers a gum of superior quality, which in two years' time has captured a great share of a very competitive market. The company is giving special attention to the distribution and the promotion of the product.     

Relationship hindrance: why would consumers not want a relationship with a retailer?

Relationship marketing tactics, such as loyalty programs, company credit cards, and e-mail promotions, are becoming increasingly popular. Benefits offered to a consumer for engaging in relational exchanges include price decreases, special offers, personalized attention, and customized products. With such benefits, the assumption is that consumers will want to develop a relationship with an organization and be rewarded for their loyalty. However, consumers might patronize a retailer, be satisfied with the service and product delivery, and yet not want to develop a relationship with them. As such, the purpose of this study was to determine why seemingly satisfied customers do not want to engage in relationship marketing and loyalty enhancing programs with retailers.     

Analysis of customer profit contribution for banks with the concept of marketing mix strategy between 4Cs and 5Ps

This paper takes the high-net-worth customers in the private wealth management division of a case study bank as the research objects, and introduces the concept of marketing mix strategy by combining the 4C (customer, cost to the customer, convenience, and communication) model and 5P (product, price, place, promotion, and people) model in the examination of the attributes of customers and financial advisors in relation to the customer profit contribution and proposes management implications for practitioners. It attempts to establish a win–win business mechanism or marketing strategy that is beneficial to both banks and consumers.     

Consequences of personalized product recommendations and price promotions in online grocery shopping

Shopping convenience can be turned into a competitive advantage for online grocery retailers. Consequently, we study how personalized product recommendations (recommendation agents) and price promotions (algorithmic pricing) compensate for the negative impact that consumer's perceived cognitive effort causes on loyalty. By default, the relationship from perceived cognitive efforts to attitudinal and behavioral loyalty is negative, yet these results demonstrate that personalized price promotions lessen the negative impact, while personalized product recommendations do not have such an influence. The findings contribute to a better understanding of personalized marketing activities in today's data-driven online grocery retailing.     

A Stakeholder Perspective on Relationship Marketing

Abstract

This paper proposes a broad framework of relationship marketing using the stakeholder approach. Drawing from Peck et al. (1999) framework and proposing several modifications, the authors identify the following relational groups-supplier markets, customer markets (channels), customer markets (end users), competitor markets, external influence markets, and internal markets. The growing importance of strategic alliances is reflected in all constituent groups as well as in a proposed modification of the Berry and Parasuraman (1991) levels of relationships. This paper also re-examines the strategic role of the traditional marketing mix strategies (namely, product, price, place, and promotion) in the new relationship paradigm. Finally, implementation strategies for the stakeholder markets, in general, and customer markets, in particular, are proposed. Several propositions are derived throughout the paper, many of which can be fertile areas for future research investigations.     

The rebuilt marketing machine

Since its conception, the marketing mix has been the marketer's tool kit for success. A firm's marketing plan is basically comprised of the 4 Ps of the marketing mix tool kit, with practitioners and academicians segregating a marketer's tasks into product, place, price, and promotion. A decade of company-based research suggests, however, that it is time to rebuild the marketing machine by focusing upon the key strategic issues that companies, and marketers, face in today's rapidly evolving, digitized marketplace. If marketing is to become a way of doing business rather than merely one of several organizational functions, marketers must recognize that the marketing mix tool kit is truly an implement for success, just as an engine and wheels are necessary for successful navigation of an automobile. Only after we, as marketers, recognize and conceptualize marketing as a bigger machine than just the 4 Ps will we be able to bring a market orientation to the forefront of strategic thought.     

A risk worth taking: Perceived risk as moderator of satisfaction,loyalty, and willingness-to-pay premium price

This research investigates the moderating role of perceived risk in the relationship between satisfaction, loyalty, and willingness to pay premium price (WTP). A total of 364 respondents were recruited from Amazon's Mechanical Turk panel. Financial, social, performance, and psychological risks have significant negative effects on the relationship between satisfaction and WTP, whereas only financial risks have significant negative effects on the relationship between loyalty and WTP. Using moderated mediation analysis, we found that the mediating effects of loyalty diminish significantly in high social risk conditions and diminish completely in high financial risk conditions.