GLOBALIZATION AND MARKETING STRATEGY

Globalization and its effect on marketing strategy

Acknowledgement

I would take this opportunity to thank my research supervisor, family and friends for their support and guidance without which this research would not have been possible.

Executive summary

The topic of this dissertation is the term “global marketing” and the phenomenon of the “globalization” of marketing activities. Global marketing is a theoretical concept that in a managerial context is hardly applicable. Global marketing and the globalization of marketing activities have become a cliché among marketing scholars and marketing practitioners. Also introduced and discussed is the concept “glocal marketing” to fill the gap or vacuum between the theoretical concept of global marketing and the empirical phenomenon of the globalization of marketing activities applied both by marketing scholars and by marketing practitioners.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgement2

Executive summary3

Chapter 1: Introduction5

Aims and objectives5

Chapter 2: Literature review6

Chapter 3: Methodology20

Research Design20

Literature Search20

Keywords20

Chapter 4: Analysis and discussion21

Chapter 5: Conclusions & Recommendations35

References42

Appendix47

Chapter 1: Introduction

Aims and objectives

The idea of the globalization of marketing activities is a well known phenomenon. It is also widespread among marketing scholars and marketing practitioners. The concept of global marketing is used in different contexts, but it is often applied with a variety of meanings. It is used as an etiquette or jargon to represent a diversity of marketing phenomena or marketing applications. At times it is almost used as a prefix. There is an evident disagreement on the meaning and the appropriate usage of the concept of global marketing among marketing scholars and marketing practitioners. The multiple meanings and use of the concept of global marketing is therefore ambiguous. It is widely used to represent different meanings depending very much upon the user's personal perception or conviction. The concept of global marketing appears to have become a cliché adopted both by marketing scholars and by marketing practitioners, and others as well.

There is a discrepancy between the term “global marketing” and the “globalization” of marketing activities. There is a need to explore and describe the gap or vacuum that may contribute to advance the use of these terms related to marketing activities beyond present boundaries. Therefore, the objective of this article is to describe how to overcome the discrepancy between the theoretical concept of global marketing and the empirical phenomenon and application of the globalization of marketing activities.

How can an executive or practitioner address the issue of glocal marketing in operative, tactical and strategic planning, implementation, and control?

How may the concept of glocal marketing enhance the description of the current use of the term global marketing in literature and in practice?

What similarities and differences are there between the scope of global marketing and glocal marketing?

Chapter 2: Literature review

Concept of global marketing

Many scholars use the concept of global marketing. It is usually applied to represent different meanings:

… marketing activities coordinated and integrated across multiple country markets (Johansson, 2000, p. 6). … global marketing focuses its resources on global market opportunities and threats … (Keegan and Green, 2000, p. 2). … global marketing does not necessarily mean standardization of products, promotion, pricing, ...