Major Theoretical Logic in Global Marketing Essay

Major Theoretical Logic in Global Marketing - Essay Example There is a major gap in our understanding of the types of internal organizational resources that are conducive to implementing a global marketing strategy and that can lead to sustainable competitive advantages in the global market. A major issue that needs to be investigated is what organizational processes that successful global competitors adapt to influence its foreign subsidiaries so that they can achieve global marketing standardization, coordination, and integration (Samiee and Kendall, 1992). Potential organizational processes may range from suggestion, inducement, request, to the direction (Bartlett and Ghoshal 1992). It should be interesting to know which process is more effective and, perhaps more importantly, under what conditions a particular process may be effective for implementing a global marketing strategy. Researchers need to properly conceptualize various organization processes, define their relationships to global marketing strategy implementation, and design emp irical studies to test such relationships. Another major issue involves the organizational structures that are conducive to global marketing strategy implementation (Appelbaum et al, 1998). While centralization vs. decentralization and product division vs. geographical division has received some discussion in the literature, other dimensions of organizational structure have not been investigated adequately. For example, how a firm's decision to enter into international joint ventures (or any other modes of foreign market entry) affects its ability to implement a global marketing strategy, and how various knowledge management systems relate to a firm's ability to implement a global marketing strategy are among important issues to be researched (Bellamy and Graham, 1987). Still another major issue in global marketing is the type of organizational cultures that facilitate global marketing strategy implementation (Beyers and Lindahl, 1999). Perhaps the strength of the organization cultu re is an important variable, or the content of the organization culture is more relevant. Researchers need to develop sound classification schemes for organization cultures and link them to a firm's ability to implement a global marketing strategy. Empirical research in this area is particularly scarce. In addition to the aforementioned issues that relate to a firm's internal organizational resources, research is also needed to identify various industry globalization drivers and the specific mechanisms through which a global marketing strategy can lead to competitive advantages for a firm. With quality research in these areas, a complete theory of global marketing strategy can be expected in the future. Culture is an important factor in the understanding organization because for any organization to operate effectively it must to some extent have a general set of beliefs and assumptions.