Concept of Standardisation and Adaptation in International Marketing - Research Proposal Example

• Part 2: Primary Research proposal

Table of Contents

Part 2: Primary Research proposal1

Introduction3

Research Aim3

Research Questions3

Research purpose4

Literature review4

Research Design6

Weaknesses7

Research approach8

Weakness8

Data Techniques9

Data sources9

Sample selection11

Rationale for this approach11

Reference List14

• Introduction

Companies while marketing their products or services internationally, experience the dilemma in deciding whether to adapt or standardize their offerings. The standardisation of product offerings across cultures is becoming a significant issue that are being faced by the managers in the present era (Griffith et al., 2014). Considering the scenario of international marketing in the 21st century, the standardisation strategies has specific administrations and cost benefits and has also simplified the approach of international marketing thereby offering attractive choices for the firms. Alternatively, the strategy of product adaptation is being considered as the most influential aspects of the corporate organisations. In the present trend of globalisation, adaptation versus standardisation is no longer viewed as an inflexible choice. Rather, combination of both the options is accepted on a given market.

• Research Aim

The research aims to gain better understanding of the concept of standardisation and adaptation in international marketing. In order achieve the aim of the research, the following set of research questions has been formulated:

• Research Questions
• Why are the companies motivated to standardize or adapt their product while marketing them internationally?
• How do the companies adapt or standardize the elements of their product offering through international marketing?
• What are the factors that influence the degree of standardisation and adaptation of products in international marketing?
• Research purpose

The key purpose of this study is to investigate as to what extent the organisations consider standardising or adapting a product in the international market. In addition, the paper also highlights the differences in market that influence the degree of standardisation or adaptation of products.

Moreover, the study aims to amplify the understanding of the stated topic by reviewing the existing theories on standardisation and adaption (Albaum and Tse, 2001). The upcoming results of the study is ought to explore and educate the managers with information on strategic decisions.

• Literature review

The debate concerning about the standardisation or adaptation of marketing mix has been the interest of many studies so far. Bergesen and Bata (2015) first analyzed that standardisation of product has been followed by studies about the promotion. However, the studies of standardisation encompass all the marketing mix elements that include product, promotion, price and distribution; however, the aspects of promotion and products have attained utmost consideration.

The main argument that supports the strategy of standardisation is the belief of world becoming increasingly homogeneous, especially as a result of the modernisation technology based communication. As a result, the culture and taste of consumers are becoming homogeneous as the global consumers are sharing their needs, demands, preferences and desires. This significant similarity of needs and demands of consumers along with the convergent cultures, reducing barriers, has made it possible for the companies to sell more generalised products enforcing standardized marketing programs. Thus, standardisation tends to bring about economies of scale and consistent promotions. Brei et al. (2011), highlights four key reasons of such benefits, they are (a) standardisation allows the organisation to maintain a consistent identity and image throughout the globe, (b) minimizes the level of uncertainty among the buyers who tends to travel frequently, (c) facilitates the companies to develop single advertising campaign for diverse markets (d) it allows substantial savings in promotions such as illustrative or advertising materials, cost of production and media. Despite of such economies of scale, socio-economic and cultural differences between the countries seems to obstruct the strategy of standardisation, leading to adjustments to the market and thereby demanding in additional expenses to justify the decision of standardisation and shift towards adaptation.

Estrella-Ramón (2014) defines adaptation of products as the degree to which its various elements (such as the design, quality, label, brand and product line) are adapted in respect to the external market so as to customize to the differences in customer demand, market environment, competitiveness and standard of use. Griffith (2010) states that adaptation as the use of marketing strategies does not have any elements in common, as it involves customization strategies for diverse regions based on various assorted factors.

Defenders of adaptation believe that industry market are subjected to changing micro-environmental issues that include language, climate, education, political and legal barriers, occupation economic conditions, language, tastes, purchase behaviour, race and socio-economic factors (Griffith, 2010).

In contrast, standardisation has been said to lead a company towards failure when it comes to considering the needs of local consumers and hence, results in its alienation from the local market (Jun et al. 2014). Thus, the argument of standardisation fall apart especially when the consideration of peculiar differences among the administrators, consumers and nation is evident, the adaptation becomes the necessary option.

However, the core question is not about standardising or adapting a marketing strategy, rather it focuses on the degree of adaptation required. Kose, Otrok and Prasad (2012) opined that the degree of adaptation of products as well as promotion is specifically influenced by the characteristics of firm, industry, products and also considers the characteristics of foreign market. Hence, most of the authors tend to reject the extreme use of only one or another strategy. Instead, these authors believe in the requirement of using both the strategies simultaneously depending on the internal and external factors. Mu (2015) suggests that multinational organisations must focus on the facets that call for global standardisation and also considers the variation locally. This includes incorporation of elements of both the strategies that is, by standardising the significant elements that bring benefit and also adaptation of those that satisfy the needs of local market.

• Research Design

Schmid and Kotulla (2011) suggested that there are mainly three types of research design used while conducting a research study and they are descriptive, explanatory and exploratory. A researcher makes use of exploratory research which assists in understanding a problem by seeking an approaching phenomenon and new insight. Tan and Sousa (2013) states that explanatory research is used when the relevant theory about a problem is vague and when the relationships of determinant within a problem are hard to segregate and determine. The descriptive research approach is evident when the research problem is well-structured and the researcher aims to describe a phenomenon correctly.

The main aim of this research is to gain better insight of standardisation and adaptation of products and promotion in international marketing. In order to reach this understanding, the phenomenon of standardisation and adaptation of products and marketing in international market will need to be described; hence, the chosen approach will be descriptive. This study will highlight the innovative aspects and then allow increased knowledge in the area of research and hence, can be exploratory to some extent (Theodosiou and Leonidou, 2003). Moreover, a researcher makes use of descriptive approach in order to identify which of the aspects of a problem is relevant and tends to describe these causes more significantly without researching on connections between symptoms and causes.

• • Weaknesses

The chosen approach of descriptive research often presents the possibility of subjectivity and error. For instance, the researcher designs the set of questionnaire where the questions are pre-determined. As a result, the study may contain errors as the researcher might record the needful and ignore the data that does not conform to the hypothesis of research project (Virvilaite, Seinauskiene and Sestokiene, 2015). Thus, overcoming the research bias is extremely difficult for the descriptive practitioners. Hence, while choosing a descriptive research approach, the researcher must be aware of their influence on the research outcome.

• Research approach

A particular research topic can be conducted through two broad ways namely, inductive or deductive. Inductive approach helps in evaluating a research topic when enough data is not available on a given topic. Vrontis (2003) opined that inductive approach help in developing new theory for any given topic. On the other hand, deductive approach is used as a tool to describe the practical applications of the theories that allows access to the content of the topic. Deductive approach focuses to develop a theory with significant specifications and concepts of data analysis.

The present study will evaluate the topic by understanding the concepts related to standardisation and adaptation with the help of various theoretical knowledge. Inductive approach is not appropriate for the present topic as the researcher does not emphasize on new theories or concepts concerning the topic (Griffith et al., 2014). Hence, deductive approach is suitable in deducing the theories of standardisation and adaptation of products and promotion in a detailed manner.

• • Weakness

The main weaknesses of deductive approach are that it does not infer any new knowledge on the topic. Such an approach encourages the belief that deduction of the phenomenon from theory is just done for the sake of acknowledging the old concepts. There are cases where the audience might not have sufficient metalanguage or may not be able to comprehend the concepts involved in it.

• Data Techniques

Zeugner-Roth, Zabkar and Diamantopoulos (2015) opined that there are mainly two kinds of methodological approaches that is, quantitative and qualitative data techniques.

The qualitative method is appropriate when the researcher intends to gain profound understanding of a phenomenon in order to present a comprehensive description. The researcher conducts a thorough study of the phenomenon by gaining in-depth information on small research units. This method has the advantage of allowing a deep insight on the research problem; whereas, the difficulty to compare the collected information and draw general conclusions out of it is a disadvantage.

In contrast, quantitative approach is used to describe and explain a phenomenon. This technique allows the researcher to gain little and segregated information on several research units and hence, studies the common and general traits (Albaum and Tse, 2001). Hence, the advantage of this approach is to research and collect information on several units; whereas, the disadvantage is only a small part of information is collected from each unit.

This research study acknowledges the use of qualitative research approach in order to accomplish the aim of acquiring a deep understanding of standardisation and adaptation in product and promotion strategies.

• Data sources

The data sources allow researcher to collect valuable information on the given topic in order answer the research questions. Bergesen and Bata (2015) suggest the five data collection techniques that include experiments, archival analysis, case studies, surveys and histories. In response, Brei et al. (2011), argues that the selection of significant data sources mainly depends on three conditions, they are (a) category of research question posed, (b) the extent of control that the investor has on actual behavioural events, and (c) the rate of focus placed on contemporary events in opposition to the historical events.

In this study, the researcher conducts survey, as the research questions are mainly based on how and why. The researcher observes and interview the respondents rather than controlling the behavioural events and hence, the study focuses on the contemporary events. An archival record is inappropriate in this study and is not considered as a suitable source of evidence in this research study. Participant or direct observation is also considered to be unsuitable due to lack of financial resources and time.

This research study make use of documentation by browsing the website of sample company and reviews the written material sent by the respondent. Depending on the level of structure and formality, the interview can be categorized into (a) unstructured interview, (b) structured and (c) semi-structured interviews. Structured interviews make use of questionnaires along with standardized questions (Estrella-Ramón, 2014). Semi-structured interviews include the list of questions and themes that are to be encompassed. Unstructured interviews do not use predetermined questions and are informal.

In this research study, a semi-structured interview guide was applied in order to gain interpersonal opinions and views of respondents on the suggested themes. Moreover, a list of questions and themes were used and the respondents were allowed to develop their views on the proposed themes. The researcher chose to conduct a telephonic round of interview due to the reasons of long distance and limited resources of travel.

• Sample selection

Griffith (2010) state that it is essential to select a case which is relevant to the purpose of the research study, so that the respondents has enough information on the studied phenomenon while performing case study. Following the advice of Jun et al. (2014), the researcher has selected Libresse as the sample brand to precede the research study. Libresse is a Swedish brand that has simplified the process of interview. Moreover, the sample brand chosen has international presence and actively participates in standardisation and adaptation of products and promotion. The researcher managed to set up interview with the employees of Libresse who has extensive knowledge on the standardisation and adaptation strategies of the brand.

• Rationale for this approach

Research methodology is a chapter that helps in demonstrating the most appropriate approach that are required to be adopted in order to attain detailed results of the study. The concepts and theories adopted in evaluating the trend of standardisation and adaptation helps the researcher to gain better and deeper analysis of the topic (Kose, Otrok and Prasad, 2012). The chosen approaches for the given topic allows smooth functioning of the procedure adopted in analysing the particular research on standardisation and adaptation of products and promotion in the international market. Nonetheless, the entire processes involved by the researcher lead to certain common errors thereby creating limits within the research.

The chosen research approaches helps in analysing the concept of standardisation and adaptation in respect to a particular company. Positivism is the selected research philosophy that helps in gaining information based on suitable logic and evaluation (Mu, 2015). Furthermore, the deductive approach is useful as it allows the researcher to conduct the study initially based on secondary resources. This is done to evaluate the already presented theories in order to define the concept of global convergence and divergence in respect to standardisation and adaptation in a much better manner. Similarly, descriptive design of research assist the researcher in explaining the applied and already used concepts in a detailed manner, which further helps in defining the impact of study in practical. Nonetheless, the application of both primary and secondary data sources will help in detailed analysis of the research topic and hence, is expected to bring about better analytical quality.

Moreover, the research study conducted using the above mentioned approaches will provide reliable results as the researcher could attain similar findings while repeating the case study by acknowledging same processes. A prerequisite for such repetition is the documentation of procedures that are followed in the case study (Schmid and Kotulla, 2011). With the aim to enhance reliability, the researcher has made an effort to ensure that the respondent has sufficient knowledge by sending the interview guide in advance, with the intention to facilitate the respondents to plan their answers beforehand. In addition, the interview was recorded and drafts of the case were sent to the respondents with the aim to eliminate minor misinterpretations if any, hence making the reliability stronger.

The research study is said to be valid, if it can establish correct operational measures for the concepts and theories being studied, by using multiple sources of evidences and by setting up chain of evidences (Tan and Sousa, 2013). In this study, the researcher makes use of both interviews and documentation as a source of resources in order to increase the validity. Hence, the research study has significant validity as it helps the researcher to deal with the problem and draw general conclusions from the findings of the case study.

• Reference List

Albaum, G. and Tse, D.K., 2001. Adaptation of international marketing strategy components, competitive advantage, and firm performance: A study of Hong Kong exporters. Journal of international marketing, 9(4), pp.59-81.

Bergesen, A.J. and Bata, M., 2015. Global and national inequality: are they connected? Journal of world-systems research, 8(1), pp.130-144.

Brei, V.A., d'Avila, L., Camargo, L.F. and Engels, J., 2011. The influence of adaptation and standardisation of the marketing mix on performance: A meta-analysis. BAR-Brazilian Administration Review, 8(3), pp.266-287.

Estrella-Ramón, A., 2014. The Impact of Varying Size of Assortment on Consumer Behaviour: A Meta-Analysis. Academy of Marketing Studies Journal, 18(1), p.69.

Griffith, D, S. Lee, H., Seob Yeo, C. and Calantone, R., 2014. Marketing process adaptation: Antecedent factors and new product performance implications in export markets. International Marketing Review, 31(3), pp.308-334.

Griffith, D.A., 2010. Understanding multi-level institutional convergence effects on international market segments and global marketing strategy. Journal of World Business, 45(1), pp.59-67.

Jun, X., Jiang, M.S., Li, S. and Aulakh, P.S., 2014. Practice standardisation in cross-border activities of multinational corporations: a resource dependence perspective. Management International Review, 54(5), pp.707-734.

Kose, M.A., Otrok, C. and Prasad, E., 2012. Global Business Cycles: Convergence or Decoupling? International Economic Review, 53(2), pp.511-538.

Mu, J., 2015. Marketing capability, organisational adaptation and new product development performance. Industrial Marketing Management, 49, pp.151-166.

Schmid, S. and Kotulla, T., 2011. 50 years of research on international standardisation and adaptation—From a systematic literature analysis to a theoretical framework. International Business Review, 20(5), pp.491-507.

Tan, Q. and Sousa, C.M., 2013. International marketing standardisation. Management international review, 53(5), pp.711-739.

Theodosiou, M. and Leonidou, L.C., 2003. Standardisation versus adaptation of international marketing strategy: an integrative assessment of the empirical research. International Business Review, 12(2), pp.141-171.

Virvilaite, R., Seinauskiene, B. and Sestokiene, G., 2015. The Link between Standardisation/Adaptation of International Marketing Strategy and Company Performance. Engineering Economics, 22(1), pp.106-117.

Vrontis, D., 2003. Integrating adaptation and standardisation in international marketing: the AdaptStand modelling process. Journal of Marketing Management, 19(3-4), pp.283-305.

Zeugner-Roth, K.P., Zabkar, V. and Diamantopoulos, A., 2015. Consumer Ethnocentrism, National Identity, and Consumer Cosmopolitanism as Drivers of Consumer Behavior: A Social Identity Theory Perspective. Journal of International Marketing, 23(2), pp.25-54.