International marketing relationships

Citation

Stone, M.A. (2003), "International marketing relationships", International Marketing Review, Vol. 20 No. 6, pp. 680-682. https://doi.org/10.1108/02651330310505268

This is a relatively short text compared to the standard international marketing text of up to 700 pages. It provides a refreshingly reflective view of traditional international marketing theory using the perspective of the relationships that occur between the various parties involved along the international supply chain. It examines the roles of customers, suppliers and supply chain intermediaries and emphasises their need to learn to understand each other to implement successful marketing. In this way, the role of relationship marketing and the interactions between businesses and consumers, business‐to‐business (B2B) markets and businesses to government, is discussed. In particular, the interaction processes and the need to develop relationship trust are highlighted. The shift in international marketing activity towards a need to seek out and make long‐term and profitable relationships with targeted customers is emphasised, concentrating on the interaction and network elements of relationships within marketing.

Despite its apparent brevity, this is a comprehensive text targeted at supporting traditional international marketing teaching at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. It is unlikely to replace core international marketing texts but rather it will be used as a supplementary text, at final Honours level, as well as for MBA programmes. While the text provides helpful guidance for international marketing practitioners, it is more likely to be used in an academic context, as it provides an overview of international relationships from an academic point of view. It has an easy reading style and is clearly presented using frequent boxed cases and extensive supporting examples relating to well‐publicised international relationship conflict situations such as the NAFTA banana disputes, the Bofors fall‐out in India, the Pergau Dam incident and the Shell troubles in Ogoni Land, Nigeria. There is comprehensive coverage of the literature with sources ranging from the Sloan Review and Harvard Business Review to the international quality press such as the Financial Times, Management Today and the Economist.

It reviews theoretical frameworks of international marketing and relates their application to practical situations. It expands on the early 1980s work by the Industrial Marketing and Purchasing Group (IMP) within international industrial marketing to incorporate the wider relationship marketing considered by Gummesson (1999) to be “a pair of “eyeglasses” a reader might use to study marketing issues”. Hofstede's theory of cultures is interpreted in terms of the relationships that arise between customers/consumers and suppliers. Traditional (or transactional) relationship and network perspectives within international marketing are raised. The traditional perspective assumes a competitive environment with apparently uncontrollable forces posing opportunities and threats for international marketers. The relationship perspective assumes a more sophisticated interaction between buyers, sellers and the other actors. The “distances” that may hinder international relationships and the ways in which “value” may be added to the relationships are examined. The network perspective looks at the complex interplay of the web of relationships surrounding the firm. The distinctive characteristics of networks in different international and industry contexts, as well as the challenges of international marketing within the marketing mix, are highlighted. Pricing and promotion strategies are emphasised, e.g. within marketing communications, the relationship between an advertising agency and the client involving global account management (GAM) (Chapter 10). Literature covering the topic is drawn together to provide an overview of the challenges faced within these relationships and using commentary from the financial press, examples of failures in these relationships are cited. The literature is used to explain why these relationships failed, and the outcomes followed. The reader is alerted to the adverse situation raised, but methods of addressing the conflict – or even avoiding it – are less well considered. Not surprisingly, the authors find it much more challenging to provide answers as to how relationships might be improved to the benefit of all concerned.

Hofstede's model of national culture relating to the dimensions of power distance, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity and femininity, individualism and collectivism, Confucian dynamism as well as long‐ and short‐term orientation, are also considered within the international marketing context. Cases such as the experience of marketing the Belarus tractor (Box 2.1, p. 28) and the role of Guanxi networks in China (p. 34) are worked into the discussion. While these have been extensively commented on in other texts, it is helpful to bring them together in this review. The increasing contribution of technology to international relationships, in particular the impact of Internet marketing is stressed (Chapter 3). The related recent advent of cross‐border virtual relationships to avoid or circumvent tariff and non‐tariff barriers to international markets is highlighted (p. 49). Once again, a major theme of the text, the need to build trust to achieve effective relationships, is emphasised. It would have been useful to have provided additional website references, if only to enable search for more detailed cases for further study. Within the economic and political context traditional perspectives are examined, in particular, Porter's competitive advantage of nations and “diamond framework” which is interpreted within the context of relationship marketing.

The latter section, covering regional issues, provides a useful overview to the way in which marketing is developing within the trading blocs, the Americas, Europe, Asia‐Pacific, the emerging mega‐markets and the less developed markets. Research related to international relationships within these groupings is reviewed with references for further student work. A second edition might usefully consider extending this section to provide consideration of issues related to the challenges of the harmonisation of Single European Market. In all, this text extends traditional international marketing teaching by providing a distinct perspective which emphasises the influence of relationships, blending a sound academic base with case study analysis.