Guest editorial

Citation

Tarba, S.Y., Czinkota, M.R. and Vrontis, D. (2017), "Guest editorial", International Marketing Review, Vol. 34 No. 1, pp. 2-4. https://doi.org/10.1108/IMR-01-2017-0004

About the Guest Editors Shlomo Y. Tarba is a Reader (Associate Professor) in Business Strategy, Head of Department of Strategy and International Business, and a member of Senior Management Team at the Business School, University of Birmingham, UK. Previously he has been an Assistant Professor (Lecturer) at the University of Sheffield, UK. In addition, Professor Tarba has vast teaching experience in the leading research-intensive institutions in Israel such as The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Tel-Aviv University, Ben-Gurion University, and others. He received his PhD in Strategic Management from the Ben-Gurion University and Master’s in Biotechnology and BSc in Agriculture at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. His research interests include foreign market entry modes, mergers and acquisitions, ambidexterity, and strategic agility. Professor Tarba is a member of the editorial board of Human Resource Management (USA, Wiley), Journal of Management Studies, British Journal of Management, Journal of World Business, and Management International Review. He has serves/served as a guest-editor for the special issues at California Management Review (University of Berkeley), Journal of Organizational Behavior (USA, Wiley), Human Resource Management (USA, Wiley), and Management International Review. His research papers are published/forthcoming in journals such as Journal of Management (SAGE), Academy of Management Perspectives, California Management Review, Human Relations, British Journal of Management, Journal of World Business, Human Resource Management, Management International Review, International Business Review, International Journal of Human Resource Management, Human Resource Management Review, International Studies of Management & Organization, Thunderbird International Business Review, and others. One of his papers has been selected and published in Best Paper Proceedings of the Academy of Management (USA) in 2006. Professor Tarba’s recent co-authored book is A Comprehensive Guide to Mergers & Acquisitions: Managing the Critical Success Factors Across Every Stage of the M&A Process by Pearson & Financial Times Press (2014). His consulting experience includes biotechnological and telecom companies, as well as industry association such as The Israeli Rubber and Plastic Industry Association, and The US-Israel Chamber of Commerce. Shlomo Y. Tarba is the corresponding author and can be contacted at: tarba2003@gmail.com

Michael R. Czinkota is a Professor of International Business and Trade in the Graduate School of Business at Georgetown University, where he also served as the Chairman of the National Center for Export-Import Studies. Michael R. Czinkota concurrently holds two professorships, one at the Georgetown University, USA and the other at the University of Kent, UK. Professor Czinkota served in the US government during the Reagan and Bush Administrations. In the Bureau of Export Administration he was Senior Advisor for export controls. As Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce he was responsible for trade analysis and retaliatory actions. He also was head of the US Delegation to the OECD Industry Committee in Paris. His academic work has focused on export development strategies and the linkage between terrorism and international business. His research has been published in leading journals such as Journal of Marketing, Journal of International Marketing, International Marketing Review, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of World Business, and others. He is the author of Mastering Global Markets – which reflects the challenges of international management in a world of conflict and uncertainty. He also wrote two leading college texts, International Marketing 10th edition and International Business, 8th edition. Professor Czinkota serves on the Global Advisory Board of the American Marketing Association, the Global Council of the American Management Association, and on the Board of Governors of the Academy of Marketing Science. Dr Czinkota serves on several corporate boards and has worked with corporations such as AT&T, IBM, GE, Nestle, and US WEST. He has advised the Executive Office of the President and the US General Accountability Office on trade policy issues. He also serves as advisor to the United Nations and the World Trade Organization. Professor Czinkota holds a PhD in logistics from The Ohio State University.

Demetris Vrontis obtained a PhD in International Marketing from the Manchester Metropolitan University Business School. He is a Professor of Marketing and the Dean of the School of Business and the Director of the MBA Program at the University of Nicosia in Cyprus. His prime research interests are on strategic marketing planning, branding, international marketing, and marketing communications. His publications appeared in such outlets as Human Resource Management, International Marketing Review, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Marketing Management, European Business Review, Journal of Marketing Communications, International Journal of Human Resource Management, and others. Professor Vrontis is the Founder and President of the EuroMed Research Business Institute (EMRBI – www.emrbi.com) and the Chairman of the EuroMed Academy of Business (EMAB), which aim to contribute to and share the understanding of different business environments and trends in the region through research, teaching and consulting. The two organizations have already successfully organized four international conferences and currently have hundreds of members (individual, universities and organizations) from all over the world.

An assessment of collaboration between multinational firms

In the past two decades, cross-border collaborative entry modes (alliances, joint ventures, and mergers and acquisitions) activity has increased significantly (Chiao et al., 2010; Czinkota et al., 2011; Czinkota et al., 2009; Whitelock, 2002; Whitelock and Jobber, 2004).

Yet, the growth in cross-border collaborative entry modes activity, the volume of capital involved, and their popularity stand in sharp contrast to their high rate of failure (Gomes et al., 2011; Weber et al., 2011).

One of the central questions in international marketing strategy is whether MNCs and SMEs coming from the particular country pursue a distinct paradigm of best marketing practices or tend to manage their marketing capabilities in ways that are distinct from those of their host country (Burgel and Murray, 1999; Czinkota, 1997; Gabrielsson et al., 2012; Vrontis, 2003; Vrontis et al., 2009) as well as the timing of the foreign market entry (Murray et al., 2012).

Within a complex organizational context, collaborative market entry modes (alliances, joint ventures, and M&As) pose many challenges to both executives and researchers because handling the interface between the two or more different organizations is a multi-faceted and multi-stage process (Gomes et al., 2013). Thus executives and researchers alike face a daunting challenge in attempting to develop and accumulate specific knowledge and capabilities about the collaborative partnership process management in general and marketing practices during it in particular.

The goal of this special issue was to stimulate scholars to focus on marketing practices at individual, group, and firm level in collaborative entry modes such as mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, strategic alliances, licensing, franchising, equity participation, etc.

Therefore, a major goal of this special issue has been to encourage research on how underlying concepts and methodologies in international business, strategic management, and other related areas can enhance our understanding of the marketing practices in collaborative partnerships.

In sum, this special issue brings together an eclectic range of work that offers new insights for scholars on collaborative entry modes, and we hope it will inspire scholars to engage in cross-disciplinary, multi-level, multi-stage, and multi-temporal research of this important topic in the international marketing realm.