Editorial

Citation

Morgan, R.E. (2006), "Editorial", International Marketing Review, Vol. 23 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/imr.2006.03623aaa.001

Editorial

As we open the first issue of the 2006 volume, the Editors, Editorial Advisory Board, and Publisher of International Marketing Review are delighted to report a consistent increase in the ISI impact factor of the journal. At the time of writing, the most recent indices score an impact of 0.67 in 2004 rising significantly from previous scores. Also, this compares extremely well with other scholarly journals in international marketing. Naturally, these improvements are a reflection of many who contribute to the journal, and we are grateful to our published authors and our reviewers for being able to produce excellent manuscripts for print. Also, we have experienced an increase in readership of the journal with online subscriptions at record levels and download of articles reaching nearly 10,000 per month. We look forward to making further improvements to the journal throughout 2006.

Our viewpoint is provided by Herrmann and Heitmann and is entitled, “Providing more or providing less? Accounting for cultural differences in consumers' preference for variety”. These authors provide a challenging viewpoint where they contend that international marketing researchers have not yet appreciated how cultural differences can impact preferences for variety among consumers. As many readers will be aware, standardization and adaptation issues have been extensively examined within the literature but despite the diversity of findings, little cross-cultural research has concentrated on the intensely debated issue of how much variety to provide to consumers. They review the cultural psychological literature, which suggests that both the initial evaluation of variety as well as subsequent effects on decision-making and decision avoidance should differ substantially across cultures. It is asserted, therefore, that an optimal amount of variety for one market is not necessarily consistent in another market. They demonstrate, from a theoretical standpoint, that customers will respond differently to variety across markets. Based on a cultural psychological paradigm, they propose several areas with substantial potential for future research in this regard.

Hutchinson, Quinn and Alexander provide the first article entitled, “SME retailer internationalization: case study evidence from British retailers”. They address the hitherto neglected area of retailer internationalization among small- and medium-sized firms. The test the boundary conditions of existing theory and identify important gaps in extant research, which relate to the barriers, stimulants, drivers, facilitators, process, and market entry strategy of retail SME internationalization. Adopting an in-depth case approach, the authors identify how smaller British retailers have entered international markets successfully, and also illustrate how they overcame the constraints of size to establish an international market strategy.

The second article is entitled “Foreign diversification versus concentration strategies and firm performance: moderating effects of the market, product, and firm factors” by Mas, Nicolau and Ruiz. These authors focus on foreign direct investment and exports in a middle-income country characterised by the internalization of exports through FDI. Using objective measures of firm performance, they examine the impact of foreign concentration and diversification strategies on firm performance, as well as the moderating role played by market, product, and firm characteristics. For this study data were generated from a sample of 75 expansion announcements into foreign markets sourced to 36 Spanish firms.

Singh, Fassott, Chao, Hoffmann present the third article, “Understanding international web site usage: a cross-national study of German, Brazilian, and Taiwanese online consumers”. Adopting the technology acceptance model, these authors consider the extent of consumer acceptance of international websites. They studied Brazilian, German, and Taiwanese online consumers' perception of American and Japanese multinational companies' websites specially designed (in Portuguese, German, and Chinese, respectively) for Brazil, Germany, and Taiwan. Using data from 2,243 observations they find strong support for the technology acceptance model in explaining international website usage in these counties demonstrating that cultural adaptation is an important explanatory variable that should be included in this model when exploring cross-cultural issues.

The final article on “Leveraging internal competency and managing environmental uncertainty: propensity to collaborate in international markets” is provided by Akhter and Robles. This article is based on the international market entry mode choice. Specifically it centers on two considerations in making entry decisions – leveraging internal competencies and managing environmental uncertainties in host countries. The authors highlight the theoretical and strategic significance of these two considerations and integrate different market entry theories. Finally, they examine the influence of competency and uncertainty on the propensity to collaborate in international markets. A series of propositions are presented and many compelling directions for future research are provided.

Robert E. Morgan