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Introduction
In an elevated level of uncertainty and competition typifying international marketing, it is not surprising that agility has become a buzzword and has emerged as an alternative approach to old routines such as planning. However, there is limited research on agility (Roberts and Grover, 2012) and specifically in international marketing context “what is still lacking is an understanding of its drivers and the conditions in which agility does indeed improve a firm’s performance in international markets” (Nemkova, 2017, p. 257). Hence, scholars and managers have a limited understanding of the international marketing agility (IMA) concept including how to measure it, how to develop it, and how it relates to outcomes such as new product advantages and international performance. Moreover, a review of the extant literature reveals that most papers on agility have been theoretical or qualitative, thus providing little in way of empirical findings and managerial guidelines. This is the case of Lages et al. (2018), who present an international marketing framework where agility and planning are combined. Others argue that “while the need to consider alternative approaches to planning has been recognized, research in this area is fragmented” (Souchon et al., 2016, p. 672). The authors of this paper respond to this gap in the literature by developing and testing a research model with IMA at its center, identify its drivers, outcomes and conditions for its successful international implementation.
Agility changed the operations world as exemplified by the quote below:
Over the past 50 years in the UK […], the concept of manufacturing has undergone a sea change. The effects of competition have made long production runs […] a thing of the past […] Becoming more responsive or “agile” is recognised as providing firms with the best opportunity they have for meeting competitors head-on in the marketplace […] The objective of agility […] is to ensure that companies are well-placed to thrive and prosper in an environment of continual change
(Poolton et al., 2006, p. 682).
Accordingly, we argue that IMA, which described as the ability to respond fast to shifts in international markets, has the potential to represent a similar sea of change for international marketing managers.
Multinationals play in ever growing volatile global environments (Nadkarni and Herrmann, 2010). Therefore,...