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Introduction
The increase in world trade, an increasing integration of the world's major economies, and the onward march of globalization, will mean that decisions on standardization and adaptation of marketing strategies will continue to be an important issue for academic research and marketing practice. In spite of the substantial research on standardization/adaptation of marketing strategy for over 40 years, the theoretical foundation for standardization/adaptation research remains weak ([53] Ryans et al. , 2003). There has been with the exception of [32] Jain (1989), [9] Cavusgil et al. (1993) and [33] Johnson and Arunthanes (1995) little attempt to develop a theoretical framework that would be informative on standardization issues. In addition, the existing theoretical foundations of standardization "center on the perception of consumer homogeneity and/or the movement toward homogeneity" ([53] Ryans et al. , 2003). While consumer homogeneity is an important issue, the dimensions of marketing strategy go beyond a consideration of the customer. In particular, competition plays a critical role in the development of marketing strategy and consequently in decisions on the degree of standardization of marketing strategy.
In this paper, we develop a framework of standardization that while recognizing the importance of "consumer homogeneity" attempts to go beyond the focus on consumer homogeneity, by incorporating theories of competition. The framework identifies three complex constructs as critical to the standardization process - homogeneity of customer response to the marketing mix, the transferability of competitive advantage, and variation in the degree of market freedom. The three constructs serve as critical drivers of the degree of standardization and also serve as the mediating variables through which other variables impact standardization. In examining these three constructs, we elucidate how feedback effects interact with the constructs, in shaping the evolution of standardization/adaptation strategies.
Literature review
There is still no common interpretation of what standardization is ([53] Ryans et al. , 2003). The different definitions of standardization include the notion of standardization as a common marketing program ([32] Jain, 1989), and as a common pattern of resource allocation among marketing mix variables (Syzmanski, 1993). We view standardization as a common marketing program since the pattern of resource allocation represents only one, albeit an important one, aspect of a marketing program.
Just as there have been differences in the interpretation of...