A CLASSIFICATION AND ASSESSMENT OF RESEARCH STREAMS IN INTERNATIONAL MARKETING

Group 4

OUT LINE
Bibliographic Introduction

reference

Purpose

of the study Summary Methodology Content analysis Findings Conclusion and Future Research Directions Critics Reference

Title: A Classification and Assessment

of Research Streams in International Marketing
Authors: Tiger Li and S. Tamer Cavusgilt
International

Business Review Vol. 4, No. 3, pp. 251-277, 1995 Elsevier Science Ltd Printed in Great Britain

INTRODUCTION

More than a decade has passed During this period, rapid development has been witnessed in international business activity(Cavusgil and Nevin, 1981a).

In

Asia, Japan has become an economic superpower next only to the United States. In Europe, 12 member countries of the European Community have started to dismantle market barriers between them to form a unified market. In North America, the United States, Canada, and Mexico have initiated integration of their markets with a flee-trade agreement. In the former Soviet Union and Eastem European countries, free market systems are being established

THE PURPOSE OF THIS ARTICLE: (a) define and classify various research streams in international marketing; (b) assess the progress that has been achieved within each research stream; (c) evaluate research methodologies that have been employed by these research streams.

The review is restricted to the period, 1982-1990.

SUMMERY
The article is organized in the following way
First,

the research methodology is explained. Second, a classification of research streams is proposed. Third, development of each research stream is assessed and discussed. Next, research methodologies utilized by these streams are evaluated

METHOD INVESTIGATION OF THE STATE OF KNOWLEDGE

IN A FIELD

1. One approach is the Delphi method through which experts who are familiar with the area are surveyed.
This

approach is exemplified by the work of Czinkota (1986) who identified the current challenge to the multilateral trade framework By conducting a survey among academicians, business executives, and policymakers involved in international trade.

2. The second approach is meta-analysis in

which empirical studies on the same subject are gathered and statistically analyzed.

For example, Peterson et al. (1985), used this approach to investigate the effect sizes in consumer behavior empirical studies.

3. The third approach, the one used in this study, is content analysis -- a research technique for systematic, qualitative and quantitative description of the manifest content of literature in an area.

STEP IN CONDUCTING A CONTENT ANALYSIS

Define

categories which permit classification of the articles under review and allow measurement of the intensity and frequency of the categories' occurrence. Determine the type and number of journals that will be investigated.

GUIDELINES FOR SELECTION OF THE JOURNALS

Scholarly

journals are included since the subject matter is the investigation of research streams in international marketing. - But business periodicals such as Business Week
and Fortune are excluded.

Journals

that are reasonably accessible to both academicians and practitioners. an attempt was made to have the selection to correspond, as much as possible, to Cavusgil and Nevin's 1981a selection.

Next,

This would ensure certain continuity with their research. This procedure yielded a total of 26 journals and a total of 757 articles. Academic journals with an international business/marketing orientation. The European Journal of Marketing and Journal of International Business Studies. Marketing journals whose primary focus is not international. Journal of Marketing and Journal of Marketing Research are included The last group contains two types of publications: Those with a general business orientation and

 Those

with a concentration on a subject area other than marketing. Harvard Business Review, Management International Review, and Journal of Business Research are included. Among the 26 journals reviewed,

6 are issued by European publishers, 19 by North American publishers, and 1 by an Asian outlet. It should be noted that only journals published in English were included.

A CLASSIFICATION OF RESEARCH STREAMS IN INTERNATIONAL MARKETING

Based on a series of literature reviews and the current study, research streams in international marketing can be delineated/outlined into eight broad categories. These research streams are:

Environmental

Studies of International Marketing, a

stream of literature investigating the impact of economic, cultural, political, and legal variables on international marketing activities;
Comparative

Studies of Market Systems, a stream

involving research on similarities and differences among market systems and practices in different countries

 International

Marketing Management, a stream

focusing on managerial issues of export and entry strategies, investment decisions, market segmentation, product and pricing policies, and channel distribution and service;
Internationalization

Process Perspectives, a

stream exploring the behavioral and attitudinal changes experienced by firms in the process of internationalization;
International

Marketing Research, a stream

consisting of contributions on the methodology of conducting research in the international context;

 Buyer

Behavior Studies, a stream examining buyer

behavior in international market and foreign countries;

Interaction

Approach, a stream of literature examining

relationships of networks, cooperative ventures, and alliances among international companies;

Market

Globalization Perspectives, a stream viewing

world market and customer tastes as increasingly converging and studying the impact of such change on firm strategies.

 These

categories of research streams possess a number of significant characteristics.

First each research stream focuses on one of the dimensions of marketing phenomena as identified by Bartels (1988), Sheth et al. (1988). According to these authors, these dimensions of marketing are fundamental thrusts in marketing within which most marketing issues can be analyzed. Further, they found eight schools of thought associated with these dimensions of marketing.

Dimension
Environment Market system Buyer behavior Firm behavior Managerial policy Interaction
Globalization

School of thought
School of environmentalism School of comparative marketing School of buyer behavior School of organizational dynamics School of marketing management School of social exchange School of systems School of marketing research methodology

Source
Bartels (1988, p. 206) Bartels (1988, p. 212) Bartels (1988, p. 259) Sheth et al. (1988, p. 110) Sheth et al. (1988, p. 150) Bartels (1988, p. 229) Sheth et al. (1988, p. 96) Shethetal. (1988, p. 173) Sheth et al. (1988, p. 162) Bartels (1988, p. 123)

Marketing research

Second, these research streams did not necessarily flourish simultaneously over time; rather, each became vogue at different points in time.
It illustrates the evolution of various research streams.

Finally, as a group, these streams form an integrated body of international marketing phenomena.

DISTRIBUTION OF STUDIES BY LITERATURE STREAMS

N o Research streams
Number of studies Percentage of studies Introducing Period

1
2 3 4

Environmental studies
Comparatives studies of marketing systems International marketing management Internationalization process

66
149

8.7 19.7

late 1950s Early 1960s 1970s Early 1970s, Early 1970s Mid: 1970s, 1980s, 1980s,

337

44.5
35

4.6
21

5
6 7 8

International marketing research

International buyer behavior Interaction approaches Market globalization perspectives

2.8
69 32 48

9.1 4.2
6.3