This paper presents an analysis of the current debate on “global marketing” and the degree to which multinational firms can standardise their marketing practices across countries. World markets are getting increasingly homogenised but the authors contend that the framework and associated propositions generated in the paper could help multinational firms determine the degree of standardisation that is possible in different markets.

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Issues of standardization of products and marketing programs, and the degree of centralization of marketing decision making and planning, are of vital interest to multinational corporations as they increasingly compete in world markets. Previous research has established the need for some degree of standardization and, therefore, for some degree of centralized decision making. The present study was designed to assess the implications that the creation of the Single Market in the European Community will have on the standardization/centralization issue. Specifically, the role of the European central offices of major U.S. multinational corporations is emphasized. The results of the in-depth study of 22 Fortune 500 U.S. corporations with European central offices located in the United Kingdom indicate a trend toward overall strategic planning at the European central office level. More centralization of the distribution and pricing decisions is also noted for fairly uniform products but, in general, the product part of the marketing mix seems more standardized than the pricing, promotion, and distribution aspects. The paper concludes with some suggestions for future research.

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The focus of this paper is small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in the U.S. biotechnology industry and how they compete for financial resources during the early stages of innovation development. We utilize selection system theory, which describes how selectors use reputation‐based information about selectees as decision factors when making investments. Our findings suggest that there are different predictive variables for SME categories and the types of investors attracted to these categories, which is consistent with selection system theory. We extend prior studies by providing context to early‐stage innovation investment funding within an environment characterized as having a long development cycle and representing high uncertainty.