MNE executive insights into international advertising programme standardisation

Abstract

The standardisation/adaptation debate in international advertising has been a key topic of discussion among practitioners and academics for over 40 years (Agarwal 1995). The purpose of this paper is to identify the factors that influence executive decisions to standardise or adapt as determined by experienced international marketing executives working for large multinational enterprises (MNEs). The investigation initially provides a review of existing literature about the constructs under investigation and then, through in-depth qualitative interviews, it aims to develop an understanding of the factors executives consider important in the standardisation/adaptation decision in order to develop their international advertising strategies. This paper suggests that recognition of the impact of competition, culture, education, marketing institution and consumer related determinants have increased in importance over the years, affecting decisions of advertising theme, creative expression and media mix. Of these, advertising theme is the easiest and most appropriately standardised theme, whereas, creative expression and media mix are most susceptible to adaptation as per the requirement of the MNEs. The paper concludes by highlighting managerial and academic implications.

Standardization, Adaptation, and Personalization of International Corporate Social Media Communications

“…The study assesses the qualitative responses of the participants following Lincoln and Guba's () guidelines. Drawing on prior studies (Melewar et al., ), this research develops a list of macro‐, micro‐, and consumer‐related determinants. The procedure comprises the independent reading of participants’ responses and the recording of both the valence and the intensity of the attitudes the participants expressed per country, as well as the type of attitude determinant.…”

“…Prior studies have identified the following factors influencing companies’ decision on the degree of standardization of their international advertising campaigns: (1) macroenvironmental determinants, (2) microenvironmental determinants (industry‐ and firm‐level determinants), and (3) consumer‐related determinants (Melewar, Pickton, Gupta, & Chigovanyika, ). Macroenvironmental determinants such as the political, economic, social, legal (Melewar et al., ), cultural (Papavassiliou & Stathakopoulos, ), and physical environment have received much academic attention. Studies have extensively explored the following microenvironmental determinants: the managerial and financial characteristics (Papavassiliou & Stathakopoulos, ), organizational experience and structure, and marketing institution (Melewar et al., ).…”

“…Macroenvironmental determinants such as the political, economic, social, legal (Melewar et al., ), cultural (Papavassiliou & Stathakopoulos, ), and physical environment have received much academic attention. Studies have extensively explored the following microenvironmental determinants: the managerial and financial characteristics (Papavassiliou & Stathakopoulos, ), organizational experience and structure, and marketing institution (Melewar et al., ). In terms of consumer‐related determinants, the emphasis is mainly on consumers’ expectations, attitudes, behaviors, experiences, and media habits (Melewar et al., ).…”

“…Studies have extensively explored the following microenvironmental determinants: the managerial and financial characteristics (Papavassiliou & Stathakopoulos, ), organizational experience and structure, and marketing institution (Melewar et al., ). In terms of consumer‐related determinants, the emphasis is mainly on consumers’ expectations, attitudes, behaviors, experiences, and media habits (Melewar et al., ).…”

Advertising Adaptation versus Standardization Effectiveness in Open and Closed Markets

“…Thus, the study contributes to research on the effectiveness of advertising standardization and adaptation levels (Melewar et al, 2009;Westjohn et al, 2012) and on the effect of national openness to foreign markets on responses to advertising. From a practitioner point of view, it aims to explore national openness to foreign markets as a determinant of the effectiveness of varying levels of advertising adaptation on consumer responses.…”