This study considers the role of global marketing strategy and its relation to market orientation, international experience, and performance in the high tech products context. Knowledge of this important domain of global marketing strategy and performance remains limited. In this respect, the study raises a number of important questions concerning how market orientation, international experience and global marketing strategy impact performance. The study empirically tests predictions of relationships by using mail survey data from 172 business units of high tech firms. Findings from the research sample support the argument that market orientation, international experience, and global marketing strategy are the key antecedents of organizational performance. Market orientation and international experience influence global marketing. The article concludes with theoretical and managerial implications of the research findings.Research highlights► The main theoretical contribution of this work is to develop a broad conceptualization of global marketing strategy and performance to integrate the existing perspectives for the high tech products context. ► Second, the research objective of this paper is to substantiate the empirical link between marketing strategy and performance based on resource based view. ► Third, research purpose is to lay a theoretical foundation on which further inquiries can be based.
The study of global marketing strategy-performance relationship is not new. In the global marketing literature a firm's global marketing strategy has a positive effect on its global market performance (e.g., Birnik and Bowman, 2007, Craig and Douglas, 2000, Kustin, 2010 and Zou and Cavusgil, 2002). However, the literature does not resolve issues that influence whether, and to what extent, performance is different in high tech markets. The lack of a generally accepted conceptualization of global marketing strategy and performance represents a major gap in the existing literature when different researchers adopt different views of research constructs.
The issues may require a reassessment of the relation of some of the more widely acceptable drivers of global marketing strategy and performance. For example, what is an acceptable conceptualization of global marketing strategy and performance in the high tech products context? How do environmental forces and global marketing strategy influence organizational performance? To what extent do environmental forces influence global marketing strategy choice and implementation? The main knowledge contribution of this study is to develop a broad conceptualization of global marketing strategy and performance to integrate the existing perspectives for the high tech products context. Second, this paper is to substantiate the empirical link between marketing strategy and performance based on resource based view. Third, the study makes an effort to lay a theoretical foundation in the high tech products context.
Previous research often narrowly incorporates global marketing strategy as standardization of marketing programs (e.g., Laroche et al., 2001 and Samiee and Roth, 1992). In the study, coordination of value-chain activities and integration of competitive campaigns are also conceptualized for a comprehensive model for the high tech products. The extended global marketing strategy perspective in this study has several implications for theory development in the future research. The proposed model provides a broad basis for serving as a foundation for integrating global strategy conceptual model.
Another significant finding of this study is that the global marketing strategy has a positive and significant effect on a firm's innovation performance. This is consistent with previous studies which offer empirical support for the international marketing strategy- performance (e.g., Schike et al., 2009 and Zou and Cavusgil, 2002). Indeed, the study advances the fundamental knowledge of the global marketing literature and provides an empirical foundation for further research in the high tech context by examining extended conceptualization of global marketing strategy and performance.
The research finds that the global marketing strategy is driven by market orientation and international experience. These findings are consistent in some previous studies (Morgan et al., 2009 and Qian and Delios, 2008). Actually, firms must also assess their internal organizational resource before committing to the global marketing strategy program. In particular, a firm with market orientation and substantial international experience is in the best position to adopt the global standardization strategy, value chain activities coordination and competitive actions integration.
Research result shows that a firm's international experience influences its global strategic performance and global marketing strategy positively. This result is consistent with the previous finding that international experience is an important determinant of success in international markets (Carlsson et al., 2005 and Cavusgil and Zou, 1994). In terms of managerial practice, the finding suggests that high tech firms need to pay to promote constant accumulation of international experience. Decision makers should develop knowledge of different countries and market environments through international market research. With international experience, the firm will be able to attain a stronger global strategic position which will lead to improve global financial performance.
The findings of the present study have several implications for international marketing managers in the high tech products context. The broadened model of global marketing strategy suggests that a firm competes globally with several strategic dimensions, including standardization of marketing programs, coordination of marketing activities, and integration of competitive actions. Significantly, it appears advisable to have marketing operations in all major world markets, integrate the firm's competitive moves across the countries, coordinate value-chain activities and seek a high degree of standardization in the firm's product and marketing mix for the high tech products.
In practice, managers should carefully assess the attractiveness of various foreign regions or markets in the high tech products. First, operating in key foreign markets affords a firm the opportunity to monitor rivals and engage in timely action. Second, an attempt to integrate competitive moves recognizes that the key regions or markets are important. Competitive pressures dictate whether activities in certain markets should be subsidized for the benefit of the entire organization. Third, standardization of the marketing mix enables firms to gain worldwide efficiencies.
Several limitations of this study should be noted and pointed to the need for further research. First, because only strategic business units of high tech firms based in Taiwan are surveyed, the findings may have limited generalizability to other countries. For that reason, further research should test the applicability of the global marketing strategy in other countries. Second, the size of the sample means that the generalizability of the present findings needs further testing. Further research might need more resources to increase the sample size and consider other types of firms or industries. Third, the research design is not longitudinal, and all information is obtained from the mail survey. Therefore, the causal attribution of relationships is relatively weak. Future work should consider adopting a longitudinal design to further test the causal relationship of the factors. Finally, further research should explore the relevance of other external and internal factors for a firm's global marketing strategy and performance. Moreover, the future research should investigate the possibility that the globalization potential of an industry may moderate the relationship between global marketing strategy and a firm's performance.
