Research on Global Marketing & Information Technology:
The State-of-the-Art

 

By

Christopher Lettl
Bodo B. Schlegelmilch

 

 

Dipl.-Kfm. Christopher Lettl is a Teaching/Research Assistent and Ph.D. Candidate at the Department of International Marketing and Management of the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration, Austria.

Dr. Bodo B. Schlegelmilch is Chair of the Department of International Marketing and Management of the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration, Austria.

 

Correspondence: Dipl.-Kfm. Christopher Lettl,
International Marketing and Management,
Vienna University of Economic and Business Administration,
Augasse 2-6,
A-1090 Vienna,
Austria,


Tel.: 0043-1-31336-5102
Fax: 0043-1-31336-793

E-Mail: Christopher.Lettl@wu-wien.ac.at

 

Research on Global Marketing & Information Technology:
The State of the Art



Abstract

This paper aims to provide a comprehensive review of the emerging literature on the influence of Information Technologies (IT) on global marketing. Specifically, it addresses the impact of IT on the global marketing environment, global market research/consumer behaviour, strategic global marketing, and global marketing policies. Within each section, the authors outline promising avenues for further research. Given the interface-nature of the observed field, a stronger focus on interdisciplinary research efforts is suggested.

Research on Global Marketing & Information Technology:
The State-of-the-Art

 

Introduction

Over the last few years, the marketing literature has witnessed a rapidly growing number of contributions focusing on the role of information technology (IT) in marketing. Particular attention has been placed on the marketing implications of the Internet . Notwithstanding the argument that IT in general, and the Internet in particular are, by nature, independent of national boundaries, comparatively few researchers explicitly focus on the impact of IT on global marketing issues. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive review of this emerging literature by focusing specifically on contributions that place IT into a global marketing context. Based on this review, relevant avenues for future research in global marketing and IT are identified. To structure the review, the widely accepted decision oriented approach to global marketing is used as a framework.

The review focuses initially on the influence of IT on the global marketing environment. Subsequently, contributions are discussed which refer to impacts of IT on global marketing research and -consumer behaviour. The paper continues with an examination of research addressing the role of IT on strategic global marketing. As strategic global marketing provides the basis for the planning and implementing of operative policies, the role of IT in formulating such policies is reviewed next. The paper closes with a discussion of the implications of the findings to date and offers suggestions for future research.

Global Marketing Environment and IT

Contributions dealing with the global marketing environment and IT primarily emphasise the important role of IT as a driving force for globalization. For example Adam et al. demonstrate how the Internet contributes to the globalisation of business, education, and culture. The authors argue that by radically changing the economics of communication the Internet permits to conduct business and education on a global level, promoting the transformation of the world into a global village. Solomon highlights, how IT enables global companies to share information across borders and time zones, while Halcrow argues that IT is ideally suited to help overcome barriers to international productivity. A more differentiated analysis is conducted by Papp : in a first step, the impact of seven different information and communication technologies (fibre optic, computers, human computer-interaction, digital transmission and digital compression, communication satellites, cellular technologies, networking) on specific international actors, including states, international governmental organisations, non-governmental organisations, and multinational corporations are assessed. In a second step, Papp evaluates the impact of the new technologies on the "international system". The latter is defined as the international actors plus their interaction. He argues that the future „international system" will, in all probability, be increasingly globalised due to the greater connectivity of these technologies. However, Papp also does not exclude the possibility that IT may rather contribute to the development of a more regionalised world instead.

A first step towards more rigorous theory building is provided by Palvia , who developed a model called GLITS (Global IT Strategic). The model is supposed to serve as a measurement instrument for the global impact of IT on specific internal and external variables impinging on a global firm. For construct development, Palvia refers to two research streams: first, the general literature on the use of IT as a competitive weapon, second, the research stream on international information systems. Potential factors that might be influenced by IT are divided into microenvironmental and macroenvironmental variables. Examples of variables reflecting the microenvironment of global marketers are global customers, global suppliers, global competitors and new entrants. Variables like world-wide physical resources, government requirements, country requirements, global human resources and time zones represent the global macroenvironment. Data generated from a sample of practitioner-experts are employed for the construction and refinement of the model through statistical evaluation and validation procedures. The final model can be used to identify specific strategic IT-factors for a company. Also, a contingency analysis can be conducted to determine the importance of various factors based on organisational characteristics. Table 1 provides an overview of the contributions dealing with the impacts of IT on the global marketing environment.

 

Table 1: Global Marketing Environment and IT

Author(s)

Focus of Study

Research Orientation

Solomon (1988)

IT as enabler to share information across borders and time zones

D

Halcrow (1988)

IT as tool to overcome barriers to international productivity

D

Papp (1996)

Impact of different ICT on specific international actors

C

Adam/Awerbuch/Slonim/Wegner/
Yesha (1997)

Role of the Internet in the globalisation of business, education, and culture

D

Palvia (1997)

Development of a model which reflects the global impact of IT on specific micro- and macroenvironmental variables.

C & E


Legend: Research Orientation: (D = Descriptive, C = Conceptual, E = Empirical)

 

Table 1 illustrates the dearth of empirical and conceptual contributions that systematically analyse the impact of IT on global environmental variables. The notable exception is the GLITS-Model, which attempts to be a comprehensive model, incorporating a variety of environmental factors. But while this model provides a useful bases for future research, its complex operationalisation might limit its practical use. What is needed are partial models that focus on the relationship of IT on a specific environmental variable (or set of variables). For example, it could be explored how IT influences the legal systems of different countries, the education level of global consumers or the structure of global competition in a certain industry.

Global Marketing Research/ Consumer Behaviour and IT

In line with a growing trend to collect research data on the Internet, the Graphics, Visualization, & Usability Center (GVU) developed an online WWW user survey to gain a deeper understanding of the Internet user (http://www.cc.gatech.edu/gvu/user_surveys/). The survey includes questions with regard to three main topics: Basic Section (general and technology demographics, data privacy, Web and Internet usage), Electronic Commerce (Internet shopping behaviour, information gathering and purchasing, attitudes on Internet Commerce), Special Section (Web authors, politics, Webmasters, cultural issues). As responses are gathered on a global scale, the survey enables to determine cross-cultural similarities/differences with regard to the examined variables. The survey is conducted bi-annually and permits to trace significant developments over time. The GVU’s WWW user survey is one of the first attempts to utilise the Web for global marketing research purposes. The empirical results of the GVU’s WWW user survey and similar approaches to collect data on the Web suggest that Internet users are becoming increasingly homogenous across countries and form a transnational target group.

Quelch and Klein explore potential applications of the Internet for global marketing research. According to the authors, new types of global data collection- and measurement tools include world-wide online panels, online surveys, online discussion groups, focus groups, bulletin boards, and e-mail marketing lists. The authors point to the advantages of these tools over traditional global marketing research instruments. Hamill also emphasises the role of the Internet for gaining marketing intelligence in an international context. He points out that the Web improves data quality and -quantity and simultaneously reduces the costs of information acquisition.

An empirical contribution to cross-cultural consumer behaviour and IT is presented by Mundorf et al. , who compare German and American consumers in terms of their attitudes and familiarity with new IT. Based on the existing literature, Mundorf et al. generate hypotheses and test these with scales capturing "familiarity with IT", "IT-seeking", and "IT-in-society". The study reveals significant cross-cultural differences, whereby gender and age turned out to play a critical role as mediating factors.

Reviewing the evolution of the marketing function, Brannback introduces the "knowledge-based marketing concept" as a foundation for global business. The "knowledge-based marketing concept" takes the knowledge of global customers‘ needs as a base for an integrated global marketing which, in turn, leads to global customer satisfaction via a purposeful coordination of actions. By including IT as an important corporate function which supports the knowledge based marketing concept, the "IT-enabling marketing-concept" emerges. Table 2 provides an overview of the literature on IT’s role in global marketing research and -consumer behaviour.

 

Table 2: Researching Global Markets / Consumer Behaviour and IT

Author(s)

Focus of Study

Research Orientation

Graphics, Visualization & Usability Center (permanent)

Global WWW User Survey to identify cross-cultural similarities and differences in attitudes towards the WWW and WWW-usage behaviour

E

Quelch/Klein (1996)

Applications of the Internet for global marketing research

C

Mundorf/Dholokia/Dholokia/

Westin (1996)

Cross-cultural similarities and differences of German and American consumers’ attitudes toward and familiarity with new IT

E

Hamill (1997)

Impact of the Internet on international marketing research

C

Brannback (1997)

Development of the "knowledge-based marketing concept" toward an "IT-enabling marketing concept"

Legend: Research Orientation: (C = Conceptual, E = Empirical)

Table 2 illustrates that most contributions focus on the Internet. As IT includes a variety of tools for collecting, processing, and transferring information, a broader IT-perspective is required for analysis. Moreover, the following topics deserve a more in-depth treatment. First, it needs to be examined to what extend IT is able to overcome the equivalence- and comparability problems inherent in cross-cultural marketing research. Findings with regard to that question are equally important for both practitioners and scientists, as they reveal, to what extend IT can enhance the validity of cross-cultural research. Second, an understanding needs to be developed to what extend IT is able to reduce the risks and uncertainty of global marketing operations by improving either the quantity or the quality of primary- and secondary statistical data on foreign markets. Third, more analysis is required on the degree to which IT is able to decrease the costs of cross-cultural marketing research. As far as the interface of IT and cross-cultural consumer behaviour is concerned, future research might also focus on cross-cultural differences/similarities in consumers‘ cognitive/affective processes towards new media (e.g. voice recognition). In this context, research on the „Technophobia"-phenomenon could, for example, be strengthened by including cross-cultural comparisons. Insights from such cross-cultural studies should be relevant for global marketing on the Internet as well as the global marketing of IT-products in general. Last but not least, there still appears to be a ample scope for research on the extend to which IT contributes to a homogenisation of cross-cultural consumer preferences.

Global Marketing Strategy and IT

Global Market Selection- and Segmentation

Mehta et al. take the online research on cross-cultural Web-user profiles (see section 2.2) as a base for providing a first insight into how the Internet can be used to identify a potential global segment (namely the Internet users). In this context they adopt the standard criteria for forming effective market segments for the Internet: the criterion "accessibility" is operationalised as the cross-country response rate and response time to E-mail surveys. "Measurability" is assumed to be met, if the size, purchasing power, and profile of the potential global segment can be measured by using the Internet. To assess the criterion "substantiality", variables like the number of countries with Internet connectivity, the number of hosts with access to the Internet, or bytes of data transported through the Web are applied to the Bass growth model. "Differentiability" is automatically met as only Internet users are likely to be influenced by marketing via the Web. Finally, the criterion "actionability" is examined by using case studies that demonstrate how organisations have taken advantage of E-mail, WWW, USENET, and FTP to service members of these segments. The results of Mehta et al. reveal that the Internet is able capture criteria for effective global segmentation.

With regard to IT’s role on global market selection and –segmentation, a variety of research questions are still to be explored. For example, an understanding needs to be developed to what extend IT can contribute to an enhancement of both the effectiveness and the efficiency of the global segmentation process. This ultimately leads to the question whether and to what degree IT can improve the "quality" of the identified global segments. Results of these studies are relevant to all firms that seek to leverage IT for the identification of attractive segments on an international scale.

Global Market Entry, Partnering and IT

With respect to the entry mode decisions, two areas of research can be distinguished. First, IT is connected with the headquarter-subsidiary relationship. Shore presents a conceptual framework to assess gaps in the information systems used between headquarters and foreign subsidiaries. An IT-perspective on the effectiveness of headquarter-subsidiary relationships is introduced by Simon , who focuses on issues like control and co-ordination. Second, the Internet is examined as a strategic tool for global market entry. Using Ansoff’s internationalisation matrix, Wissmeier identifies potential international growth strategies via the Internet. Due to the global nature of the Internet, he claimes that it serves as a new way of entering global markets, making tradititional market selection procedures unnecessary. Quelch and Klein argue that the Internet will lead to a more rapid internationalisation of SMEs due to its ability to reduce the competitive advantages of scale economies held by large global companies. They propose that the Internet can provide SMEs with a low cost gateway to global markets. This argument is justified by the Internet’s potential to overcome barriers to internationalisation commonly experienced by small companies. Building on these propositions, Hamill develops a first systematic conceptualisation of the strategic usage of the Internet for the internationalisation of SMEs. In particular, he identifies and systematises the Internet‘s contributions in overcoming barriers to foreign market expansion and in supporting critical success factors in the internationalisation of SMEs. Focusing on the usage of the Internet for export marketing, Benett relates experiences of Web site usage and perceptions of export barriers among UK businesses.

As far as IT’s impact on the formation of global networks and partnering is concerned, Quelch and Klein point out that the Internet will become a powerful tool for supporting networks either on the inter-organisational- or on the intra-organisational level. Poon and Jevons propose a framework for an Internet-enabled strategic advantage of small business alliances. Based on previous work by Golden and Dollinger , different types of inter-organisational relationships for SMEs are identified. As a next step Poon and Jevons specify the potential Internet usage strategy for each type of inter-organisational relationship. Using a case-study approach, Terase and Sankar demonstrate how information systems are able to support global alliances. In addition, the GLITS-model incorporates items relevant to global inter-organisational cooperations. According to the model, IT improves communication and co-ordination among world-wide businesses, and supports the formation of world-wide strategic alliances. The virtual management of global marketing relationships is analysed by Speier et al. . The authors distinguish five different types of global virtual organisations before examining crucial stages of the management of these global partnerships. The literature on the usage of IT for global market entry and partnering is summarised in Table 3.

 

Table 3: Global Market Entry, Partnering and IT

Global Market Entry
and Partnering

Author

Focus of Study

Research
Orientation

Entry Mode

Shore (1996a)

Gaps in information systems used between headquarter and subsidiaries

C

Simon (1996)

IT-perspective on the effectiveness of headquarter-subsidiary relationships

C

Quelch/ Klein (1996)

Influence of Internet on the internationalisation of SMEs

C

Hamill (1997)

Internet as a vehicle for the internationalisation of SMEs

C

Wissmeier (1997)

International growth strategies via the Internet

C

Benett (1997)

Usage of the Internet for export marketing

C

Global Partnering /Networking

Quelch/Klein (1996)

Internet as a tool for supporting inter- and intraorganisational networks

C

Terase/Sankar (1996)

Information systems support of global alliances

E

Poon/Jevons (1997)

Internet-enabled strategic advantages of small business alliances

C

Speier/Harvey/Palmer (1998)

Virtual management of global marketing relationships

C

Legend: Research Orientation: (C = Conceptual, E = Empirical)

The analysis in this section shows a growing research base on IT’s role for the development and implementation of global market entry and partnering. Nevertheless, there is still a lot of research potential both on the empirical as well as on the theoretical level. First, an understanding needs to be developed, how IT can decrease problems associated with particular entry modes (e.g. control problems of licensing or franchising, communication problems in joint ventures). Such research could help firms to assess their appropriate entry mode by taking into account the impacts of IT. Second, future research needs to examine how IT can enhance the global partner selection process. Findings of such studies would be relevant to all enterprises that seek to leverage IT for the identification of well suited global partners. Third, research should focus on how IT could be used to optimise the cross-cultural knowledge management within global partnerships. As the need for (cross-cultural) knowledge management rises, results of such studies are important to effectively enhance the learning potential of global partnerships and networks.

Global Organisational Structure and IT

In contrast to other research areas in global marketing, the link between IT and global organisational structure is covered in a large body of literature. Several research streams can be identified, including the alignment of IT and global business structure, the implications of IT for global organisational structures, and global information systems (GIS).

Research on the fit of IT and global business structure was first conducted by Alavi and Young , who introduced a conceptual framework for aligning global firm’s business- and IT strategies. Based on an examination of the global business strategy literature, three different international business strategies are identified, i.e. a multinational, global, and transnational strategy. These strategies are shown to differ in terms of required organisational structure, strategic objectives, transaction scope, and locus of management. These three international business strategies are then analysed with regard to central IT-dimensions such as technology architecture, data architecture, telecommunication architecture, and IT-management. Jarvenpaa and Ives use information processing theory as the basis for examining alternative organisational designs for IT in a globally competing firm. In particular, they empirically investigate the extent to which IT-structures fit the decision-making structures of globally competing organisations. Bartlett and Goshals’s global business models serve as a typology for global decision-making structures. IT-structures in a global context are specified based on Ives and Jarvenpaa’s four global IT configurations, namely independent IT operations, headquarters driven configuration, intellectual synergy configuration, and global integrated IT configuration. Each configuration is further specified according to particular IT-dimensions, such as locus of IT decision making, number of common systems, mode of computer operations. Mail survey data gathered from IT-managers in MNCs provide evidence that globally competing firms use different and distinct ways of organising their global IT. The survey data also reveal that only half of the enterprises organise their IT-activities in a way which is consistent with the manner the organisation is reportedly structured. To shed some light on this mismatch, Ives and Jarvenpaa identify several contingency variables, including factors from both the firm’s internal and external environment. Yet another conceptualisation of the alignment of IT with global business strategy is provided by Ives et al. , who introduce the global business driver approach. Derived from global vision and strategy, global business drivers are those entities that identify where a global firm can benefit most from the management and application of IT. Examples of global business drivers are global products, suppliers, quality, risk reduction, and global customers. Once identified, global business drivers form the basis for the IT-strategy and an „application portfolio". Schwarzer contributes a case study approach to the alignment issue. Based on three case studies set in the pharmaceutical industry, she analyses the sequence in which global business strategy, global organisational structure, and global IT-architecture should be designed to respond to changes in the competitive environment. Furthermore, she argues that new ways of designing information systems management in MNCs might be needed to meet the information processing requirements resulting from global business strategies. Case studies are also used by Roche to explore how systems development in MNCs need to be designed to match IT- with business strategy. Empirical evidence on the necessity to align IT with global marketing strategy is provided by Carpano and Rahman , who identify a positive relationship between a subsidiary‘s market share and the match between IT- and global marketing strategy.

Eccles and Nolan address the question of how global organisational structures change due to IT. They propose a framework for a new global organisational design which reflects the impact of IT. The authors distinguish two levels of organisational design. First, the "superordinate design", which establishes the shared infrastructure in which the global organisation will operate. Second, the „self design" which consists of self-organising, flexible networks that form and vanish according to particular tasks. The "self-design"-level uses the "superordinate" infrastructure to operate in an efficient way. Eccles and Nolan identify variables to specify each level of global organisational design. For each variable the role of IT is analysed. This emerging IT-enabled organisational design is said to provide the global organisation with the diverse requirements of stability and flexibility. Based on transaction-cost-theory, Malone and Rockart argue that IT will transform global organisational structures from a hierarchical into a more marked based co-ordination-approach. This is justified by the potential of IT to substantially decrease transaction costs. Information management opportunities and challenges of the emerging global network organisation are highlighted by Jarvenpaa and Ives, . An example of a global virtual organisation is given by Miller et al. , who provide a case study on the IT-enabled organisational changes at Rosenbluth Travel Corp. Table 4 provides an overview of the literature discussed in this section.

Table 4: Global Organisational Structure and IT

Global Organisational Structure and IT

Author(s)

Focus of Study

Research

Orientation

Alignment of IT and Global Business Structure

Alavi/Young (1992)

Integration of global business models and IT-dimensions

C

Roche (1992 b)

Systems development to match IT and global business structure

E

Jarvenpaa/Ives (1993)

Fit of IT-and global organisational structures

E

Ives/Jarvenpaa/Mason (1993)

Global business driver approach

C

Schwarzer (1995)

Alignment configurations in changing environmental settings

E

Carpano/Rahman (1998)

Relationship between IT-structure-match and market share

E

Impacts of IT on Global Organisational Structure

Eccles/Nolan (1993)

Emergence of new global organisational structures caused by IT

C

Malone/Rockart (1993)

Transaction cost oriented explanation of IT induced changes of the global organisational structure

C

Miller/Clemons (1993)

IT-enabled changes of a global virtual corporation

E

Jarvenpaa/Jves (1994)

Information management opportunities and challenges of the global network organisation

C

Legend: Research Orientation: (C = conceptual, E = empirical)

 

Another topic that has developed into a separate research stream is the discussion of global information systems (GIS). Particular research areas analysed are the adoption and diffusion of GIS in globally operating companies , the management of GIS , the design of global information architectures , the strategic use of GIS , global decision support systems , and the development of GIS in MNCs .

The discussion of global organisational structures and IT illustrates the existence of a solid theoretical and empirical research base. Nevertheless there is still a variety of research topics that need to be explored in more detail. Looking for example at the emerging global virtual organisation the following questions arise: What are the critical success factors of the global virtual organisation? What degree of global "virtualness" is optimal in a given environmental context? What role does trust play in the emergence of global virtual organisations and how can it be achieved in a cross-cultural context? What are the risks (benefits) of the new IT-enabled structural approaches and how can they be minimised (maximised)? Answers to these questions would be essential to both: companies that want to change their global business model to a more virtual one as well as to already existing virtual enterprises.

Global Marketing Policies and IT

Global Product/Service Policy and IT

It can be assumed that IT plays a significant role in various aspects of global product policy, such as global product development, global product testing, and global product standardisation or -differentiation. With regard to global product development, Howells explores the use of information and communication technology (ICT) networks in R&D. It is demonstrated how ICT changes the organisation of the R&D sector and how ICT contributes to improved communication and co-ordination of globally dispersed R&D sites. Hence, IT is associated with faster and improved global product innovation. This relationship is formally integrated into the GLITS-model , which also associates IT-use with enhanced global product performance and the opportunity to bundle more information with global products. Focusing on the Internet, Quelch and Klein analyse implications of the Web on international product testing and the standardisation of a world-wide product policy. With regard to international product testing, the authors argue that the Web enables global marketers to test multiple new product variations simultaneously due to an enhanced control of information flows between test markets. As far as the product standardisation debate is concerned, Quelch and Klein point to the ambiguous impact of the Web: On the one hand, the Web’s new communication capabilities may permit a customisation approach. On the other hand, the Web might support a global mass market concept by offering information transparency. In addition, the authors emphasise antecedents of global branding on the Web. Wissmeier distinguishes two alternatives for the presentation of the global product range via the Internet, namely the transfer of the existing global product range to the Web or the creation of a distinct global product line designed particularly for the Web.

With respect to global services, Mathe and Dagi analyse how IT can be harnessed for the global expansion of service operations. Based on a model of delivery systems for the growing multinational service organisation, the key role of IT for integrating particular elements of the global service value chain is highlighted. To specify this overall concept, Mathi and Dagi show, how IT is currently used in the internationalisation of three service industries, namely banking, retailing, and health care. Hagström introduces a conceptualisation of how information systems in MNCs provide an infrastructure for service delivery. A case study approach is used by Shore to demonstrate how IT can be harnessed to co-ordinate transnational service operations. The study explores the information strategy adopted by a Dutch service organisation that is serving the European market. First, it identifies the way in which local variables affect the organisation’s strategy. Second, the paper examines how IT is used to co-ordinate an operation that spans a dozen countries in the EU. Once again, the GLITS-model associates an influence of IT on global services. According to the model, IT has the potential to improve global service performance and -quality, to contribute to the development of new global services, and to enhance after-sale services.

Global Pricing Policy and IT

IT is also supposed to play a crucial role in various aspects of global pricing policy. For example, IT might improve the information base of global players with regard to currency changes, international tax adjustments, and cross-cultural differences in price elasticity. Despite IT’s key role for the planning and implementation of a global pricing strategy, there is almost no research that systematically addresses this issue. Notable exemptions are Quelch and Klein , who explore the implications of the Internet for the potential of global price differentiation and –standardisation. They argue that, on the one hand, the Web will facilitate more rapid and frequent price changes and levels of price differentiation to a much finer degree than are currently achieved in alternative media. This is due to advances in Web browsers and servers, permitting instant customisation of prices not only by country market, but also based on the level of the individual user. On the other hand, Quelch and Klein point out that the Internet leads to a substantial increase in global price transparency, supporting standardisation of prices across borders or at least narrower price spreads across country markets. The same reasoning is put forward by Wissmeier , who also discusses the issue of the international terms of payment on the Web.

Global Communication Policy and IT

Wissmeier proposes a conceptual framework for the international communication via the Web. Three options for converting particular communication instruments like advertising, sponsoring, public relations, sales promotions to the Internet are distinguished, namely own Websites, different Websites, and cooperative Websites. Hamill highlights the potential of the Internet to improve communications with actual and potential global customers. He also points out that a Website can provide an attractive and low cost method of sales promotion to global customers.

Global Distribution Policy and IT

Research on IT and global distribution policy also focuses on the Internet. Quelch and Klein analyse the implications of the Web on international intermediaries. It is argued that the Internet – by connecting end-users and producers directly- will reduce the importance of traditional intermediaries in international marketing. In order to survive, such intermediaries will need to offer a different range of services. Their added value will no longer be principally in the physical distribution of goods, but rather in the collection, collation, interpretation, and dissemination of vast amounts of information. Thus, according to the authors, the critical resource possessed by this new breed of "cybermediary" will be information rather than inventory. Wissmeier identifies three basic alternatives for distribution via the Web, namely own international distribution via the Internet (e.g. own Web-offer), integrated international distribution in the Web (e.g. offers in an Internet-shopping mall), and cooperative international Web-distribution (e.g. mergers of different firms in the same industrial sector or different industrial sectors). The literature on the role of IT in global marketing policies (sections 5.1 – 5.4) is summarized in Table 5.

 

Table 5: Global Marketing Policy and IT

Global Marketing
Policies

Author(s)

Focus of Study

Research
Orientation

Global Products

Howells (1995)

Use of global ICT-networks in R&D

C

Quelch/Klein (1996)

Opportunities and risks of a global branding strategy via the WWW. Implications of the Internet on global product testing

C

Wissmeier (1997)

Implementing global product policy on the Web

C

Global Services

Mathe/Dagi (1996)

IT as a tool for global expansion of service operations

C

Hagstrom (1996)

IT-infrastructure for service delivery in MNCs

C

Shore (1996)

IT-enabled co-ordination of transnational service operations

E

Global Pricing

Quelch/Klein (1996)

Implications of the WWW for global pricing and the potential for differentiation and -standardisation

C

Wissmeier (1997)

Alternative global pricing policies on the WWW

C

Global Communication

Wissmeier (1997)

Framework for international communication via the WWW

C

Hamill (1997)

Advantages of international promotion via the WWW

C

Global Distribution

Quelch/Klein (1996)

Implications of the WWW on international intermediaries

C

Wissmeier (1997)

Alternatives for international distribution in the WWW

C

Legend: Research Orientation: (C = Conceptual, E = Empirical)

Table 5 illustrates that research on the role of IT in global marketing policies almost exclusively focuses on the Internet. To systematically explore the impacts of IT on the development and implementation of global marketing instruments, however, a broader IT-perspective is required. In terms of global product policy, the following research questions arise: First, to what degree does IT contribute to faster and improved product innovation by enabling globally co-ordinated product planning and –development? Insights with regard to this question gain relevance due to the growing importance to be the „first" in a market. Second, how does IT influence the length and pattern of the international product life-cycles? And third, to what extend does IT allow MNCs to leverage the benefits of both product standardisation and –differentiation. As far as global services are concerned, research opportunities stem from topics like IT’s role in the internationalisation of services, IT-enabled improvement of global service quality, and IT’s influence on the development of globally differentiated or standardised services. In the field of global pricing, it needs to be explored, to what extend IT contributes to the enhancement of global pricing decisions due to an improved information base. To this end, a better understanding is needed, whether IT rather increases or decreases the opportunities to differentiate prices on a global level. Analysing the impact of IT on global promotional activities, the following issues need to be addressed: How can IT optimise relevant functions of the global promotional management process, like budgeting of global promotions, planning and implementation of global campaigns, global media selection, and global control of promotion success. Concerning global distribution, issues like IT’s impact on the global channel structure, the control of global channels, and global logistics provide opportunities for future research. Insights with regard to the questions raised on global marketing policy should be of relevance for all firms that want to effectively take advantage of IT with respect to the development and implementation of their global marketing programs.

Conclusions and Outlook

In contrast to the wide coverage IT issues have gained in the business press, the review reveals that research on IT’s role on global marketing is still in its infancy. Moreover, the contributions which have been made are nearly exclusively focusing on the implications of the Internet. However, to fully account for the dramatic effect of IT on global marketing, a much broader IT-perspective (including decision support systems, database marketing, inter-organisational information systems) is required. In this context, research has largely ignored the implications of the convergence of different IT-technologies for global marketing. The potential behind ubiquitous computing for global marketing also remains an under-explored field.

As research on "Global Marketing & IT" is positioned at the interface between global marketing and information science, interdisciplinary research approaches are called for. Only interdisciplinary cooperations will be able to cope with the complexities of the observed research field. These cooperations will contribute to close the gap between the relatively small research base in "Global Marketing and IT" and the extensive treatment of IT’s impact on global marketing in the business press.



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