Another major benefit of marketing standardisation is the notion of a consistent brand image (e.g. Blackwell et al, 1991, Buzzell, 1968, Peebles, 1989, Peebles et al, 1977). The advances in communication and transportation systems around the world enables consumers to easily access information across national boundaries. If a company pursues a highly standardised approach it can minimise the risk of confusing consumers about the brand’s core benefits as well as minimising the risk of parallel imports (e.g. Kreutzer, 1989). Sorenson and Wiechmann (1975) argue that standardised branding offers a greater protection from fake products which can harm the consumer perception since the imitations are typically of low price and low quality.
Kreutzer (1989) highlights the importance of a highly standardised price with regard to companies which very strongly depend on brand image. He argues that even decreased profit margins due to increased cost through increased transportation costs in some markets should be tolerated in order to be able to benefit from a consistent image position. Otherwise the company risks suffering confused and discontented consumers (e.g. Channon and Jalland, 1979, Kahmann, 1972). Despite all these benefits there are various barriers which affect
Chapter Two: Marketing Standardisation
different aspects of the marketing programme. Several researchers (e.g. Bolz, 1992, Cavusgil et al, 1993., Harris, 1994, Kreutzer, 1989, Walters, 1986) argue that the benefits and the degree of a marketing standardisation depends on several contingency variables which are explored in the following section.
2.11 CONCLUSIONS
This chapter gave an overview on the theoretical background of this research. It presents the place of this study in the context of the overall globalisation debate, defines the key term marketing standardisation for the further use in this thesis and presents the potential benefits of a successfully implemented marketing standardisation. Based on the extensive review of the relevant literature it is demonstrated that the key question in this debate is not whether or not a company should use a standardisation or rather an adaptation approach towards its international marketing activities but that it is a matter of degree.
The management has to be clear about the specific answers for their particular organisations but in any case the reasonable degree of marketing standardisation is dependent on various contingency factors which will be examined in detail in next chapter by applying the conceptual framework of Jain (1989). In the following tables the propositions are summarised. Table 2.10 presents the propositions P 1-1 to P 1-7 which relate to the first theoretical block of the literature review and thus to the degree of the standardisation.
Chapter Two: Marketing Standardisation
Table 2.10: Propositions relating to the Degree of Marketing Standardisation P r o p o s i t i o n s ( P I ) T h e D e g r e e o f M a r k e t i n g S t a n d a r d i s a t i o n P r o p o s i t i o n s ( P 1 ) T h e D e g r e e o f M a r k e t i n g S t a n d a r d i s a t i o n p t-i T h e h i g h e s t l e v e l o f s t a n d a r d i s a t i o n w i t h i n t h e m a r k e t i n g m i x c a t e g o r i e s i s l i k e l y t o b e f o u n d i n t h e p r o d u c t m i x c a t e g o r y ( A k a a h , 1 9 9 1 , B o l z , 1 9 9 2 , C h h a b r a , 1 9 9 6 , G r o s s e a n d Z i n n , 1 9 9 1 , O z s m e r e t a l , 1 9 9 1 , S h o h a m 1 9 9 5 , S o r e n s o n a n d W i e c h m a n n , 1 9 7 5 ) . P 1-2 W i t h i n t h e p r o d u c t e l e m e n t s t h e " b r a n d n a m e “ w i l l b e s t a n d a r d i s e d t o a v e r y h i g h d e g r e e t h a t i s l i k e l y t o b e h i g h e r t h a n t h e d e g r e e o f m o s t o t h e r p r o d u c t e l e m e n t s ( C h h a b r a . 1 9 9 6 , S o r e n s o n a n d W i e c h m a n n . 1 9 7 5 , A l i h a n s , 1 9 8 2 , B e u t c l m e y c r a n d M i i h l b a c h e r . 1 9 8 6 ) . P 1-3 T h e p r i c e e l e m e n t s s h o w a l o w e r d e g r e e o f s t a n d a r d i s a t i o n t h a n t h e p r o d u c t e l e m e n t s b e c a u s e i t s p o t e n t i a l f o r a h i g h d e g r e e o f s t a n d a r d i s a t i o n is e x t r e m e l y s e n s i t i v e t o l i m i t i n g f a c t o r s s u c h a s t h e m a r k e t i n g i n f r a s t r u c t u r e o f t h e h o s t m a r k e t s ( S h o h a m , 1 9 9 5 , A l t h a n s , 1 9 8 2 . B e u t e l m e y c r a n d M i i h l b a c h e r , 1 9 8 6 , B o l z , 1 9 9 2 , M e y e r , 1 9 7 8 , O z s m e r e t a l , 1 9 9 1 , S o r e n s o n a n d W i c c h m a n n , 1 9 7 5 ) . P 1-4 T h e d i s t r i b u t i o n e l e m e n t s h a v e a l o w e r d e g r e e o f s t a n d a r d i s a t i o n p o t e n t i a l t h a n t h e p r o d u c t e l e m e n t s b y s h o w i n g a s i m i l a r s t a n d a r d i s a t i o n l e v e l a s t h e p r i c e e l e m e n t s d u e t o t h e i r c o m p a r a b l e s e n s i t i v i t y t o w a r d s t h e m a r k e t i n g i n f r a s t r u c t u r e o f t h e o v e r s e a s m a r k e t s ( A k a a h , 1 9 9 1 , A l t h a n s , 1 9 8 2 , C h h a b r a , 1 9 9 6 , S h o h a m , 1 9 9 6 , O z s m e r c t a l , 1 9 9 1 , S o r e n s o n a n d W i e c h m a n n , 1 9 7 5 ) . P l-S W i t h i n t h e d i s t r i b u t i o n e l e m e n t s t h e “ m a n a g e m e n t o f t h e s a l e s f o r c e " i s l i k e l y t o b e s t a n d a r d i s e d t o t h e l o w e s t d e g r e e b e c a u s e o f t h e p r e d o m i n a n t d e p e n d e n c e o n d i f f e r e n t c u l t u r a l e x p e c t a t i o n s o f s a l e s p e r s o n n e l a s w e l l a s d u e t o d i f f e r e n c e s i n m a r k e t s t r u c t u r e s ( A k a a h . 1 9 9 1 , B a d e n F u l l e r a n d S t o p f o r d , 1 9 8 8 , H o n e y c u t t a n d F o r d , 1 9 9 5 , H i l l e t a l , 1 9 9 1 , M e y e r , 1 9 7 8 ) . P 1-6 T h e p r o m o t i o n c a t e g o r y w i l l b e s t a n d a r d i s e d t o a m e d i u m t o h i g h d e g r e e b u t l o w e r t h a n t h e p r o d u c t c a t e g o r y a c k n o w l e d g i n g t h a t s e v e r a l a d v a n t a g e s c a n b e a c h i e v e d b y a p r o m o t i o n s t a n d a r d i s a t i o n ( A l t h a n s , 1 9 8 2 , B c u t e l m e y e r a n d M i i h l b a c h e r , 1 9 8 6 , B o l z , 1 9 9 2 , M i i l l e r a n d K o m m c i e r , 1 9 9 6 , O z s m e r e t a l , 1 9 9 1 ) . P 1-7 W i t h i n t h e p r o m o t i o n e l e m e n t s t h e “ a d v e r t i s i n g m e s s a g e " w i l l b e s t a n d a r d i s e d t o t h e h i g h e s t d e g r e e ( T h c i s , 1 9 9 4 , A k a a h , 1 9 9 1 , B o l z , 1 9 9 2 , B c u t c l m e y e r a n d M i i h l b a c h c r , 1 9 8 6 , K r e u t z e r , 1 9 8 9 , O z s m e r c t a l , 1 9 9 1 , S o r e n s o n a n d W i c c h m a n n , 1 9 7 5 ) .