International Marketing Strategies in India: An Application of Mixed Method Investigation
Prathap Oburai and Michael J Baker
Executive Summary
KEY WORDS International Marketing Strategy Grounded Theoretic KEY WORDS Approach Privatization Case Research Methodology Indian Banking
Internationalization drives and export orientation are prominent in the organizational strategies of a number of leading Indian firms and multinationals located in India. This is a significant indicator of the growing competitiveness of firms, industries, and the nation. This paper examines the sources of competitive advantage in a few selected sectors and firms and explores the internationalization possibilities and potential. International marketing strategies are complex and tend to vary widely across nations, industries, and firms. The elements that form the ingredients of international strategies are numerous and their importance is tightly interwoven to contexts. With a view to enrich the existing body of international marketing theory, the authors investigate the international marketing strategies adopted in 12 different business sectors in India in an attempt to explore and explain the similarities and differences found in this varied set of industries. The examples span the old economy industries such as the assembly and manufacturing enterprises that are both skill-and capital-intensive and also the new economy sectors that are information-intensive. This study is exploratory in nature and offers a classification scheme using case research methodology, grounded theory approach, and modeling techniques. The five-cluster classification (visual map) may prove to be useful in many strategic and tactical ways. This classification scheme or typology can influence both the design and the execution of
References: Asopa, V N (2004). “Competitiveness in Global Tea Trade,” CMA monograph no 198, New Delhi: Oxford and IBH. Baker, Michael J (1979). “Export Myopia,” The Quarterly Review of Marketing, Spring, 1-10. Baker, Michael J (1985). “Globalisation versus Differentiation as International Marketing Strategies,” Journal of Marketing Management, 1(2), 145-155. Bjorkman, I and Forsgren, M (eds.) (1997). The Nature of the International Firm, Copenhagen: Copenhagen Business School Press. Brownlie, D and Saren, M (1997). “Beyond the One-dimensional Marketing Manager: The Discourse of Theory, Practice and Relevance,” International Journal of Research in Marketing, 14(2), 147-161. Cantwell, J and Narula, R (eds.) (2003). International Business and the Eclectic Paradigm: Developing the OLI Framework, London: Routledge. D’Costa, P Anthony and Sridharan E (eds.) (2004). India in the Global Software Industry: Innovation, Firm Strategies and Development, New Delhi: Macmillan India Limited. Friedman, T (2005). The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Globalized World in the 21st Century, London: Allen LanePenguin. Glaser, B (1998). Doing Grounded Theory: Issues and Discussions, CA, USA: Sociology Press, Mill Valley. Glaser, B and Strauss, A (1967). The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies of Qualitative Research, New York: Aldine. Glaser, B (1998). Doing Grounded Theory: Issues and Discussions, CA, USA: Sociology Press, Mill Valley. Hair, J E; Anderson, Rolph E; Tatham, R L and Black, W C (2002). Multivariate Data Analysis with Readings, Fifh Edition, New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Hakansson, Hakan; Harrison, Debbie and Waluszewski, Alexandra (2004). Rethinking Marketing: Developing a New Understanding of Markets, England: John Wiley and Sons. Lilien, G L and Rangaswamy, A (2002). Marketing Models, New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Oburai, P and Baker, Michael J (1999a). “Empirical Research into Collaborative Alliances in Industrial Markets: A Case for a Balanced Approach to Theory Building,” 28th EMAC Conference, Berlin. Oburai, Prathap and Baker, Michael J (1999b). “Theory Building Case Research in Industrial Markets: The Evolution and Convergence of Methodological and Philosophical Perspectives,” Proceedings of the 15th Annual IMP Conference, University College, Dublin, Ireland. Ohmae, K (1985). Triad Power, New York: Free Press. Seshabalaya, A (2005). Rising Elephant: The Growing Clash with India over White Collar Jobs and Its Challenge to America and the World, New Delhi: Macmillan India Limited. Yin, R K (1994). Case Study Research: Design and Methods, Second Edition, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Prathap Oburai is Assistant Professor of Marketing at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. A Ph.D. in Marketing from the Department of Marketing, University of Strathclyde, Scotland, UK, he was the recipient of the prestigious Commonwealth Scholarship from the Association of Commonwealth Universities, London. His research interests include business-to-business marketing; cooperative marketing strategies; industrial clusters and policies; international business strategies; international marketing; marketing research and relationship marketing. He has presented papers at several major European and Indian conferences and has published in leading books such as The Encyclopedia of Marketing. e-mail: prathap@iimahd.ernet.in VIKALPA • VOLUME 30 • NO 4 • OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2005 Michael J Baker is Emeritus Professor of Marketing at the University of Strathclyde where he founded the Department of Marketing in 1971 on completion of his doctorate at the Harvard Business School. A past Chairman of the Institute of Marketing, the Marketing Education Group, and the Senate of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, he is currently President of the Academy of Marketing and holds visiting appointments in a number of leading business schools. He is the author/editor of numerous books, articles, and papers. He is the founding editor of the Journal of Marketing Management and the Journal of Customer Behaviour. e-mail: mjb@westburn.co.uk 23 23