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Copyright of Journal of International Business Studies is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of International Business Studies is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of International Business Studies is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of International Business Studies is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of International Business Studies is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of International Business Studies is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Empirical evidence shows that firms' internationalization process can be non-linear and often includes de-internationalization events. This study focuses on one type of de-internationalization event - a firm's decision to exit an export market - and asks how international experience affects its probability of occurrence. In particular, this study complements existing literature by looking at the effect of import-based market experience - considered as a source of market-specific knowledge prior to export market entry - on the probability of a firm exiting an export market. Conceptually, this study contrasts two views on the consequences of increased market knowledge and hypothesizes that, from a learning perspective, import-based market experience ought to reduce export market exit, whereas, from a sunk cost logic, it ought to increase export market exit. Using duration analysis of detailed data on the internationalization history of 1920 Danish firms, I find that the sunk cost logic primarily explains the relationship between import-based market experience and a firm's probability to exit an export market, and that the effect is strongest for exports to similar destinations. Further analysis shows that this result is partly driven by experimentation-like export behavior by firms with import-based market experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building on the recombinatory view of innovation and an institutional perspective, this study investigated how the level of institutional development in a firm’s home region and the institutional distance between the home and export markets might influence the effectiveness of learning through exporting. For exporters in emerging economies, more support for R&D and better-developed market intermediaries at home were found to enhance the positive effect of exporting on firms’ innovation, while market openness in the home region tends to dampen it. Exporters exporting more to other emerging economies tend to be more innovative than those exporting more to advanced markets. These findings arise from an empirical study of exporting and innovation among Chinese manufacturers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of International Business Studies is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Drawing on insights from evolutionary psychology and sociology, this research seeks to explain the gender differences and within-sex variations in consumer responses to nudity in advertisements. Specifically, we argue that the abundant resources that come with modernization emancipate women from the dependency on a long-term relationship with a male partner for child bearing and rearing. Therefore, women in modern societies are more likely to use fast reproductive strategies (e.g., short-term mating) to enhance the chances of getting good genes from their mates for their offspring. Their physiological arousals activated by and attitudes toward male or female nudity in ads will change accordingly. In contrast, men's responses to nudity in ads are less affected by modernization. We conducted an experiment in six Chinese cities and obtained supportive evidence to illustrate these differences. There was also evidence indicating that the socialization of high socio-economic status may offset the force of evolution. This study highlights the usefulness of an interdisciplinary approach in answering important questions in international business. The findings are discussed with a focus on the integration of strategic pluralism theory, life history theory, parental investment theory, and socialization theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extending our understanding of the effects of perceived product creativity, this study contributes to the literature by empirically investigating the influence of cultural values on the relationship between the creativity dimensions of novelty and meaningfulness and intention to buy. Schwartz's values framework is employed to theorize cultural differences. The results, based upon 206 Italian and 201 US consumers surveyed via a mall-intercept approach, indicate that novelty is a more important dimension of product creativity in the US (i.e., a low-resultant conservative/high-resultant self-enhancement culture) than in Italy (i.e., a high-resultant conservatism/low-resultant self-enhancement culture) in influencing intention to buy and that meaningfulness is a more important dimension of creativity in Italy than in the US in influencing intention to buy. These results provide important standardization/adaptation implications for international marketing academics and practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alliances are recognized as an indispensable tool for managers operating in a global business environment, and as a fundamental stage of the internationalization process of the firm. Drawing on a co-evolutionary framework, this article investigates the mimetic and experiential effects in international alliance formation. We focus on a critical unresolved issue in the literature: what is the role of mimetic behavior and previous alliance experience in mitigating the uncertainty associated with engaging in cross-border operations? An event history analysis of 792 international marketing alliance formations initiated by 317 firms in the US pharmaceutical industry is employed to test the hypotheses. The findings of two different hazard rate models reveal significant complex effects of density and cross-border alliance experience on the propensity to engage in new international marketing alliances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing from the resource-based view and a contingency approach, the authors develop and test a model of the antecedents of client-perceived value in the context of international, professional business-to-business services (consultants, engineers, project management, IT consultants, etc.) in a developing economies setting. Further, we examine the effects of key moderators (e.g., country-of-origin (COO), firm's international experience, client's buying experience) on client-perceived performance and value. The results generally support the hypotheses that client-perceived performance is impacted by a firm's internal resources (e.g., technical skills, customer orientation, innovation). In addition, this relationship is contingent upon the COO effect, while client-perceived value is moderated by the client's buying experience. The findings can guide practitioners as to the key drivers of client-perceived value, and under what conditions this value is maximized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Do global marketing efforts, for example, those using television as a medium, impact on the values and life satisfaction of people, and, if so, is the process similar or different in various regions of the world? We empirically examine the relationship between television viewing, core values (i.e., religiosity and materialism), and perceived well-being factors (e.g., perceived socioeconomic status and relative life satisfaction). Data collected from the Western developed nations (e.g., United States and New Zealand) and several culturally homogeneous regions, including New Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and the Far and Southeast, support the prevalence of diverse consumption- scapes with multiple global consumer cultures, rather than a single global culture. Globalization and advances in technology have not created global norms and homogenized our identities, but behavioral patterns and regional identities that are surprisingly durable. Specifically, materialism was shown to influence perceived socioeconomic status both positively (for two regions) and negatively (for two regions), and relative life satisfaction (except in New Europe), while perceived socioeconomic status had a positive influence on relative life satisfaction (except in New Europe and Latin America). The quantity of television viewing was positively shown to influence materialism, directly in some cases, as well as through perceived realism in others, providing limited support for the cultivation theory effect. Finally, religiosity was shown to play a countervailing role in negatively influencing materialism only in Latin American and Middle Eastern countries, and a positive influence on relative life satisfaction only in Latin America. The rationale behind the differences across regions was also explored. The overall results can perhaps be best explained by "postmodern" epistemologies, in which people worldwide are increasingly implicated, and in which new traditions are constantly being invented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nature, antecedents, and consequences of consumer animosity during the 1997 Asian economic crisis are investigated, based on a large-scale survey of 2000 adult consumers representative of five affected nations (Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, and Thailand). An animosity model was developed and tested with the US and Japan as target countries. As predicted, stable and situational animosity reduced willingness to buy products from a perceived hostile national entity. Affective evaluations and cognitive judgments were negatively influenced by situational animosity but not by stable animosity. As expected, situational animosity was increased by external attribution, perceived external control, and stable animosity. Implications of these findings are discussed, and directions for future research suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper employs organizational learning theory to examine the short-term effect of past export performance, and internal (management) and external (market) forces on marketing strategy adaptation and current export performance. Results from a survey of over 500 export managers indicate that current-period performance improvement (in terms of performance achievement, export intensity, and performance satisfaction in the current year) is influenced by the firm's commitment to exporting. Further, the authors found that while performance satisfaction feeds performance improvement in the following year, both the previous year's export intensity and export performance achievement produce a negative impact on current-period performance improvement. More importantly, the level of development in the export market facilitates marketing strategy adaptation in the short term, as does export intensity in the previous year. However, satisfaction with previous-year performance negatively influences the degree of distribution adaptation. Implications for international business researchers and practitioners are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a generic strategic framework of alternative international marketing strategies and market segmentation based on intra- and intercultural behavioural homogeneity. Consumer involvement (CI)is proposed as a pivotal construct to capture behavioural homogeneity, for the identification of market segments. Results from a five-country study demonstrate how the strategic framework can be valuable in managerial decision-making. First, there is evidence for the cultural invariance of the measurement of CI, allowing a true comparison of inter- and intra-cultural behavioural homogeneity. Second, CI influences purchase behaviour, and its evaluation provides a rich source of information for responsive market segmentation. Finally, a decomposition of behavioural variance suggests that national-cultural environment and nationally transcendent variables explain differences in behaviour. The Behavioural Homogeneity Evaluation Framework therefore suggests appropriate international marketing strategies, providing practical guidance for implementing involvement-contingent strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationships between consumers' country-level and product-level images of a country, and the equity they associate with a brand from that country, using canonical correlation analysis. Results from mall-intercept surveys conducted in an Australian state capital city indicated that the consumer-based equity of a brand was significantly associated with both the macro and micro images of the country of origin of the brand. The relationship between these two sets of constructs was found to be positive as well as product category specific. Furthermore, each consumer-based brand equity dimension contributed differently to the relationship according to the product category, while the contribution of both country image dimensions (macro and micro) was also product category specific. Results also showed that cars, as a product category, are more sensitive to country image than televisions. These findings have direct and important implications for international marketers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Learning and acquiring local market knowledge from foreign distributors are central to manufacturers' export market performance. Drawing from the resource-based view, we propose that manufacturers need to develop stronger local market competence while simultaneously minimizing the costs of distributor opportunism in order to compete successfully in the export market. Cultural distance and other barriers, however, may hinder the development of local market competence for the manufacturer while contributing to the occurrence of distributor opportunism. In order to overcome these barriers, we examine the impact of three alternative forms of manufacturer governance -- trust, knowledge sharing, and contract-based relationship -- in export channels. Findings suggest that all three governance mechanisms contribute to enhancing the manufacturer's competence to exploit local market opportunity. However, of the three, trust seems to be the only effective way to curtail distributor opportunism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our study investigates why some firms engage in low international commitments such as exports in the early phases of internationalization, whereas others leapfrog the internationalization process and start with high international commitments in the form of foreign direct investment (FDI). Process models of internationalization propose that firms start with low commitment activities and gradually increase their commitments to international markets. However, recent empirical evidence has shown that many firms make high international commitments from the start. Our findings suggest that domestic resources and competitive action propensity affect early international commitments indirectly through domestic mindsets. A domestic mindset refers to the knowledge structures of the top management team prior to starting international activities, based on their managerial experience and learning in domestic markets. Our results suggest that knowledge and learning gained in domestic markets through diverse resource and competitive activities may be crucial in early international commitments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extant business literature contains three separate characterizations of international marketing strategy: standardization-adaptation, concentration- dispersion, and integration-independence. These characterizations have, for decades, informed researchers, students, and practitioners alike of the strategic options a multinational firm might have in formulating its cross-border marketing approaches. Although useful, these characterizations have yet to be unified within an integrative classification scheme that considers the gestalt combinatorial patterns along multiple strategy dimensions. Toward creating such a classification scheme, this paper proposes a holistic conceptualization of international marketing strategy grounded in configurational theory, whereby strategies are viewed as multidimensional archetypes. We present evidence of three distinct international marketing strategy archetypes obtained through an exploratory case coding/clustering study. After discussing the characteristics, possible drivers, and contingent performance potentials of these archetypes, we offer directions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on international marketing channels accentuates the importance of relational norms and trust-building activities between buyers and sellers. Indeed, cultural and country differences may limit the use and effectiveness of traditional tools (such as market incentives and authoritative control) that govern the relationship between an exporting manufacturer and its foreign distributor. Consequently, exporting manufacturers need to emphasize relationships with their foreign distributors. This research finds evidence that supports both direct and indirect effects between the manufacturer's use of governance via relational norms and its competitiveness in the export market. The indirect effect results from the mediating role of trust, a finding that makes a key contribution to the understanding of the role of relational governance in cross-border relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sampling in the international environment needs to satisfy the same requirements as sampling in the domestic environment, but there are additional issues to consider, such as the need to balance within-country representativeness with cross-national comparability. However, most international marketing research studies fail to provide theoretical justification for their choice of sampling approach. This is because research design theory and sampling theory have not been well integrated in the context of international research. This paper seeks to fill the gap by developing a framework for determining a sampling approach in international studies. The framework is based on an assessment of the way in which sampling affects the validity of research results, and shows how different research objectives impact upon (a) the desired sampling method and (b) the desired sample characteristics. The aim is to provide researchers with operational guidance in choosing a sampling approach that is theoretically appropriate to their particular research aims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The social dynamics which precede international exchange are considered in light of data collected on 133 foreign market entries from a sample of highly-internationalized manufacturing firms. Consistent with research done in the social network field, the findings support the hypothesis that knowledge of foreign market opportunities is commonly acquired via existing interpersonal links rather than collected systematically via market research. This study thus contributes towards an understanding of those antecedent conditions that lead to the formation of export exchange relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study attempts to determine and explain the service-offering behavior of British export intermediaries (EIs). It was empirically confirmed that EIs offer two categories of services: transaction-creating and physical-fulfillment services. It was postulated that the extent to which an E1 offers these types of services is influenced by a set of factors that are internally-, product-, market-, supplier-, and buyer-related. Empirical tests on a sample of 135 British EIs established that an EI's exporting role, number of employees, amount of undifferentiated products carried, number of suppliers, and number of countries served all have a direct impact on an EI's service-offering behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The industrial organisation and evolutionary economics traditions in international business and the resource-based view of the firm in strategic management provide a rich and related set of perspectives on the question of performance in an international environment. This paper draws on these perspectives to examine the nature of marketing capabilities across a range of firm types in Hungary, Poland and Slovenia. A number of key strategic capabilities are examined including market orientation, the time horizon of strategic decision making and positioning capability. The study finds that firms with foreign participation have been able to develop a sophisticated level of marketing capability with a resulting positive impact on financial and market performance. Wholly-owned subsidiaries and international joint ventures emerge as equally effective mechanisms for the transfer of marketing capability. Conclusions are drawn and implications from the research are outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Is there a relationship between home-country competitive advantages, MNC price/quality product strategies, and firm performance? A cross-national contingency framework is developed, identifying three "regional stereotypes" of price/ quality relationships, fueled by history and consumer perceptions, which appear to result in superior MNC performance. Findings indicate that the "stereotypes" influences have diminished over time (as MNCs shift from home country advantages to global firm-specific advantages). However, Triad MNCs that use these product strategies (Japan [superior value], EU [premium] and U.S. [economy]) still, on average, demonstrate superior performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study reports on t, he construction and psychometric assessment of a measure of export market orientation. Four multi-item scales were developed showing strong evidence of reliability and convergent, discriminant, and nomological validity in samples of U.K. and Dutch exporters. Further analysis revealed full invariance of the final measure across the two country samples. Several suggestions for applying the measure in substantive research are offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigates how organizational specific, control specific, and market specific factors drive gray market activity, and in turn explores the effects of unauthorized distribution on export performance. The centralization of decision making; The degree to which the product is standardized; Channel integration and control; The effects of gray market activity on strategic versus economic performance; Implications for export managers.

Explores the impact of order and mode of market entry into an overseas market. How early entrants have higher market shares and profitability; Equity joint ventures having higher profitability than wholly owned operations or contractual joint ventures; Interaction between order and mode of market entry; Effect of firm efficiency and size on performance; Results based on business activities of foreign firms in China in 1995.

One of the major criticisms of government export promotion schemes in many countries is that they tend to he poorly targeted. Awareness levels about export schemes among managers of companies at exporting or pre-exporting stages of internationalization are often quite low, and the perceived usefulness of schemes may decline as companies internationalize and their needs become more specific. One solution may he to develop a better understanding of the needs of managers who make export market development decisions, and to target segments of managers (rather than companies) who share similar strengths and weaknesses. This study attempts to address these concerns by devising a typology of senior international marketing managers. The most senior marketing decisionmakers in a broad, multi-industry sample of New Zealand exporting firms were surveyed. The results of the cluster analysis suggest that groups of managers who share similar characteristics can he identified and profiled, based on shared international business attitudes and similar levels of knowledge and skills. This appears to he a useful method for segmenting international marketing managers to determine what sort of educational and export assistance particular groups may require. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents dissertation abstracts published in the December 1997 issue of "Journal of International Business Studies." "Environmentalism in Policy Formation and Management: The Case of Multinational Corporations in China and Taiwan," by Soo-Hung Terence Tsai; "The Role of Ownership and Corporate Governance Factors in International Entry Mode Selection," by Dawna Lynn Rhoades; "A Foreign Market Entry Decision Model: A Comparison of Theoretical Constructs and the Actual Practices of Multinational Enterprises," by Tomas Harry Parks; "The Value of Expatriate Support Programs in Reducing the Susceptibility to Culture Shock for American Expatriated Employees Working in Germany," by Thorsten Gunter Hisam.

This study examines how brand popularity in conjunction with other marketing variables influences market share directly as well as indirectly by interacting with country-related intangible assets (or simply country image). The results of our empirical analysis show that a competitive analysis without the recognition of country image would be misleading. We found that country-specific intangible assets exist and that they significantly interact with marketing variables differently for U.S. and Japanese brands in the subcompact car market in the USA. Brand popularity and advertising were found to be key factors for intangible assets for both the U.S. and the Japanese brands. Brand popularity was the most significant factor for market share in both the short run and the long run. Japanese firms' direct investment (FDI) in the target country directly influenced market share only in the short run. Several important Implications for international marketing are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study enhances our understanding of channel integration in foreign markets on two fronts. First, the eclectic approach to foreign entry mode, proposed by Hill, Hwang and Kim [1990] and Kim and Hwang 11992], is used to examine transaction-specific, organizational capability and strategic factors that influence channel choices in foreign markets. Empirical results based on a survey of U.S. firms support the combined relevance of these factors in predicting the degree of channel integration. Second, the study empirically examines the performance consequences of channel integration. The results suggest that, although the degree of channel integration does not have a direct influence on channel performance, a contingency model based on the fit between the contextual factors and the actual channel choice is significantly related to performance in foreign markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the international pervasiveness and importance of the previously uncovered four-year U.S. election cycle whereby U.S. stock returns are significantly lower, and negative, in year 2 following a U.S. presidential election relative to years 1, 3 and 4. All eighteen countries examined over the 1957 to 1996 time period possess lower local currency stock market capital gains returns in year 2 (-0.66%) relative to the average capital gains of years 1, 3 and 4 (11.68%). These predominately lower year 2 returns are shown to be robust in conditional expected return regressions which include both local macroeconomic variables, as well as U.S. macroeconomic, fiscal and monetary policy variables. In addition, we find that the U.S. dollar tends to depreciate more in year 2 of the election cycle. We conclude that the U.S. election cycle variable is either proxying for information variables not included in our model, or the U.S. election cycle variable is capturing some form of U.S. and international market sentiment. That is, the U.S. election cycle may be an important nondiversifiable political factor in the determination of international conditional expected stock returns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study builds upon previous control research to propose a model of formal controls used in managing activities performed in foreign markets. Theoretically derived contingency relationships are also proposed to assess the performance consequences of different formal control types. The findings support the Importance of internal and external sources of uncertainty in determining the type of control used. Partial support was also found for the premise that the fit between the type of control used and the type of uncertainty perceived will contribute to superior performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even though international marketing has been challenged because of theoretical and methodological shortcomings, very few researchers have actually attempted to analyze the weaknesses based on principles of theory evaluation. In this article, the author examines two types of models addressing the individual firm's internationalization process. A theory evaluation is performed based on the explanation and the falsification criteria. In order to improve the internationalization models, some measures are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The success of export-led development initiatives in LDCs depends heavily on export diversification. This paper identifies three patterns of performance among Central American firms engaged in non-traditional exports. Each pattern is associated with a distinct strategy: low involvement-low volume-low content, price-cost-volume, and product-service quality oriented. The discussion emphasizes keys to exporter success and priority areas for public policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports the results of a study that hypothesized the influence of culture on six aspects of budget control practices in the United States and Japan. Data were collected through questionnaires from 70 manufacturing companies in the United States and 149 such companies in Japan. Results of data analyses indicate that the Individualism-Collectivism dimension would seem to explain why the U.S. companies, compared to the Japanese companies, tend to use communication and coordination more extensively, build budget slack to a greater extent, and use long-term performance evaluations to a lesser extent. The implications of the results for further research and practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study empirically examines the level of the export-related expertise of manufacturing firms in a midwestern state of the United States, various problems they face in export business, and types of government assistance desired, by their stage of export involvement. It also investigates the appropriateness of government export assistance and the gap between governmental export promotion efforts and private sector needs. It is shown that the identification of expertise, problems, and government assistance needs by export stage can help government agencies develop a systematic approach to export promotion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Export marketing literature supports the view that firm size is positively related to export intensity. Although the empirical findings have been mixed, a number of theoretical arguments are used to support this proposition, i.e., international marketing economies of scale, limited managerial and financial resources of small firms, decisionmaker's risk perception. Based on a large survey of the Italian manufacturing industry, the article falsifies the proposition and challenges some widely held assumptions in export marketing literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the independent and joint influences of several factors on the choice of foreign market entry mode. Literature review and hypotheses of the study; Effects of interrelationships among determinant factors; Methodology and results of the study; Discussion of results and implications; Limitations and conclusions; More information.

Export promotion systems in Canada and Austria are contrasted and their services evaluated from a company perspective. The Canadian system is government-based, while the Austrian one operates in the private sector. Apart from the philosophy under which these export support systems operate, they differ also in strategic orientation. A survey of stratified samples of exporters in Canada (271) and Austria (312) shows significant differences in perceived usefulness of services given similar exporter needs. Companies desire more tailored support as well as greater involvement of private sector institutions which are not currently providing export support. Overall, Austrian companies appear more inclined to use export support and generally seem more willing to acquire exporting know-how externally compared to Canadian firms. Conclusions are offered with respect to improving the respective export promotion systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents summaries of several dissertations on international trade. The study "An Empirical Investigation of the Export Practices of United States Firms: The Links Among Organization Structure, Export Marketing Strategy, and Export Performance," by Anthony Chee-Shing Koh, provides further insights into the export marketing process by investigating the linkages among organizational structure, export marketing strategy, and export performance. The study revealed that organizational structure, export marketing strategy, and export performance are interrelated. Another article "An Empirical Analysis of the Effect of Political Risk on the Mode of Operations in Foreign Markets,"examines the role of political risk and its impact on the mode of operations decisions of U.S. manufacturing firms. Mode of operations, such as exporting, licensing, joint ventures and investing, was viewed as a behavioral pattern of multinational firms. The analysis suggests that the role of political risk is different for developed and developing country-markets. In developed country-markets, political risk plays a minimal role in U.S. firms decisions to export or invest.

Abstract. One hundred and fifty-two Brazilian companies that were exporting in 1978 were interviewed again six years later in 1984 to determine the factors that were correlated with the continuance of exporting. Firm characteristics, export management practices and manager perceptions were each found to be correlated with exporting success thus supporting the basic contention that it is possible to predict export performance. Firms that discontinued exporting relied more on the Brazilian government export incentives, possibly to be competitive in international markets without making the necessary structural changes, thereby raising important questions about the long-run impact of the Brazilian export programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract. The objectives of this study are to assess the costs to American companies of U.S. export controls, and to suggest business policies to minimize their adverse effects. The 1982 Soviet gas pipeline case is used as a concrete example. Original field research among business people and government officials in Europe and the U.S. is the main data source. The main findings of the study are that the costs of export controls to American business that can be measured are very high, and much above government estimates. The optimum strategy for business to follow is to influence the executive branch of government rather than to press for compensation schemes or legislative changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract. A "frontier issue" in international marketing is the appropriate choice of entry mode in foreign markets. The objective of this paper is to offer a transaction cost framework for investigating the entry mode decision. This framework provides 1) a theoretical basis for systematically interrelating the literature into propositions, 2) propositions about interactions which resolve the apparently contradictory arguments advanced to date. Specifically, the paper: illustrates the feasibility of clustering 17 entry modes into the degree of control the mode provides the entrant; proposes that the most appropriate (i.e., most efficient) entry-mode is a function of the tradeoff between control and the cost of resource commitment advances testable propositions delimiting the circumstances under which each mode maximizes long-term efficiency.The entry mode literature is reviewed in the context of these propositions, and guidelines are derived for choosing the appropriate mode of entry, given certain characteristics of the firm, the product, and the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract. A fundamental question in international marketing concerns the desirability and feasibility of standardizing marketing programs and procedures internationally. The primary objective of this paper is to present an overview and evaluation of the standardization debate. Central issues of interest include a discussion of the standardization construct and an evaluation of the evidence regarding corporate implementation of standardization strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract. One of the cornerstones of a firm's marketing strategy in any market is the development of an appropriate product positioning plan. This paper argues that many of the same considerations that go into the positioning strategy in the home country are directly relevant for international markets. There is an added element of complexity in that the country-of-origin of the imported product will often be a salient factor in the buyer evaluation process. The effect of country stereotype will be to shift the position of the product in the perceptual space and alter the overall evaluation of its merits. The competitive strength of the product will thus be affected by country biases. The paper shows how these factors can be dealt with in the management of the "international product positioning" task. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract. This paper reviews empirical research in international marketing published during the period 1976-82. The review focuses on what has been researched and how the research has been conducted. This research is evaluated; a cooperative, multidisciplinary empirical research program in international marketing is then proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]