Economic Development and Marketing Strategies: a Comparative Lens

Go back We analyze two core models of economic development in emerging markets: socialism (i.e., the “visible hand” of the state in directing the country’s socio-economic life) and capitalism (i.e., the “invisible hand” of the markets implemented through pro-market reforms). We further distinguish between two types of socialist economic development: Soviet Communism (as experienced in the pre-1990s Central and Eastern European transition economies) and Fabian Socialism (as experiencedin pre-1991 India). We then suggest that companies can adapt to the evolution from socialism to capitalism in their countries through the implementation of more sophisticated marketing strategies that can ensure a sustainable competitive advantage. Thus, we study the marketing strategies of companies from emerging markets operating under both models of economic development. We analyze the opportunities and challenges that emerging market companies face under each model of economic development in terms of deploying various marketing strategies, and provide useful venues for future research

The bribery paradox in transition economies and the enactment of ‘new normal’ business environments

We develop a novel, sensemaking perspective on corruption in transition economies. Prior research has focused on understanding why some entrepreneurs are more likely to pay bribes than others. It typically assumes that paying bribes will lead to an intended – albeit unfair – competitive advantage. We challenge this assumption and uncover a bribery paradox: drawing upon sensemaking logic, we argue that beyond gaining an immediate benefit from bribing, entrepreneurs who frequently pay bribes may in the longer run be enacting a ‘new normal’ business environment perceived as high in obstacles, especially in transition countries. As sensemaking is grounded in identity construction and one’s social context, we argue that owners of family firms will be especially vulnerable to the dangers of perceiving greater obstacles over time and enacting an obstacle‐ridden ‘new normal’ business environment. We find empirical support for our framework on a sample of 310 privately‐held small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) from 22 transition economies

Local, regional, or global? Geographic orientation and relative financial performance of emerging market multinational enterprises

Summary We extend the regional/global strategies literature by analyzing the relative performance of emerging market (EM) multinational enterprises (MNEs) based on their geographic orientation. We develop a framework showing that firms adopt three geographic orientations--local, regional, and global--and test our framework with the market penetration strategies (sales) of 701 MNEs from 28 EMs during 2000-2006. Our analysis shows that distinguishing among these three geographic segments is important, as not all of these geographic segments enhance firms' financial performance relative to their industry: a combination of local and global orientations enhances while regional orientation reduces the relative financial performance of EM MNEs.Geographic orientations Regional/global strategies Performance Emerging markets Multinationals

What do we know about state-owned emerging-economy firms, and how? Evaluating literature about inward and outward multinational activities.

In this paper, we conduct a conceptual and bibliographic analysis of the literature that deals with the international strategy of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), with particular attention to SOEs from emerging economies (EEs). We first review the state of the art in defining the concepts of EEs and SOEs. We then conduct a detailed bibliographic analysis of the literature pertaining to SOEs’ involvement in international activities, whether as outward foreign investors or as potential local partners of inward-investing multinational enterprises. The analysis covers general trends in the literature, prominent research questions and outcome variables, use of theories, and choices pertaining to methodology (type of research and effects, empirical contexts). We document a literature that is fast-growing and well balanced in some respects. In other respects we advance recommendations pertaining to (a) consistency and precision in the use of the concepts of “state-owned enterprise” and “emerging economy”; (b) search for specific evidence on the outward activities of EE SOEs in less-developed economies and even in other EEs, and on their performance; (c) understanding of relative propensities of local SOEs and inward investors to collaborate, and what happens when SOEs encounter each other across borders; (d) opportunities to strengthen the theoretical foundations and contributions of this research; and (e) minding the mix of home and host countries in studies and avoiding undue generalization from what has become a predominantly China-centric literature