A cross-cultural dilemma of standardization or adaptation : A study of Swedish B2B firms marketing activities in India

Abstract: This paper deals with Swedish B2B firms marketing activities in the culturally diverse Indian market, and what adaptations are made to meet the cultural diversity of India. The perception of cultural diversity in India is investigated from a Swedish B2B perspective. The findings were retrieved from three face to face interviews with equal number of respondents and firms; Roxtec, Norden Machinery and Gunnebo, three swedish B2B firms all established in India. The literature review is divided in two categories; Marketing and Culture, the former containing theory on relationship marketing and adaptation vs standardization when designing a marketing strategy, and the latter models of national culture as well as models on multicultural countries, with the models applied on India. The dimensions of culture that we found were most relevant in this paper were Power Distance and Perception of Time. The literature review is concluded with a conceptual framework containing our main concepts. The results from this study suggest that it is the managing of relationships with customers that are the most important part of marketing in India. It was also found that while India is characterized as a multicultural country, the way business is conducted and relationships managed are similar all over this vast country, leading us to suggest that a mutual Indian business culture exists.