Cultural Impact on Standardization/Adaptation of the Marketing Mix - A Qualitative Study on MNEs in the Sportswear Industry

Abstract: In order for an international business to grow and secure competitive advantages, firms have to exploit and expand to new markets and pinpoint the importance of international marketing. Local market demand is highly related to cultural differences and consumer preferences which raises the dilemma whether firms should adapt their marketing mix to the new local market or use a cost-effective standardized model that is based on their host market. With an increased digital consumer presence, especially after the pandemic, companies also need to consider this dilemma from a digital marketing context. Our thesis thus contributes to increasing the knowledge about the concept of standardization and adaptation within marketing and proceeds from previous studies that exist on the subject. Our thesis investigates how cultural differences influence the degree of standardization/adaptation of elements in the marketing mix. Furthermore, we made a distinction between marketing in a traditional and digital context. Semi-structured interviews with 12 respondents from different companies in the sportswear industry were conducted and in addition we interviewed two marketing experts to get a deeper insight. Our results indicate that cultural differences within Europe have a low impact on adaptation in the various marketing elements for companies which partly contradicts scholars and practitioners and our own beliefs that culture and disparity in consumer preferences has a huge impact on firms' marketing strategies. However, more research is required on the subject to deeply investigate the performance related to the respective choices regarding adaptation and standardization of their marketing.