CALL FOR PAPERS

 

Special Issue on:

International Marketing Strategy in the Age of Digitalization

 

EXTENDED Deadline for Submission: 1 April, 2018

 

Guest editors: Ruey-Jer “Bryan” Jean & Daekwan Kim

 

About the special issue

Digitalization and the Internet have transformed international marketing strategy (IMS), offering many new opportunities for firms. Indeed, digitalization has fundamentally changed the IMS landscape, providing many versatile tools that firms can employ to cultivate and maintain customer relationships, and empowering businesses to interact globally with customers globally in ways that were impossible before. This mega-trend is a new business norm not only in the developed world, but also in emerging markets. For example, Facebook enables many small and medium companies to promote and communicate their products globally (Manyika & Lund, 2016), while Alibaba also facilitates the early internationalization of numerous Chinese exporters. Digitalization also offers firms many new ways to understand customer insights and effectively make strategic international marketing decisions.

However, digitalization also brings some challenges to managers in their IMS design and implementation. For example, firms nowadays have to maintain multiple touch points on various social media around the world (Maechler, Neher & Park, 2016). Furthermore, fierce and dysfunctional competition (such as counterfeit products on various digital platforms) makes effective promotion and product introduction more challenging. Accordingly, many internationally active businesses are struggling to understand how to cope in the face of the new global challenges and opportunities the age of digitalization brings with it, and understanding how to develop successful digital IMS is becoming a critical issue.

 

In line with these managerial trends, academic work is investigating the impact of digitalization and the internet on IMS. Conceptual and empirical work focuses on the effect of the internet on exporting and internationalization (Oxley & Yeung, 2001; Prasad, Ramamurthy, & Naidu, 2001; Samiee, 1998). Other studies explore the effect of digitalization and the internet on international business-to-business relationships and global supply chain issues (Jean, Sinkovics & Cavusgil, 2010; Jean, Sinkovics & Kim, 2008).

 

Despite some progress on the role of digitalization in international marketing strategy in the international marketing literature, our understanding on the phenomenon is still quite limited. This special issue aims at pushing the frontiers of knowledge of this emerging and important issue in international marketing, through both conceptual and empirical work. We, therefore, seek original research that provides a basis for understanding current issues and advancing theories/ methodologies on the impact of digitalization and the internet on international marketing and IMS. Although all research methodologies and perspectives are welcome, preference will be given to studies that offer strong theoretical foundations and empirical focus on the challenges and opportunities the new trend provides, including but not limited to, the following topics:.

Topics

The impact of digitalization and the internet on:

• international customer relationship management such as customer retention and acquisition
• international market selection
• international market entry mode
• international market segmentation
• international new product development and innovation
• global branding
• international pricing
• international retailing
• international channel and global supply chain relationships
• international marketing communication such as adverting and sales promotion
• international marketing standardization/adaptation
• international procurement
• international online product customization
• international business models
• international buyer-seller interactions and online platforms
• the role of cultures in international marketing
• the role of institutional environments in global marketing success
• globalization of markets

 

Special Issue Guest Editors

Ruey-Jer “Bryan” Jean, Ph.D.
Professor of International Business
National Chengchi University
64, Sec.2 Zhi-Nan Road, Taipei, 11605, Taiwan
Phone: +886 (2) 29393091 Ext 81224
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Daekwan Kim, Ph.D.
Professor of Marketing
The College of Business
Florida State University
P.O. Box 3061110
Tallahassee, FL 32306-1110
Phone: (850)644-7890
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Guidelines for submissions

All papers will be subjected to double-blind peer review. Author guidelines for prospective contributors are available here. 

 

Submission Information

Please submit the manuscript to: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/imrev

Extended Submission deadline: 1 April, 2018

 

References

Jean, R.-J. B., Sinkovics, R. R. and Cavusgil, S. T. (2010), "Enhancing international customer-supplier relationships through IT resources: a study of Taiwanese electronics suppliers", Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 41 No. 7, pp. 1218-1239.

Jean, R.-J. B., Sinkovics, R. R. and Kim, D. (2008), "Information technology and organizational performance within international business to business relationships: A review and an integrated conceptual framework", International Marketing Review, Vol. 25 No. 5, pp. 563-583.

Maechler, N., Neher, K. and Park, R. (2016), "From touchpoints to journeys: Seeing the world as customers do", in McKinsey Quarterly.

Manyika, J. and Lund, S. (2016), "Globalization for the little guy", in McKinsey Global Institute report.

Oxley, J. E. and Yeung, B. (2001), "E-Commerce Readiness: Institutional Environment and International Competitiveness", Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 32 No. 4, pp. 705-723.

Prasad, V. K., Ramamurthy, K. and Naidu, G. M. (2001), "The influence of Internet-marketing integration on marketing competencies and export performance", Journal of International Marketing, Vol. 9 No. 4, pp. 82.

Samiee, S. (1998), "Exporting and the Internet: a conceptual perspective", International Marketing Review, Vol. 15 No. 5, pp. 413-426.