Editorial

Citation

Cadogan, J.W. (2012), "Editorial", International Marketing Review, Vol. 29 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/imr.2012.03629baa.001

Editorial

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: International Marketing Review, Volume 29, Issue 2.

The first paper in this issue, by Menguc and Jiang, is conceptual in nature, and deals with an issue of growing importance in the international marketing literature: the nature of licensing arrangements in international partnerships. Specifically, the authors draw a distinction between standard licensing, in which a licensor firm allows a licensee the right to commercialize the licensor's technology, and where the licensee typically sells the product under its own brand name, and embedded licensing, where the products are also marketed using the licensor's brand name. Following this, the authors use transaction cost theory to develop a contingency model which presents propositions regarding the potential licensee- and licensor-side factors determining the likelihood of firms engaging in embedded licensing agreements.

The second paper is by Park, Vertinsky and Lee, and addresses a different international market entry mode issue: international joint ventures (IJVs). The authors focus on the transfer of international marketing know-how within IJV arrangements. This knowledge is often tacit, is rooted within the parent company structures and routines, and is not easily transferred to the IJV entity. The authors develop a model exploring the role that exchange climate variables (including cooperation, communication and conflict) play in facilitating or hindering tacit knowledge transfer. They test their model using data collected from a sample of over 300 Korean IJV managers. The core findings indicate that, as expected, tacit knowledge transfer to IJVs enhances the performance of the IJV entity. In addition, a variety of exchange climate factors are seen to be potentially important in shaping tacit knowledge transfer between IJV parties. The authors explore the practical implications for IJV managers.

Complementing Park et al.'s study, Souchon, Sy-Changco and Dewsnap's paper deals with the issue of growth in export business functions. In particular, the authors adopt a learning orientation view to construct a model detailing how organizational learning may operate to help exporters expand their export sales. As the authors point out, embedded within their learning orientation approach is an emphasis on acquiring mastery of export know-how and specific export skills. Their model is unique in that it contains variables that are relatively well known to export researchers (e.g. export information acquisition, distribution and response), traditional learning orientation variables (e.g. commitment to shared export vision), and relatively new variables to the exporting literature, including export memory use, and management of export mental models. The findings illuminate routes by which export information can most effectively be translated into export growth.

The final paper in this issue is by Sundqvist, Kyläheiko, Kuivalainen and Cadogan. The authors present a fresh perspective on the way that international entrepreneurship may operate to shape business success. Specifically, building on the works of Kirzner and Schumpeter, two kinds of entrepreneurial-oriented behaviour are identified (Kirznerian and Schumpeterian entrepreneurship). Using primary data elicited from managers of Finnish export businesses, the authors demonstrate that although entrepreneurial activity is generally positively related to export profit performance, the Kirznerian and Schumpeterian approaches to entrepreneurship are most beneficial under differing environmental conditions. Kirznerian entrepreneurship has its strongest positive relationship with export profits when customers needs and wants are relatively stable, while Schumpeterian entrepreneurship is most positively related to export profit performance when firms operate in markets characterized by more dynamic fluctuations in customers’ preferences, and where the environment is less predictable.

John W. Cadogan