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This study aims to examine how international small and medium-sized enterprises (ISMEs) improve adaptive marketing capabilities (AMCs) through exploration, exploitation and ambidexterity (EEA) and thereby increase exporting performance. In addition, the present study attempts to examine conditions under which EEA can more effectively improve AMCs.

The theoretical model was tested by using survey data collected from 119 ISMEs based in the U.S. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was deployed to analyze the data.

The results show that exploration increases ISMEs’ performance through improving AMCs while ambidexterity reduces ISMEs’ performance through weakening AMCs. However, the negative influence of ambidexterity on AMCs attenuates in a dissimilar host country where ISMEs can conveniently learn new information. Finally, when ISMEs pursue exploitation in an either similar or dissimilar host country, their AMCs do not improve.

We provide empirical evidence of SMEs increasing AMCs and firm performance via EEA within the context of exporting. However, we did not collect objective financial performance of ISMEs.

Our findings provide guidance for ISMEs’ marketing managers to build AMCs by learning something new. Moreover, the findings help ISMEs effectively identify and select the most appropriate international marketing strategy depending on the similarity between host and home countries.

Our findings contribute to the literature by explicating how ISMEs can heighten marketing capability to build competitive advantages in global markets through exploration. However, ISMEs should be cautious when pursuing ambidexterity, which may weaken AMCs and finally decrease firm performance. In addition, we identify external factors that influence effectiveness of EEA in building AMCs. By doing so, the findings help ISMEs understand how to increase AMCs so as to improve competencies in fast-changing global markets.

Examines the determinants of International Joint Venture marketing performance in Thailand. Uses the results from a survey of 1047 Thai‐foreign IJVs in Thailand from firms that were mainly engaged in agriculture, metal working, electrical and chemical industries. Applies exploratory factor analysis and discriminant analysis to identify these critical determinants as market characteristics, conflict, commitment, marketing orientation and organisational control.

Lateral thinking is an organization-wide approach to scanning for new inputs, materials, influences, and product technologies currently being applied in one field that can offer new product ideas in another. This concept relates to environmental scanning, organizational assimilation, and application, along with absorptive capacity. Lateral thinking could be described as being sensitive to more social influences, casting a wider net, considering more things in different ways, and absorbing a range of inputs from areas such as fashion, auto racing, food, movies. Firms practicing this approach are sensitive to the possibility that new technologies and radical innovations often arrive from outside normal sources. As Jim Olver points out in his essay in this volume, “Tackling wicked problems requires the ability to examine situations from multiple and novel perspectives, to empathize, to engage in lateral thinking.” This is often what is happening with interdisciplinary approaches – ideas in another field are brought in to enrich one's own discipline.

The global financial and economic crises have accelerated the rise of emerging markets in the global economy. In fact, the BRICs (i.e., Brazil, Russia, India, and China) have become the engine of global economic growth in the past two years when the developed economies were struggling to regain their growth. China became the largest exporter in the world in 2009 and has just overtaken Japan in mid-2010 to become the second largest economy in the world. India has made huge stride in attracting MNCs' investment and is poised to become the main destination of business process outsourcing. Brazil has regained its confidence as the largest economy in South America and as a major economy in the world. After struggling in the face of oil price collapse in 2008, Russia is back on track with robust growth, thanks to the rebound of oil price. Even outside the BRICs, many developing economies are doing very well. For example, Turkey, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Argentina, and several African countries have seen their growth rates surpassing 5% per year for several years. There seems to be a fast shift of global economic power to the developing world, especially to the BRICs.