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Bruce D. Keillor: Department of Marketing, College of Business Administration, University of Akron, Akron, Ohio, USA
G. Tomas M. Hult: Department of Marketing, College of Business, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, USA
ACKNOWLEDGMENT: The authors would like to acknowledge the valuable assistance of Deputy Editor Marylyn Carrigan and two anonymous reviewers in the preparation of this manuscript.
Introduction
One recognized form of research in international marketing has traditionally been comparative studies outlining similarities and differences between cultures. These descriptive investigations serve to provide practical insights to the decision maker attempting to do business within a given culture (Hofstede, 1983). However, they do not represent a foundation upon which a more generalizable understanding of the international market environment can be constructed. An alternative to this cultural paradigm is the "global market" concept (Samiee, 1992; Sheth, 1992a; Sheth, 1992b). According to this perspective, the emerging global market environment is characterized by standardized consumer preferences and general business practices (Levitt, 1993; Mathews, 1997). In such a meta-market, the key to success is built on a firm's ability to standardize its product offering and means of operation, based on the fact that "different cultural preferences, national tastes and standards, and business institutions are vestiges of the past" (Levitt, 1983). In such a situation, cross-cultural/cross-national markets cease to exist. While such a globalized market would simplify virtually all aspects of international marketing, this paradigm has not been without criticism (Douglas and Wind, 1987; Yip, 1989). In particular, nationalism continues to hinder free trade and the acceptance of foreign firms in non-domestic markets (Erramilli, 1996; Samiee, 1994).
If international marketing research is to be able to explain and predict the unique intricacies of operating in an international context, consideration should be given to establishing a framework within which cultural differences can be addressed in a systematic and generalizable fashion (Samice, 1994). The proposition that cultures and nations are similar in some respects, yet different in others, is not a particularly novel suggestion. However, given that cultural adjustment costs can be prohibitive (Barkema et al., 1996), an approach which identifies relevant similarities and differences, and provides an empirical basis for universal cross-cultural/cross-national comparisons, should represent a contribution to international marketing research as well as a valuable decision making tool for firms involved...