The role of context in assessing international marketing opportunities

2011 
Purpose – The choice of which country or countries to enter is a critical decision and needs to be made with considerable care and deliberation. Initial market entry decisions have typically focused on country evaluations based on macro‐economic data. While appropriate in providing an initial screening of countries, other factors, notably contextual factors, can provide important insights in assessing international market opportunities. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of context at four distinct levels.Design/methodology/approach – The literature on the influence of context on consumption and purchase behavior is reviewed to provide a framework to understand contextual factors as a means to refine entry strategy and develop effective segmentation strategies.Findings – A wide range of contextual factors exert influence on consumption choices and contribute to within‐country heterogeneity. These are typically examined at the macro‐level, but also need to be examined at the meso‐level, mic...
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