The Resource Based View as Applied in International Marketing

There have been at least two major theoretical approaches used in international marketing research. These are the industrial organization approach and the resource based-view. The industrial organization approach ascribes a firm’s international performance to its external market position. The resource based-view focuses on internal organizational resources such as marketing competency or marketing capabilities to identify the determinants of a firm’s international marketing performance.

In the previous international marketing literature, most studies adopted the industrial organization approach to evaluate a firm’s strategy, characteristics, and external factors as determinants of performance. Industrial organization theory states that the external environment imposes pressure on the firm to which it must respond. In line with this theory, Zou and Stan (1998) suggested that exporters who respond successfully to their external environments by developing and implementing an appropriate strategy would enjoy superior performance. The strategy factors that have been frequently studied as determinants of performance include adapting the different marketing mix elements to accommodate the needs of the local market, different channel relationships, together with the different types of channels (Zou et al., 2003). However, Zou et. al (2003) also suggest that the industrial organization framework only focuses on the impact of a firm’s strategy and its external environment on performance, and places very little emphasis on the impact of idiosyncratic internal capabilities, such as marketing capabilities, on the firm’s performance (Barney, 1991).

In order to overcome this void in the literature Barney (1991) introduced a new theoretical perspective that is the resource based-view of the firm. The resource-based view of the firm views the firm not in the light of its activities or strategy in the product market but as a unique bundle of tangible and intangible resources. In addition, the firm’s resources, not its strategy, are at the heart of the firm’s competitive advantage (Peteraf, 1993). In other words, the resource based-view states that the principal determinants of a business’ performance and its strategy are its internal resources.

Not all of the firm’s resources have the potential to create a sustainable competitive advantage. Barney (1991) argued that to create a sustainable competitive advantage, a resource must have four attributes: It must (1) be valuable, (2) be rare, (3) be difficult to imitate, and (4) have no strategically equivalent substitute. Specifically, resources that are necessary for creating a sustainable competitive advantage can be divided into two types, namely, assets and capabilities. Assets are the resource endowments a firm has accumulated, for example, an investment in facilities. Whilst capabilities are a firm’s complex bundle of skills and accumulated knowledge, exercised through an organizational process that enables the firm to coordinate activities and make the best use of its assets (Day, 1994).

In recent years, there has been an increasing number of international marketing studies conducted using the resource based-view of the firm (Calantone et al., 2006; Dhanaraj and Beamish, 2003). Additionally, Knudsen and Madsen (2002) have suggested that the resource-based view of the firm has emerged as the dominant paradigm. As such, this Special Issue focuses on the resource based view of the firm and its significance in international marketing. I am especially interested in original articles in the following areas:

1. The relationships between industry structure, strategy, marketing capabilities, learning, innovation and performance in international marketing.

2. The determinants of a sustainable competitive advantage in international marketing.

3. The relationship between an export venture’s resources and a sustainable competitive advantage in international marketing.

4. The influence of resource dependency on international marketing strategy.

5. An analysis of both internal and external firm factors on strategy and performance in international marketing.

6. The relationship between product, price, promotion and distribution capability and export marketing performance.

7. The significance of market orientation as a marketing capability in international marketing whether it be as a mediating variable or having a direct influence on performance.

8. The influence of firm capabilities on collaborative stability and change.

9. The relationship between market knowledge and new product advantage.

10. Cross-national comparative studies of new product development processes.

11. The antecedents of marketing capabilities and organizational effectiveness.

12. An investigation of the different strategic types, marketing competencies and performance.

13. The effect of export marketing capabilities on export performance.

The International Journal of Trade and Global Markets is a scholarly journal, committed to the advancement of theory and practice within the domain of international business. All papers that reflect high standards of research methodology will be considered. Submitted papers should follow the usual Inderscience format and guidelines and will be subject to a double-blind reviewing process. Deadline for receipt of manuscripts is December 31 2011. Papers should be submitted via e-mail to the Guest Editor, Dr. Craig Julian at the following address:

Dr. Craig Julian, Senior Lecturer in Marketing, Southern Cross Business School, Southern Cross University, Locked Bag 4, Coolangatta, Queensland, 4225, Australia. E-Mail: craig.julian@scu.edu.au