마케팅 표준화와 기업 성과의 비선형적 관계에 대한 연구

Over nearly four decades, the debate over how much a firm should standardize its marketing strategy in foreign markets has received focal attention in the international marketing literature. Yet, past empirical studies have yielded no consistent relationship between marketing standardization and firm performance. One possible explanation for these mixed results, we argue, may relate to some basic assumptions about the nature of this relationship. The marketing standardization-performance relationship may be more complex than has been theoretically argued and empirically researched. Standardization can certainly generate a large number of benefits. After a certain level, however, there may be a decrease in positive effects of standardization as well as rising costs. According to this logic, we expect standardization can positively impact performance up to a point, but that increase in negative effects will outweigh any increase in positive ones after that level is reached. To examine the proposed relationship between standardization and performance, this study surveyed a sample of Korean firms exporting consumer products. The findings indicate that increasing levels of standardization bring significant performance benefits up to a certain optimum level beyond which benefits begin to decelerate, while costs accelerate.