Abstract

Drawing from social science literatures, this paper proffers and examines a theory that firms should adapt their marketing strategies in cross-cultural settings in order to reflect the dissimilar significance of their brand’s functional and experiential elements in disparate cultures.  Employing American and Chinese respondents, the paper tests hypotheses that empirically examine whether there is support for the discussed theory.  It presents the findings, some which were unexpected, and offers new insight into the ongoing standardized vs. localized marketing strategy debate, with respect to marketing brand(s) in cross-cultural settings.  The paper also provides a future research program to further our understanding of which marketing strategies are more apposite in cross-cultural settings.

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