International product strategies: An exploratory study

The search for different strategies that take account of the balance between the standardization of products across market segments and their adaptation to single segments, is a crucial area of research in the field of international business strategy. However, research needs to be more inductively oriented, and should therefore start by exploring patterns in the business-level strategies employed by businesses competing in two distinct local markets. This article presents an empirical survey study that searches for types of international business strategies focusing on the product standardization/adaptation dilemma. The strategies are concerned with industrial products and markets in terms of users, and the strategies distinguish Swedish international businesses operating in Sweden and Germany. With the help of multivariate analysis three types of international business strategy are identified: business concentration, product adaptation and user divergence. In the business concentration strategy, similarities in user characteristics and product design across national boundaries are emphasized. In the case of the user divergence strategy, standardization refers to the product only, while product adaptation involves localizing the product and customizing it to satisfy local needs.