Editorial

Citation

Cadogan, J.W. and Whitelock, J. (2008), "Editorial", International Marketing Review, Vol. 25 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/imr.2008.03625faa.001

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: International Marketing Review, Volume 25, Issue 6

Welcome to the last issue of our 25th Anniversary volume, a further milestone in the development of IMR. We are delighted that this year has seen our Thomson Scientific/ISI impact factor rise once again (to 0.508) and we are confident that this will continue to improve over the coming year and into the future.

We have celebrated our 25th birthday in a number of ways this year. We were pleased that many of you were able to attend our reception at AIB’s 50th Anniversary at Bocconi University in Milan in July. We were also pleased to give an award for the best paper on an international marketing topic at this conference. Congratulations to Oscar Martin Martin and Julio Cervino Fernandez for their paper, “Exploring the determinants of brand country of origin recognition”. Similar awards will also be presented at EIBA and ANZMAC in December. Finally, with the launch this year of Emerald Backfiles (the digitization by the British Library of our back archives) this year, readers can now get online access to all 25 volumes of IMR content. And, of course, we established Manuscript Central as our on-line system for managing the systems and processes of submission and review for IMR. Although there have inevitably been minor teething problems, we are sure this system will continue to allow us to offer an enhanced and easily accessible service to our authors and reviewers.

And so on to the five papers that make up this issue. Chiao et al. (2008), deal with an emerging topic in the international marketing literature; the performance of subsidiaries and their role in the internationalization of the firm (Diamantopoulos and Schlegelmilch, 1987; Martínez and Quelch, 1996; Novicevic and Harvey, 2004; Pehrsson, forthcoming; Shaw, 2001). Using a secondary data source to test their conceptual model, Chiao et al.’s (2008) findings indicate that subsidiary-specific advantages drive subsidiary internationalization and subsidiary performance. The study paves the way for much research in this area, including work that investigates the issue of subsidiary-specific advantages in more detail.

The second paper by Obadia (2008) focuses on the relationships between exporters and importers, extending work by Ambler and Styles (2000) and Leonidou (2003), among others. Obadia’s (2008) thesis is that norms for cooperation can affect importers’ distributive performance (although this is dependent, to some degree, on past performance). Furthermore, following Obadia’s (2008) arguments, it appears that norms for cooperation can be developed more easily (to an exporter’s advantage) if exporters choose distributors that are trustworthy and enter the relationship with a long-term focus (i.e. with continuity expectations). Research potential flowing from this study appears to hinge around the identification of additional antecedents to the norm for cooperation.

The third paper by Blesa and Ripollés (2008), contributes to the resource-based view literature stream within the international marketing field. The authors show that marketing capabilities not only encourage firms to increase their international commitment, but also play a role in shaping the entry mode choices international marketers make. Through these two mechanisms, the authors demonstrate that marketing capabilities have an indirect relationship with international performance. Blesa and Ripollés (2008) research complements forthcoming research in IMR on marketing capabilities (Camison and Villar, forthcoming), as well as adding depth and richness to the well established and growing entry mode decisions research stream (Ekeledo and Sivakumar, 2004; Elg et al., 2008; Forlani et al., 2008).

The fourth paper is by Elg et al. (2008). The authors adopt a qualitative approach to investigate retailer market entry into emerging markets. Using data collected from IKEA employees in Sweden, Russia and China, the authors extend models of market entry to develop greater understanding of the role of matching and network capabilities in successful market entry. The paper is a timely supplement to the growing body of literature investigating the entry and divestment decisions international retailers are making (Hutchinson et al., 2006; Plamer and Quinn, 2007; Samiee et al., 2004).

Finally, building on IMR’s tradition of publishing research on international dimensions of e-marketing (Sheth and Sharma, 2005; Krishnamurthy and Singh, 2005; Murphy and Scharl, 2007), Berthon et al. (2008) study the concept of trans-national e-readiness, which they define as a country’s amenability to trans-national internet-based opportunities. Using secondary data to guide them, the authors develop a model of the micro-level and macro-level antecedents to countries’ trans-national e-readiness. Their findings indicate, for example, that nations’ corruption levels have a strong relationship with e-readiness (i.e. individuals in less corrupt nations are more receptive to e-marketing efforts), as do cultural values.

May we take this opportunity to thank all of you – authors, reviewers and special issue editors – for your very valuable and much appreciated support during this 25th year. We look forward, with your help, to improving the standing and reputation of our journal still further over the next 25 years.

John W. Cadogan and Jeryl Whitelock