【成果速递】The Impact of Marketing Assets of Foreign ...

Cross Cultural & Strategic Management

Published: 23 August 2024

1．Hui Li

Economics and Management College, Civil Aviation University of China, Tianjin 300300, PR China.

2. Lei Xu

Economics and Management College, Civil Aviation University of China, Tianjin 300300, PR China.

3.Junwei Zhang

School of Transportation Science and Engineering, Civil Aviation University of China, Tianjin 300300, PR China.

4.Yingwen Duan

Economics and Management College, Civil Aviation University of China, Tianjin 300300, PR China.

国外子公司的营销资产有助于提高跨国企业（MNEs）的营销动态能力，而营销动态能力对跨国企业的持续竞争力至关重要。本研究旨在探讨中国跨国企业背景下形成营销动态能力所需的海外营销资产的作用机制，研究基于知识和关系的营销资产对中国跨国企业动态营销能力的影响机制以及客户导向的中介效应，考察国外子公司的两种营销资产对中国跨国企业动态营销能力的影响。研究表明，知识型营销资产和关系型营销资产对营销动态能力均有正向影响；客户导向对营销资产与营销动态能力之间的关系具有正向的中介效应，海外市场的竞争力对这一关系有负向调节作用。本研究旨在通过对营销资产和营销动态能力的剖析，补充现有理论，为中国跨国企业国际化战略的制定和实施提供理论指导和管理建议。

The dynamic capabilities approach has become an influential theoretical framework for understanding the transformation of resources and capabilities in dynamic market environment to achieve or maintain sustainable competitive advantages. Multinational enterprises (MNEs) operate in multiple host market environment with varied complexity and dynamism which makes it essential for MNEs to develop dynamic capabilities to compete in global market. Accordingly, there has been increasing attention in international business (IB) research integrating the dynamic capabilities approach to develop a dynamic capability theory of MNEs. IB research has utilized the dynamic capabilities approach to address international expansion, development of organizational flexibility in MNEs to balance local responsiveness and global integration and utilize asset orchestration to develop as meta-national corporations. However, there is a limited understanding on how such capabilities are developed in MNEs considering the organizational structure of geographically dispersed assets in multiple locations. Moreover, dynamic capabilities can take a variety of forms and involve different functions, such as marketing, product or process development which has been ignored in dynamic capabilities literature. Therefore, there is a need to provide more focused studies on dynamic capabilities, for example by looking at how they link to functional capabilities.

This study proposes the following hypotheses based on the dynamic capability perspective, customer-oriented strategic perspective, and the theory of the impact of market environment on marketing strategy selection.

In order to conduct an empirical examination of our hypotheses, we adopted the questionnaire survey method focusing on Chinese MNEs in 2017. We used SPSS 2019 to analyze and process the collected data, and conducted regression analysis on the mediating and moderating effects to draw the research conclusions of this article. We examine 213 Chinese MNEs as a sample to test the effect of knowledge-based and relational-based marketing assets on marketing dynamic capability. This study offers a systematic inquiry focusing on the overseas marketing assets needed for marketing dynamic capability. We use customer orientation as an intermediary variable and the intensity of competition in the overseas market as a regulating variable to explore the process of converting overseas marketing assets into marketing dynamic capability in Chinese MNEs, to seek a general law this process. Finally, we provide theoretical guidance and management suggestions for the formulation and implementation of internationalization strategies of Chinese MNEs.

Managerial insights:

Our results have significant implications for MNEs seeking to expand to overseas markets.

First, if asset seeking is an objective for the MNEs, it is necessary to make an accurate judgment about the attributes of the required resources, and to clarify the value of the assets, so that the asset-seeking strategy has a clear goal, and thus the most valuable high-quality assets can be obtained in the host market.

Second, to effectively improve their marketing dynamic capabilities, they must also clarify the importance of a customer-oriented strategy, focus on collecting and analyzing customer information, and ensure that all their activities are customer-centered. The transformation of overseas marketing assets to marketing dynamic capability requires MNEs to pay attention to the organic coordination of two customer-oriented strategies, and to formulate corresponding customer-oriented strategies based on MNEs’ own needs for the marketing assets.

Third, uncertainties in overseas markets will affect the supply chain allocation of MNEs. MNEs should not only pay attention to the competitive environment of the overseas market, but also deal with the changing overseas market environment through diversified and continuous value innovation.

Our study provides a better understanding of this important relationship for Chinese MNEs.

First, the higher the value of overseas marketing assets, the more conducive they are to the cultivation of marketing dynamic capabilities in MNEs. The higher the value of the relationship-based marketing asset obtained by an MNE in the overseas market, the higher the recognition degree of the stakeholders in the overseas market, and the greater the marketing dynamic capability formed by the MNE through reputation, brand, customer relationship and other resources.

Second, a customer-oriented strategy is an intermediate element connecting overseas marketing assets and marketing dynamic capabilities. Higher-value marketing assets obtained by an MNE in overseas markets are more conducive to the cultivation of marketing dynamic capabilities.

Third, the competition intensity of overseas market negatively moderates the relationship between overseas marketing assets and marketing dynamic capability. The level of marketing knowledge or skills acquired by MNEs using overseas marketing assets will decline, which is not conducive to the creation and transmission of new customer value.

https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/CCSM-01-2024-0006/full/html