ABSTRACT
The discussion on global standardisation or local market adaptation is one of the key issues in international marketing. Intuitively, it is easy to understand that the firm should adapt to local tastes and requirements and that these are in immediate conflict with the central demands of rationalisation and scale economies leading to standardised solutions – both in marketing and manufacturing. In this chapter, we shall discuss this conflict and its causes, and give examples of how it has been solved in different firms. In subsequent chapters, on the marketing mix elements, we shall return to the discussion and explore how each of them is affected by the conflict.
