Partnerships in cross-cultural marketing and retail internationalization: research propositions

An under-researched area in cross-cultural marketing is the multistep partnership between local retailers and multinational retailers. Local retailers not only bring in multinational retailers to their own country, but they continue to partner with the same multinational retailers to expand to adjacent countries. This increases the likelihood of consumer receptiveness to new-to-the-market retail concepts. Hence, the effectiveness of cross-cultural marketing is heightened through the partnership and localization expertise of the local retailer and the multinational retailer. The knowledge that this partnership brings can also encourage local retailers to develop their own retail concepts and expand these abroad. This chapter highlights the importance of studying the role of local retailers in cross-cultural marketing of new retail concepts. Drawing on Mathews’ newcomers’ theory and analyzing case histories, we argue that local retailers seek multinational partnerships to build up their resource base and develop other business operations. Moreover, such development engenders growth and makes internationalization possible for the local retailer.