Marketing in Culturally Distant Countries

The aim of this book is to offer up-to-date insights into the challenges for international firms represented by managing their marketing mix in “distant” countries, especially considering the role played by cultural distance. Building on the famous McCarthy’s “4Ps,” and on the concept of “cultural distance,” the book outlines some key challenges and opportunities for firms that manage international marketing policies about “product,” “price,” “place,” and “promotion” in culturally distant markets. At the same time, the book looks at extant conceptualizations and approaches considering the evolving environmental forces, which are contributing to further challenges for firms that are confronted with changing economic and social scenarios. Indeed, markets and societies are increasingly affected by multiculturalism, and new patterns in consumers’ behaviors have emerged due to the proliferation of digital technologies and, more recently,due to several market disruptions such as the COVID-19 pandemic. How do firms manage culturally distant and increasingly evolving cultural environments is a relevant topic worthy of discussion from both a theoretical perspective and a practice-based approach, through the analysis of real-world case studies. Researchers of cross-cultural marketing and practitioners intending to get acquainted with the latest research on the topic would particularly benefit from this book.

Giovanna Magnani is Associate Professor of International Business and Management at the Department of Economics and Management of the University of Pavia (Italy) where she is vice director of the Ph.D. program in applied economics and management. Giovanna is co-chair of the annual ENTERYNG Workshop (ENTreprenEurship Research workshop for YouNG scholars) in partnership with EIASM (The European Institute for Advanced Studies in Management) and SIMA (Italian Society of Management). She has been visiting scholar at the University of Queensland (Australia), IAELyon Management School (France), and Georgia State University (US). Dr. Magnani's research interests span the fields of international entrepreneurship and international business in particular uncertainty-coping strategies, the role of learning and cognition in entering foreign distant markets, global value chain dynamics, and their re-configuration in consequence to the adoption of new technologies. She has published in many international and national refereed journals. In 2018, her work was recognized with the International Business Review best paper of the year award, and in 2020, she received the European Management Journal's best paper of the year award.