Abstract
This study explores the general problems associated with marketing across international markets and focuses specifically on the role of corruption in deterring international marketing success. The authors do this by introducing a broader conceptualization of corruption. The dimensions of corruption and their importance in explaining the exporters’ successes in international markets are developed empirically. Partial Least Squares formative indicators are used in a comprehensive model including consumer resources (wealth and information resources), physical distance (kilometers and time zones), and cultural distance (linguistic and values differences) as alternative explanatory variables. Finally, differences in the model’s performance across data from three exporting countries (France, Japan, and the US) are delineated and discussed. For example, the successes of French and Japanese exporters in international markets are in part determined by the levels of corruption in target countries. Alternatively, corruption in target countries does not appear to affect the successes of American exporters in global markets. The conceptualization of corruption in this study extends the more narrow view of corruption solely as bribery.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Abbreviations
- PLS:
-
Partial Least Squares
- FCPA:
-
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
- OECD:
-
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
- IP:
-
Intellectual property
- SARS:
-
Severe acute respiratory syn- drome
- HIV:
-
Human immunodeficiency virus
- CPI:
-
Corruption Perception Index
- TICPI:
-
Transparency International Corruption Perception Index
- ROC:
-
Rela-tionship-oriented culture
- IOC:
-
Information-oriented culture
- PDI:
-
Power-Distance Index
- IDV:
-
Individualism Index
- UAI:
-
Uncertainty Avoidance Index
- MAS:
-
Masculinity Index
References
Adler N.J., Graham J.L.: 1989. ‹Cross-cultural interaction - the international comparison fallacy’, Journal of International Business Studies 20, 515-37.
Aidt T.S.: 2003, ‹Economic analysis of corruption: a survey’, Economic Journal 113, F632-F652.
Alam M.S.: 1995, ‹A theory of limits on corruption and some applications’, Kyklos 48, 419-35.
Ali A., Isse H.S.: 2003, ‹Determinants of economic corruption: a cross-country comparison’, Cato Journal 22, 449.
Argandoña, A: 2007, ‹The United Nations convention against corruption and its impact on international companies’, Journal of Business Ethics 74, 481-496.
Brademas, J. and Heimann F.: 1998, ‹Tackling international corruption: no longer taboo’, Foreign Affairs 77,17.
Brahm R., Adler, N.J., Graham, J.L.: 1992, ‹Business negotiations in the Peoples Republic of China’, Strategic Management Journal 13, 449-466.
Business Software Alliance: 2005, ‹Annual Piracy Report’, www.bsa.org. Accessed 10 Jan 2005
Cateora, P.R., Gilly, M.C., and Graham, J.L.: 2009, International Marketing (McGraw-Hill Irwin: New York).
CIA Factbook: 2005, www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html. Accessed Jan 2006.
Cronbach, L.J. and Meehl, P.E.: 1995, ‹Construct validity in psychological tests’, Psychological Bulletin 52, 281-302.
Davis, J.H. and Ruhe, J.A.: 2003, ‹Perceptions of country corruption: antecedents and outcomes’, Journal of Business Ethics 43, 275-288.
Diamantopoulos, A. and Winklhofer, H.M.: 2001, ‹Index construction with formative indicators: an alternative to scale development’, Journal of Marketing Research 38, 269-77.
Donleavy, G.D., Lam, K.J., Ho, S.S.M.: 2008, ‹Does East meet West in business ethics: An introduction to the special issue’, Journal of Business Ethics 79, 1-8.
Everett, J., Neu, D., Rahaman, A.S.: 2006, ‹The global fight against corruption: a Foucaultian, virtues-ethics framing’, Journal of Business Ethics 65, 1-12.
Falk, F. and Miller, N.B.: 1992, A Primer for Soft Modeling (University of Akron Press: Akron, OH).
Fornell, C. and Bookstein, F.L.: 1982, ‹Two structural equation models: LISREL and PLS applied to consumer exit-voice theory’, Journal of Marketing Research 19, 440-452.
Freund, C.L. and Weinhold, D.: 2004, ‹The effect of the Internet on international trade’, Journal of International Economics 62, 171-89.
Fukuyama, F.: 1995, ‹Value change in global perspective’, Foreign Affairs 74, 118-19.
Hayward, J.E.S.: 1983, ‹The European economy - growth and crisis’, International Affairs 59, 755-56.
Hodgson, J.D., Sano, Y., and Graham, J.L.: 2008, Doing Business with the New Japan Rowman & Littlefield: Boulder, CO.
Hofstede, G.: 1980, Culture’s Consequence: International Differences in Work-related Values (SAGE Publications: Thousand Oaks, CA).
Hofstede, G : 1991, Culture and Organizations: Software of the Mind (McGraw Hill Company: New York).
Hofstede, G: 2001, Culture and Organizations: Comparing Values, Behavior, and Organizational across Nations (2nd ed.) (SAGE Publications: Thousand Oaks, CA).
Houston, H.R. and Graham, J.L.: 2001, ‹Culture and corruption in international markets: implications for policy makers and managers’, Consumption, Markets and Culture 4, 207-343.
Husted, B.W.: 1999, ‹Wealth, culture, and corruption’, Journal of International Business Studies 30, 339-59.
Ishii, Y., A. Konishi, T. Kuroda, S. Sugawara, T. Umeda, and K. Yamazaki: 2006, National Integrity Systems, Transparency International Country Study Report, Japan 2006 (Transparency International: Berlin), transparency.de
Jarvis, C.B., Mackenzie, S.B., Podsakoff, P.M., Mick, P.M., Glen, D., and Beardon, W.O.: 2003, ‹A critical review of construct indicators and measurement model misspecification in marketing and consumer research’, Journal of Consumer Research 30, 199-218.
Jing, R. and Graham, J.L.: 2008,’Values vs. regulations: How culture plays its role’, Journal of Business Ethics 80, 791-806.
Kaikati, J.G. and Label, W.A.: 1980, ‹American bribery legislation - an obstacle to international marketing’, Journal of Marketing 44, 38-43.
Kogut, B. and Singh, H.: 1988, ‹The effect of national culture on the choice of entry mode’, Journal of International Business Studies 19, 411-32.
Kotler, P.: 2000, Marketing Management (Prentice-Hall, Inc: Upper Saddle River, NJ).
Lam, N.M. and Graham, J.L.: 2007, China Now, Doing Business in the World’s Most Dynamic Market (McGraw-Hill: New York, NY).
Maor, M.: 2004, ‹Feeling the heat? Anticorruption mechanisms in comparative perspective’, Governance-an International Journal of Policy and Administration 17, 1-28.
Mitra, D. and Golder, P.N.: 2002, ‹Whose culture matters? near-market knowledge and its impact on foreign market entry timing’, Journal of Marketing Research 39, 350-65.
National Geographic Mapmachine: 2004, ‹National Geographic Mapmachine’, http://plasma.nationalgeographic.com/mapmachine/. Accessed Jan 2006.
Nisbett, R.: 2003, The Geography of Thought (Free Press: New York).
Ogus, A.I.: 1995, ‹Law and economics in the United Kingdom - past, present, and future’, Journal of Law and Society 22, 26-34.
Park, H.: 2003, ‹Determinants of corruption: a cross-national analysis’, Multinational Business Review 11, 29.
Pavarala, V.: 1996, Interpreting Corruption, Elite Perspectives in India (Sage Publications: Thousand Oaks, CA and New Dehli).
Perry, A.C.: 1992, The Evolution of US Trade Intermediaries, The Changing International Environment (Quorum Books: Connecticut).
Prahalad, C.K.: 2005, The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid (Wharton School Publishing: Philadelphia, PA).
Redding, S. and Schott, P.K.: 2003, ‹Distance, skill deepening and development: will peripheral countries ever get rich?’ Journal of Development Economics 72, 515-41.
Roget’s International Thesaurus: 2001, (Thomas Y. Crowell, New York, NY)
Sandholtz, W. and Gray, M.: 2004, ‹International Integration and National Corruption’, Working Paper
Sanyal, R.: 2005, ‹Determinants of bribery in international business: the cultural and economic factors’, Journal of Business Ethics 59, 139-145.
Scholtens, B. and Dam, L.: 2007, ‹Cultural values and international differences in business ethics’, Journal of Business Ethics 75, 273-285.
Sheffet, M. J. and R. J. Calantone: 1993, Reviewing the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act: Did US Firms Change Their Behavior? Proceedings American Marketing Association (Summer), Chicago
Shenkar, O.: 2001, ‹Cultural distance revisited: towards a more rigorous conceptualization and measurement of cultural differences’, Journal of International Business Studies 32, 519-35.
Smith, A.: 1776, The Wealth of Nations, Book IV (Modern Library: New York, NY. 1994).
Stern, L.W. and Reve, T.: 1980, ‹Distribution channels as political economies - a framework for comparative analysis’, Journal of Marketing 44, 52-64.
Swartz, K.: 2005, Great Circle Mapper.
Transparency International: 2005, 2007, www.transparency.de. Accessed Jan 2006.
Triandis, H.C.: 1977, The Analysis of Subjective Culture (Wiley-Interscience: New York).
Tripodo, G. and Dazzi, N.: 1995, ‹Market attractiveness of developing countries’, Socio-Economic Planning Sciences 29, 287-303.
UCIrvine, Citizen Peacebuilding Project: 2006, ‹Citizen Peacebuilding Project: Peace Monitor, Countries’, www.cpbp.org. Accessed Jan 2006.
US Department of Justice: 2004, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
Usunier, J.C.: 1998, International and Cross-Cultural Management Research (Sage: London).
Wathne, K.H. and Heide, J.B.: 2004, ‹Relationship governance in a supply chain network’, Journal of Marketing 68, 73-89.
Weber, M.: 1930, The Protestant Work Ethic and Spirit of Capitalism (Allen & Unwin: London 1976).
Webster’s Eleventh New Collegiate Dictionary: 2007, (Merriam-Webster, Springfield, MA)
Wei, S. J. and A. Shleifer: 2000, ‹Local Corruption and Global Capital Flows’, Brookings Papers on Economic Activity 31(2), 303
West, J. and Graham, J.L.: 2004, ‹A linguistics-based measure of culture and its relationship to managerial values’, Management International Review 44, 239-260.
Winters, L.A.: 2004, ‹Trade liberalisation and economic performance: an overview’, Economic Journal 114, F4-F21.
World Bank: 2004, ‹World Bank Development Indicators Online Database’, www.Worldbank.org. Accessed Jan 2006.
World Health Organization: 2004, ‹World Report on Violence and Health’, www.who.org. Accessed Jan 2006.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Chandler, J.D., Graham, J.L. Relationship-Oriented Cultures, Corruption, and International Marketing Success. J Bus Ethics 92, 251–267 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-009-0152-7
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-009-0152-7