| Summary: | It has been suggested that marketers must understand cultural differences in order to develop their marketing programmes across borders. Conversely, it is also argued that defined groups, in different countries, can be targeted in a similar way. These two perspectives raised the question that ‘to which extent should marketing programmes be standardised across the world’. The issues of Standardisation versus Adaptation in global marketing have received substantial attention from researchers over the past three decades. Opinions have varied, and the debate continues, lively, today. This has stressed the importance of cross-countries marketing programme research for practical and academic alike. This research sets out to investigate how suppliers of global companies presently interpret the need for adaptation in an emergent and increasingly relevant market (Libya) and how Libyan consumers react to their decisions through identify the influence of foreign marketing programmes on their buying behaviour. Also, to determine how Libyan consumers are influenced by marketing programmes according to individual characteristics to build a model for their buying behaviour. The research consists of two phases to study the foreign marketing programme in Libya from two different points of views. Firstly, using structured interviews with the managers of four home appliances subsidiary agents in Libya, the actual degree of marketing programme standardisation currently adopted for fast-moving consumer/household goods was determined in Libyan market. Secondly, using a survey of 805 randomly chosen consumers, located in three major urban conurbations (Tripoli, Benghazi and Sabha), the research identifies what factors should be taken as significant variables in understanding the impact of foreign marketing programmes on Libyan consumers. The findings showed that foreign companies tend to apply a standardisation perspective to their marketing activities, but that this is neither consistently, nor – to some degree – effectively applied. Furthermore, the research revealed that buying behaviour of Libyan consumers was more a function of individual difference than of localised adaptation variables. In conclusion, the thesis may be stated that the understanding of consumer characteristics within the regional context (Arab/Islam) is the key consideration in designing marketing programme for this part of the world.
|
|---|
