Title: Normative diplomacy to support market positioning: postures of Basque international niche market leaders

Authors: Bart Kamp

Addresses: Orkestra-Basque Institute of Competitiveness and Deusto Business School, Deusto University, Billbao/San Sebastian, Madrid, Spain

Abstract: This paper presents insights from 24 international niche market leaders from the Basque Country and their participation in international committees where product or material safety and quality standards are adopted for the markets that they operate in. It finds that approximately half of them participate in these 'arenas'. Those that do so participate primarily for the following reasons. 'Competitive' purposes: proposing ideas to improve the positioning of the own company (corporate diplomacy); 'Informational' purposes: participating to keep abreast of new developments and regulations, and to contribute with information about own novelties (business diplomacy); Acting in an 'ombudsman' spirit: supporting requests expressed by customers (business diplomacy). Altogether, it discerns a tendency among the analysed firms to attach an increasing importance to diplomacy acts. This suggests that it may be of interest to encourage more companies to take an active role in the standard-setting processes that affect their products and markets.

Keywords: diplomacy; norms; standards; regulations; niche markets; international business; hidden champions.

DOI: 10.1504/IJDIPE.2021.118855

International Journal of Diplomacy and Economy, 2021 Vol.7 No.2, pp.146 - 162

Received: 01 Jun 2021
Accepted: 18 Aug 2021
Published online: 08 Nov 2021 *

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