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Title: Enablers of international product customisation strategy - a Swedish case

Authors: Daniella Fjellström; Aihie Osarenkhoe; Thomas Roe

Addresses: Department of Business and Economic Studies, University of Gävle, Gävle, Sweden ' Department of Business and Economic Studies, University of Gävle, Gävle, Sweden ' The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation, Wexford, County Wexford, Ireland

Abstract: The aim of this study is to understand what factors influence companies to customise products international customers and markets. A qualitative case study with semi-structured interviews was conducted at one multinational corporation to gain insights into its product customisation strategy. The findings demonstrate how internationalisation can impact product customisation and identify four factors in the customisation process: culture, internationalisation, knowledge transfer, and product strategy. Tailored marketing strategies that influenced the international product customisation strategy (IPCS) were used. This study augmented on our understanding of how product customisation impacts internationalisation and vice versa, revealing the importance of knowledge transfer in IPCS and its growing impact due to digitalisation. It also shows how both B2B marketing and a tailored marketing strategy are overarching themes in international product customisation, making it one of few studies to recognise the relevance of omnichannel strategy in the B2B market segment.

Keywords: digitalisation; knowledge transfer; internationalisation; product customisation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBE.2023.129929

International Journal of Business Environment, 2023 Vol.14 No.2, pp.240 - 276

Received: 08 Jul 2021
Accepted: 11 Aug 2022
Published online: 03 Apr 2023 *