Abstract
This study explores multinationals’ online standardisation in terms of the similarity between home country and host country sites in logo, colour, layout, textual information, static visuals, and interactive images. We compare the home websites of 64 American brands, chosen from Business Week’s brand ranking, with their websites created in Germany, France, and Spain. The findings suggest that American brands are likely to tailor the specific website components to each market, while maintaining a minimum level of uniformity for the European markets, in logo, colour, and layout. Other components, such as textual information and visual images, tend to be dissimilar across markets.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Batra, R., J. G. Myers and D. A. Aaker (1996), Advertising Management, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
BusinessWeek (2002), “The 100 Top Brands.” August 5, 95–99.
De Mooij, M. (1998), Global marketing and advertising: Understanding cultural paradox. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Dou, W., U. O. Nielsen and C. M. Tan (2002), “Using corporate websites for exporting marketing”, in Journal of Advertising Research, 42, September/October, 105–115.
Duncan, T. and J. Ramaprasad (1995), “Standardized multinational advertising: The influencing factors”, in Journal of Advertising, 24,3, 55–67.
Ghose, S. and W. Dou (1998), “Interactive functions and their impacts on the appeal of Internet presence sites”, in Journal of Advertising Research, 38, March/April, 29–43.
Global Reach (2003), “Global Internet statistics (by language)”, available at: http://globalreach.biz/globstats/index.php3
Gould, S.J., D.B. Lerman, and A.F. Grein (1999), “Agency perceptions and practices on global IMC”, in Journal of Advertising Research, January/February, 7–20.
Ha, L. and E.L. James (1998), “Interactivity reexamined: A baseline analysis of early business Web sites”, in Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, 42,4, 457–469.
Hair, J.F., R.L. Tatham, R.E. Anderson, and W. Black (1998), Multivariate Data Analysis, 5th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall International.
Harris, G. (1994), “International advertising standardization: What do the multinationals actually standardize?” in Journal of International Marketing, 2,4, 13–30.
Hwang, J.S., S.J. McMillan, and G. Lee (2003), “Corporate Web sites as advertising: An analysis of function, audience, and message strategy”, in Journal of Interactive Advertising, 3,2, available at: http://jiad.org/vol3/no2/mcmillan/index.htm
Kolbe, R. H. and M. S. Burnett (1991), “Content-analysis research: An examination of applications with directives for improving research reliability and objectivity”, in Journal of Consumer Research, 18, September, 243–250.
Krippendorff, K. (1980), Content analysis: An introduction to its methodology, Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.
Lynch, P.D., R.J. Kent, and S.S. Srinivasan, (2001), “The global Internet shopper: Evidence from shopping tasks in twelve countries”, in Journal of Advertising Research, 41, May/June, 15–22.
Mehta, A. (1992), “Global markets and standardized advertising: Is it happening? An analysis of common brands in USA and UK”, in Proceedings of the 1992 Conference of the American Academy of Advertising, ed. L. N. Reid, American Academy of Advertising, 170–171.
Mueller, B. (1991), “An analysis of information content in standardized vs. specialized multinational advertisements”, in Journal of International Business Studies, First Quarter, 23–39.
Okazaki, S. and J. Alonso (2002), “A content analysis of Web communication strategies: Crosscultural research framework and pre-testing”, in Internet Research: Electronic Networking, Applications and Policy, 12,5, 380–390.
Perreault, W.D., Jr. and L.E. Leigh (1989), “Reliability of nominal data based on qualitative judgments”, in Journal of Marketing Research, 26, May, 135–148.
Philport, J.C. and J. Arbittier (1997), “Advertising: Brand communications styles in established media and the Internet”, in Journal of Advertising Research, 37, March/April, 68–76.
Quelch, J. and L. Klein (1996), “The Internet and international marketing”, in Sloan Management Review, 37, 60–76.
Roberts, M. S. and H. Ko (2001), “Global interactive advertising: Defining what we mean and using what we have learned”, in Journal of Interactive Advertising, 1, 2, Available: http://jiad.org/htm.
Samiee, S., I. Jeogn, J. H. Pae and S. Tai (2003), “Advertising standardization in multinational corporations: The subsidiary perspective”, in Journal of Business Research, 56, 613–626.
Taylor, C. R. and C. M. Johnson (2002), “Standardized vs. specialized international advertising campaigns: What we have learned from academic research in the 1990s”, in New Directions in International Advertising Research, 12, 45–66.
Tharp, M. and J. Jeong (2001), “Executive insights: The global network communications agency”, in Journal of International Marketing, 9,4, 111–131.
The EIU ebusiness forum (2002), “The Economist Intelligent Unit e-readiness rankings, July 2002”, Available: http://www.ebusinessforum.com/.
Whitelock, J. and D. Chung (1989), “Cross-cultural advertising: An empirical study”, in International Journal of Advertising, 8,3, 291–310.
World Advertising Research Center (2002), The European Marketing Pocket Book 2003, World Advertising Research Center, Henley-on-Thames, UK.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2006 Deutscher Universitäts-Verlag ∣ GWV Fachverlage GmbH, Wiesbaden
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Okazaki, S. (2006). Comparative evaluation of American brands’ websites in Europe: what do they standardise?. In: Diehl, S., Terlutter, R. (eds) International Advertising and Communication. DUV. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-8350-5702-2_20
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-8350-5702-2_20
Publisher Name: DUV
Print ISBN: 978-3-8350-0455-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-8350-5702-9
eBook Packages: Business and EconomicsBusiness and Management (R0)