Final Remarks

Abstract

Retailing was originally a local business; therefore retailers are torn between pushing their global retail brand and adopting it locally, especially Western retailers in emerging countries. For two decades, retail companies have internationalized dynamically (Swoboda, Zentes and Elsner 2009), with the current focus on emerging countries, driven by growth opportunities in these countries, such as high growth rates, growing middle-class, weakness of emerging market firms, and maturation of retailing in developed economies (Goldman 2001). However, years after entering emerging countries and adapting marketing offers based on local learning and knowledge of the local environment, international retailers have to emphasize their competitive advantage in order to stand out against the growing competition from emerging market firms. This challenge includes the balancing act between adopting the offer locally to respond to cultural heterogeneity and taking advantage at the same time of a global brand appearance. Findings from China, as an emerging country, that liberate market access to foreign entries may be considered ground-breaking for the challenges of retail internationalization in other emerging countries that are more restrictive in their market access or hold a higher country risk (e.g., India, Brazil, and Chile).