Adattamento e standardizzazione nella comunicazione internazionale: una comparazione tra aziende globali, etnocentriche e policentriche

This study aims at understanding whether and to what extent companies operating internationally need some degree of adaptation of their communication activities. Companies competing at international level can adopt a global, an ethnocentric or a polycentric approach. Each of these approaches prelude to communication strategy standardization or adaptation. Polycentric companies are expected to adapt their communication activities according to the country where they are running their business, whereas global and ethnocentric companies are supposed to standardize their communication strategies. The research questions if also global and ethnocentric companies adapt their communications activities to some extent. The analysis compares the communication activities of 37 international retailers with global, ethnocentric or polycentric approach. The comparison is based on the information available on the corporate and local websites which regards the companies’ corporate identity, media relations, marketing communications and corporate social responsibility initiatives. The paper discusses two aspects. First, the relationship between the level of standardization or adaptation of communication activities and the global, ethnocentric or polycentric approach adopted by each company. Second, the influence of the level of internationalization, the home country, the industry, the dimension and the age of the companies on the adaptation/standardization strategies. The analysis shows that even global and ethnocentric companies tends to adapt some aspects of their communication initiatives. Further it highlights that the industry and the country of origin influence the standardization/adaptation communication strategies. The exploratory nature of this study cannot lead to definitive conclusions. However the tendency to adaptation makes it evident the need for communication professionals to develop their cultural mediating capabilities.