What Drives Performance in Globally Focused Marketing Organizations? A Three-Country Study

In marketing, compared with other organizational dimensions such as leadership, culture, structure, and processes, relatively scant attention has been devoted to the effect of strategy on firm performance, especially in the global context. Rapid globalization of markets, along with ever-increasing dynamic demands on the marketing organization, necessitates a new examination. This article reports on a study that examines the role of strategy and other organizational forces on the performance of globally focused marketing organizations headquartered in Norway, Sweden, and the United States. The general findings indicate that (1) the constructs of leadership, strategy, and culture precede the globally focused marketing organization's structure; (2) strategy precedes structure; and (3) organizational structure and processes influence marketing and financial performance. Many relationships appear to be consistent across countries, and some are uniquely tied to the home-country markets.