A Global Investigation into the Constellation of Consumer Attitudes Toward Global and Local
Products
Steenkamp et al. (2010)
In this article, the authors introduce attitude toward global products (AGP) and attitude toward
local products (ALP) as generalized attitudinal constructs and address the four issues these
constructs raise:
1) How are AGP and ALP related to each other?
2) What is the motivational structure underlying AGP and ALP?
3) Is the proposed theory culturally circumscribed, or does it generalize across countries?
4) What are the managerially relevant implications of these consumer attitudes?
To answer these questions, the authors propose and empirically test an integrated structure for
AGP and ALP and their antecedents, organized around the powerful motivational concept of
values.
They test their theory using a unique data set involving 13,000 respondents from 28 countries in
the Americas, Asia, and Europe, thus allowing for a global investigation of a global issue. The study
findings provide managers with strategic direction on how to market their products in a globalized
world.
Consistent with current trends in globalization, many international companies have moved from the
traditional multidomestic approach, in which local subsidiaries market locally developed products to
the local population, to a global approach, in which firms market their products on a global basis with
only limited adaptation to local markets (Kotabe and Helsen 2010). For example, Procter & Gamble
and Unilever have greatly pruned their number of local products while putting their money behind
products with global potential. An important question involves whether the move toward global
products is consistent with market demands. Many global researchers believe this is not the case.
They posit a basic trade-off between adaptation (local responsiveness) and aggregation (economies
of scale).
We posit that consumers vary systematically and predictably in their attitudes toward global
products (AGP) and in their attitudes toward local products (ALP). Consumers differ systematically on
AGP and ALP in that these attitudes are not just specific to a particular product but rather are
generalized attitudes across a wide variety of product categories. Furthermore, we propose that
consumers differ predictably on AGP and ALP in that these attitudes are not merely stochastic
entities but rather can be understood by people’s underlying motivational structure.
The contributions of this article are to introduce AGP and ALP as generalized attitudinal constructs
and to address the four issues they raise. To achieve this, we propose and empirically test an
integrated structure for AGP and ALP and their antecedents, organized around the powerful
motivational concept of values (Rokeach 1973; Schwartz 1992). We test our theory using a unique
data set involving 13,000 respondents from 28 countries in the Americas, Asia, and Europe. The study
findings provide managers with strategic direction how to market their products in a globalized
world.
, Different consumer waves:
Local products are tailored for local markets and are marketed and distributed only in the
consumer’s home country, and global products are tailored for global markets and marketed and
distributed in many countries around the world (Strizhakova, Coulter, and Price 2008).
1. Some consumers substitute globally diffused products for those from their traditional LCCs.
We refer to this attitudinal response as “homogenization”
2. Other consumers combine a negative AGP with a positive ALP. This combination of attitudes
can be labeled “localization” These consumers prefer local consumption options because
they prefer greater (perceived) authenticity
3. However, various globalization theorists have insisted that the polarity thesis is simplistic, if
not outright wrong, in that significant groups of consumers combine a positive (negative)
AGP with a positive (negative) ALP. Ritzer (2004, p. 163) maintains that “rather than either
one overwhelming the other, the global and the local interpenetrate, producing unique
outcomes in each location.” The complex interaction of the local and the global gives rise to
“glocal” identities of many modern consumers (Strizhakova, Coulter, and Price 2008). Glocal
consumers desire to creatively combine both local and global products in their consumption
repertoire. For example, Kinra (2006) finds that Indian consumers exhibit high favoritism for
local brands, though their preferences for global brands are equally positive and strong.
4. Finally, some consumers combine a negative AGP with a negative ALP. They have become
alienated from contemporary consumer culture, with its “shallow” emphasis on consumption
of increasingly commoditized products, whether they are globally or locally conceived (Slater
1997)—a state we refer to as “glalienation.” Rapid changes in consumer culture may result in
“an acute sense of alienation” and impermanence as people experience a lack of cultural
certainty, or an absence of clear guidelines for how life is to be lived and how to interpret
their experience
National cultural values:
National-cultural values are the most abstract. Smith and Schwartz (1997) argue that the shared
value emphases in a country help shape the reward contingencies to which people must adapt in the
institutions in which they spend most of their time (e.g., families, schools, businesses). As a result,
the members of each nation share many value-relevant social experiences, and they come to accept
similar values. In the words of Inglehart and Baker (2000, p. 37), “Despite the globalization, the
nation remains a key unit of shared experience, and its educational and cultural institutions shape
the values of almost everyone in that society.” Some countries may be, on average, higher in AGP or
ALP than other countries because of systematic differences in their national-cultural value priorities.
Products
Steenkamp et al. (2010)
In this article, the authors introduce attitude toward global products (AGP) and attitude toward
local products (ALP) as generalized attitudinal constructs and address the four issues these
constructs raise:
1) How are AGP and ALP related to each other?
2) What is the motivational structure underlying AGP and ALP?
3) Is the proposed theory culturally circumscribed, or does it generalize across countries?
4) What are the managerially relevant implications of these consumer attitudes?
To answer these questions, the authors propose and empirically test an integrated structure for
AGP and ALP and their antecedents, organized around the powerful motivational concept of
values.
They test their theory using a unique data set involving 13,000 respondents from 28 countries in
the Americas, Asia, and Europe, thus allowing for a global investigation of a global issue. The study
findings provide managers with strategic direction on how to market their products in a globalized
world.
Consistent with current trends in globalization, many international companies have moved from the
traditional multidomestic approach, in which local subsidiaries market locally developed products to
the local population, to a global approach, in which firms market their products on a global basis with
only limited adaptation to local markets (Kotabe and Helsen 2010). For example, Procter & Gamble
and Unilever have greatly pruned their number of local products while putting their money behind
products with global potential. An important question involves whether the move toward global
products is consistent with market demands. Many global researchers believe this is not the case.
They posit a basic trade-off between adaptation (local responsiveness) and aggregation (economies
of scale).
We posit that consumers vary systematically and predictably in their attitudes toward global
products (AGP) and in their attitudes toward local products (ALP). Consumers differ systematically on
AGP and ALP in that these attitudes are not just specific to a particular product but rather are
generalized attitudes across a wide variety of product categories. Furthermore, we propose that
consumers differ predictably on AGP and ALP in that these attitudes are not merely stochastic
entities but rather can be understood by people’s underlying motivational structure.
The contributions of this article are to introduce AGP and ALP as generalized attitudinal constructs
and to address the four issues they raise. To achieve this, we propose and empirically test an
integrated structure for AGP and ALP and their antecedents, organized around the powerful
motivational concept of values (Rokeach 1973; Schwartz 1992). We test our theory using a unique
data set involving 13,000 respondents from 28 countries in the Americas, Asia, and Europe. The study
findings provide managers with strategic direction how to market their products in a globalized
world.
, Different consumer waves:
Local products are tailored for local markets and are marketed and distributed only in the
consumer’s home country, and global products are tailored for global markets and marketed and
distributed in many countries around the world (Strizhakova, Coulter, and Price 2008).
1. Some consumers substitute globally diffused products for those from their traditional LCCs.
We refer to this attitudinal response as “homogenization”
2. Other consumers combine a negative AGP with a positive ALP. This combination of attitudes
can be labeled “localization” These consumers prefer local consumption options because
they prefer greater (perceived) authenticity
3. However, various globalization theorists have insisted that the polarity thesis is simplistic, if
not outright wrong, in that significant groups of consumers combine a positive (negative)
AGP with a positive (negative) ALP. Ritzer (2004, p. 163) maintains that “rather than either
one overwhelming the other, the global and the local interpenetrate, producing unique
outcomes in each location.” The complex interaction of the local and the global gives rise to
“glocal” identities of many modern consumers (Strizhakova, Coulter, and Price 2008). Glocal
consumers desire to creatively combine both local and global products in their consumption
repertoire. For example, Kinra (2006) finds that Indian consumers exhibit high favoritism for
local brands, though their preferences for global brands are equally positive and strong.
4. Finally, some consumers combine a negative AGP with a negative ALP. They have become
alienated from contemporary consumer culture, with its “shallow” emphasis on consumption
of increasingly commoditized products, whether they are globally or locally conceived (Slater
1997)—a state we refer to as “glalienation.” Rapid changes in consumer culture may result in
“an acute sense of alienation” and impermanence as people experience a lack of cultural
certainty, or an absence of clear guidelines for how life is to be lived and how to interpret
their experience
National cultural values:
National-cultural values are the most abstract. Smith and Schwartz (1997) argue that the shared
value emphases in a country help shape the reward contingencies to which people must adapt in the
institutions in which they spend most of their time (e.g., families, schools, businesses). As a result,
the members of each nation share many value-relevant social experiences, and they come to accept
similar values. In the words of Inglehart and Baker (2000, p. 37), “Despite the globalization, the
nation remains a key unit of shared experience, and its educational and cultural institutions shape
the values of almost everyone in that society.” Some countries may be, on average, higher in AGP or
ALP than other countries because of systematic differences in their national-cultural value priorities.
