5. Discussion and conclusions
5.1. Contributions to the literature
This research makes theoretical contributions to various research streams (see Table 4). To begin with, the study advances entrepreneurship theory and practice in international marketing. Earlier studies suggest that entrepreneurial marketing can assist firms to identify, evaluate, and exploit entrepreneurial opportunities and to obtain and renew competitive advantage (Morris et al., 2002; Miles & Darroch, 2006). This research has integrated the knowledge available from the entrepreneurial marketing literature and conducted research specific to the MNC context to address whether and how MNCs can be more entrepreneurial in international marketing. This paper offers a contextualized exploration of the international entrepreneurial marketing strategies that MNC marketing managers have developed and implemented in the changing digitized business environment. In doing so, the paper responds to calls to present new marketing concepts and improve the conceptual foundations of international marketing research (Douglas & Craig, 2006; Katsikeas, 2014).
Despite extant IB research providing valuable knowledge on international entrepreneurial marketing strategies in rapidly internationalizing entrepreneurial firms (Hallbäck & Gabrielsson, 2013; Kocak & Abimbola, 2009; Mort et al., 2012), it may not contribute significantly to developing a good understanding of how international entrepreneurial marketing strategies can be utilized in MNCs. Hence, this study contributes to IB research by exploring the form and content of international marketing strategies in MNCs. The strategies identified in the MNC case include co-innovation, accelerating customer value, and international expansion based on regional market leadership. Moreover, the research suggests that international entrepreneurial marketing strategies are not identical in MNCs and rapidly internationalizing entrepreneurial firms.
