Mind the standardization gap: An emerging market phenomenon
提出“标准化差距”概念，指消费者与经理人对全球品牌营销组合标准化的感知差异。基于新兴市场三方数据发现，消费者认为品牌标准化程度低于实际，这种差距影响品牌资产和市场份额，但产品标准化感知会触发正反两种机制相互抵消。
This paper introduces the “standardization gap” as perceptual differences between consumers and managers regarding a global brand’s standardization of its marketing mix. Studies utilizing triadic data from managers, consumers, and advertisements document that emerging market consumers perceive global brands as less standardized than they are. A perceived “standardization gap” exists in product characteristics and positioning. Positioning standardization gaps decrease consumers’ brand equity, willingness to pay , and the brand’s market share in the subsidiary market. Interestingly, consumers’ product standardization perceptions trigger two opposing mechanisms, a positive mechanism via better tailoring to local needs and a negative mechanism through inferences of lower quality and inferior products. These opposing mechanisms cancel each other out in affecting consumer brand equity. Managers can enhance positioning standardization perceptions by standardizing advertising in emerging markets. However, standardized advertising is less effective in shaping product standardization perceptions.