International marketing and competitive strategies of ‘Made in Italy’: an empirical investigation on medium sized firms

Medium-sized firms can play a leading role in the Italian industrial system, provided they invest in intangibles and internationalization. These two conditions are interrelated: the international orientation of medium-sized firms – that cannot rely on market power and scale economies – is linked to the will to operate in specific market segments, in compliance with focus and differentiation strategies, that require the extension of managerial activities across national borders to sustain growth.This paper analyses the international marketing strategies of medium-sized firms, identifying the decisions whether to standardize or adapt the marketing mix from the domestic to the international market and the relationship with the international performances.Methodology is based on a survey on the manufacturing medium-sized firms in Campania (Italy), with a final sample of 50 companies and a response rate of 32,5%.Results show that medium-sized Made in Italy firms mainly tend to standardize the product and communication policies. The prevailing tendency is a gradual growth according to an internationalization path in which the product offering becomes established in the national market and then opens up to the international ones, mainly without adjustments. When any adaptation occurs, it mainly regards the extended product – above all communication aspects – rather then the core product. Therefore, our research brings out a “marketing intensive” adaptation model of the offering system – rather than a “manufacturing intensive” one – which mainly occurs out of the farmer.Contrary to the main tendency, the higher international performances are associated to a product standardization strategy, based on a born-global offering.