A large percentage of the international consumer behavior and market segmentation literature has focused on the most effective means by which consumers in multiple markets can be understood and those markets organized for successful operations. One of the assumptions in much of this literature is the existence, and increasing influence, of global consumers whose social and cultural differences are overshadowed by their similarities in terms of psychological consumer tendencies. This paper will explore the notion that consumers around the globe are becoming more similar in terms of psychological consumer tendencies. By showing that individuals in diverse markets may be demonstrating tendencies that suggest similar patterns of thinking in their roles as consumers, it should be possible to begin establishing empirical evidence for the existence of global consumers as well as insights into how this might affect both future research and managerial decision making in nondomestic operations.
International marketing refers to a company operating in more than one country whose marketing strategy in each has been chosen deliberately ? from being very diverse to being rigidly standardized between countries. Global marketing is a particular form of international marketing which ? in its purest form ? does not exist. (van Mesdag, 1999) Its essence is that it covers a broad spread of the world's countries and that it strives consciously to standardize its marketing strategy between those countries. The majority of international marketing approaches today are still based predominantly on culture-sensitive adaptation as each new foreign market is entered. This paper will also explore the notion proposed by Kapferer in 1992 that "It is time to realize that the majority of brand ...