Lessons for pan‐European marketing? The role of consumer preferences in fine‐tuning the product‐market fit

The advantages and disadvantages of global marketing standardization are well documented. Managers, however, often view the standardization versus adaptation debate as a black and white issue. Yet there is an important middle ground which, for example, includes the use of standardized international branding together with the adaptation of product specifications to national preferences. Such fine‐tuning can lead to substantial competitive advantages for internationally active companies. Suggests a methodology that can be employed for assessing the scope for product standardization. Using the newly created European Union as an empirical backdrop, focuses on product attribute preferences of British and German consumers with regard to automobile purchases. The application of a partially‐individualized conjoint analysis enables the quantification of the expressed preferences in each country and provides managerially relevant information on the product attributes that should or should not be standardized.