Case study: Developing a pan‐European co‐marketing alliance: the case of BP‐Mobil

Over the past 15 years, firms have entered increasingly into international strategic alliances, often with a partner firm in the same business in order to accelerate market growth. However, limited empirical attention has been devoted to this alternative means of organizing international marketing strategy. The purpose of this case study of the pan‐European BP‐Mobil collaboration is to provide readers interested in international co‐marketing alliances with insights into organizational problems and likely success impediments germane to these business entities. In this context, the extent to which the singular BP‐Mobil experience complies with criteria underpinned by the two important perspectives on the effectiveness of these phenomena, namely, symbiotic marketing and inter‐organizational exchange behavior, is examined. With BP‐Mobil already showing strong signs of success, certain important lessons can be learned by business practitioners.