Artificial intelligence (AI) has become an essential driver of competitive positioning and advantage for multinational enterprises (MNEs). The integration of AI into marketing strategy has transformed how businesses interpret consumer behaviour, optimize campaigns and expand across international markets. We apply institutional theory and strategic choice theory to explore how strategic choice and institutional expectations create a continuous cycle of linked actions that lead to the development and reinforcement of AI integration patterns and practices within an organization, which also go on to underpin the change and transformation organizations have to go through.
Using a systematic literature review (SLR) of 156 research papers and a thematic and content analysis of 298 text units from industry-based literature – we synthesize the body of knowledge emerging from both to provide a comprehensive framework for understanding AI's role in the global marketing strategy structure of MNEs.
The findings from the SLR and fact-based narratives show convergence in collectively moving away from treating AI as a monolithic input and identifying the specific pathways through which AI-related capabilities shape organizational and market outcomes; reflecting a growing interest in sequential and mediated processes, as opposed to direct effects, suggesting that the value of AI in international and inter-organizational contexts is largely indirect and contingent on intermediate mechanisms such as knowledge digitization, cultural adaptation and dynamic capability development.
Managers must integrate risk assessments into AI strategy planning and diversify data infrastructure to mitigate over-dependence on politically sensitive regions. They must get into active scenario planning, AI adoption audits and stress-testing business models against plausible geopolitical disruptions. Organizations should weigh geopolitical risk into investment decisions and partnership evaluations from the outset.
This study integrates academic and industry insights to construct a cohesive framework for understanding AI's role in shaping global market competition. The findings show that MNEs have to develop twin capabilities, both institutional and strategic, to respond to external pressures and regulations. MNEs achieving success with AI integration are not merely viewing this as a technological upgrade, but as a key facilitator for reimagining their entire international marketing strategy structure, which creates agility for the organization to come up with market-responsive strategies in global operations. While mimetic isomorphic pressures encourage firms to adopt proven AI solutions, this does not preclude innovation and the differentiation in this context emerges not from whether MNEs adopt AI, but from with what institutional and strategic logic they deploy it.
