COMPARING MARKETING OPERATIONS OF AUTONOMOUS SUBSIDIARIES

This paper presents an empirical study of the marketing practices of 23 subsidiary companies of a large US multinational, operating worldwide on a decentralised basis. Cluster analysis is used to derive four different classifications of companies, reflecting economic, cultural and competitive characteristics of their environment as well as organisational variables. Subsequently, these classifications are used to explore potential differences in terms of a number of salient marketing variables, with particular emphasis on promotional activities. Contrary to a priori expectations, no systematic differences in marketing practice could be identified among the autonomous subsidiaries, irrespective of the classification system used.