When West Meets East: Methods of Assessing Group Variation in Comparative Emerging Markets Research

Purpose – The purpose of this chapter is to examine methodological trends in emerging market strategy research and to provide a comprehensive review of methods of assessing group variation in comparative studies. Methodology/approach – This comprises a systematic review of the methodology of emerging market research over the past 10 years, followed by methodological best practices for comparative studies involving emerging and mature markets, with exemplars from the past research. Findings – Despite previous calls for more comparative studies in emerging market research, most of the literature is reporting on single-country studies. There is some confusion in terminology and the methods used in this area of strategy research. Increased attention to the “East” calls for a reevaluation of methods utilized in comparative studies. The methods described in this chapter present best practices for comparative research. Social implications – More comparative studies would substantially expand our understanding of the differences between the emerging and developed markets, and the potential impact of emerging markets on global economy. Rigorous research methods extend validity and generalizability of the studies. Originality/value – This chapter is the first study to date to analyze the methodological trends of the entire field of emerging market research over the span of 10 years and to provide systematic methodological recommendations tailored to analyzing variation in comparative studies.