This study investigates the issue of balancing the benefits gained through standardized strategies with those achievable when adapting to local conditions. Building on previous work that has explored the role of contingency theory and the concept of strategic fit in international marketing strategy, the authors posit that there is no one-size-fits-all solution to the export product strategy adaptation decision. Using a sample of Swedish exporters, they find support for the hypothesis that an array of forces from the macro-, micro-, and internal environments drives product adaptation, which affects the nature of product strategy fit and its performance outcomes. In terms of the performance relevance of product strategy fit, sociocultural environment, technological environment, marketing infrastructure, stage of product life cycle, scope of exporting experience, and duration of exporting experience all matter. However, the pattern of significant and nonsignificant findings cautions against excessive aggregation of environmental variables in conceptualizing environment–product strategy fit to performance linkages. The authors conclude with a discussion of implications of the findings for theory building and management practice.

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PurposeConsumer scepticism about the credibility of green advertising around the world is growing. The article aims to provide a comprehensive assessment and trend analysis of green advertising practices of international firms over a 20‐year period.Design/methodology/approachThe study identifies 473 international green advertisements during the 1988‐2007 period and content‐analyses them on five major axes: advertiser profile, targeting features, message aspects, copy characteristics, and situation points.FindingsThe content analysis reveals significant trends in all major areas examined and identifies important interaction effects between certain dimensions of green advertisements.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings could be augmented by combining them with changes in the external environment, input from consumers about advertising effectiveness, the views of advertisers and advertising agencies, and secondary data referring to the performance of the specific company/product advertised.Originality/valueGreen advertising research mainly focuses on domestic rather than international advertisements; examines important issues in isolation from other issues; partially analyses message, copy, and situation characteristics; and covers a short period. This study fills these gaps by systematically evaluating international green advertisements over a long period and using an integrated framework of analysis that is based on the extant literature. It also explores potential interaction effects between key dimensions describing these advertisements.

While firms continue to commit slack financial resources to sustainability causes, knowledge is lacking on how financial resource slack drives sustainability expenditure under varying conditions of market pressure and political connectedness in a developing-economy market. Using primary data from exporting small and medium sized enterprises in Nigeria, this study shows that increases in financial resource slack are associated with decreases in sustainability expenditure. Additionally, results indicate that the negative effect of financial resource slack on sustainability expenditure becomes positive when levels of market pressure are higher. However, the negative effect relationship is strengthened (i.e. becomes more negative) when levels of political connectedness are greater. We discuss theoretical and managerial implications of these findings.

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