Cross-cultural marketing strategies for delivering knowledge-based services in a borderless world: the case of management education

Purpose - Knowledge-based services range from accounting, engineering, and management consulting to educational services. This paper seeks to explore the nature of management education services and to discuss how business schools can employ cross-cultural product-market strategies to enter and serve foreign markets with programs that match the needs of the targeted markets. Design/methodology/approach - A framework is presented for delivering management education services across borders. Hofstede's cultural dimensions are integrated in recognizing the cultural characteristics of a target country and differing learning styles of students in making market entry decisions and the pedagogical styles that might apply to specific target markets. Findings - In seeking new globally diverse markets, providers of knowledge-intensive services such as management education must craft marketing strategies that recognize consumer demand and consumption characteristics as well as service design and delivery options that fit market needs. Research limitations/implications - Global expansion of management education services and the strategic and tactical considerations that are introduced in the framework can provide a fertile field for empirical research. Practical implications - The paper develops cross-cultural "product-market" strategies that business schools can consider in serving international markets, with product defined as the curriculum, instructional style, and all of the ancillary services that constitute the educational service experience. Generalizability of the findings to other knowledge-based services is also discussed. Originality/value - The conceptual framework recognizes a dominant theme in international business, suggesting that internationalization potential depends on service industry characteristics and on specific host country internationalization drivers.