Abstract
There have been a number of studies on the debate whether or not to pursue a global versus localized approach to international marketing practice. However, none of these studies have specifically empirically tested the complex implementation issues of a global marketing, let alone an integrated global marketing strategy. <indeed, there is absolutely no literature available whatsoever at this point in time. The paper starts providing a comprehensive overview of global firm structures and management orientations, and offering a basic analysis of major organizational and strategic aspects that Jargely affect functional activities, and most of all marketing, as well as the opportunities for competitive advantage in the global arena. The emphasis shifts a level further to describe varied levels and dimensions of international, multinational, and global marketing approaches, and the specific roles of marketing in the global firm which differ or equate to those conducted in a domestic setting. After that premise, the paper describes the framework for an analysis of integrated global marketing and discusses the constructs in the framework by analyzing global configuration, coordination, management systems, and relational aspects of global marketing integration. A brief description of the sample definitely chosen and analyzed introduces the discussion about devices used by Italian firms to integrate marketing activities all over the world, difficulties and challenges encountered and impact on marketing performance experimented. Finally, the results obtained from the secondary research together with the primary empirical research findings, are conducive to the formulation of overall conclusions, implications for management, and recommendations for future research.