Customer Participation in Firms’ Internationalization Strategy: Linking AAA to CCC

Abstract

International strategy research focuses on the fundamental choice between local adaptation, global aggregation, or cross-national arbitrage. the adaptation-aggregation-arbitrage (aaa) triangle summarizes these options and suggests that the more firms balance the three strategies, the greater the success they experience in internationalization. We extend this aaa framework by investigating the role of customer participation. Based on a review of the relevant literature, we identify three stages of customer influence, i.e., customization, co-creation, and co-formation (CCC). these are used to develop a combined framework of aaa-CCC strategies. Four case examples illustrate that some combinations are more likely to yield success than others.