Stimuli to international marketing

The purpose of this research is to understand the stimuli to international marketing (IM). The contribution synthesises the extant work on export stimuli by examining the main factors that can incentivise firms to engage in international marketing activities. It discusses, in a holistic approach, the importance of several factors/stimuli that affect the firms’ engagement in international activities. The findings are framed within a conceptual model that offers a comprehensive synthesis of internal and external stimuli and highlights the multi-level nature of the phenomenon, encompassing the individual, the firm, and the network level at the domestic and foreign markets. The conceptual model underlines the importance of the implementation of digital marketing tools as a stimulus to IM on the organisational level and suggests future research directions to researchers and policymaking options to policymakers.