A critical review of the concept of value in the international marketing context

This paper attempts to explore the scattered knowledge in the literature to identify various schools of thought related to the concept of value in the international marketing discipline. The extant literature have addressed different products, contexts or relationships of perceived value with various factors or outcomes. It is challenging to connect the dots between these scattered knowledge developed in the contemporary international marketing literature on value. This paper attempts to fill the literature gap in the International Marketing discipline by identifying four schools of thoughts on the concept of value. These schools of thought include cost leadership school of thought, superior product school of thought, relationship school of thought, and culture school of thought. Moreover, an integrative value framework has been proposed for the international marketing practitioners and future researchers, including a comprehensive list of factors and activities creating ‘value’ for the consumers and the firm in the international marketing context.