INTERNATIONAL SERVICES ADVERTISING (ISA): Defining the Domain and Reviewing the Literature

Abstract

The differences between services and goods are generally well understood. These differences, however, suggest that advertising strategies for goods cannot be automatically applied to services. Yet services are the fastest-growing segment of the expanding global market, and to compete effectively across cultural boundaries, these businesses need to understand appropriate marketing and advertising strategies designed especially for services. This paper evaluates the existing literature on international services advertising (ISA) to provide an assessment of the current state of the research on the topic, with a goal of determining specific areas of research inquiry. A comprehensive review of the international services advertising literature from 1970 to 2002 is provided, and directions for future research are offered.