Political activities in the global industrial marketplace

The marketplace in which firms operate is becoming increasingly global in n ature. Current research focuses on comparative themes (e.g., cross-cultural /cross-national attitude and behavior differences) relevant to consumer mar kets. However, there is a noticeable lack of research dealing with issues d irectly related to industrial firms. The purpose of this study is to compar e the level of trade barriers experienced by industrial goods and industria l service firms, and the tactics used to deal with these barriers, in the g lobal market. The results show: (1) industrial service firms experience hig her levels of politically based impediments in their global operations than do industrial goods firms, (2) industrial service firms attach higher leve ls of importance to firm-level political behaviors to deal with these imped iments, and (3) the political activities emphasized by industrial service f irms are significantly different from those emphasized by industrial goods firms. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.