Developing and deploying marketing agility in an emerging economy: the case of Blue Skies

Purpose In almost every large business, there is a growing recognition of the importance of organisational agility in improving their marketing responsiveness and business survival. However, limited insights have been offered by scholars on multinational enterprises and their marketing agility in emerging markets context. The purpose of this paper is to examine the various manifestations of agility and the various strategies adopted to sustain agility by an emerging economy multinational enterprise (EMNE) which started in the late 1990s as a small firm operating within the fresh fruit and juice industry in Africa. Design/methodology/approach The authors utilised empirical qualitative data from an emerging African economy to develop a three-stage model of how agility manifests overtime. Findings The authors find that successful development and deployment of international marketing agility strategy adopted by an EMNE from emerging markets hinge on building relationships, being socially responsible and being innovative in standardisation and adaptation in response to, and in anticipation of, the rapidly changing business environment. Research limitations/implications This research is based on data from one organisation. Future research can consider using multiple cases from different countries to further understand marketing agility in emerging markets and when such firms internalise into developed markets. Originality/value This paper extends research on standardisation/adaptation debate and research on agility, to address the gap on international marketing agility. Hitherto, there was no significant research on marketing agility in emerging markets which focused on highly perishable products such as fruits. This research provides unique insight into how marketing agility could be developed, deployed and sustained in emerging African markets.