Doing business in Libya: Assessing the nature and effectiveness of international marketing programs in an evolving economy

•This study examines MNE marketing impact in Libya, primarily in respect of standardization/adaptation and country of origin (brand).•No discernible relationship between organizational standardization/adaptation choices and consumer attitude toward marketing programs was found.•Supplier success in the market is a function of a range of factors, rather than just standardization/adaptation policy.•The Libyan market appears to be accessible, primarily; to organizations with a marketing approach this is coincidentally long-term, proactive and nuanced.•Libyan domestic appliance consumers are more utilitarian, than politically motivated, in their preferences.

The aim of this paper is to investigate, in one emerging Arab economy (Libya), the strategic and tactical choices of MNE (multinational enterprise) domestic appliance brands and, also, the attitudes of local consumers toward those choices. Various choice characteristics are investigated – including marketing mix standardization/adaptation – and, also, country-of-origin brand (COB). To establish extant organizational choices, local representatives of four established brands were interviewed and survey responses from 609 consumers were analyzed. No statistically discernible relationship between standardization/adaptation choices and consumer attitude toward marketing programs was found, but the study identified one especially successful brand that appeared to owe its achievements to an especially holistic approach to marketing that demonstrated ‘fit’ with the market concerned. Coincidentally, findings also address the conventional country-of-origin wisdom, and this is investigated/speculated upon accordingly. This is one of few marketing studies concerning Libya, and it adds to the limited literature on an increasingly relevant region.