Service branding in international markets

This conceptual paper aims to contribute to a theoretical understanding about service branding in international markets. It brings together the perspectives of service internationalization and service branding: models of international activities and paths to international markets are discussed in the former; the general framework of service branding and a service branding model by Berry [1] are investigated in the latter. The paper describes the ways in which firms operate on international markets: foreign direct investments (FDI), exports, and foreign presence through third parties. Service marketing triangle, consisting of external marketing, interactive marketing and internal marketing, is highlighted as a basis for service branding. In addition, the importance of human performance is strongly emphasized in services.