The STRATADAPT scale A measure of marketing strategy adaptation to international business markets Luis Filipe Lages Faculdade de Economia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA Jose ´ Luı ´s Abrantes Faculdade de Economia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal and Instituto Polite ´cnico de Viseu, Escola Superior de Tecnologia, Viseu, Portugal, and Cristiana Raquel Lages Leeds University Business School, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK Abstract Purpose – The development of marketing strategies optimally adjusted to export markets has been a vitally important topic for both managers and academics for about five decades. However, there is no agreement in the literature about which elements integrate marketing strategy and which components of domestic strategies should be adapted to export markets. The purpose of this paper is to develop a new scale – STRATADAPT. Design/methodology/approach – Results from a sample of small and medium-sized industrial exporting firms support a four-dimensional scale – product, promotion, price, and distribution strategies – of 30 items. The scale presents evidence of composite reliability as well as discriminant and nomological validity. Findings – Findings reveal that all four dimensions of marketing strategy adaptation are positively associated with the amount of the firm’s financial resources allocated to export activity. Practical implications – The STRATADAPT scale may assist managers in developing better international marketing strategies as well as in planning more accurate and efficient marketing programs across markets. Originality/value – This study develops a new scale, the STRATADAPT scale, which is a broad measure of export marketing strategy adaptation. Keywords International marketing, Exports, Marketing strategy, Business-to-business marketing, Small to medium-sized enterprises, Portugal Paper type Research paper The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/0265-1335.htm The first author is grateful to the Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation (FCT) and Nova Forum for their financial support. The authors acknowledge the comments on earlier versions of this paper of Maria Saaksjarvi and Helena Martins Gonc ¸alves, and the reviewers of the following conferences: 29th EIBA (Copenhagen), 46th AIB (Stockholm), and 2008 GMC (Shanghai). The collaboration of Portuguese managers was also invaluable for this project. IMR 25,5 584 Received 28 February 2007, 10 September 2007, 21 February 2008, Accepted 25 April 2008 International Marketing Review Vol. 25 No. 5, 2008 pp. 584-600 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0265-1335 DOI 10.1108/02651330810904107