Culture study is increasingly becoming a leading theory in international marketing research, this special issue examines the role of culture within marketing theory and practice. Debates such as whether consumer cultures are globalizing, glocalizing or localizing; and the validity of different operationalizations of cultural and institutional distance are considered. Other issues addressed include those of the impact of culture on product adoption and diffusion across countries; the evolution of culture study within marketing; and the usefulness of identifying target markets through country cultural segmentation.