Purpose: The purpose of this research is, first, to analyze the past years of research on international branding and, second, building on an early literature review, to analyze patterns in the field and suggest future research. 

Design: The analyzed articles were compiled using the ISI Web of Science and Scopus databases. The author searched articles published between 2007 and 2020 that used terms related to international branding in their title, abstract, and keywords.

Findings: This article helps academics interested in international branding in that it structures and identifies key institutions, articles, regions, and authors in the field. First, it provides an overview of the past 13 years of research in the area and suggests research gaps that need further investigation. Second, this article provides a quick reference for researchers and managers who want to become familiar with current international branding literature. Third, this research shows that the international branding area, though growing, still needs to become more pertinent to practitioners in the area.

Originality: Despite the increase in international branding studies, few literature reviews have been published since 2007. This review fills this research gap.

This paper aims to examine how the brand integration process in a multinational enterprise is implemented, after the acquisition of many different brands, in different countries and the main factors influencing the implementation process. Brand integration can be initiated by MNEs after mergers and acquisitions (M&As) of brands, a common strategy for firms seeking rapid international growth. Connecting internationalization and branding literature, this study offers findings that explain how the brand integration process was implemented at an MNE, and its barriers cross borders. It also describes the strategies implemented to improve communication between the company’s employees and customers and the difficulties to deal with national and industry institutions during the process. Moreover, it provides a framework that illustrates the particular differences and barriers in emerging and developed regions, especially caused by institutional constraints. This paper contributes to the increasing interest in international branding and rebranding in acquisitions. This study views the rebranding process as an essential asset for a company’s development across borders.