ABSTRACT. The principal aim of this study was to examine a possible relationship between internationalization and crowdfunding. In order to achieve this goal, we have adopted a multiple case study approach, by interviewing four Italian firms that have run a crowdfunding campaign and have started an internationalization process. Our main finding confirms that in some cases firms have had the opportunity to get involved in the internationalization process thanks to crowdfunding campaigns.

ABSTRACT. Multinational corporations (MNCs) need to pursue economies of scale by transferring and exploiting home-based (available) resources and standardizing marketing strategy (such as marketing mix). They also need to respond to each local market condition by simultaneously adapting its strategy. Marketing capabilities of MNCs can largely contribute to balance these two opposed goals. Previous studies focus on revealing the effect of marketing capabilities on marketing-related performance in international markets; however, not much attention has been paid to explore dynamic marketing capabilities of MNCs in order to find new resource reconfigurations by utilizing home-based resources and build competitive positions in the foreign markets where wide institutional gaps exist. The purpose of this study is to reveal how MNCs sense and select their home-based resources to achieve customer value in the foreign markets. Through exploratory case studies of two Japanese MNCs, we inductively identified a dynamic firm-specific advantage selection process as dynamic marketing capability. Our data clearly show that MNCs are forced to deploy and maintain resource repositioning from home to host market as a dynamic marketing capability at the initial market entry stage in order to build an advantage over local competitors.

ABSTRACT. The paper introduces a new insight into market orientation’s measurement through the prism of allocation of market orientation activities, looking at the different levels of market orientation applied in the different markets. The theoretical model was verified empirically and address the gap in the literature by presenting a new measurement of market orientation based on different levels of market orientation. The concept of market orientation was tested on Slovenian market. Results reveal that the level of market orientation differed between the markets.

ABSTRACT. Drawing on organizational learning and internalization theory, this paper develops propositions and extend current understanding of time-depending fit between the marketing differentiation strategy of a foreign subsidiary and crucial contingency factors. Four propositions are developed. Analysis of two Swedish firms’ operations in the USA during several years illustrate the propositions and show whether the strategies fit the contingency factors over time. The strategy needs to be aligned with three contingency factors: (1) the relatedness between the subsidiary and firm’s core business enabling knowledge sharing, (2) local competition barriers that specify what is central to local learning, and (3) the value-adding mandate that restricts differentiation relying on product features or customer responsiveness. The results contribute to marketing strategy and internationalization literature by extending the understanding of strategy fit in regards to a foreign subsidiary. The results pay attention to mechanisms that drive the effectiveness of firm’ international strategy as a whole. In order to increase global performance, the firms needs to balance the needs for adaptation to local market settings specified by the propositions against corporate-wide commonalities in formulating the international strategy.

ABSTRACT. In this study, we concentrate on the role of organizational slack on the post-acquisition performance of cross-border acquirers. Using a sample of 1,478 international deals by U.S. firms over the period 2000-2012, we employ changes in Tobin's q to capture the impact of different types of organizational slack – available, potential, recoverable – on acquirer’s performance after the deal. We reveal that slack acts as a double-edge sword for post-acquisition performance. While readily available slack leads to significant value destruction, potential and recoverable slack, acting both as defense mechanisms against acquirers’ losses, are associated with overall improved international takeover performance.

ABSTRACT. This paper examines the effects of culture on consumer’s expectations on how luxury products will transform their lives. It takes the perspective of culture as a latent normative value system as proposed by Schwartz (2009). Culture’s effects on transformation expectations are examined at two levels: individual level culture and collective level culture. At collective level the moderating effects of culture’s individualism/collectivism, power distance and indulgence are theorised and assessed empirically. Data from a theoretical sample of eight countries and real consumers are used to test the theorised relationships.

ABSTRACT. Contributing to the emerging literature on the behavior of xenocentric consumers, the current study juxtaposes consumer xenocentrism and consumer animosity as countervailing forces on foreign product purchases. Based on a survey of Serbian consumers and using the USA as the target of animosity sentiments, the results show that the overall willingness to purchase products stemming from the animosity country is driven by the level consumer animosity (but not by the level of xenocentrism). In contrast, animosity does not impact consumers’ purchase intentions for specific brands, the latter being only influenced by xenocentric tendencies. Thus the answer to the question whether consumer animosity is likely to counteract (or even outweigh) the impact of consumer xenocentrism depends on the level of specificity of the outcome variable (i.e. products in general vs. specific brands). Implications of the findings are considered and future research directions identified.

ABSTRACT. Climate change, fact or fiction? How are consumers in denial of current and future effects of climate change/global warming? Do happier individuals believe that the effects of climate change have negative consequences for their country’s future? Proposing an experimental methodology, this paper will advance how high/low construal mindsets are associated with growth/fixed mindsets within consumers to strengthen/weaken their belief in perception of incremental consequences of climate change. Happier countries (Finland) vs. countries low on the happiness index (India), tend to be leading the climate change movement. The studies will develop happiness literature, by examining how ‘happiness’ increases individuals scepticism of future impact of global warming. The proposed research will aid policy makers and social marketers across cultures. Answering, why consumers’ deny that climate change would worsen over the years? Providing an effective frame of climate change debate with abstraction and growth mindsets, for forecasted consequences, thus promoting pro-environmental action.

ABSTRACT. Consumers’ home country bias is long known to assist domestic brands facing foreign competitors. Nevertheless, little is known about how such bias functions when domestic brands engage in transgressions that violate home country consumers’ expectations about appropriate brand conduct. Drawing from social identity threat theory and across two experimental studies, we find that domestic brand transgressions are perceived as stronger threats to home country consumers’ social identity than transgressions originated by foreign brands and are thus less likely to be forgiven. This effect is particularly prominent (a) for value-related (compared to performance-related) transgressions, (b) in independent (compared to interdependent) cultures, and (c) for consumers with weak (compared to strong) ethnocentric tendencies. We also observe that the effect disappears when home country consumers are persuaded that domestic brand transgressions represent in-group brands’ responses to threats from out-group, foreign rivals. The findings contribute to international branding theory and practice by unveiling conditions under which the in-group country bias backfires and what can be done to mitigate such backlash.

ABSTRACT. Corporate Social Responsibility has received increased attention in academia and business practice due to the rising environmental awareness in a global marketplace. Especially the generation Y can be characterized by a high level of interest in ethical consumption. While numerous studies have adopted managerial perspectives, we focus on consumer response towards CSR among the millennial target group. This study employs a quantitative, survey-based approach with data collected in the advanced European market of Austria and the emerging Asian market of China. Based on a sample of 441 responses, we test our hypotheses using structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). The findings reveal that CSR support plays a central role in mediating purchase intention and significant country differences. Thus, this study contributes to the literature by investigating the responses towards CSR among generation Y consumers from a cross-cultural perspective.

ABSTRACT. There remains a lack of research that focuses on consumer preferences for responsible enterprises, particularly in less developed countries. This study addresses this gap by examining the antecedents of consumer purchase intention for accredited B-Corps in Chile. Drawing on the theory of planned behavior (TPB), a conceptual model is developed and hypotheses are tested by using structural equation modeling with data from 200 Chilean consumers. The findings reveal four main drivers that lead consumers to purchase from responsible enterprises in Chile: (1) attitudes towards purchasing from responsible enterprises, (2) perceived behavioral control, (3) consumer involvement in responsible enterprises and (4) consumer ethical consciousness. Results suggest that the main drivers of purchase intention for responsible enterprises are related to consumer intrinsic motivations rather than subjective norms or trust in the brand. The findings of this study contribute to the literature on environmental management and planning and are also useful for managers of responsible enterprises and B-Corps, and public policy-makers.

ABSTRACT. Despite the increased attention paid to sustainable luxury, few studies critically analyse how luxury firms formally report sustainability initiatives. This study furthers our understanding of the environmental, ethical and social impact of the luxury industry in the context of sustainability reporting. The study extends signalling theory by applying it in the context of sustainability reporting to ascertain what, if any, observable signals the luxury industry communicates about their commitment to sustainability, how comprehensive luxury sustainability reporting is, potential information asymmetries that exist and the credibility of the sustainability claims. The study expands prior sustainability reporting research into the luxury sector while delivering a novel methodological contribution using a corpus-assisted discourse analysis to examine the sustainability reports of LVMH and Kering. The findings show that while LVMH and Kering attempt to communicate and establish their sustainability credentials, the analysed documents level and quality of detail falls significantly short of comparable sustainability reporting. Further, various inconsistencies and discrepancies exist due to the lack of brand level sustainability disclosures, resulting in ambiguous reporting.

ABSTRACT. Despite growing concern on marketing ethics in a globalized context, the firm’s international marketing ethical practices have received scant scholarly attention. This article provides an integrative analysis of the drivers of an ethical international marketing strategy and its resulting outcomes, using a research propositions approach. It specifically focuses on the role of internal (i.e., reputational resources, social entrepreneurship capability, ethical company leadership, organizational culture, organizational control) and external factors (i.e., institutional setting, regulatory intensity, economic conditions, social public concern, national culture) on shaping the firm’s ethical marketing strategy in international markets. It also examines the impact of this ethical international marketing strategy in gaining a reputational competitive advantage in foreign markets and its subsequent role in enhancing the international firm’s market and financial performance. Theoretical and practical implications are derived from the analysis, as well as useful directions for future research.

ABSTRACT. Cross-cultural comparisons of fair trade perceptions among consumers in emerging versus developed economies are lacking in the literature, despite the exponential growth of fair trade in both areas in the last decade. Using the concept of ‘connectedness’, we address this gap by examining consumer perceptions of proximity, consumer engagement and ethical behavior in two contrasting countries, namely India and the UK. Using data collected from both a quantitative survey and a qualitative research, we confirm significant differences between Indian and British consumers on each of these dimensions, with the former showing consistently a higher sensitivity to fair trade than the latter. The results provide important implications for both theory and practice, and generate ideas for future research.

ABSTRACT. Past literature stated that that responsible tourism (RT) as one of the essential sustainable development tools in the tourism sector, as well as considered it as means to generate sustainability of the community. Considering the relevance of the same, there has been a growing interest in the concept, primarily to minimize the adverse impact associated with any tourism and travel-related activities. Our detailed review of existing work revealed that there is no scientific evidence examining the responsible tourism and its effect on destination attractiveness from an interactive perspective that is community and tourists. Thus, the objective of the study is to assess the influence of responsible tourism on destination attractiveness from the perspective of both tourists and community. Besides, we also aimed to provide empirical evidence for the critical, yet neglected the indirect effect of responsible tourism on destination attractiveness, considering the viewpoints of both tourists and community.

ABSTRACT. The literature on consumer animosity shows inconsistent conclusions in its effects on consumers’ attitudes and product judgments. By adopting the perspective of product typicality, this research aims to clarify consumers’ attitudes (both explicit and implicit) toward typical and atypical products from a hostile country. Two 2 (typical vs. atypical) X 2 (high animosity vs. low animosity) between-subject experiments were conducted in Taiwan. China, having both war and economic conflicts, and Korea, having only economic conflicts, was selected as the possible hostile countries of Taiwanese participants in the experiments respectively. Hundreds of college students with Taiwanese nationality participate in the project. The results indicate that negative moderating effects of consumer animosity on explicit attitudes are prevailing across product categories. Such negative influences can also be found on implicit product attitudes for typical products of the target country, but not for atypical ones. The study also revealed the positive impact of ethnic product typicality on both consumers’ explicit and implicit attitudes toward products from hostile countries. However, such positive influences become void on explicit attitudes if the target country has both war and economic conflicts with consumers’ home country.

ABSTRACT. Cobranding initiatives between global and local brands in new market entry context have gained wide prevalence in the marketplace. We examine the differential impact of the announcement source of such global-local cobranding initiatives on consumer engagement and purchase intent. Specifically, we propose that the influence of the local brand as the announcement source generates greater word of mouth (WOM) and results in higher purchase intent. We assert, apart from the main effects, that the effects of the different announcement sources are partially mediated by credibility and originality. That is, the impact of the global brand as the source of cobranding announcement is mediated by credibility, whereas the originality perception mediates the influence of the local brand on the said downstream consequences. Further, we suggest that the impact of the global brand as the announcement source on credibility should be stronger if this brand follows global consumer culture positioning strategy, and the local brand that employs local consumer culture positioning should have more profound impact on originality. Finally, we hypothesize that local brands that are perceived as warm signal stronger originality perceptions. On the other hand, we posit that global brands perceived as competent should have more powerful impact on credibility.

ABSTRACT. This research shows that cultural identity plays an important role in consumer response to sustainable practices of local businesses and specific sustainability appeals with evidence from three online experiments. We demonstrate that consumers with global identity have a more positive attitudinal and behavioral response to sustainable practices of local firms when their promotional appeals employ descriptive (vs. injunctive) social norms coming from a global (vs. provincial) source.

ABSTRACT. Both the globalness/localness of a brand and its country of origin (COO) image influence consumers’ attitudes towards the brand, although most research has examined these two factors in isolation. In this two-country study, we extend previous research not only by testing the simultaneous independent effects of brand globalness/localness and COO stereotypes, but also their interactive effects. Importantly, we shed light on the country stereotype dimensions which may substitute or complement perceptions of brand globalness and localness. Furthermore, we explicitly control for the influences of brand-specific (brand familiarity), product-specific (hedonic-utilitarian nature), and consumer-specific (consumer ethnocentrism) characteristics, in order to explore the hypothesized effects in a stricter and more conservative nomological network than previous work. Our findings indicate that there is a compensatory mechanism between brand globalness and COO warmth, whereas brand globalness and COO competence converge with regard to their signaling value and are best seen as interchangeable rather than complementary notions. In contrast to brand globalness, the positive impact of brand localness on brand attitude is apparently not affected by country stereotypes, suggesting that brands can benefit from strong localness associations regardless of how competent or warm the brand’s COO is viewed as. These findings carry important managerial implications.

ABSTRACT. In this paper we investigate the impact of global and local consumer culture positioning strategies on consumer purchase intention. We use a 2x2 between-subject design to collect data from 218 individuals in the UK, to examine if the use of global or local consumer culture positioning enhances purchase intentions in the case of low-involvement hedonic and functional products. To provide better explanations to consumer purchase intentions, the study also accounts for the impact of consumer ethnocentrism, cosmopolitanism and political orientation, measured through the use of a proxy (i.e. Brexit vote). The results show that, although neither positioning strategies and cosmopolitanism nor political orientation affect purchase intentions, product type and consumer ethnocentrism do. The study contributes to existing literature in three ways; firstly, it adopts an experimental approach to test for differences in purchase intentions when different positioning strategies are used. Secondly, it focuses on two product types (functional vs hedonic), both in the low involvement category. Finally, it accounts for the impact of consumer ethnocentrism, cosmopolitanism and political orientation on purchase intentions of brands.

ABSTRACT. While private labels (PLs) represent an opportunity for retailers, they pose a clear threat to brand manufacturers. However, considerable heterogeneity exists across markets in both PL levels and PL growth rates, creating ambiguity about their future potential, which poses a challenge to both manufacturers and retailers. To offer insights on future long-run PL shares around the world, the authors take a forward-looking approach by means of a convergence model. They apply the model to a unique dataset that spans more than 50 countries, both emerging and developed, across 35 product categories. The authors find evidence of partial PL convergence, with substantial remaining heterogeneity across markets. Further, strategic portfolio and store-format decisions, and in particular new product innovation, are found to play a substantial role in shaping the long-run PL landscape. Importantly, the long-run role of most of these drivers differs from what is currently observed, suggesting that managers should not adhere too strongly to current practices when planning for the future. Moreover, important differences are found between emerging and developed markets, not only in their long-run PL levels but also in the long-run effectiveness of several PL drivers.

ABSTRACT. Despite voluminous research on barriers to exporting, knowledge on the inhibiting role of specific obstacles confronted by firms when exporting their goods in a virtual rather than real spatial domain is absent. Using data from a sample of 1,816 firms located in 26 different European countries, we shed light on this issue by examining the organizational determinants and performance outcomes of barriers to e-exporting. The results revealed that these barriers are more evident in the case of firms with smaller size, lacking experience in international business, and having no affiliation with other companies. It was also found that all different types of e-export barriers, namely financial complexities, coping with foreign markets, supplier restrictions, technical difficulties, and product limitations, are negatively affecting online export performance. Finally, both the home country’s level of digital infrastructure and the host country’s internet penetration rate exhibited a strong moderating effect on the association between e-export barriers and export performance.

ABSTRACT. The paper aims to investigate factors influencing interpersonal trust dynamics in sharing economy using the in-depth interview. The authors interviewed 30 Airbnb platform users (16 service providers and 14 service users) to understand the process of interpersonal trust development of each service providers and users. The manuscript identified that the initial stage of interpersonal trust development is influenced by deposition to trust and institution-based trust (for service user only), while communication factors such as the speed of response, style of writing, and information sharing affect the manifestation of interpersonal trust. This paper also found that cognitive factors can facilitate interpersonal trust. Based on these factors, the paper suggests the conceptual model of interpersonal trust development of service users and providers in sharing economy.

ABSTRACT. The omnichannel strategy brings a new avenue to the creation of customer experience. The vanishing of the boundary between physical and virtual channels, which then complemented by the integration of both has been the hallmark that defines an omnichannel retailer. Customers are facing myriad options on how to shop with an omnichannel retailer yet expect to come across consistent experience throughout the journey, no matter which channel they interact. This research aims to understand an omnichannel retail strategy through the lens of customer interaction. Positioning customer interaction as a multi-dimensional concept, this study analyses two distinct dimensions: the number of contact points (breadth) and the number of activities involved (depth). Using a large-scale customer’s survey and a pre-test from an experiment study, the findings suggest that both dimensions of customer interaction has curvilinear relationship to customer experience. This finding opens new direction to explore the role of customer interaction in creating customer experience. Exploring the underlying reason behind the results could facilitate retailers in designing the most appropriate omnichannel strategy and help them avoid unnecessary investment in the process, while maintaining superior experience for customers.

ABSTRACT. The main purpose of the study is to explore the implications of online engagement from a behavioural engagement perspective within a Facebook brand community through a sense-of-community lens. Convenience sampling was used and 381 questionnaires were collected through the use of an online consumer panel. Unlike previous studies, which were either confined to a one-sided view of engagement behaviour or lacking a clear focus of the possible implications or benefits of online engagement, especially for firms, the current study investigated engagement from a behavioural perspective (including various engagement activities) as well as reflecting the affective component of engagement through sense of belonging and included various implications for brands. Marketing practitioners/brands should realise that Lurkers could be of more value to brands than their so-called Superfans. It is evident that Facebook brand fan pages have positive financial as well as non-financial implications for brands. As a result, Facebook brand fan pages can yield valuable information that can help create strategies to target different types of consumers more effectively. This paper contributes to engagement and virtual community research by underpinning online engagement behaviour in Facebook brand communities with sense of community theory.

ABSTRACT. This research seeks to examine the nature of trust and distrust in business-to-business relationships, exploring whether the two are inexorably intertwined or are distinct constructs. Further, we seek to investigate if the nature of trust and distrust are culturally-bound, such that in some cultures distrust is implicitly the opposite of trust, while in others they are distinct and potentially co-occurring concepts. This paper is a first step toward clarifying the juxtaposition of the constructs of trust and distrust, particularly with consideration of possible culturally-based differences in how these constructs are conceptualized. We begin by surveying definitions of trust and distrust. We then explicate distinct, potential patterns detailing the conceptualization of and relationship between the trust and distrust. We conclude with a discussion of the potential role of culture in determining an individual’s or firm’s perspective on trust and distrust.

ABSTRACT. How customers develop purchase intentions in online shopping has been a perennial area of interest. In this research note, we ask whether males and females leverage trust in and perceive reputation of online retailers differently in reporting purchase intentions. Drawing on the broader literature on differences in males and females in online shopping behaviors, we propose that females rely on reputation in developing purchase intentions whereas males rely on perceived trust in developing purchase intentions. In a sample of 727 respondents in Sweden, we find support for the proposed association. Implications for online retailers are discussed.

ABSTRACT. This paper utilises an extensive qualitative enquiry into the challenges experienced by multinational and endogenous companies applying Western theory and practice in Key Account Management into the global, and specifically the Arab, context. What companies, operating in Arab countries look for in a key account manager diverges markedly from what is suggested in the extant Western literature. Functional and task specific competencies such as experience, education, adaptive selling or planning skills are less important than personal traits such as likability, friendliness, altruism, and socialising skills and personal networking (wasta), which are the predominant basis for successful business relationships. Hence, this paper draws on relational competence theory and relationship marketing literature to identify the relational competences necessary for effective KAM in an Arab context.

ABSTRACT. Customer relationships are important resources for export firms. Customer relationship capabilities (CRC) enable firms to develop and maintain relationships with export customers as well as understand their requirements. However, current research does not figure out the underlying mechanism of how CRC contribute towards a better performance. By using a sample from Chinese exporters, this research identified the mediating role of dynamic product development capabilities on the link between CRC and export performance. Moreover, this research found that the impact of CRC on the development of PDC is stronger when the external uncertainty about the export market is greater.

ABSTRACT. The purpose of this article is to study the role of relational governance mechanisms and more spe-cifically trust and communication during the development of the partner relationship and their impact on the satisfaction of the parents. Based on three cases of vertical IJVs based in Morocco, the results show, on the one hand, how relational governance evolves differently according to the IJV’s phase of development, and on the other, how it is affected by the compatibility of the par-ents’ strategic intentions at the outset.

ABSTRACT. Over the past two decades, a large body of research has examined the effect of the awareness of the inevitability of death on consumption behaviors. Despite the considerable contribution of these studies, they shed a little light on the effect of mortality salience on the elderly as a group of people, who are closer to death and confronted with this phenomenon more often. The present research aims at challenging the effect of mortality salience on status preferences among the elderly. Findings on individuals between 48-86 years (n = 285) reveal that death consciousness positively influences the elderly’s preferences for status products and that chronological age and subjective age bias negatively moderate this effect.

ABSTRACT. We investigate the effect of consumers’ ethnocentric and cosmopolitan dispositions, its boundary conditions and the underlying mechanism the consumers follow to shape their reactions toward products carrying Geographical Indications (GIs) labels. First, we postulated that consumers with a high level of said dispositions create favorable reactions towards GIs labels (vs. non-GIs labels). Further, we argue that consumers’ high (vs. low) levels dispositions interact with self-product congruity (high vs. low) to develop product attitude and purchase likelihood. Also, we extend the argument that the causal interactive effect of dispositions and self-product congruity develops into attitude and purchase likelihood through product identification. A series of experiments were performed to test the hypotheses. The study results established that use of GIs labels helps the firms to have better consumer response among consumers with a high level of ethnocentric and cosmopolitan dispositions. The negative bias arises due to consumer dispositions towards GIs labels can be managed by developing a higher level of consumer self-product congruence. Finally, it was found that product identification transform their dispositions into a response. Thus, we call for using GIs labeling as a marketing technique.

ABSTRACT. The globalization of markets has given rise to “born global” firms, i.e. young firms that initiate international business soon after their founding. Despite considerable research advances regarding such firms’ nature, motivations, organization, and behavior, little is known about how born global firms evolve over time and what drives their growth. To address this research gap, we investigate (1) the role of key firm capabilities (marketing capability, research-and-development capability, operations capability) in facilitating the growth of born global firms at different stages of their internationalization. To do so, we employ a unique data set that covers 15,856 born global firms from China over a period of three years. Our results suggest that, while a firm’s marketing, R&D, and operations capabilities positively contribute to revenue growth, only R&D and operations capabilities contribute to profits growth. The importance of these capabilities further depends on a firm’s stage of internationalization: marketing and R&D capabilities tend to become more important with increasing international scope, whereas the positive effect of operations capabilities on revenue growth (profits growth) appears to be mitigated (enhanced) by greater international reach. Our findings have crucial implications concerning the need for developing, cultivating, and enhancing specific capabilities at different stages of internationalization.

ABSTRACT. Brand personality refers to a set of human characteristics associated with a brand (Aaker, 1997). Aaker (1997) developed Brand Personality Dimensions (BPD) scale to measure brand personality, which is used widely among academics. Recently, a General Factor of Brand Personality (GFBP) has been proposed (Eisend and Stokburger-Sauer, 2013; Suzuki, Oue, and Akutsu, 2019), which is based on the a General Factor of Personality (or the Big One) discussion in the human personality literature (Musek, 2007; Rushton and Irwing, 2008). GFBP is a higher-order factor that precedes the five dimensional factors of BPD. GFBP was originally developed on a study conducted among the Americans (Suzuki et al., 2019). The current paper seeks to confirm its cross-cultural generalizability in the U.S. and Japan.

ABSTRACT. With the advent of ethical consumerism, and in the face of growing globalisation, intensifying competition, and dismantling trade barriers, numerous ethical transgressions regarding a possible breach of ethicality in firms’ international product operations have come to light. Correspondingly, this acceleration in the growth of ethical issues has made it imperative that export marketers account for differences in ethical practices between their home and host countries and adjust their export product strategies by incorporating ethicality in their export endeavours. Accordingly, the aim of this research is to investigate the internal and external determinants of an ethically-based export product strategy and study the effect of such a strategy on product’s ethical branding advantage, that ultimately enhances the market and financial performances of the firm in the export market. This study aims to shed light on ethical aspects of exporting by developing a comprehensive conceptual model that will be empirically tested using structural equation modelling based on data collected from a sample of 208 UK exporting firms.

ABSTRACT. Accessibility of products in online retail is an expected part of the shopper experience journey. Frequently products are not accessible due non-availability. This article demonstrates how, like when dominos fall, marketing investments can fail when the final stage, availability is not adequately addressed in online retailing. Surveying more than 2,000 shoppers across five European and Asian countries that encountered a non-available item while shopping online for one of six fast-moving consumer goods categories, the research study examines shoppers’ switching behavior when there is an interruption in the purchasing stage of the customer journey. The overall goal is to better understand how shoppers change their behavior, and it examines a variety of causes that drive switching behavior, whether it be to switch stores, switch brands, or switch intentions when the item they desired is unavailable. Switching behavior was found to vary greatly among the five countries, but less between categories, and switching was greatly affected by the way shoppers encountered the non-available item. The study concludes with recommendations to address product availability.

ABSTRACT. The celebrity phenomenon has attracted researchers’ attention; however, previous researchers focused on celebrity endorsement. In practice, celebrities are increasingly associated with new business ventures and are in entrepreneurial roles. The celebrity entrepreneur phenomena imply a celebrity owns and even manages a firm now, rather than simply endorse a product. Thus, the willingness to consume a celebrity entrepreneur should be examined. In the marketing perspective, celebrity entrepreneurs are more effective communicators than celebrity endorsers. Hence, this study used trust dimensions and combine with the concept of trust transference to better understand the logic of repeated consume a celebrity entrepreneur. The trust dimensions (e.g., ability, integrity, and benevolence) are used because there are overlapping concepts with the source credibility model, which is often applied in celebrity studies. The application can induce a conversation of researchers in two disciplines and are more appropriate in discussing entrepreneurial firms. Also, the concept of trust transference helps to understand how the celebrity transfers their image to their firm and then creates the expectation of relationship continuity.

ABSTRACT. This research examines the impact perceived service fairness provided by immigrant versus native-born doctors has on satisfaction with the medical service for a sample drawn from five countries – Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Britain, and the United States. As consumers exhibit greater concern with select aspects of service efficacy (Accent, Cultural Connection, Privacy/Security, Anti-Immigrant) provided by immigrants in general, they generally have less confidence in immigrant doctors to provide fair service. This in-turn impacts patients’ levels of satisfaction with medical service provided

ABSTRACT. The Special Session aims to uncover and debate on some important conceptual and empirical, as well as methodological research challenges within the broad domain of global marketing and cross-cultural consumer research. Further, it sets to highlight emerging trends and concepts in the field to critically evaluate their potential impact on existing theory development and the advancement of management practice. Specifically, the Special Session will provide a strong base for establishing, maintaining, and developing a dialogue among marketing academics who have interests in the global marketing and cross-cultural consumer behavior phenomena. Emphasis will be placed on comparing contributions from leading international scholars to stimulate research synergy and collaboration. Notably, all panel members have strong expertise in the topic and have published extensively in well-recognized academic journals. All contributors also hold a highly international profile and are affiliated to different research institutions. The proposed topic covers important and timely issues in global marketing and cross-cultural consumer research.

ABSTRACT. This paper investigates factors that lead to a rapid expansion strategy in a transitional foreign market. Combining theory and insights from field interviews, we develop propositions on relevant factors that affect the pace of firm expansion after entering a new market. Exploratory findings from China suggest that both internal and externally oriented factors impact expansion processes and speed. Internal characteristics, such as firms’ investment goals and resource commitment will drive firms to expand more quickly in a foreign market, as do industry characteristics and market growth.

ABSTRACT. The issue “customer retention strategies” has been extensively studied by past researchers for the last two decades, however, the development and empirical validation of a scale has not been properly addressed. An impressive amount of research has proceeded without a standardized, valid and reliable measure of the construct. This exploratory research paper seeks to develop measures and empirically validate a scale that captures the full dimensionality of retention strategies considered by the service organizations in retaining its customers. The focus group interviews were conducted and a well-structured questionnaire was designed. With data collected in the banking industry, namely 257 bank managers of private sector and 261 bank managers of public sector of Punjab, a 68-item, Likert scale is developed, which captures fifteen dimensions namely attrition management, CRM policies, proactive strategies, building customer engagement, customer satisfaction follow-ups, differentiated products, segmentation policies, employee empowerment, market response strategies, customer delight, customer loyalty programs, added customer-perceived value, sales-promotion activities, service-failure and service-recovery tactics, and use of information technology (IT). The psychometric scale development procedure demonstrates that the scale is reliable and valid. This research paper signifies the leading studies for advancing a validated tool to measure the customers’ retention management practices followed by banks.

ABSTRACT. A plethora of a research body answers the question of 'how to integrate sensory cues to increase consumers' purchase intention', however, the current body of the literature merely focuses on the influence of sensory cues in online retailing, or what drives consumers to purchase online remain limited. In the rise of the online shopping environments, this gap can be a significant concern for retailers due to the rise of the online shopping channels – where e-commerce is expected to be the largest retail channel globally by 2021. Based on data collected from consumers’ perception towards global branding, this research investigated how sensorial cues (visual, audial and haptic) shape consumers are purchasing intentions in different product categories (sensory and non-sensory products). Recommendation quality and consumers' perceived value were considered as moderator and mediator respectively as recommendation quality strengthen or weaken the consumers' decisions on purchase intention, where consumers may evaluate products based on the perceived value of the product (e.g. benefits). Our work proposes a guideline for online retailers no matter what the product category is to understand the holistic approach to lead consumers to have purchase intentions.

ABSTRACT. Boundary-spanning agents play a critical information processing and organizational representation role in interorganizational exchanges, especially. This study examines one under-researched group of such agents (mid-level boundary spanners), and tackles a warranted issue—relational conditions under which these agents will contribute more to interorganizational exchanges in a highly uncertain but important setting such as emerging markets that are competitive for global manufacturing. We argue that interorganizational relational dynamics, comprising relationship standards (norms and fairness), attachment (relationship-specific investment and commitment), and risk control (refraining opportunism and malfeasance) affect the value generated from boundary-spanning ties between mid-level managers. Our analyses of 225 manufacturer-distributor dyads in China demonstrate the importance of mid-level boundary-spanning agents and needed exchanging conditions under which these agents can create even more value to interorganizational cooperation in an uncertain environment. This micro-macro link bears theoretical and practical implications for economically driven yet socially embedded interorganizational exchanges that are carried out by individuals not only at the top-level but mid-level as well.

ABSTRACT. Nostalgia is traditionally defined as a past-related longing. This research investigates whether consumers strategically create nostalgia for the future utilizing products. We introduce the phenomenon of proactive nostalgia, which refers to the desire to remember a specific content in the future. Particularly, we posit that the proactive nostalgia motivation could be the reason why consumers display material and experiential products for different durations on social media. Through four experiments with MTurk and student samples, we demonstrate that consumers tend to display experiential products as permanent posts on social media, whereas, they tend to display material products as temporary posts. Furthermore, the level of proactive nostalgia mediates the relationship between product type and posting tendencies. Findings suggest that product display decisions on social media could be an innovative way of measuring product valuation. Implications related to self-construal and culture are discussed.

ABSTRACT. This study aims to investigate the antecedents of digital piracy behaviour, which is unlawful activity. It also explores the factors that lead participants to become involved in digital piracy behaviour. The study is based on a mixed method approach. Study 1 is a quantitative one and is focused on 100 surveys received from University lecturers/senior lecturers while Study 2 is a qualitative one based on ten mature University students who participated in semi-structured interviews. Both studies were contacted in UK. The findings show that different moral views and social influences affect the attitudes related to digital piracy. Factors such as legislation, safety risk, the availability of copied material, the package offered and convenience of internet users, had moderating effects on antecedents and digital piracy. Conclusions, implications, limitations and future research are discussed.

ABSTRACT. Smell is not just a biological and psychological experience, it is also a social and cultural phenomenon. Cross-cultural studies also argue that there are significant cultural differences on perceptions of odor smells both on the intensity and on the fragrance type as well. So far existing literature has focused on the effects of odors on time spent in a store, on purchase intention and memory recall. However, there is tremendous need to investigate further the effects of sensory marketing on consumers under the umbrella of environmental psychology. As such, the current quansi experiment explores the effect of odors on risk behaviour in a cross-cultural setting. According to our findings, cultural differences are evident concerning the impact of fragrances on consumers. Greek participants were not influenced by the vanilla and eucalyptus fragrances in terms of their risk behavior. On the contrary, for the British consumers, vanilla and eucalyptus were statistically different one another in terms of risk behavior. Additionally, vanilla has stronger effect on British consumer risk behavior.

ABSTRACT. This paper suggests that managing brands cross-border involves the management of individual products and offerings as well as the strategic entrepreneurial management of the overall brand of the multi-national enterprise. This entails ensuring consistency alongside adaptation in the brand management of different offerings across-borders and seeing the overall global corporate brand as an integrated whole that incorporates the overall strategy of the headquarters and subsidiaries of the organisation. This approach requires the integration of International Business and Management, Entrepreneurship, Strategy and International Marketing (IM)-a task that despite significant progress is still at early stages of development. Our key suggestion is that cross-border brand management requires an appreciation of the factors that differentiate the corporation as a whole. In turn, this requires looking at and analysing the determinants of both nation-wide and cross-border corporate branding. Moving from product to corporate brand management requires a holistic approach that encompasses and goes beyond the standardization/adaptation and related debates in IM and provide an opportunity to cross-fertilise IM with cognate fields, notably entrepreneurship, international business and management, organisation and strategy. These determinants and rationale are summarised below.

ABSTRACT. This Paper studies the behavioral intentions of McDonalds consumers and the moderating role of their perception of value in 15 countries: Austria, Italy, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Israel, Portugal, France, Spain, Argentina, China, Egypt, India, Thailand and Russia. McDonalds as a global brand, has standardized to a great extent its operations, marketing strategy, the atmospheric elements of all its restaurants, as well as its services. With some exceptions in more culturally distant countries, most of its key products can be found worldwide. This paper analyses to what extent the servicescape elements such as music and lightning, together with the quality of products and services offered by the company, have a positive influence in the value perception, and ultimately, in the behavioral intentions of its international consumers. Based on the Stimulus-Organism-Response model and using structural equation modelling, it was found that servicescape elements such as music and lightning, together with the quality of products and services offered by the company, have a positive influence in the perceived value of a global firm. Additionally, the perceived value of international consumers positively affects their behavioral intentions towards the brand.

ABSTRACT. The stereotype of rational thinking claims that managers have to be able to put aside their personal feelings and assess objectively all their decisions. This paper aims to evaluate the interplay of cognition and emotions in a foreign country evaluation process. The conceptual framework of this paper provides a preview of how emotions influence the managerial decision making process and, specifically, executives analyzed and evaluated a country, as an investment or export destination. The questionnaires were, initially, orientated to evaluate how managers decide to do an investment or an export and how sentiments affect them. The results show that emotions provide the canvas on which all cognitive and emotional deliberations are transposed to manifested intentions. Thus, the decision making takes place with the parallel effects of the two and could cause the loss of any sense of priority and to be proved ineffective.

ABSTRACT. Chile’s background in the biotechnology industry is described, its origins and its link with SMEs and the kind of firms emerging from research and development. Chilean biotechnology firms and their innovation capability best practices are described, as a way to compete internationally. Considering innovation capability as a key way to promote internationalisation within the firms (Demetris et al., 2019; Nassimbeni, 2001)

ABSTRACT. Many entrepreneurs are struggling with delivering a successful fund-raising pitch on crowdfunding platforms and geographic factors are gaining prominent influences on the nature and success of crowdfunding. In this research we examine the effect of the home and international communities on breaking down the barriers of national borders in the reward-based venture financing – crowdfunding. Committing as a backer to a crowdfund project requires overcoming one’s mental construal, which encompasses different forms of psychological distance- in time, in space and in social distance. Empirical analysis of 7288 Kickstarter (one of the leading crowdfunding online platforms) projects in the technology category with the project end date falling within the 2014-2019 period show that the concentration of funding in the top 10 countries has a negative impact on the percentage of fund raised. The number of foreign countries in the backers’ community and the percentage of foreign backers in the total backers have a positive impact on the percentage of fund raised. The number of comments from backers and the number of FAQ and updates from project creators positively moderate the relationship between the percentage of foreign backers and the percentage of fund raised.

ABSTRACT. Previous diaspora marketing studies focused on economic trade opportunities, tourism, and acculturation between countries with different languages and in only one host country. This research aims to examine the understanding of the diaspora purchase behavior of nostalgic products and services in a broader international context considering five host countries: Colombia, Peru, Chile, Ecuador, and Panama, and based on the construal level theory. First, this study, through a bibliometric literature review using a co-word analysis, review diaspora marketing themes in the current literature. Then, using the e-WOM metrics of advertising posts on Instagram, the results show diaspora consumers of host countries with higher individualistic culture, lower masculinity culture, and higher geographical distance from homeland prefer the consumption of nostalgic products.

ABSTRACT. Service-related needs in emerging markets are steadily growing as urban middle-class people increase, and their lifestyle becomes westernized. Consumers are demanding more convenience, comfort, and enjoyment. On the other hand, service business firms in developed countries, in general, are struggling to understand emerging market consumers, especially before new market entry. Based on the investigations of service contact points with customers, this paper exemplifies a method to quickly understand the characteristics of the targeted consumers. The study focuses on customer satisfaction and loyalty as well as relationships among them. These elements are addressed as basic consumers’ traits. In this paper, eat-out experiences of Indian consumers at quick service restaurants and coffee shops are examined and compared to those of Japanese consumers. Findings from the study demonstrate differences in preferable marketing directions between these two countries, in addition to substantial business potential in India. Based on these findings, a simple and easy to interpret framework is proposed in this paper. From the theoretical point of view, it implies possibilities of reconsidering established theories of consumer behavior in emerging markets. Business practitioners should be able to apply the framework to their own business areas as well.

ABSTRACT. The overall goal of this work is to describe the main theories about the influence of Foreign Direct Investment in Brazil and see if this variable is really relevant to the Gross Fixed Capital Formation, analyzing its importance in expanding the productive capacity of the country. There also is a discussion of the nature of foreign direct investment as passive or active external strategic, therefore, just as an adjustment mechanism in the balance of payments or a mechanism that increases national productivity and helps in accumulation of physical capital, technology and expertise. This result, specific to Latin American reality and with restrictions taking into account the limitations of the database and the technique shows an important trend for this type of investment in the region. FDI is not just the installation of new production plants as factories, but is also directed to mergers and acquisitions, and can also be directed to sectors such as banking and services, which do not generate in practice productive capacity. The presented data extracted from reports of ECLAC and economies, for example, Mexico and Argentina have shown a trend of targeting FDI for these movements are not considered increasing GFCF.

ABSTRACT. Social media is becoming a promising marketing tool to engage customers globally. Despite the popularity of customer engagement (CE), its relationship with content marketing strategy as well as the underlying mechanism has not been thoroughly investigated in the social media context. Furthermore, the cultural aspect has been largely neglected in the existing literature. This conceptual paper aims to fill the gap by offering an integrative framework of the relationship between social content marketing strategies and CE. Consequently, it will contribute to the literature with a synthesis of previous studies on the related topic, provide a theoretical understanding of the underlying mechanism between the relationship, and explore the cultural impact of the customer perceptions towards different social media content which thus generate different CE outcomes. Practically, this paper will give some applications to better engage global customers.

ABSTRACT. This article challenge the two key assumptions that the classical diffusion model implies: 1) all members of a given population equally affect and are affected by one another; 2) the prior adoption’s potential influence remains constant through time from the beginning of their occurrence. We apply a spatial dynamic panel data (SDPD) model to discover the heterogeneity both within the space and over time. Captured by space-specific covariates such as economy, demography and telecommunication infrastructure, the spatial heterogeneity drives the marginal diffusion speed across spaces. Several kinds of ‘influence set’ such as geographic, technological and social-demographic similarity constructs the spillover influence from a certain region to another, which connects current adopters in each region to past adopters in the related regions. Finally, by comparing the performance of different specifications of the spatial weights matrix, we show that the social-demographic similarity is in favor of others in descrbing the spillover in the Internet diffusion across 31 regions over 19 years. The spatial prediction performs well from ‘hot spots’ to isolated regions along times.

ABSTRACT. Health care is a rapidly growing sector in the world economy. Regulatory constraints for growth and reimbursement are an impetus for expansion into international markets. Dunning’s conceptual framework for the rationale of foreign direct investment combined with principles of asset specificity offers a combination of principles for the formation of six propositions to guide international market selection for the healthcare industry.

ABSTRACT. Despite returns costing retailers about £60 billion annually, 82% of shoppers think that returns are a normal part of shopping. Consequently, retailers need to balance the high processing and salvage costs associated with returns against providing positive customer experiences and brand reputation. To further complicate matters, returns policies can vary in numerous aspects, from time (i.e. 14 day to 365-day returns) to return type (i.e. monetary refunds, product exchange, store credits) to effort (i.e. in-store returns, collection from home, collection from kiosks) to scope (i.e. unconditional refunds, only faculty items), to monetary costs (i.e. full monetary funds, postage fees, handling fees). Do these return policies all signal value to consumers? Do the various formats of return policies affect how consumers shop and return products? In three studies, we show that while consumers perceive product exchange and return incurring postage costs to be equally attractive and reversible, they are less likely to return under product exchange return policies.

ABSTRACT. The Sharing Economy (SE) has received great attention worldwide, and its rapid explosion causes significant impact on both consumption and production. The SE has a potential to develop entrepreneurship, since by sharing unused resources (e.g. accommodation), the SE empowers anyone with idle resources to become a ‘micro-entrepreneur’. The generation of a critical mass of users and providers is the pivotal requirement for peer-to-peer platforms in the market, even though there is a lack of researches investigating the platform’s hosts’ perspective. This study represents a preliminary research that attempts to fill this gap, by investigating enablers and inhibitors of SE micro-entrepreneurship in two different cultural contexts.

ABSTRACT. Fashion is traditionally associated with beauty and youth. However, in increasingly aging Western societies, size, buying power and need to stay young in the “grey” segment suggest exploring 50+-fashion consciousness. This research identifies potential drivers of fashion consciousness and tests them on the basis of a 50+ stratified sample in 5 Western countries: the U.S., Germany, Spain, Italy, and France. The results of the multi-group structural equation model suggest that factors associated with fashion consciousness significantly vary by country as well as the role fashion plays in contributing to 50+ life satisfaction.

ABSTRACT. Celebrities are widely used to promote brands and traditionally managers assess consumer perceptions of similarity between the brand and the potential endorser by using survey-based elicitation methods. In this study, we combine textual and structural mining methods to facilitate relevant decisions, by extracting information from Twitter cross-cultural data. We propose a set of metrics, which capture varying levels of brand-related social media activeness, and are validated against survey data that span across eight market sectors. Although the proposed automated methods provide acceptable signals of perceived brand/celebrity similarity across cultures, the effectiveness of each method varies with sector-specific idiosyncratic characteristics. Also, we suggest that mining data from Twitter accounts elicits perceptions more accurately in industrial/specialized than consumer/mass-market sectors. The paper aims to offer foundation for future research advances in exploiting social media data.

ABSTRACT. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the inbound internationalisation of small service firms from two markets (an emerging and a developed market) for a better understanding of the main resources and capabilities required for small service firms to internationalize by bringing the foreign customer to the domestic market of the firm. This study utilizes a qualitative approach and the main source of data collection is semi-structured, in-depth interviews within owner/managers of hospitality small firms located in Chile and the UK. Case study methodology is used to explore the internationalization process of different hospitality service sectors: tours, accommodation, transport and entertainment. The main data collection method will be interviews conducted with top owners/managers of small service firms from these sectors.

ABSTRACT. Understanding of the role of culture in services is more essential than ever for international services marketing and service firms. However, although there is a significant volume of literature on cross-cultural consumer behavior in relation to goods, there is very limited in services and especially in luxury services in the tourism sector. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to enrich the cross-cultural luxury services research on consumer online behavior. Using 298 UGRs of two luxury hotel services, this research aims at identifying cross-cultural differences in luxury hotel ratings and reviews among tourists from various European regions (Central, Eastern Northern and Southern Europe). The findings of the study a) profile customers based on their online evaluations of luxury hotel attributes and reviews on Trip Advisor b) identify similarities/differences among tourists from various regions of Europe in their online behavior. The study enriches the services marketing literature on the role of culture on the online customer behavior in luxury services and guides luxury hotel managers in identifying the key elements of their marketing mix that are important in satisfying their customers.

ABSTRACT. International market selection (IMS) is considered a central element in the internationalisation process of firms. We tested and examined the use of systematic IMS in the specific case of a library software/automation provider anonymously identified as International Library Systems located in one of the Nordic countries. The purpose of the study is thus to investigate how the case company defines the most suitable market to enter, with the application of a multi-criteria Fuzzy expert decision support system. The data were collected both through qualitative and quantitative methods. The findings showed that the top two countries with the best potential, are Australia and UK. These findings supports the expressed choice of the company and gives them a well-founded base for making a decision on IMS. The system is a tool, that if used properly may be of good help in terms of decision-making and risk reduction as our findings showed that it maintains a consistent logic for the managers and allows management to follow a more formal procedure when selecting new markets to enter, than one based solely on intuition.

ABSTRACT. As globalization swells and businesses find success in new markets, various factors contribute to retail international expansion. The purpose of this study was to (1) examine what economic factors in foreign countries can explain fashion specialty retailers’ international expansion, and (2) analyze success of fashion specialty retailers in international versus domestic markets. Companies’ financial and countries’ economic data were collected and analyzed using multiple regression to understand how host market economic indicators relate to international expansion measured as new store openings. Fashion retailers’ performance in domestic and international markets was compared over a four-year period. This work contributes to existing research on international expansion and the role of national economic factors.

ABSTRACT. Within a context of globalized business facing an ageing world population, consumer brand managers become more preoccupied with targeting senior consumers. One strategy is using senior models in advertising however, bearing the risk of (1) negatively influencing the non-senior clients who are nevertheless exposed to these senior models, and (2) neglecting culturally distinct age representations when expanding advertising campaigns cross-borders. This study aims at investigating these potential risks by analyzing the effects of senior female advertising models on young women and the variance of magnitude and the nature of this effect with two different product categories in two neighboring countries, France and Germany. Our results show that young German women are less sensitive than the French to model age variations in advertising, indicating less age sensibility as well as less negative views of ageing. Young French women penalize ads showing senior models especially for non-appearance products and experience self-esteem variations depending on model age.

ABSTRACT. The Skill India program was launched by Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi on 15 July 2015 along with the creation of the new National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. The “demand-driven, reward-based” Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) flagship scheme was set up with a promise to train over two million people in one year. The Skill India initiative was to ensure that the millions, who enter the job market untrained, receive formal skill-building opportunities. Many hoped to be an improvement over previous skilling and vocational training programs. With a roster of schemes under its belt, the Skill India mission has been similar to skill and vocational training programs of the past; big investments but little impact.The panel was set up to review the existing CSR framework and make recommendations on strengthening the CSR ecosystem, including monitoring implementation and evaluation of outcomes. In order to understand the impact of CSR spending into skill development initiatives, let’s first review the definition of CSR as proposed by Kotler and Lee (2008)

ABSTRACT. This study aims to develop a framework to identify, categorise and prioritise the dimensions of service quality in theme parks in an Arab emerging Islamic country context. An analytic hierarchy process was used to prioritise the main criteria and sub-criteria of dimensions of theme park service quality in the United Arab Emirates. In total, the study identified four main criteria and 24 sub-criteria for the theme park industry. Consumables quality was the top priority under the main criteria, with Halal food, price of food and beverages and staff attitude (politeness and friendliness) the three most important sub-criteria of service quality. The study focused on tourists visiting an emerging country, and the results therefore cannot be generalised to other cultural contexts. The outcome of the study will provide local and international theme parks with explicit ideas about the service quality dimensions that are important in an Islamic cultural context. This will help them to prioritise the critical service quality dimensions, and eventually contribute to the successful management of theme parks. This study offers original insights into the dimensions of service quality of theme parks in an Islamic cultural context.

ABSTRACT. While customer engagement (CE) research has generated important insight, little remains known regarding the engagement of marketing actors beyond the customer/brand or firm dyad, thus revealing a need to extend CE-based analyses to incorporate a broader range of actors. In response to this gap, we conceptualize stakeholder engagement (SE) from an S-D logic perspective in this paper. We also develop a model of SE and its key antecedents, including stakeholder roles, objectives, and resources. Moreover, we identify the SE consequences of stakeholder resource development, regulatory fit, and value. Based on the model, we derive a set of Propositions of SE that we apply to the industrialized and growth market contexts, thus illustrating their microtheoretical applicability in global marketing strategy.

Acknowledgments - The author acknowledges Profs Rajendra Srivastava, David Sprott & Tor Andreassen for feedback to earlier versions of this manuscript & Brodie et al. (2016) for discussion on engagement.

ABSTRACT. In this paper I look at the impact of consumer level differences and country level differences that could impact a firm’s decision to enter and subsequently price in those markets. I propose a theoretical model of these micro and macro variables together in the particular and pertinent context of international retail markets. I find that despite the mantra for overall globalization, it is not always the case that all retailers have a presence in all markets (domestic and international). I also derive optimal profits and offer strategic cues for MNCs operating across various markets as they engage in differential pricing tactics.

ABSTRACT. Language assumes a key role in the dyadic interaction between service providers and customers. When the provider cannot adjust its language to customers’, such that customers do not receive the service in their primary language, they may perceive the service provider as dissimilar and unsympathetic, potentially leading to critical evaluations of the service experience. This study demonstrates that when customers are being served in English and English is not their primary language, language proficiency affects their satisfaction with the service. Collectivism and uncertainty avoidance constitute potential boundary conditions of this effect. That is, language proficiency does not affect service satisfaction among collectivistic customers, but it positively affects it among individualistic customers. The influence of uncertainty avoidance is less pronounced. Marketing managers thus should consider the role of language in service interactions to avoid unintended consequences for customer satisfaction.

ABSTRACT. Marketing doctrine (MD) refers to “firm’s unique principles, distilled from its experiences, which provide firm-wide guidance on market-facing choices” (Challagalla, Murtha and Jaworski, 2014, p. 4). Drawing on the knowledge-based view, the purpose of this paper is to develop a framework for MD management for international firms, provide the first quantitative test of MD and assess its antecedents and impact on international strategic performance. The final sample consisted of 349 internationally active SBUs. Data were analysed using structural equation modelling. The results indicate that the use of international MD principles enhances international strategic performance. The important roles of MD clarity and MD knowledgeability as antecedents are demonstrated. Learning by doing’s impact international MD principles only trough MD clarity and MD knowledgeability

ABSTRACT. IKEA is known for its DIY (do it yourself) products and unique customer experience. Past studies investigating the firm brand and store image indicated cultural differences among customers from different countries. Yet, to date, no study has examined the entirety of the customer experience among IKEA customers, namely, how customers experience the company store, services, and products as a whole. Thus, the purpose of the current study is to examine what is the entire customer experience of IKEA among Israeli customers. The current work in progress is based on qualitative data collection of stories from IKEA customers (reported here), interviews and on-site observations. A content analysis was employed on 41 stories. Findings suggest that IKEA’s customer experience in Israel is a mixture of universal brand experience with local aspects related to the local consumption and national culture. Israeli customers express deep love to the IKEA brand. This love was not affected even though their experience of the store format and design was in many cases unpleasant and entices feelings of hostility. We suggest that consumer affinity reflected in a deep admiration of the Israelis to the Swedish brand plays major role in their experience of the brand.