Human Resource Management of Japanese Companies in Hungary: How do Japanese and Hungarian Styles Blend?

ABSTRACT

A qualitative interview-based research with 32 participating companies, this article investigates the human resource management practices of Japanese subsidiaries in Hungary. The findings indicate that human resource management practices in Hungarian subsidiaries of Japanese companies are characterized as a hybrid of Japanese and Hungarian styles. Greater Japanese influence was found in the characteristics of the human resources department, corporate culture, safety practices, and trainings, whereas greater Hungarian influence was found in pay, benefits, and recruitment methods. The findings contribute uniquely to the understanding of whether and how the country-of-origin effect, localization effect, and dominance effect interplay in configuring human resource management practices in foreign subsidiaries of multinational companies.     

The Impact of Integration and Responsiveness on MNC Subsidiaries’ Market Orientation

ABSTRACT

In this study, the author explored the impact of integration and local responsiveness on the market orientation of multinational corporations’ foreign subsidiaries. An investigation of a sample of 250 foreign subsidiaries in the United Kingdom revealed different effects of integration and local responsiveness on market orientation. In specific, integration directly impacts the development of market orientation of multinational corporations’ subsidiaries, whereas responsiveness effects on market orientation are mainly indirect through first affecting the top management emphasis and then the use of market-based reward systems at subsidiaries. Managerial and research implications are discussed.     

Noticing Cultural Differences: Ad Meanings Created by Target and Non-Target Markets

Abstract

Target marketing is an increasingly crucial component of marketing strategy, particularly given the expanding cultural diversity of the nation's population. Prior research suggests marketers need to consider the nontarget market (consumers who perceive themselves not to be the target of an advertisement) as well as the target market. Further, researchers have called for a more meaning-based approach to understanding advertising and consumer behavior. The authors therefore explore the meanings created by target and nontarget viewers of advertising targeting black, white, and gay / lesbian cultures. Their results show that asymmetries in cultural expertise, power, distinctiveness, and stigmatization among those cultural groups influence the meanings created by target and nontarget viewers of ads targeting those groups.     

Television ad-skipping,consumption complementarities and the consumer demand for advertising

Endogenous consumption of advertising is common. Consumers choose to change channels to avoid TV ads, click away from paid online video ads, or discard direct mail without reading advertised details. As technological advances give firms improved abilities to target individual consumers through various media, it is becoming increasingly important for models to reflect the endogenous nature of ad consumption and to consider the implications that ad choice has for firms’ targeting strategies. With this motivation, we develop an empirical model of consumer demand for advertising in which demand for ads is jointly determined with demand for the advertised products. Building on Becker and Murphy (The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 108(4), 941–964 1993)’s ideas, the model treats advertising as a good over which consumers have utility and obtains demands as the outcome of a joint utility maximization problem. Leveraging new data that links household-level TV ad-viewing with product purchases, we provide empirical evidence that is consistent with the model: ad-skipping is found to be lower when a household has purchased more of the advertised brand, and purchases are higher when more ads have been watched recently, suggesting that advertising and product consumption are jointly determined. Fitting a structural model of joint demand to the data, we evaluate consumer welfare and advertiser profitability in advertising targeting counterfactuals motivated by an “addressable” future of TV. We find that targeting on the predicted ad-skip probability is an attractive strategy, as it indirectly selects consumers that value the product. Reflecting the positive view of advertising in the model, we also find that net consumer welfare may increase in several targeting scenarios. This occurs because under improved targeting, firms shift advertising to those who are likely to value it. At the same time, consumers that do not value the ads end up skipping them, mitigating possible welfare losses. Both forces are relevant to assessing advertising effects in a world with improved targeting and ad-skipping technology.     

Ad scepticism and retouch-free disclaimers: Are they worth it?

Abstract

The present study analyses the impact of ad scepticism on the way consumers perceive advertising and process its effects, and considers the influence of ad disclaimers. We conduct an experiment that explores three different contexts, namely (1) the total absence of ad disclaimers, (2) the presence of a retouch-free disclaimer and (3) the presence of a retouched disclaimer. By showing how ad scepticism fits in the advertising attitudinal approach, and how new digital developments affect consumers’ processing of advertisements, the results of this experiment can contribute to the marketing literature and clarify relevant topics for practitioners. This paper shows the significant influence played by ad believability and attitude towards the ad on behavioural intentions. This underlines, particularly for marketing practitioners, the importance of an ad’s believability and the credibility of its claims in the sales outcome. Most importantly, the framework offered by this paper shifts the attention towards the believability of advertising disclaimers aimed at clarifying the use of digitally enhanced images.     

A Cross-Country Investigation of Recall of and Attitude toward Comparative Advertising

Abstract

The author reports the results of an exploratory study of cross-country differences in recall of and attitude toward comparative advertising. As American companies are increasingly advertising their products in other countries, the issue of cross-country differences in comparative advertising effectiveness is very important. The study found that although recall of comparative ads was high, consumer attitudes toward comparative ads was not very positive, especially in countries where comparative ads are not widely used or are used rarely. Therefore, comparative ads should be targeted at other countries with caution.     

Marketing in an Electronic Age. Buzzell,Robert D. (Ed.). Boston,MA: Harvard Business School Press, 1985. 404 Pp. $32.50

Abstract

American and Japanese print ads were content analyzed to examine how advertising expression and content differed in the two cultures. The degree of emotional appeals, informativeness, and comparativeness of advertising were the dimensions studied. As hypothesized, Japanese ads were evaluated as more emotional and less comparative than American ads. In contrast to a priori notions, Japanese ads were found to contain at least as many information cues as American ads.     

Factors Affecting Skepticism toward Green Advertising

Abstract

Despite the growth of green marketing, there is a shortage of studies on green communication. Thus, this research aims to understand whether consumers who are concerned about the environment conserve resources and have environmentally friendly buying habits and whether they are skeptical about the green communications conveyed by companies. Using a proposal of a model about skepticism toward green advertising, several hypotheses are tested. The results indicate that the more environmentally concerned an individual is, the more skepticism he or she will be toward green claims exhibited on packages or featured in ads. In addition, results indicated no significant differences between men and women regarding this skepticism.     

Consumers' Responses to Implicit and Explicit Gay-Themed Advertising in Gay vs. Mainstream Media

ABSTRACT

Further study is needed to validate concerns over gay-themed ads appearing in mainstream media. This study investigates the effects of such ads by comparing them to the effects of gay-themed ads placed in gay media. The study delves into the differential effects of implicit and explicit visual messages. It also examines how consumers' attitudes toward homosexuality affect their purchase intention as well as advertising and brand evaluation. The study's findings suggest that implicit, rather than explicit, gay-themed ads lead to higher purchase intention and more favorable advertising and brand evaluation. The study results show that the type of advertising message (i.e., implicit or explicit gay-themed ads) moderates the relationship between gay-media and mainstream media. Finally, this study finds that a low level of tolerance toward homosexuality results in lower purchase intention as well as less favorable evaluations of both the advertising and brand. Managerial implications are also discussed.     

The Information Content of Comparative Magazine Advertisements

Abstract

The existing research on comparative vs. noncomparative advertising has resulted in a great deal of conflict and confusion concerning its effectiveness. However, little attention has been directed toward examining the informational nature of the ads themselves. The current investigation examines the question of whether comparative advertisements actually contain more objective information cues than their noncomparative counterparts. The results indicated that comparative ads did indeed have greater information content than noncomparative ads. Additional informational dimensions of comparative ads are explored.     

Reverse Knowledge Transfer on Emerging Market Multinationals: A Case Study of the Largest Private Bank in Latin America

Knowledge transfer between headquarters and subsidiaries and the study of emerging market multinationals (EMMNE) are two important and rapidly growing research topics in International Business (IB) studies. This research analyzes, through an in-depth single case study, the Reverse Knowledge Transfer (RKT) processes of an emerging market multinational, more specifically the largest private bank in LATAM—Banco Itaú Unibanco S.A.—to understand how emerging market parent companies benefit from their subsidiaries’ knowledge. Our findings validate important concepts in the IB and RKT literature, contribute with valuable insights to theory generation, and indicate possible avenues for future research.     

跨国广告集团全球扩张模式的选择及其影响因素

本文运用对外直接投资理论和交易费用理论的相关原理，具体阐述了跨国广告集团全球市场扩张的经济动因，即跨国企业全球市场拓展和广告公司自身业务发展的双重需要。在此基础上，作者深度剖析了跨国广告集团全球扩张模式的三种主要模式及其选择不同模式的影响因素。文章最后重点分析了跨国广告集团在中国的市场扩张战略，以期为民族广告公司的可持续发展和国际化转型提供策略参考。     

A Comparative Study of Radio Audience Measurement Methodology

Little published research exists to guide self-regulators in their evaluation of advertising directed to children. Academic researchers have principally studied the effects of advertising upon children, rather than children's perceptions of specific commercials and ads. Research on such questions as fantasy, using famous presenters, scale disclosures and disclaimers would undoubtedly show age-related differences of perception. This might call into question the advertisers' responsibilities to the pre-school, pre-literate child. The situation is more complex when the advertiser seeks to address older children at times when younger children are also watching. Research will never satisfy the critics, but industry and self-regulators should pursue the question of how children perceive advertising.     

Exploring the missing point of view in international advertising management: local managers in global advertising agencies

In the decades-long debates about whether standardised or adapted strategies are better for global brands, and whether centralised or decentralised international communications planning is more effective, little attention has been given to the perspective of local managers in the subsidiaries of global agencies. This paper reports on the experiences and opinions of account managers and creative directors in Korean subsidiaries, with regard to the international advertising policies of their agencies and clients. The authors find less centralisation than prior research has reported and yet more negative experiences with standardised global advertising. Creativity is a key consideration for the Korean managers, especially for products, be they consumer or industrial, that have universal demand. The perspective of subsidiary managers in multinational corporations should be considered in the advertising planning process in order to avoid conflict which could decrease the effectiveness of global campaigns.     

The Effect of Social Identity Cues Under Incidental Ad Exposure Conditions

Abstract

This study integrates the theories of social identity and unconscious processing to investigate the potential influence of unattended ads. Recent advances in research on unconscious processing have found that unconscious processing can include a semantic analysis of ads that includes the development of deeper meanings and associations related to cues in the ad. This study capitalizes on such an analysis by investigating whether using social identity as an advertising cue has the potential to influence consumer responses to ads—even ads to which consumers claim they have never been exposed.     

British co-operative societies as retail innovators: Interpreting the early stages of the self-service revolution

Multinational companies and their subsidiaries have been important actors in the world economy. However, we know relatively little about the evolution of subsidiaries and their adaption to host country conditions. This article is a case study of a Norwegian subsidiary of the Canadian mining multinational Falconbridge Nickel Mines Ltd. It examines what autonomy the subsidiary had, how the autonomy was used, its development of knowledge and how it adapted to Norwegian ways of doing business. The article shows that subsidiaries may contribute significantly to the development of their mother companies. It highlights four factors that influenced the degree of autonomy and the evolution of subsidiaries in the inter-war era; namely host country politics, the line of business, the configuration of knowledge within the given multinational company and in case of acquisitions; the prehistory of the subsidiary.     

How sponsorship transparency mitigates negative effects of advertising recognition

The proliferation of covert online advertising formats such as advergames has raised concerns about consumers’ ability to recognize such content as advertising and about how recognition affects evaluative outcomes. The present research utilized an online experiment (N?=?179) to examine differences between covertness of advertising format (advergame vs. online video commercials) on advertising recognition, and whether sponsorship transparency mediates – and mitigates – the negative effects of advertising recognition on attitude toward the ad, attitude toward the brand, and purchase intent. The results show that covertness of advertising format, recognition, and sponsorship transparency all shape consumers’ responses to online ads. Specifically, the predicted negative indirect effect of covertness of advertising format on attitudes and behavioral intention via advertising recognition reversed valance when sponsorship transparency was included in the serial mediation model.     

Customer Testimonials and News Clips as Contextual Cues in the Consumer Cognitive Processing of Online Shopping

SUMMARY

This study examines to what extent degrees of nudity presented in advertising differ across five countries (Brazil, China, South Korea, Thailand, and the U.S.). Content is examined by media type (TV vs. magazine) and product category (congruent vs. others). Results show that Thai and U.S. ads employ the highest degrees of nudity, whereas Chinese ads present the lowest degrees. Across all the countries, magazine ads and congruent-product ads employ higher degrees of nudity than TV ads and non-congruent product ads. The effect of product type on degrees of nudity is stronger in TV ads than in magazine ads and the interaction effect between media type and product type also varies across the countries. Our study provides richer and more specific implications for global advertising strategy with respect to representation of models and use of sex appeals.     

Characteristics and influences of multinational subsidiary entrepreneurial culture: The case of the advertising sector

This paper undertakes an exploratory study into the characteristics of entrepreneurial culture of the multinational subsidiary; and, into the associated influences and manifestations linked to multinational corporation (MNC) and environmental contexts. The theme of multinational subsidiary entrepreneurial culture is an unexplored theme in the literature, and has considerable research and managerial significance. This qualitative research is based on eight multinational subsidiaries in the advertising sector in the UK. The evidence suggests that the constituents of multinational subsidiary entrepreneurial culture include global vision, entrepreneurial orientation and entrepreneurial MNC network management. The related influences and manifestations refer to subsidiary autonomy, target market servicing and responsiveness to local environmental conditions. In addition, the findings show that while entrepreneurial behaviour was evident in all investigated subsidiaries, its locus varied significantly. Specifically, entrepreneurship in multinational subsidiaries can be subsidiary-, headquarters-, or jointly-driven.     

The Importance of Trust for Personalized Online Advertising

With the amount of online advertising on a steady rise, generic ads noticeably lose effectiveness. In order to break through the clutter, retailers employ a method called retargeting to tailor their advertisements to individual consumers based on inferred interests and preferences. However, while personalization should generally make ads more appealing, the authors use field data to show that the effectiveness of retargeting considerably hinges on consumers’ trust in a respective retailer. To uncover the underlying mechanisms of this phenomenon, they investigate how trust moderates the impact of ad personalization on consumers’ internal and external responses in the lab. They propose a two-dimensional conceptualization of ad personalization: First, a banner's personalization depth defines how closely the ad reflects a consumer's interests. Second, its personalization breadth determines how completely the banner reflects these interests. The lab results show that more trusted retailers can increase the perceived usefulness of their ads through a combination of high depth and narrow breadth of personalization without eliciting increased reactance or privacy concerns. On the other hand, for less trusted retailers, banners with higher depth are not perceived more useful, but instead trigger increased reactance and privacy concerns, regardless of their personalization breadth. These effects directly translate into consumers’ click-through intentions so that retailers should adjust their personalization strategies accordingly in order to increase the effectiveness of their online advertising.