Cross-Cultural Business Research: Introduction to the special issue

As markets become increasingly global, an understanding of the world's cultures is imperative. This special issue consists of nine articles devoted to increasing our understanding of culture. It follows the 11th Cross-Cultural Research Conference, which was held in Puerto Rico in December 2005. An open invitation to conference participants and other interested researchers resulted in 56 submissions for the special issue. Articles chosen were subjected to several rounds of double-blind reviews and revisions. They cover a variety of topics including vacationing, managerial competency appraisal, horizontal and vertical individualism and collectivism, consumer services, cultural conditioning, electronic word-of-mouth, the global hip-hop culture, ethical attitudes, and impulse buying behavior.     

Impact of culture on marketing strategy: Introduction to the special issue

This special issue of the Journal of Business Research features eleven articles selected from the papers presented during the fourth meeting of the Royal Bank International Research Seminar which took place in Montreal at the John Molson School of Business, Concordia University, September 23 and 24, 2007. They cover topics related to culture and marketing communications, consumer socialization, materialism, identity and religiosity, service quality, language effects, consumer revenge behavior and government actions.     

Timeline of a financial crisis: Introduction to the special issue

The economic crisis fueled by risky mortgages and the exotic financial instruments developed from bundling these mortgages caused the largest one-day losses on the US stock market in history (BBC News, 2009a). The resulting financial collapse quickly spread throughout the world, causing economic recessions in much of the EU, Turkey, and many other countries. Since 2008, economists, government agencies, and academics pondered the causes of the financial crisis with an eye toward avoiding such catastrophic collapse in the future. This special issue contributes to the discussion by bringing together academics from marketing, finance, and economics to put the financial crisis into theoretical perspective and propose theoretically viable alternatives to avoid similar economic downturns in the future.     

Resource interaction in inter-organizational networks: Introduction to the special issue

This article introduces the special issue of Journal of Business Research on the topic of resource interaction in inter-organizational networks. Both networks and resources receive considerable attention in the field of business studies. As companies specialize further and rely on cooperative agreements with external parties, the importance of networks is gaining increasing recognition. Resources are typically a key factor for identifying a company's competencies, or its sources of growth, profitability, and sustained competitive advantage. This special issue takes a novel approach by directing attention toward the processes of interaction in which companies combine and recombine resources at the network level. This approach provides new insights into the development, production, exchange, and use of resources. The introductory article also reviews the 13 articles in this special issue and concludes by discussing their contributions to the fields of marketing, innovation, entrepreneurship, and logistics.     

2008 World Social Marketing Conference: Introduction to special issue

This article summarizes the articles found in this special issue, which were inspired by the 2008 Social Marketing Conference in Brighton, England. This special issue provides readers with an interesting mix of social marketing topics and methods. Both conceptual and empirical articles are represented. Social marketing practitioners will find some good ideas and new approaches. Social marketing researchers will be presented with some of the latest thinking in social marketing, and perhaps will obtain insights for future research.