Commentary on “Co-creating stakeholder and brand identities: A cross-cultural consumer perspective”

This commentary raises awareness for the relevance of other cultural dimensions—besides individualism and collectivism—and alternative approaches to cross-cultural research for exploring cultural variations in stakeholders' co-construction of brand identity and their own identities. The author suggests replacing the value-centered approach to culture by an understanding of culture as something dynamic and unsettled, more than cognitive, disjunctive, and not necessarily bounded to geography. Culture includes other important aspects such as habits, rituals, practices, heroes, language and symbols. Abstract variables fail to capture the rich cultural content of social factors and, as such, are uninformed by and uninformative about concrete social life and the subtleties of local culture. Considering multiple aspects of cultural difference, interactions between these aspects, and the continuous influence of various cultures on each other can provide additional, relevant insights into reciprocal identity co-construction processes between brands and stakeholders.     

Retailers’ foreign market exits over time: A strategic management perspective

Foreign divestment research has focused on identifying divestment drivers but has only rarely investigated the long-term divestment behavior of companies. This study uses longitudinal case studies to explore the foreign market exit behavior of all seven of the ten largest store-based retailers in the world that had exited any foreign market between 2005 and 2020. It considers the three main theoretical perspectives in the field of strategic management, i.e., the industry-based, the resource-based, and the institution-based view. We find that retail market exits are often connected actions within certain epochs. The resource-based view seems the most appropriate strategic view to explain retailers’ long-term market exit behavior because their exits are often triggered by their idiosyncratic resources. However, we find some common patterns across the retailers’ market exit behavior that show the relevance of the industry-based and the institution-based view. Furthermore, the study detects the recently increasing phenomenon of partial exits which can be explained by the real options theory.     

Why do people purchase from food delivery apps? A consumer value perspective

Consumers are increasingly using food delivery apps (FDAs) to facilitate convenient and quick food delivery. Yet, the existing research offers a limited understanding of consumers’ behavioral responses to the visibility and values derived from FDAs. Our study utilized the theory of consumption values (TCV) to examine associations between FDA visibility, consumption values, and purchase intentions. The mediating role of consumption values and the moderating role of attitude was also studied. A qualitative study was conducted with 15 FDA consumers to derive context-specific consumption values. Responses from 355 FDA consumers from the United States of America (USA) were obtained through Prolific and analyzed using structural equation modeling. Visibility acted as an antecedent of all consumption values and significantly influenced purchase intentions. Attitude also positively and significantly influenced purchase intentions. Consumption values partially mediated the association between visibility and purchase intention, while attitude negatively moderated the relationship that purchase intention has with visibility and preference value. These findings have important implications for theory and practice.     

Measuring ecological concern: A multi‐construct perspective

Environmental consciousness has consistently been shown to be much more than a passing fad. However, very little academic research has been conducted in the UK in developing ecological segmentation variables for targeting the environmentally‐concerned/aware segments of the population. This paper follows established procedures from the measure development literature and attempts to develop measures encapsulating individuals’: (1) perceived knowledge about green issues, (2) attitudes toward the environment and (3) levels of environmentally‐sensitive behaviour. The quality of the derived measures is assessed by means of dimensionability, reliability and validity checks and their potential usefulness for marketing purposes highlighted.     

Measures of international competitiveness: A critical survey∗ †

An examination of the extant literature on competitiveness reveals a wide variety of notions and extreme difficulties of measurement and application.

Single measures of competitiveness do not capture all the elements of the concept. Useful measures have to specify the level of analysis (national, industry, firm or product) and encompass competitive performance, its sustainability through the generation of competitive potential and the management of the competitive process. The interrelationship between these three key elements are also important in a dynamic context.

The effectiveness of management is essential to this analysis and the concept of industrial effectiveness at the management level enables a link to be established between the concept of competitiveness and an empirical investigation of decision making. A framework is derived which is of general use and specific measures are proposed to fill the “empty boxes” suggested.     

Examining consumers’ sensory experiences with color: A consumer neuroscience approach

This research advances neuroscience as a tool with which to study consumers’ visual mental imagery. Applying these methods, we suggest that the presence or absence of color is a critical dimension along which consumers’ visualizations can vary, and explore when and why color of visual mental imagery becomes more prominent. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we find neural evidence for distinguishing black-and-white (BW) versus color visualization, and that visual mental imagery becomes increasingly monochrome (vs. colorful) when consumers imagine distant (vs. near) future events. Our neural evidence further suggests construal level as the underlying mechanism of this effect, showing common regions of activation for imagining distant future events, engaging in high-level construal, and forming BW mental imagery. We discuss the implication of these findings and the benefits of fMRI techniques for marketing in general.     

Sex ‘n’ shopping: A “novel” approach to consumer research

In recent years, several prominent consumer researchers have advocated the analysis of works of literature and art. Pathbreaking through these studies have proved, they are characterized by their focus on élite rather than popular literary forms. This paper extends the so‐called “marketing in Shakespeare” approach to works of romantic fiction, many of which are renowned for their brand name‐dropping. A content analysis of brand names in two “sex ‘n’ shopping” novels is undertaken and comparisons are made with an earlier study of mainstream popular fiction.     

Symposium on Harrison's “Lean and Mean”: A policy perspective

Conclusion It is unfortunate that Bennett Harrison has been trapped into a Manichean view of the world and that, in his attack on small business, he has found no lever other than a reliance on big business. The world is not as simple as he would appear to suggest. It is neither black nor white, but grey; coordination is neither vertical nor horizontal, but transversal.Yet one must welcome Harrison's polemical attack. It may yet serve as a catalyst that will enable the debate to go well beyond the large-firm/small-firms fixation (a somewhat sterile debate) into an exploration of the various forms of transversal coordination and of their relative merits in a rich variety of contexts. If this were to be the case, one might, in the future, see the present controversies surrounding Harrison's book as being something of a landmark, for while the book itself may have somewhat faded away into oblivion, the stimulating discussions generated by the book will have left behind what Gaston Bachelard would have called a surobject — a solid residue, a positive contribution to knowledge that would never have materialized without such a book (Bachelard, 1949).     

Microcredit in Palestine (1995–2008): A business history perspective

This article analyses the development and functioning of the microcredit industry in Palestine in the period between its establishment as a partially autonomous political entity (1994) and the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip (2008). The article shows how, despite the increase in potential demand for microcredit due to the deterioration of the economic environment, the growth of the sector has been below expectation. One of the most important causes of this phenomenon has been the reluctance to lend resulting from the growing risk of late or no repayment of loans. Using original data from one microcredit institution (Arab Centre for Agricultural Development) and a quantitative approach, the article investigates the causes of this problem. Results show that the risk of late repayment was negatively correlated to the level of interest rate, to macroeconomic conditions, and to the age of the borrower while it was positively associated to the share of investment in the Gaza Strip, and to the size of loans.     

A league of their own: services exporters – a developing country perspective

This paper provides a firm-level portrait of services exporters along with goods exporters in a developing country. Current findings of firm-level services trade literature suggest that the stylized facts of goods trade apply to services trade as well for a set of developed countries. This paper investigates if similar results hold for a developing country, Turkey, for the period 2003–2008. Most results lend support to the evidence found in the previous literature. However, the analysis of Turkish data shows that firms that export both goods and services are larger than those exporting goods or services only while multinationals that sell only goods are bigger than multinationals exporting both goods and services or those exporting only services.     

Liability of emergingness and EMNEs’ cross-border acquisition completion: A legitimacy perspective

This paper contributes to the literature on emerging multinational enterprises (EMNEs) by revealing how the conditions in their home countries influence their cross-border acquisitions. The study focuses on the liability of emergingness (LOE). It develops an integrative theoretical framework based on neo-institutional theory and the concept of legitimacy to explain the relationship between LOE and EMNEs’ cross-border acquisitions completion and the situational conditions that shape this relationship. The study uses data on 27,648 announced acquisitions conducted by EMNEs from 24 emerging economies in 175 host countries to estimate the relationships. The results reveal that, while two types of LOE (economic and institutional) have negative impacts on cross-border acquisition completion, the negative impacts become less important or disappear when the host country’s unemployment rate is too high, and the host country’s institutional quality is too low. This finding suggests that EMNEs can mitigate the negative effect of the LOE by carefully choosing a good time and a suitable location to enter into these transactions.     

A specialty store’s perspective on retail internationalization: a case study

Retail internationalization is an important trend for today’s retailers. However, the appropriateness of the strategy for all retailers has not been fully addressed. Most of the literature is based on experiences encountered after businesses have entered their new marketplaces. Very little information exists about strategic considerations occurring prior to international expansion. This study contributes to retail internationalization theory by partially validating a conceptual model of decision antecedents (Simpson and Thorpe, 1995). Data collected from an idiographic case study using a qualitative methodology support the conceptualization presented in the model, indicating that certain pre-conditions should exist in the retailer’s domestic environment, act as motives for considering a global expansion strategy, and drive the internationalization decision-making process forward.     

Re‐gendering consumer agency in mid‐nineteenth‐century America: A visual understanding

The re‐gendering of consumer agency in the middle decades of the nineteenth century, from being a male to an increasingly female prerogative and responsibility, marked an important milestone in the history of American consumer culture. Art from this period can provide a visual understanding of this ideological and social transformation. Accordingly, this paper examines the lives and selected works of two intriguing genre painters, Francis W. Edmonds (1806–1863) and Lilly Martin Spencer (1822–1902), using concepts and methods from art history, visual culture, and postmodern theory. Implications for household consumption history and theory are also discussed.     

The impact of retailers’ sustainable development on consumer advocacy: A chain mediation model investigation

This study explores the impact of retailers' sustainable development (RSD) on consumer advocacy. Drawing on the theoretical foundations of institutional theory, this study presents and confirms a model that investigates the mediating role of retailers' legitimacy and consumer trust, and the moderating role of consumer ecological literacy between RSD and consumer advocacy. Using the sample of 942 consumers and PLS-based structural equation modeling technique, the results revealed that RSD positively correlates with consumer advocacy. Additionally, retailers' legitimacy and consumer trust mediate this correlation by a respective mediating role and a chain-mediating role. Besides, consumer eco-literacy negatively moderates the direct impact of RSD on consumer advocacy and consumer trust, and the indirect impact of RSD on consumer advocacy through consumer trust. However, the direct impact of RSD on retailers' legitimacy, the mediating effect of RSD on consumer advocacy through retailers' legitimacy, and the chain-mediating effect of RSD on consumer advocacy through retailers’ legitimacy and consumer trust are not moderated by consumer eco-literacy. This study has implications for retailers seeking practical ways to increase consumer advocacy.     

What is beneficial for first-time SME-exporters from a transition economy: A diversified or a focused export-strategy?

We examine whether more focused or more diversified exporting is beneficial for first-time SME-exporters from a small European transition economy (TE). We test the impact of market (geographic) diversification, product diversification and export intensity (export volume) on firm performance. In addition, we test whether a complex export strategy – of simultaneous product- and market-diversification – is beneficial for TE SMEs. We use panel data of all reported, first-time Slovenian exporters in the period 1995–2010. We find that a diversified export strategy in terms of product, market and intensity is positively related to performance although with decreasing returns. Furthermore, a complex diversification strategy pays off for first time TE SME-exporters, but in a decreasing fashion.     

Profiling shoppers’ coping behaviours during a pandemic crisis: A regulatory focus perspective

Using the regulatory-focus theory (i.e. promotion- and prevention-focused concepts), the research investigates shoppers' positive/negative coping behaviours and segmentation linked to COVID-19. Supported by an online survey with 213 shoppers conducted after the first national lockdown (March 2020), factor analysis identified a set of four shopping factors meaningful to profile shoppers’ coping behaviours and segmentation. Positive coping is represented by quality-, price- and brand-focused shopping factors, whereas negative coping is represented by store-focused. The resultant three shopper segments are known as the mindful shopper (positive and negative coping), and the indulgent and the optimal shoppers (more positive coping).     

IMC: Has anything really changed? A new perspective on an old definition

Integrated marketing communication (IMC) has emerged as a new concept in marketing in the twenty-first century. IMC is mostly thought of, taught and written about as simply the integration of advertising and promotional activities. However, this paper proposes IMC as a broader concept. It is more than a process or activity within an organisation: it is a system of belief or engagement, embedded in an organisation's culture, underpinned by communication and driven by technology and senior management. We identify seven major tenets of the integrated view of marketing communication within the IMC literature, and argue that early marketing concepts of the twentieth century are no longer valid. IMC can be seen as a new paradigm in marketing, equipped with central concepts that apply to many business environments.     

Multinational enterprises’ risk mitigation strategies in emerging markets: A political coalition perspective

This paper contributes to the IB literature by investigating MNEs’ risk mitigation strategies in emerging markets. Drawing on institutional perspectives and March’s theoretical concept of forming a ‘political coalition’, we propose that risk mitigation cannot be limited to passive compliance and/or demonstrating good corporate behavior, but should extend to collective efforts by building a political coalition and working with key stakeholders to manage potential risk and obtain favorable outcomes in complex institutional environments. In considering MNEs in contemporary China and India, we offer different types of risk mitigation strategies under various institutional contexts and a framework for future research.     

Navigating the ‘retail apocalypse’: A framework of consumer evaluations of the new retail landscape

Strong signals exist for a permanent restructuring of retailḍing, where traditional physical retailers may not fully recover. Such transformation will have vast implications for consumers, the industry, and society in general. This study explores U.S. consumers’ evaluations of these profound changes sometimes referred to as the ‘retail apocalypse.’ Two studies, a content analysis of reader comments in response to articles featuring reports on large-scale store closures, and structured online consumer interviews, provide insights into consumers’ perspectives. We include consumer-derived explanations for the decline in physical retail, and the growth of online shopping, as well as anticipated consequences for both, individual consumers and society in general, in a conceptual framework. We find many consumers lamenting the disappearance of physical retailers. Most expect negative consequences for themselves and society. However, many consumers also describe physical retailers as often unable to deliver on basic retail functions, and many are accepting of a future with very few physical stores. Based on these findings, we develop practical implications for the retail industry and public policy, as well as future research opportunities.     

Business ethics — A developmental perspective: The evolution of the free and mature corporation

Ethics in Business organizations is a multidimensional process involving decision-making, leadership and institution building. The relatively simpler ethics of day-to-day decisions has to be reflected upon in the context of corporate desire for continuity, embedded in the values of a progressive society. At the operating level, the multivalence of decision situations is emphasized in place of the simple good — bad or cost — benefit dichotomies. A decision tree framework is presented to reflect the richness of the decisions. At the corporate level, the concept of responsive strategy as a synthesis of vision, power, and responsibility is proposed. In this, the crucial role of leaders cannot be over-emphasized. Finally, at the societal level, the evolution of capitalism and its corporate forms is seen as a milestone in people's search for enlightened ways to achieve refined ends. As more businesses assert their rightful roles in society, progressive institutional forms more in tune with the values of the twenty-first century should emerge.L. L. Jayaraman is Associate Professor of Management at Montclair State College, New Jersey, U.S.A. He holds a Ph.D. and a Post-graduate Diploma in Management. His research interests include Corporate Strategy and Business Ethics. Recent publications includeHow to Compete in the Global Economy: A Fresh Look at Business Strategy, in the January 1993 issue of theAmerican Business Review. During the Summer of 1992, he was a visiting professor at the School of Management, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovak Federal Republic.Byung K. Min is Associate Professor of Management and Chairman of the Department of Management at Montclair State College, New Jersey, U.S.A. He holds a Ph.D. His research interests cover Corporate Strategy, Business Ethics, Organizational Behavior and Management Information Systems. His article has appeaed in theJournal of Applied Psychology.