Changes and trends in alcohol consumption patterns in Europe

Consumer behaviourists and consumer policy-makers are interested in the degree to which global convergence is occurring for various consumer behaviour dimensions, the extent to which the consumption patterns in different parts of the world are becoming similar and the extent to which these trends may be influenced and/or influence consumer policy. With increasing internationalization and cultural cross-fertilization, the industrialized societies of the world are converging in many ways. Shifts in alcohol consumption patterns in Europe over the past 50 years represent a case in point. As traditional cultural boundaries become blurred, consumer preferences for alcoholic beverages appear to be driven less by long-standing local and regional traditions and more by growing acceptance of a wider choice. The disparity in total alcohol consumption among the 15 countries studied has also decreased. Other powerful forces are likely to accelerate the pace of convergence in the future.     

Marketing channel relationships in China: A review and integration with an institution-based perspective

Because marketing channel research is predominantly conducted in the Western world, marketing channel theories and practices may not be generalizable to Chinese markets. Despite the rapid growth of Chinese economies and their increasing importance to the global economy, our understanding of marketing channels in China is limited. This research reviews and integrates studies of marketing channels in the Chinese context. From an institution-based perspective, we develop a set of propositions focusing on issues such as guanxi, trust and dependence. We explore the impact of Chinese institutional environments (regulatory, normative and cultural) on marketing channels. Lastly, we offer suggestions to help firms adapt their channel operations to Chinese markets.     

Marketing globalization: A didactic examination for corporate strategy

Recent empirical research suggests an appended explanation of globalization is necessary. Significant global studies have indicated that converging global homogeneous markets have not arrived, thereby concluding globalization of markets should be reexamined. A didactic examination posits globalization as marketing globalization. Two areas of opportunity for marketing globalization strategy are a modified marketing strategy in diverse global markets and a standardized marketing strategy in homogeneous global markets. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Understanding multi-level institutional convergence effects on international market segments and global marketing strategy

Dynamic changes in the global marketplace have increased opportunities for marketing strategy standardization due to the convergence of cross-national market segments. An oversimplified understanding of the complexities of this convergence could lead to ineffective global marketing strategy execution. This study develops a multi-level institutional approach to address level-based convergence effects necessary to understanding market segment convergence and its influence on global marketing strategy. A model of influential level effects on global marketing strategy is developed having implications for global marketing academics and practitioners.     

Whither globalisation and convergence? Asian examples and future research

Among the most popular of buzzwords and debated topics for governments, policy-makers and management as well as academia are ‘globalisation’. Under its influence, one implication is that there is ‘convergence’ around a set of universally applicable and transferable beliefs and ‘global’ standards or ‘best’ practices which in turn produce ever more standardization with homogenized and similar nations and practices – the ‘McDonaldisation’ of everything. However, this is not a new idea and needs historical grounding and context. Also, in Asia, we can see globalization differently with not only constraints and alternatives, but even counter trends at both institutional and cultural levels, such as post-1980s ideas of the ‘Japanisation’ of management and industries and now the so-called ‘Korean Wave’ of Korean entertainment and popular culture rolling out over parts of the world. This indicates that globalization’s converging impacts are less all-powerful than is often portrayed and thought.     

Notes for Contributors

One aspect of globalisation is the convergence of income, media and technology, which in turn is expected to lead to homogeneous consumer behaviour. This convergence thesis is increasingly questioned. With converging national wealth there still is substantial variation of consumer behaviour across nations, which is not disappearing. Variation is found in all aspects of consumer behaviour: in consumption of packaged goods, in usage and ownership of durable goods, and in media behaviour. With disappearing differences of GNP per capita, culture is a powerful explaining variable. This paper provides evidence of divergence of consumer behaviour rather than convergence, it describes the influence of culture, how cultural variables can explain variance of consumption, and presents the consequences for international brand management and for global advertising.     

A Tri-Country Marketing Project – Preparing Students for the Realities of a Global Marketplace

With rapidly increasing globalization, business students are required to understand complex global markets and adapt to the rapid changes in the global landscape. This paper discusses a project where students from International Marketing courses in Pakistan, the United States, and France used an interactive platform as a base to jointly explore the marketing of brand-name products across the three countries to better understand the realities of global marketing strategies. The results are discussed as are the difficulties and the recommendations for future projects.     

Creating Value for Customers,Clients, Partners and Society: An Introduction to the Special Issue on Food Waste

ABSTRACT

Roughly one-third of edible food produced in the world is wasted, that is, it is never consumed by humans, despite the persistent demands for nutrition throughout the world. The American Marketing Association defines marketing as “…the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.” When it comes to food, an increasing number of these key stakeholders question how a global marketing system that routinely wastes a startling fraction of its product comports with “…value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large,” and whether the food marketing system can do more to sustainably convert scarce planetary resources into global nutrition. We introduce the articles in this special issue, which provide an intellectual and empirical basis for exploring how the global marketing system generates a substantial amount of food waste and how the food marketing system can do more to reduce the amount of wasted food.     

The World Class Sales Manager:

Sales managers today need to be world class. They can no longer succeed by merely carrying out parachially defined roles and duties of sales management. Not only must today's sales managers perform an increasingly eclectic array of sale and marketing functions but they must do so from a global perspective. Future profits and growth will go largely to those companies whose sales managers become truly world class in adjusting to a complex mix of evolutionary and revolutionary megatrends.     

Global convergence of consumer spending: Conceptualization and propositions

The convergence versus divergence debate has persistently presented a puzzle in the scholarly literature. Forces of globalization created a wave of convergence. Yet, the recent worldwide events have changed the course of globalization, slowing its seemingly unavoidable forward direction. It is, therefore, incumbent upon international business scholars to reexamine the convergence versus divergence debate in the contemporary world economy. Despite the central role that global convergence plays in international business decisions, the literature is lacking a conceptualization of the convergence construct in terms of consumer spending behavior. Offering a new perspective derived from the convergence-divergence-crossvergence (CDC) framework and the coevolution theory, the authors define and conceptualize the convergence construct associated with consumer spending behavior. The proposed conceptual framework is comprehensive, offers refinements to the convergence phenomenon, and leads the way for further development of new theories in the international marketing domain.     

Are You Selling the Right Colour? A Cross‐cultural Review of Colour as a Marketing Cue

Should a marketer adopt a pan‐cultural or a culture‐specific approach when using colour in marketing? Colours exercise powerful effects and induce reactions based on both instincts and associations. Colours alter the meanings of the objects or situations with which they are associated and colour preferences can predict consumers' behaviour. This article reviews the psychological and socio‐cultural associations and meanings of colour(s) in a cross‐cultural marketing perspective and outlines their role as a marketing cue. Because cultural values, marketing objectives and desired customer relationship levels influence the choice of colour in corporate and marketing communications, it is argued that a cross‐cultural perspective of colour research and application is imperative for developing global marketing strategies.     

Better marketing to developing countries: Why and how

Managers have long understood the rationale for investing in new products. Now, however, they face an even more compelling need: to invest in targeting new markets, specifically those in less developed countries (LDCs). The argument presented in this article, for initiating or increasing marketing efforts in these nations, makes two related points. First, a healthy world economy requires consumers in developing nations—particularly China—to spend more, because trade imbalances between the United States and LDCs cannot be sustained. Second, in order to foster consumption in LDCs and to profit from it, marketing expertise in the developed world must refocus. Success will require devising, promoting, and distributing products that will overcome economic constraints in some markets, and in others will overcome an understandable reluctance to spend rather than save. We suggest that lessons may be gleaned from examples regarding recent efforts targeting LDCs by a pharmaceutical company (Pfizer) and a food supplement marketer (Procter & Gamble), as well as efforts pioneered in less developed countries themselves (including low-cost private schools and $2,500 automobiles).     

The Establishment of Global Marketing Strategic Alliances by Small and Medium Enterprises

Within the constraints of financial resources, it remains possible for SMEs to find ways of cultivating their global marketing activities. Based on the balanced scorecard concept, we are able to develop a model, under a two-stage diagnostic process of subjective and objective conditions, to assist SMEs in making the best available choice in their global marketing activities.Following on from our examination of Taiwanese SMEs, this empirical study proposes four types of global marketing activities: the setting up of upstream and downstream joint after-sales service centers; the establishment of joint distribution warehouses; the development of products with regional characteristics; and the building of domestic and global retail distribution channels.     

Industrial buyers' expectations of supplier-attributes across developing countries: Implications for marketing strategies

This paper presents a cross-country comparative study of industrial buyers' expectations of supplier attributes which manifest in the process of supplier selection. The results indicate a variance in these expectations across the countries, implying a multinational rather than a global approach in marketing industrial goods beyond domestic borders. The possible role of cultural factors in the formation of these divergent expectations is suggested. The implications of the findings for developing appropriate marketing strategies, and for future research, are discussed.     

Issues of Competitiveness

Abstract

This article investigates the forces that constrain Taiwanese-based corporations from improving quality and introducing and marketing new products. A total of 182 executives from the service and manufacturing sectors participated in the study. The results indicate that Taiwanese-based firms are optimistic about their competitive market position and about their respective industries. Furthermore, executives of these firms prefer to compete in regional and global markets. Absence of pride in a job well done, ineffective performance evaluation systems, and excessive government regulations were found to be the most important factors that may prohibit improvement in product quality. The results also reveal that various factors may hinder the development and marketing of new products. They are inattentiveness to consumer needs, top management's lack of attention to world competition and global opportunities, deterioration of the competitive spirit among employees and managers, absence of a flexible manufacturing strategy, volatile business environment, and too much focus on immediate results.     

A new look at faith-based marketing: The global halal market

Faith-based marketing, or addressing consumers’ religious sensibilities with faith-friendly offerings, represents a new wave of growth for companies. While kosher goods and Christian movies are well-known examples of this trend, companies continue to overlook opportunities for growing faith-based segments. Representing the fastest-growing faith-based consumer group in the world, Muslims, in particular, are a largely untapped segment. Forward-looking companies such as Nestlé, Walmart, and McDonald's consider this segment as the next ‘one-billion’ market, after China and India, and are developing strategies to appeal to the Muslim consumer. We focus on the key to tapping into the sizable Muslim spending power: halal marketing. Contrary to common belief, halal marketing is not confined to dietary goods. Rather, it pertains to a diverse range of offerings from cosmetics to tourism that represents a global market worth $2.1 trillion annually. Modern interpretations of halal echo the claims of organic and fair-trade industries, broadening the appeal of halal to mainstream consumers. Despite the vast opportunities in halal marketing, winning the pocketbooks of Muslim consumers involves cultural, operational, and geopolitical challenges. We provide an overview of this emerging market and offer five lessons for successful halal marketing.     

Chances for Africa’s trade in farm products

African LDCs are hard-hit by the decline in the world’s agricultural trade but there are still fair chances for increasing African farm produce exports. Yet instead of relying on commodity agreements and preferential tariffs, the countries of Africa ought to apply an offensive marketing strategy to certain products and improve trade in their home markets.     

域内文化冲突与市场营销终端客户管理

域内文化冲突是一个长期被忽视的领域。随着国家经济战略的转移,国内市场成为营销的主要关注点,域内文化冲突及其对市场营销的影响需要提上研究日程。跨文化不等于跨国文化,特定区域内部也存在着不同的文化体,域内营销同样面临文化冲突问题。鉴于当前出口环境发生变化、国内经济结构作出调整、初级产品市场逐渐淡出市场的现状,我国产业发展必定要回归国内市场,培养和开发健康有序的国内市场必将成为中国经济持续发展的基础。因此,考虑到中华文化的多民族属性以及域内文化冲突的长期性,商家必须深入了解域内文化冲突的特点,加强对文化冲突的合理引导,并在营销实践中予以应用,以在促进民族融合的同时有效保护民族文化遗产。     

Antecedents of Global Attitude

Abstract

The term “globalization” has recently been used to explain multiple world trends. Such trends include worldwide accessibility to the same products, access to the same resources around the globe, world travel, communication, convergence of lifestyles, development of “world culture,” and worldwide fascination with environmental issues. This paper explores the population's attitude towards globalization (global attitude) and investigates antecedents that affect the level of global attitude. The antecedents examined are population's current satisfaction, opinion of governance, and future expectations. Results from structural equation modeling show that current satisfaction with life and opinion of governance have a positive and significant influence on development of global attitude.     

我国文化贸易出口及其影响因素实证研究

随着我国经济发展水平的不断提高,文化贸易在国际市场上的占有率显著提高。文化贸易出口的增加有助于优化对外贸易结构、拉动就业、促进文化产业"走出去"、参与国际文化交流与互通、提升一国文化"软实力"。我国作为文化贸易大国,文化产品出口额逐年攀升,现阶段文化产品出口主要以设计类文化产品和工艺美术类产品为主。实证研究发现,我国经济发展水平、文化生产要素的投入与产品出口呈正相关关系,贸易对象国的经济发展状况影响本国居民的需求,进而影响其对文化产品的消费,基于上述分析,从文化产业生产周期角度对文化产品出口提出针对性建议。