Exploring Consumers' Expectations of Sustainability in Mature and Emerging Markets

ABSTRACT

“Sustainability” has turned into a buzzword for businesses around the globe as consumers in mature and, increasingly, in emerging markets shift their demand toward sustainably enhanced products. Surprisingly, a global picture of consumers' expectations regarding sustainable products is still missing. This study uses exploratory factor analysis to determine the perceived importance and interrelation of selected sustainability aspects in three developed (Germany, Switzerland, United States) and three emerging (Brazil, China, India) markets. Results are linked to national cultural value theory to explore which sustainability aspects and positioning strategies may be promising to expand the outreach of sustainable products in developed and emerging markets alike. Results suggest that across the sampled economies, sustainability is increasingly considered as being comprised of a health aspect. While health and quality of life aspects emerged as key issues across countries, cultural backgrounds and local market conditions resulted in nuanced expectations of sustainability, which should be kept in mind in communicating and positioning sustainable products.     

Other mothers: framing the cybernetic construction(s) of the postmodern family

This study conducts a critical cultural analysis of the assisted reproductive technologies (ART) market and selected consumption that takes place within that context. Specifically, it assumes the view of markets as cultures and conceptualizes the consumption strategies of “other mothers,” the unintended consumers of such body technologies, within the larger cultural context of what it means to be a family. The view of “markets as cultures” is employed to frame the ART marketplace and to address the multiple, local realities that emerge in the consumption process. The hyperreality of the ART marketplace emerges as a fluid and dynamic force that fosters the reversal of production and consumption through the creation of new forms of consumption. In this local context, marginalized ART consumers reappropriate body technologies to construct postmodern families of their own design. A conceptual framework of this cybernetic market culture is presented and discussed with implications for future research regarding bioethics, methodological approaches, family consumption, and new frontiers in postmodern consumption.     

SUPPLY CHAIN STRATEGY FOR NASCENT FIRMS IN EMERGING TECHNOLOGY MARKETS

The extant literature provides sound guidance for applying appropriate supply chain strategies to address conventional market structures and supply chain objectives. However, our knowledge of the unique objectives, characteristics, and elements of supply chain development by nascent technology firms in new markets they have helped create is more limited. We outline the strategy for this “emergent” phase of a firm's development of their supply chain. This strategy emphasizes establishing market legitimacy and a basic structural foundation through a core of strong collaborative relationships. The strategy also maximizes organizational flexibility and iterative market intelligence gathering through continuous experimentation with potential markets and through potential partners. The strategy is contrasted with extant supply chain strategies and implications and directions for future research are offered.     

How consumers contribute to the development and continuity of a cultural market

This article examines the “indie” music industry in South Korea. It describes a consumer-led market where network of consumers aided by social media take responsibility for its maintenance and development, specifically the market for indie music in South Korea. With the emergence of digital technology and a participatory culture, the roles of consumers have expanded. Through their commitment and passion for independent music, aided by social media, these consumers have developed a virtual indie music community, which uses a variety of mechanisms, such as producing podcasts, to promote its music. These non-traditional producers regard indie music as an important part of their lives and their existence, which is why they take responsibility for developing the indie community rather than leaving this to a profit-orientated music industry. Therefore, we demonstrate how in South Korea the production of indie music has ceased to be dominated by traditional actors, such as record labels, and is driven by the enthusiasm of music fans. Previous research on cultural markets suggests that consumers play critical roles in the formation and evolution of the market. This study sheds light on this process by depicting a cultural market that is governed by pro-social consumers (rather than anti-market resistance) who pursue a balanced approach between resistance to and negotiated harmony with commercial and social norms rather than drawing a simple boundary between “us” and “other”.     

Consumer Focus in Cross-National Research

This article points out the need for a consumer focus in cross-national research to aid multi-national marketers in developing relevant strategies and executions for each market. Two major constructs are discussed which reinforce the consumer focus. The first construct is “Life Style” research to gain a more human profile of consumers in a market. The underlying theory for “Life Style” research is presented and how the research has been done in over fourteen countries is described. The second major construct in this article are three analytic models for comparing consumers across markets. The three analytic models are (1) Shared cultural norms (2) Segmentation within cultures and (3) Correlates of usage. Illustrative findings of each model are presented.     

Hit and Run or Sit and Wait? Contestability Revisited in a Price-Comparison Site-Mediated Market

The price-comparison site, with its (near-)zero sunk costs of entry, would appear to approximate the “almost perfectly contestable market” envisaged by the contestability theorists where “hit-and-run” entry was conjectured to constrain sellers to zero-profit outcomes. We investigate hit and run using a unique unbalanced panel of 295 digital-camera markets mediated by NexTag.com. We find, however, in line with Farrell (1986a)’s prediction, a bifurcation of strategies with low reputation/smaller participants favouring a hit-and-run strategy involving lower entry prices and shorter forays into the market than their high reputation/larger rivals. Furthermore, the former entrants induce a much larger price response from low-reputation incumbents, reflecting the more intense rivalry for the price-sensitive consumers willing to eschew retailer reputations.     

Are Farmers' Market Shoppers Different From Cross-Shoppers? The Case of Hawaiian Avocado Purchasers

Small- and medium-size growers use direct marketing and farmers’ markets to access customers and avoid supply chain intermediaries that increase costs of getting products to consumers. This study examined consumers’ use of agricultural product information sources and their shopping outlet patronage preferences for one type of locally grown produce: avocados.

Two farmers’ market segments were identified: 1) shops only farmers’ markets and 2) cross-shops grocery stores. Product information came from a variety of sources: media, retailers, and organizations. “Buy Local” or “product origin” were considered in produce shopping decisions. One dimension, “Buy Local,” was significant in differentiating farmers’ market segments.     

Polyethnic market orientation and performance: A fast-moving consumer goods perspective

Abstract

The paper explores the market-oriented behaviour and performance consequences for firms operating in a market characterised by national heterogeneity. Through a case-study design, a posteriori propositions based on interview data from six multinational firms operating in a polyethnic market are developed. Findings indicate a positive relationship between the need for responsiveness and a market's polyethnicity with firms customising elements of their product strategy to ethnic segments or European consumers at large. Moreover, findings indicate that market-oriented firms that customise their product strategies to the cultural idiosyncrasies of the Greek market enjoy the highest market share among foreign consumers. As a result, the paper opens up a discussion on the performance implications of adopting a market-oriented approach in polyethnic markets, which are, increasingly, a feature of our globalised world.     

‘Not to bet the farm’: SANLAM and internationalisation, 1995–2010

The South African Life Assurance Company (SANLAM) entered global markets after 1990, with varied success. Contextual pressures exerted a ‘push’ on financial services companies, which led to strategic changes in firm strategy, structure and performance. Theories of internationalisation afford more attention to industrial production internationalisation. This article explores the SANLAM experiences with internationalisation since the early 1990s. Initial internationalisation attempts were less successful, leading to strategic business changes, which led to a change in the globalisation strategy and more success in alternative markets. This article explores the different stages of SANLAM’s internationalisation strategy and what determined eventual success. The article contextualises the SANLAM internationalisation strategy by drawing on aspects of the process theory, the Matthews Linkage, Leverage and Learning (LLL) framework, and the Strategy, Structure, Organisation and Performance (SSOP) analytical framework. The SANLAM case underlines the crucial role of tacit knowledge of the host market as prerequisite for successful globalisation strategies of financial services’ firms.     

Reproducing “rhetrickery” in online fertility marketing: harnessing the “rhetoric of the possible”

ABSTRACT

This article addresses the gap in research on visual and narrative persuasion in online fertility marketing contexts and reveals their reliance on rhetorical ruses embedded in the language of “choice” and “empowerment”. We assess four websites targeting women and men who have experienced infertility and expose their “digirhetrickery”, or use of deceptive rhetoric in digital space which exploits gendered stereotypes of the female body in ways that ultimately mislead their target markets about assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) and the “liberatory” potential they offer. We advance digital rhetoric as an analytical method to the field of consumer research in order to engage in a reflexive analysis that reveals these underhand ideological operations. As “authorial voices” and narrative agents in digital advertising discourse are more cunningly subterranean, this study shows how the instrumentalization of “consumer empowerment” has become increasingly hyperbolic with particularly problematic consequences for infertile women consumers.     

Paths to foreign markets: Does distance to market affect firm internationalisation?

An idea widely shared among international business scholars, economists and geographers is that geographic, cultural and psychic distance to market affects firm internationalisation in a number of ways. However, evidence for this broad proposition remains inconclusive. This study provides a comprehensive assessment of four separate hypotheses pertaining to the location of markets, the sequence of market entry, the rate of international expansion, and the relationship between sequentially-linked markets. In contrast with previous studies, the analysis is based on a large sample of non-repetitive foreign market entries (n=1132) made by diverse exporters in dissimilar locations within a single country (China). Market entry data thus exhibit substantial variation on the constructs of interest. The results reveal virtually no support for three traditional hypotheses linking distance to market with the sequence of markets entered and the rate of foreign expansion. This study challenges the long-held notion that there is a simple link between distance and market entry sequence. However, this study provides arguably the first demonstration of the “near-market effect” in the context of low-risk entry modes such as exporting. Specifically, the results show that consecutive export locations tend to be culturally related suggesting that exporters are able to transfer learning between similar markets.     

An Empirical Investigation of Marketing Programme and Process Elements in the Home-Host Scenario

SUMMARY

The two major strategies often available to international marketers are standardisation and adaptation when deciding to operate in a foreign host market. Both strategies have pros and cons. Drawing on the findings of previous theoretical and empirical studies, this study proposes a “marketing programme/process and performance” framework. The study employed a linear multiple regression (OLS) analysis method to examine the proposed framework, based on the experience of 233 Australian and New Zealand (home markets) firms operating in the Greater China region (host markets). Factors identified as significantly associated with adaptation of programme/process include “employee” and “employer” immigrant effects, government regulations, economic development, competitive environment and product life cycle. Factors identified as influencing firm performance include product adaptation, product type and market entry mode.     

Competitive Retailer Strategies for New Market Research,Entry and Positioning Decisions

This paper investigates strategies for new market research and positioning of stores or products by competing retailers in a duopoly setting. We examine the scenario where the two retailers are considering entry into an uncertain new market that is an extension of their existing markets. The retailers must make decisions on whether or not to first conduct research about the new market's location relative to their existing markets and its size before deciding on their own positioning in it. We first study a sequential-move leader–follower setup to highlight the choice of an “innovate-or-imitate” strategy. We find when the potential new market is small, neither retailer is adequately incentivized to do research to acquire information about the new market. As the size of the new market increases, the follower is induced to do such research. When the new market is very sizable, the leader conducts research and knows the new market's location while the follower free-rides. We then examine a simultaneous-move setup, in which one retailer might decide against acquiring new market information even when the cost of doing so is low. We further observe that differentiation (e.g., in terms of products or store locations) is greater in the simultaneous-move setup than in the sequential setup.     

Shopping East and Shopping West—Chinese Consumer Behavior in Two Worlds

ABSTRACT

In today's China, consumers not only have the chance to sample products and services from around the world, but to experience cultural influences from a vast range of countries. In particular, Western products and services—and cultural values—have become increasingly popular. Consumers now shift between different worlds (Chinese and Western) with seeming ease. This research identifies the factors that encourage consumers to shift between these different worlds—and values. The factors include the situation and context (of the shopping experience), peer influence and dynamics, the role of conversation at or near the time of purchase, and the nature of the product and service. The role of “time,” “chance,” and “intuition” in the shopping experience and cultural shifts are also examined. What emerges from the study is a changeable, mobile, and flexible community quite capable of shifting between different sets of values (and consumer attitudes) easily and often very quickly. For companies, the key to success (at least to some degree) is to place their goods and services in a context that helps to create a complementary, integrated, and supportive image of the world they wish to create in the minds of their Chinese consumers.     

Verbraucherschutz als Teil der Marktordnung

In market orders, consumer protection is a necessary complement to competition policy in order to secure competition on the merits and the functioning of markets. Insights from behavioural economics show that disclosure obligations may not help boundedly rational consumers and that the standard paradigm of the “responsible and sovereign consumer” has to be modifi ed. “Nudging” and “debiasing” may be instrumental in preserving market freedom, while at the same time helping consumers to achieve desired results.     

The Country-of-Origin Effect and Consumer Attitudes to “Buy Local” Campaign

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to investigate the relationship between ethnocentrism of Ghanaian consumers and their attitudes toward a “buy local” campaign. Two hundred and thirty three consumers were interviewed in Cape Coast, the capital city and administrative centre of the Central region of Ghana. Data for the study were collected through interviewing using the mall intercept approach and factor analysed. Our findings show a relationship between ethnocentrism and attitudes of Ghanaian consumers toward the “buy local” campaign. Furthermore, the factor analysis results indicate that the attitudes of the Ghanaian consumers to the buy locally-made products can be characterized as protectionist, nationalistic, and self-interest. Implicitly, the consumers will buy Ghanaian-made products where they are of comparable quality and price as foreign-made products. This requires companies to ensure that their products are of high quality and prices are commensurate with quality. This study contributes to the ethnocentrism and country of origin literature pertaining to the African region, which is sorely under-researched.     

The Strategic Importance of Retail Investment in Asia and Its Implications for the Metro Group in Asia

Abstract

The speed, intensity and reach of retailers' foreign expansion are rising. As more distant markets have to be chosen to stay competitive, the pressure to expand abroad is increasing. Often, changing or stretching the initial business model in order to comply with local market demand maintains the performance of the firm. This phenomenon of strategy alteration after market entry is examined, using the Metro Cash and Carry expansion into Asia as an example. First, the investment attractiveness of Asia as a region is examined. Second, there is a review of countries in Asia that are especially considered for business expansion. Finally, the question of how an overall internationalisation strategy or business concept of a company changes after market entry into Asia is explored.     

Green Marketing and the Concern over the Environment: Measuring Environmental Consciousness of Jordanian Consumers

SUMMARY

The purpose of this article is to explore the attitudes of Jordanian consumers regarding both their current environmental consciousness and their willingness to adopt environmentally friendly consumption behavior. The article is based on an empirical investigation of consumer attitudes for a sample of 303 university students drawn from Jordanian universities, using a drop-off method. The article concludes that Jordanian consumers were, generally, concerned about the environment, as they demonstrated reasonably high levels of environmental consciousness relating to various environmental issues. However, this pro-environmental attitude was not sufficient to turn good intentions into actual buying actions, possibly due to several factors, such as loyalty to traditional products and weak credibility of “green” claims. The article stresses the need to link consumers' good intentions to actual buying behavior through a green marketing strategy, which focuses on the unique characteristics of green products and how they impact the environment, within the cultural context of the Jordanian consumer. Over time, we hope that these efforts can lead to a culture of green consumerism within a framework of environmental responsibility.     

Social status and country‐of‐origin preferences

This paper explores consumers' attitudes towards products of foreign origin according to consumer social status, particularly when purchases come from countries that have a low‐cost/low quality image. The research question is: for an identical good (same manufacturer, same brand), do consumers belonging to lower social classes ask for a larger price discount than higher social status consumers when they are offered the opportunity to switch from a country of manufacture whose quality image is well established, to a country of manufacture, the image of which is more uncertain (e.g. South Korea)? A structural equations model is used to highlight the fact that social status has only an indirect influence on the discounts for shifting to lower‐image countries. The relatively weak image of Korean products (at least against Germany and Japan) tends to result in higher price rebates asked for the Korean manufacturing origin. But lower social status consumers evaluate Korea more positively as a country‐of‐origin. The normative recommendation for the advertising strategy of “cheap” origins' goods in highly developed markets would be to put emphasis on quality rather than price, especially when modest consumers and lower classes are explicitly targeted.     

Pricing Experience Goods in Information Good Markets: The Case of eBusiness Service Providers

We study the pricing strategies of firms providing a service in experience good markets with switching costs. Using data on vendors providing “hosting and related services” at an early stage of the market, we test for pricing distortions that follow from oligopolistic competition with quality uncertainty and switching costs. We find that firms with a brand name charge a premium for their product – leveraging the reputation accumulated in closely related markets. As the theoretical literature suggests, we also find that the type of pricing distortions along the product line depends on consumers’ expectations about quality. If consumers underestimate the quality of the product, firms behave as if they discount introductory contracts in order to build trust, and later on markup upgraded contract. In contrast, firms that offer a quality level that is lower than consumers’ expectations markup initial contracts while discounting upgraded ones.