Influence of International Trade Agreements on International Business: A Conceptual Model

The article provides a conceptual model, developed from analyzing over fifty trade agreement related research studies published during the last decade, which allows international business scholars to explore the influence of trade agreements (custom unions, free trade agreements, preferential trade agreements, regional trade agreements) on foreign market entry strategies. This model is an attempt to develop IB theory to address the current research gap in this very narrow but important allied field. Empirical findings generated by interviewing dairy produce exporters in New Zealand reveal a remarkable connection between TAs and IB, with TAs found to influence the regulative environment of participating countries, which may in turn reduce the regulative distance between member nations. The contribution provides a basis for IB researchers to explore this connection in multiple industries/countries.     

SKU performance and distribution: A large-scale analysis of the role of product characteristics with store scanner data

This study investigates the relationship between distribution and market share across various consumer packaged goods (CPG) categories and specific stock keeping units (SKUs). The study identifies product-related characteristics that result in substantive deviations above or below market shares predicted by the distribution – market share relationship. The association of product price, brand (private label [PL] v. national brand [NB]) and pack size with above (or below) expected market share for a given distribution level is analysed. Results indicate larger pack sizes, PL and medium price levels result in market share above what would be predicted by an SKU’s distribution. This presents a source for competitive advantage in markets driven by push–pull dynamics.     

Exploring the influence of online reviews and motivating factors on sales: A meta-analytic study and the moderating role of product category

Online reviews, which significantly influence product sales, have been a central research topic in the field of marketing. Meanwhile, some motivating factors related to online retailers have been linked to product sales. While several articles have examined the impact between online reviews and motivating factors on product sales, many of the conclusions drawn are contradictory. From 28 studies focusing on online reviews and sales, this study performs a meta-analysis to analyze the true impacts of six review-related factors (i.e., the number of reviews, star ratings, standard deviation of ratings, helpfulness, review length and sentiment), and two motivating factors (i.e., price discounts and special shipping) on product sales. Meanwhile, this paper also studies how one product-related factor (i.e., product age) and one reviewer-related factor (i.e., reviewer's reputation) influence the relationship between online reviews and product sales. In addition, to study the moderating effect of product category, we divide the selected literature into two subgroups which are search and experience products. The results indicate that only review length and special shipping have no significant impact on product sales, while product category has a valid and specific moderating effect on the relationship between these determinants and sales. The presented conclusions will have important implications for academic research and for future industry practice.     

A contingent approach to country-of-origin effects on foreign products evaluation: Interaction of facets of country image with product classes

This study investigates the effect of country-of-origin image on consumers’ evaluations of foreign products and disaggregates the effects across facets of country image and across product classes. We disentangle country image into cognitive and affective dimensions, and additionally disaggregate the cognitive dimension into geographic and human aspects. We posit that country-of-origin effects will vary across distinct facets of country image and that the effect of each facet of country image will vary across different classes of products. By means of an online survey, data were collected from French consumers regarding their perceptions of cognitive and affective aspects of two countries – Brazil and Germany – and their evaluation of three product classes – utilitarian nature-based, utilitarian industrialized and hedonic industrialized – which were represented respectively by fruits, home appliances and clothes. Empirical results partially corroborate the hypothesized contingent impacts.     

A comparative analysis of the role of national culture on foreign market acquisitions by U.S. firms and firms from emerging countries

Do firms from emerging economies differ from U.S. firms in their foreign market acquisition strategies? A comparison of cross-border acquisitions by firms from the United States and 18 emerging countries shows that (1) firms from both the United States and emerging countries target countries that are culturally closer to their home countries, (2) a strong interaction effect occurs between market potential and cultural distance for emerging country firms as the market potential increases (i.e., at high market potential, firms from emerging economies are willing to overlook cultural distance), (3) no interaction effect occurs between market potential and cultural distance for U.S. firms, and (4) different cultural dimensions affect the market entry strategies of U.S. firms and firms from emerging countries.     

A comparative analysis of hedonic models of nutrition information and health claims on food products: An application to soup products

Over time, the quality of data on food purchases and label information has improved such that hedonic analyses to determine the implicit prices of product attributes can be conducted using more detailed data than in the past. With the availability of more extensive data, it is important to understand the characteristics of the data and implications of using different data sources on results of analyses. The purpose of this study was twofold: (1) compare results between two sources of label information and (2) develop a better understanding of the effects of product claims and nutrition information on the value of products to consumers. Trans fat claims, organic claims, private label, package size, and several nutrients were found to influence implicit prices for soup products, and the results between the two data sources are comparable.