Pioneer brand advantage and consumer behavior: A conceptual framework and propositional inventory

What are the behavioral origins of pioneer brand advantage? This article provides an integrative conceptual framework and propositional inventory to help more fully understand this multifaceted phenomenon. It is proposed that there are three sources of entry-order information that work through various psychological processes and affect multiple decision process variables. The conceptual framework translates into eight testable propositions. New exploratory evidence is presented. Managerial implications are discussed.     

East Asian investment and reinvestment in the 1990s: implications for regional development

There has been considerable debate in recent literature concerning the regional implications of corporate organization based on complex forms of networking. In particular, it has been suggested that recent international investments are more sophisticated and more beneficial to host economies. This article explores the relevance of these ideas using case studies of reinvestments within East Asian plants located in the North East of England. Examples show how reinvestment decisions can create incremental improvements in the status of production locations. The implications of this for the design and delivery of aftercare services through regional development organizations are explored.     

Foreign Direct Investment in Sub-Saharan Africa: Motivating Factors and Policy Issues

Sub-Saharan Africa's (SSA) foreign direct investment (FDI) share has persistently averaged 1% of global flows. The location decision and perceptions of investors are therefore instructive for policy making. This article factor analyses a survey of perceptions, operations, and motivations of 758 foreign investors in 10 SSA countries. We find that the provision of transaction cost–reducing information on industries and markets and utility services to investors before and after a firm's FDI decision are significant factors. FDI location decision in SSA is influenced strongly by political economy considerations. Labor and production input variables are not influential.     

Regional concentration of FDI in post-reform India: A district-level analysis

We analyze the concentration of foreign direct investment (FDI) in India at the district level, based on project-specific location choices since the reform program in the early 1990s. The decomposition property of the Theil index allows us to trace changes over time in the overall concentration of FDI to changes in concentration between and within subgroups of districts. We also differentiate between major types and sources of FDI. We find that FDI concentrated in a persistently decreasing number of districts. Concentration across those districts that received at least one FDI project within a given time interval also increased, but this increase leveled off in the more recent past. These trends hold for essentially all types and sources of FDI, while the average level of concentration varies considerably between these types and sources.     

A cross-cultural study of the persuasive effect of fear appeal messages in cigarette advertising: China and Canada

This exploratory study investigated the moderating influence of culture on the persuasive power of fear appeal advertisements differing on type of fear. The conceptual framework for the study was based on Rogers' Protection Motivation model and incorporated type of fear, physical and social, as an independent variable and culture as a moderating variable. An experiment was conducted on a sample of 173 Anglo-Canadian and 180 Chinese subjects. The findings revealed that the physical threat ads had a much greater effect on the Anglo subjects than on the Chinese. Most importantly, these ads brought about an attitude change for the Anglos, but not for the Chinese. For the social fear ads, contrary to predictions, only the Anglos reacted to the ads. They tended to score higher than the Chinese on attitude towards smoking as well as on behavioural intentions.     

Off-shoring in the contact centre industry and employment in the North West of England

The significance of contact centre employment has recently been the subject of renewed debate in regional policy-making of late, driven by media comment on the threat of off-shoring. Despite these concerns, empirical research on the scale of such activities in regions is limited. This article reviews available data on contact centre employment in the sub-regions of North West England. The evidence appears to show continued growth in the number of contact centres and employment totals. The concluding section reconsiders the significance of contact centres for Regional Economic Strategies that focus on developing high value-added activities.     

Towards a conceptual model of country market selection: Selection processes of retailers and C&C wholesalers

Abstract

International market selection is discussed in general, particularly in respect of decisions on evaluation stages, selection criteria and evaluation methods. The present analysis focuses on the configuration of country selection models, which has received little attention in international retailing research. In order to illustrate the special features of market selection in retailing, we have used an innovative approach. Following a review of general theoretical perspectives, a case study of the Metro Group addresses the process used, inter-country selection and country-specific selection, and also shows the role of corporate principles and firms' situational factors. Based on existing literature and the case study information, we propose a strategic approach in modelling country selection processes. Three steps in the construction of a selection model are discussed and related to corporate principles and situational factors of a retail firm. The analysis is a further step towards understanding the processes of retailing internationalization.