Editorial

Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics

ISSN: 1355-5855

Article publication date: 1 January 2006

597

Keywords

Citation

Phau, I. (2006), "Editorial", Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, Vol. 18 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/apjml.2006.00818aaa.001

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2006, Emerald Group Publishing Limited


Editorial

First, I would like to welcome you to the first issue of the merged journal (incorporating Journal of Asia Pacific Marketing). It is vital to point out that this does not in any way diminish the importance or the contribution the Journal of Asia Pacific Marketing (JAPM) has made in the last few years. However, it was decided that the name “Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics” (APJML) should be adopted, as it encompasses a broad scope of issues not limited only to marketing but to logistics in the Asia Pacific region as well. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for supporting JAPM in the last three years and also to help with the transition process to APJML. It must be acknowledged that Basem Elenein has been instrumental in my editorship role all these years and I trust that he will continue to be so. Special thanks are also extended to the members of the new Editorial Advisory Board, which comprises members from both journals and new inclusions. I trust that your continued support will help to augment APJML with future publications of good quality and state-of-the-art papers representative of the Asia Pacific region.

For this issue, there are five papers of diverse topics with researchers from around the globe, namely Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, North America, and Spain. This reflects the importance of the Asia Pacific region in international marketing – undoubtedly one of the key aims of this journal. Many thanks to the Editorial Advisory Board and the ad hoc reviewers for graciously spending time reviewing the manuscripts, some of which are published in this issue.

Arguably, many perceive this to be the decade of China. As such, this issue opens with a research paper validating that the Stakeholder Relationship Marketing Model, well tested in western cultures, can also be applied to the Chinese market. Murphy and Wang have demonstrated that there is congruence between Western and Chinese holistic business philosophy. Thus, this model seems to be just as effective in Chinese markets as in Western markets, in providing guidance for the adoption of marketing strategies and prediction of future financial performance. Still within the topic of China, Liu, Li and Cheng provide some “signposts” for international advertisers to help understand how Chinese consumers respond to advertisements utilising sex appeal. The findings seem to show that there are some gender differences in the way consumers react to these ads. For instance, Chinese male consumers have little interest in male models portrayed in suggestively romantic fashion in ads, while the interest is significantly heightened for female consumers. This finding mirrors previous studies in Western countries. This questions whether Chinese consumers are that different or exotic from their western counterparts. The paper also reports other findings worthy of learning and exploring. The researchers, however, remind us that, while western influences have escalated in recent years, especially in the more wealthy coastal areas, Chinese consumers are still quite conservative where sex appeal advertising is concerned.

While internet adoption has been extensively studied in many developed countries, it is still deficient in developing and transitional markets. Nguyen and Barrett applied the Technology Acceptance Model on 144 export firms in Vietnam. It was found that perceived usefulness of the internet is a potential predictor of the intention to adopt the internet by firms for their export activities. Further, it is also reported that market orientation has both a direct and an indirect impact on intention to adopt, while learning orientation has a direct effect on perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use of the internet. The authors suggested that export firms in transitional markets should be encouraged to adopt the internet in their export activities to keep pace with developments in the international market.

The last two papers deal with the topic of social marketing. The first one revisits the issue of recycling behaviour. While this issue has been published widely in recent years, one of the main criticisms is the lack of conceptual underpinnings. The authors of this paper, Meneses and Palacio, close this gap by presenting a new theoretical framework to explain contrasting behaviours reported in the literature. The findings seem to reflect that there is no difference in beliefs about recycling, ecological concerns and involvement with recycling between consumers who respond to a recycling drive and those who do not. As such, it points to a lack of ecological conscience for those who resist recycling. The authors suggested some avenues to improve recycling behaviour, one of which is to provide attractive rewards to adopters. The other social marketing paper will certainly appeal to marketing academics, especially to those who publish in this research area. Polonsky and Mittelstaedt have provided a detailed audit of six journals specialising in social marketing issues. One of the key findings identifies Asian academics as having the lowest representation in the publication of socially related issues. The paper also explores the significance of social marketing research as perceived by academics in the Asia Pacific and predicts this to be a potential growth area. The paper also highlights that it is surprising that no Asian academics from the two largest countries, namely India and China, have published in this area.

I hope you find the papers in this issue interesting and stimulating. At this point, I would like to add that my main goal is to enhance the stature of this merged journal. To accomplish this feat, it is vital that I hear from you how I can improve this journal. I would like to invite all forms of feedback, so please do not hesitate to write to me with your suggestions.

Ian PhauCurtin University of Technology

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