Indian consumer and producer behavior

Citation

Alon, I. (2013), "Indian consumer and producer behavior", International Journal of Emerging Markets, Vol. 8 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijoem.2013.30108aaa.001

Indian consumer and producer behavior

Article Type: Editorial From: International Journal of Emerging Markets, Volume 8, Issue 1

As this is the first issue under my editorship, it is appropriate to firstly delineate the repositioning of the journal, followed by an introduction to the articles. I have taken over the editorship starting with this Volume 8 Number 1.

Prof. Yusaf Akbar of Central European University is the Founding Editor and has been the Editor for the last seven years. One of his goals was to bring the research of emerging markets to the forefront of international business. During his tenure, Prof. Akbar has published interesting and thought provoking articles on social entrepreneurship (Mair and Schoen, 2007), online trading (Gopi and Ramayah, 2007), SME internationalization (Tesform and Lutz, 2006; Todd and Javalgi, 2006), developing countries’ multinationals (Gammeltoft and Pradhan, 2010), and CSR (Elms, 2006; Alon et al., 2010) in emerging markets among other contemporary topics. The range of articles included finance (Raj and Kumari, 2006), competitiveness (Chobanyan and Leigh, 2006), management (Waal, 2007), marketing (Alon, 2006; Mu et al., 2007). The context for articles included Brazil (Alon et al., 2010), Russia (Filippov, 2010), India (Todd and Javalgi, 2007), and China (Ma, 2006), BRIC comparisons (Holtbrugge and Kreppel, 2012; Gammeltoft and Pradhan, 2010), in addition to a range of smaller and lesser known emerging markets: Central and Eastern Europe (Elms, 2006), Armenia (Chobanyan and Leigh, 2006), Tanzania (Waal, 2007), Oman (Mohamed and Oyelere, 2009) to mention a few.

I am in a lucky position as the journal has already made significant strides in accomplishing this goal. The International Journal of Emerging Markets (IJoEM) intends to continue the tradition of publishing high quality business research on emerging markets. Emerging markets have become an increasingly important force in economic, political, social and technological spheres. Thus, the objectives of IJoEM are to:

1. 1.

   Advance business research in emerging markets and emerging markets research in business.

2. 2.

   Advance the theories of and about emerging markets.

3. 3.

   Examine both the content and the context of emerging markets research.

4. 4.

   Advance functional expertise through emerging markets contexts and emerging markets knowledge though functional expertise.

Articles sought include theoretical and empirical papers on various business phenomena across emerging markets, comparative papers within emerging markets or in relation to developed markets, rigorous qualitative and case studies. To elevate the journal’s status and rankings around the world, we have positioned the journal to include emerging markets area studies across function, with an international business focus. Ten area editors have been selected to represent applied and international economics (Xiaohui Liu), comparative and international political economy (Francis Schortgen), entrepreneurship (Rangamohan V. Eunni), marketing (Allan K.K. Chan), accounting (Robert W. McGee), international finance (Amir Shoham), international financial markets (Halil Kiymaz), international management (Romie F. Littrell) and operations and supply chain management (Cagri Haksoz). Area editors are functional experts with emerging markets background.

An advisory board was established to strategize for the journal’s progress. Some of the most noted and influential scholars in the field of international business and emerging markets have been appointed. They mostly have high impact research, previous editorial experience, and professional reputation. Some are also AIB fellows. An editorial board was established to include senior scholars with citations, multinational backgrounds, and international networks. Both editorial and advisory boards are welcomed to advise authors, invite papers, participate in meet the editors and lead special issues. Authors of IJoEM are also encouraged to contact the Editor-in-Chief with ideas for a Special Issue.

The review process is key to delivering higher impact research. We have increased the reviewer pool substantially and have set targets for the review process. We strive to complete the review within 60 days of submission.

This issue is thematic, focusing on Indian consumer and producer behavior and consisting of five articles. The first two articles examine the diversity of consumers in India, the next two articles examine consumer interactions with producers, and the last article is about Indian pharmaceuticals.

The first article of this issue “Indian consumers: are they the same across regions?” reaches a definitive conclusion: no. Examining consumers across Mumbai, New Delhi and Bangalore, the findings confirm that differences exist in values, attitudes, lifestyles and consumption, affected by both regional culture and affluence. Given that some regions have a greater exposure to global mass media and varying levels of traditional values (face, conformity, openness), variations were found among apparel brand consumption. Using mall intercept surveys to ask consumers about foreign brands of jeans, the authors found that Bangalore (India’s Silicon Valley) showed the highest admiration of economically developed countries’ lifestyles and Mumbai (home to Bollywood) showed the highest cultural openness. New Delhi, being the center of government, showed more respect to traditional values, including face saving and group conformity. Multinationals should heed the authors’ advice and moot regional similarities.

The second article in this issue “Understanding acculturation of consumer culture in an emerging market – an analysis of urban, educated, middle-class Indian consumers” dovetails with the first article nicely by examining consumer diversity through demographics. Using structured questionnaire and judgment sampling, the results show that Indian consumers acculturate both in attitudes and behaviors at different rates across demographics. With respect to foreign brands, Indian consumers are integrating both Western and Indian values and relatively more behavioral than attitudinal acculturation. Younger and more educated consumers are more acculturated to the West. As expected, non-metropolitan cities, such as Indore, show less Western acculturation. Both the first and second articles in this issue epitomize the diversity and enigma that makes India.

The next two articles are at the nexus of consumer and producer interaction.

The third article in this issue “Customer interaction in service innovation: evidence from India” is based on a longitudinal case study research involving 24 companies, 48 managers, and 24 customers. The results highlight the role of the consumer in new service development (NSD) in India. The authors identify and discuss seven key issues relating to NSD:

1. 1.

   modes of interaction;

2. 2.

   approach to interaction;

3. 3.

   role of frontline employees in interaction;

4. 4.

   iterative process of interaction;

5. 5.

   stages of interaction;

6. 6.

   types and characteristics of the customers selected for interaction; and

7. 7.

   problems in customer interaction.

The article is prescriptive and can help service managers develop new products more effectively and efficiently.

The fourth article “Does successful recovery mitigate failure severity? A study of the behavioral outcomes in Indian context” reaches the conclusion that it does. The authors postulate that Indian consumers may value explanation and procedural justice over compensatory or distributive justice, Indian consumers are more anxious and less patient, and that Indian culture puts emphasis on the collective, interpersonal treatment and personal relationships in service encounters. Using the expectancy-disconfirmation paradigm, the authors conduct a number of experiments to test the impacts of service recovery effort and severity. The implications of their research suggests that poor recovery effort may increase disconfirmation and persuade consumers to discontinue the relationship with the company, recovery encounter following product failure significantly affect consumer satisfaction, and recovery strategy should adapt to the severity of service failure. The article has the potential to impact the service marketing and satisfaction literatures.

The fifth and last article of this issue is “An empirical analysis of resources in the Indian pharmaceutical industry”, an industry known in India for its generics. Using the resource based approach and data available on “Indian pharmaceuticals” financial performance, the article shows the importance of industry specific resources and managerial input and their interactions in achieving high performance. How capabilities help a firm exploit resources and identify develop and deploy them for superior performance is still debated in the literature. Examining both R&D and marketing expenditures, on the one hand, and managing director experience, on the other hand, and controlling for company age, the authors show the impact on the pharmacueticals’ Tobin’s Q performance indicator. Using public data and regression analyses, the article finds that the firm needs tacit knowledge, embedded in the managing director in this case, in combination with intellectual property to grow.

In future issues, we welcome research that expands on already published articles and develops theories about emerging markets and of business functions within emerging markets. Emerging markets provide an excellent laboratory to test the limits of our existing theories and develop new theories that are context-dependent.

Ilan Alon