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The purpose of this paper is to identify a need to incorporate Asian perspectives in theories of food consumption and marketing.

This editorial discusses the mutually recursive relationship between food and culture in Asian markets, offers an integrative summary of the special issue and develops several key themes for future research.

Food consumption plays a central role within Asian cultures and markets. Thus, understanding Asian perspectives and contexts provides an important complement and contrast to current theories of food consumption and marketing that have been primarily sited in North American and European contexts. In particular, the complex multiplicity of Asian consumer cultures creates dynamic heterogeneity within Asian food markets.

Although food consumption plays a central role in Asian consumer cultures, extant theory regarding Asian food consumption and marketing is still in its infancy. We highlight important developments in this area that suggest a path for future work.

The authors make three contributions to the literature on food consumption and marketing. First, while engaging with these questions, this issue points to the importance of Asian cultural perspectives into the marketing literature on food consumption. Second, through the articles of this special issue, we trace the relationships between food consumption practices, marketing practices and cultural multiplicity in Asian contexts. Finally, we draw the threads together to provide directions for future research in this area.

The purpose of this paper is to study the nature of brand emotions elicited by advertising stimuli across cultures and the process underlying such emotional experiences.

The study uses factorial between-subjects design. Random samples of the populations were solicited from the panels of an international data provider in Norway and Thailand.

This research shows that Thai consumers experience more positive socially engaging and disengaging brand emotions and fewer negative socially engaging emotions relative to Norwegian consumers. The effects of culture are mediated by consumers’ self-construal. Social advertising context increases number of positive and negative socially engaging emotions among Thai (but not among Norwegian) consumers.

The results highlight the importance of incorporating social orientation of emotions and adverting context in cross-cultural studies of brand emotions. The finding that Thai consumers (relative to Norwegian) experience higher levels of atypical for their culture – positive socially disengaging brand emotions requires further research.

The findings suggest that advertising stimuli need to be adapted to the cultural context. Marketing managers should use extensive pretesting in culturally distinct markets to make sure that advertising evokes brand emotions in line with the strategy.

Despite extensive research on brand emotions, extant studies on brand emotions across cultures are limited. This study is among the first to advance the understanding of how social orientation of emotions and advertising context underlie experience of brand emotions across cultures.

In the modern era, brand authenticity is one of the most powerful positioning strategies for sustainable business growth. This study investigated the impacts of perceived brand authenticity dimensions (i.e., quality commitment, heritage, sincerity) on brand love to predict Generation Y's behavior from the Asian context.

This is new empirical research that tested the proposed hypotheses through PLS-SEM, as PLS is the most robust technique for predicting consumer behavior. Importantly, consumers (of Generation Y) from five Asian countries contributed to this study, and data collected from 427 Asian millennials on global brands.

The results analysis revealed that perceived brand authenticity dimensions significantly impacted brand love, which positively affected Asian millennials' behavioral outcomes (i.e., continuous purchase intention and price premium).

This study investigated dimensions of perceived brand authenticity to predict Asian millennials' behavioral outcomes in a broader perspective. Future researchers may investigate a specific culture with a larger sample size to predict millennials behavior.

This study has several implications that guide the global managers of several service and manufacturing industries to develop various positioning and relationship strategies for global brands to target Asian markets effectively.

Using attribution theory, this is the first novel research study that empirically discussed the dimensions of perceived brand authenticity, brand love, and Asian millennials' behavior toward global brands.

– This chapter aims to increase our understanding on how the language diversity of multiethnic Central Asian countries and their diasporas constitutes a talent and resource-base for local and global businesses. We revisit the role of ‘language capabilities’ for boundary-spanning abilities and the particular challenges and opportunities posed by linguistically diverse contexts among diaspora members and their homeland.

– This chapter provides an overview of prior research and uses qualitative interviews and ethnographic data.

– The findings indicate that language diversity is an important multi-layered resource and a socio-economic link that allows culturally distant markets to interact and bridges the gaps across geographic boundaries. Individuals with multiple languages and migrant ties may develop alternative ways of communicating for business, such as translanguaging and cultural communication mode-shifting.

– The administrative ‘imperial’ languages are often perceived as the oppressor's instrument, however, the alternate perspective presents it as a resource for economic relations and international business development that exists in parallel to the indigenous language heritage. We introduce a concept, on diaspora ‘language portfolio’ that is a toolbox of communication assets that allows migrants to connect and operate interculturally and inter-regionally.

– We deviate from the English language dominance of the international business literature and address how another geographic and linguistic context such as the Russophone business provides a contextual lens to understand how language capabilities of diaspora members is an asset to both, their home and host nations. We illustrate how both the Russian language and the regional and minority languages offer a great potential for entrepreneurial and trade relations. By introducing a Framework of Diaspora ‘Language Portfolio’ this study underlines that minorities and diasporas are key boundary spanners and connectors in new markets and enhance the development of trade in the region.

In this editorial viewpoint for the special issue, the authors identify a need to deepen our understanding of the important role that Asian consumer culture plays in the global marketplace of the twenty-first century.

This editorial article discusses the emergence of Asian consumer culture, offers an integrative summary of the special issue and develops several key directions for future research.

The authors observe that Asian consumer culture is not a coherent knowledge tradition that can be described merely as “collectivist” or “Confucianist” in nature. Rather, it is better understood as the confluence of cultural traditions that are characterized by inner differentiation and complexity, various transformations and mutual influences in the Asian region and beyond.

Although Asia’s economic growth has received much recent attention, extant theory regarding Asian consumer culture is still in its infancy. The authors highlight important developments in this area that show the path for future work.

The authors make three contributions to the emerging scholarly interest in Asian consumer culture. First, the authors respond to recent calls to increase the use of qualitative methods in Asian contexts. Second, the authors draw attention to the cultural complexities and mutual influences that characterize contemporary Asian consumer cultures, and subcultures in the Asian region and beyond, through the selection of articles for this special issue. Finally, the authors draw the threads together to provide directions for future research in this area.

This study aims to unpack the notion of travelling mobilities from the perspectives of an Asian solo traveller using the context of the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan.

An autoethnography was used for this research, analysing reflective notes drafted on hand-written journals over the duration of six days over three host cities of the sporting event.

Asian solo men appear to be treated very differently from their Western counterparts and solo female tourists. In addition, engaging with a sport that is highly Western-centric exposes the liminal spaces of in-between. Being of Asian appearance and conversant in Japanese further blurred the travelling mobilities of being an unlikely sports fan, an impromptu translator, a presumed local resident and an unconventional wanderer.

These limitations notwithstanding, the research has contributed to the paucity of knowledge surrounding Asian solo male tourists and some aspects of their corresponding travelling mobilities. Such nuanced understanding then inform tourism and hospitality knowledge and practice of offering relevant experiences to such a market.

There is limited empirical research on the internationalization processes, strategies and operations of Asian multinational enterprises (MNEs) from countries at different levels of development. This paper examines and analyzes the internationalization strategies and characteristics of Asian MNEs within the investment development path (IDP) perspective.

Primary data are drawn from matched case studies of emerging MNEs from Taiwan (a newly industrializing country) and Malaysia (a fast developing country) in the textile and electronics industries.

The internationalization strategies of our Taiwanese and Malaysian case firms were founded on cost‐based competencies and other location‐based advantages, brought together by an extensive web of ethnic networks. Differences between our Taiwanese and Malaysian case firms were found and discussed. In general, the Taiwanese firms were more internationalized (at stage 3 of IDP) than the Malaysian firms (stage 2). They had more developed and elaborate production networks and greater own design manufacturing/own brand manufacturing participation than the Malaysian firms.

The research did not capture the operational strategies at the level of the subsidiary or JV. The findings were exploratory and formed the basis for research propositions presented. As indicated there existed a wide empirical research gap on Asian as well as Taiwanese and Malaysian MNEs. These need to be filled to provide further evidence and answers to the issues raised in the paper. Other potential areas of research could include longitudinal studies of Asian MNEs to examine whether they will resemble Western MNEs as they evolve, the impact of ethnic networks on the performance of Asian MNEs of both Chinese and non‐Chinese origins, and the role of the state in internationalization strategies.

Few studies have been done on emerging market multinationals and their internationalisation strategies.