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The purpose of this paper is to explore the competitiveness and convergence of the G7 and big emerging markets (BEM) nations using various economic, demographic, trade, investment, and freedom and governance criteria.

The two groups of nations, G7 and BEM, are compared on the basis of various longitudinal and cross‐sectional variables. The longitudinal variables are GDP and real GDP growth, per capita GDP, international trade, foreign direct investment, index of ageing, and life expectancy at birth. Cross‐sectional competitive indices are Global competitiveness index, index of economic freedom, Democracy index, Human development index, Gini index, Government effectiveness, and Corruption perception index.

The findings show that BEM is growing faster than G7 in most economic indicators including GDP, trade, and investment. The growth results in some form of convergence. The freedom and governance infrastructure of the BEM is relatively weak to support their economic growth. The primary challenge of the BEM is coming from the economic interdependence they create in a globalized economy. Overall, the growth presents a new political reality that the world must recognize.

National competitiveness is a long‐term issue. A 30‐year longitudinal analysis may not be long enough to accurately reflect a nation's performance. Evidently, wealth creation in the emerging markets has profound influence in noneconomic areas. Political polarization and military confrontation are not unlikely.

Governments and businesses in G7, BEM, or the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) nations and institutions involved in global governance (e.g. World Bank, IMF, and WEF) may use the findings of the study to determine their policies. We should pay special attention to the global economic interdependence and guard against the negative effects of emerging markets' growth.

The comparative analysis between the G7 and BEM in terms of competitiveness and convergence is an original contribution. Also, the author's insight beyond economics is a unique section to follow. The author is not aware of any other study that has used the two concepts competitiveness and convergence together to understand the emerging markets.

United States history is steeped in trade and trade debate, from the pivotal role of the Boston Tea Party in shaping the United States as a nation to the recent debate over the merits of U.S. ratification of the present version of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) negotiations. It is no surprise, then, that the U.S. Department of Commerce is actively involved in promoting exports. In 1993, President Clinton announced a national export strategy for the United States, described as “a comprehensive plan [that] upgrades and coordinates the government's export promotion and export finance programs to help American firms compete in the global marketplace” (U.S. Department of Commerce, 1994). In particular, the strategy identifies past problems with U.S. trade promotion efforts and recommends improvements upon current ones. This includes enhancing existing trade finance programs such as the Exim Bank and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, and creating the Tied Aid Fund to help U.S. firms compete on a level playing field. As an outcrop of this initiative, the Commerce Department identified 10 foreign nations as the big emerging markets (BEMs) of the upcoming century, markets where the potential for trade growth is the greatest.

Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Venezuela have emerged as the key Latin American Big Emerging Markets. Though touted to offer attractive opportunities for foreign firms, these markets are a mixed bag of business and consumer environments. Not surprisingly, the entry mode literature fails to give a consistent view of entry mode choices for firms entering these markets. However, these markets can yield better long term benefits for firms entering through high resource commitment modes. In this work, we analyze their business and consumer environments and make a case for choosing high resource commitment entry modes for the U.S. firms.

Empirical studies of the shareholder valuation impact of firms’ international joint venture (IJV) participation have usually emphasized firm‐specific factors, but rarely extended their analysis to location‐specific factors. This is a crucial omission because the two sets of factors are interconnected vis‐a‐vis their influence on firms’ performance. Yet, previous work has neither identified how the two sets of factors complement each other nor investigated the effect of these complementarities on the shareholder value of firms who enter into IJVs. This study attempts to fill these gaps. It develops a typology of IJVs and then performs cluster analysis on a sample of 241 equity IJVs. Results indicate eight clusters in the data, including three clusters with positive shareholder value. In deriving support for its six hypotheses, the study highlights both value‐creating and value‐neutral configurations of firm‐ and location‐specific variables.

As one of the big emerging markets, China’s enormous population and rapid increase in consumer spending have attracted many multinational corporations (MNCs). Meanwhile, the misconception of China as a homogeneous market often leads to difficulties in assessing market demand and enacting effective strategies. Examines the diversity among Chinese consumers across seven regional markets. Data from a national survey suggest that consumers from various regions are significantly different from one another in terms of purchasing power, attitudes, lifestyles, media use, and consumption patterns. MNCs need to take a cautionary approach when expanding into the inland regions, and must adapt to the local market conditions and devise sustainable strategies.

This study aims to examine the nature of business‐to‐business marketing practices in two West African nations, Ghana and Ivory Coast, and compare them with marketing practices in another emerging market economy (Argentina) and a developed economy (the USA).

Survey data were collected in both West African nations, Argentina and the USA, using a standard survey instrument used in previous contemporary marketing practice (CMP) studies. Descriptive statistics were used to determine cross‐national differences in intensity of use of various CMP activities in Ghana and the Ivory Coast in comparison with Argentina and the USA. Then, cross‐national differences in various combinations of marketing practices were identified using cluster analysis.

Business‐to‐business marketing practices in West African nations conform with the CMP framework in that firms practise both transactional marketing and relationship marketing simultaneously. However, there are differences in the intensity and scope of business‐to‐business marketing practices in Ghana and the Ivory Coast in comparison with Argentina and the USA. While West African business‐to‐business firms emphasize traditional transactional marketing with some network marketing components, Argentine firms have a greater emphasis on pluralistic marketing and interaction marketing. By contrast, US firms practise pluralistic marketing (transactional, database, interaction, and networking) with some transactional marketing activities. In addition, West African business‐to‐business firms are similar to Argentine firms in that a proportion of firms practise marketing at a low level of intensity and rarely use database marketing. These differences are attributable to the nature of market conditions in West Africa.

The CMP results generalize to West African nations. However, a direct correspondence is unlikely because of the dominance of transactional marketing practice among West African firms. Further research needs to investigate a broader set of institutional environments in order to provide a clear link between CMP and environmental conditions in emerging African markets.

Managers can determine the appropriateness of international benchmarks for West African market conditions.

Linking CMP to market conditions in the paper provides an extension to the validity of the CMP framework.

Presents the results of an empirical investigation into American executives’ perceptions of business climates in India and China. Addresses six distinct issues cocnerning economy, management, marketing, government, labour and finance. Attempts to establish the homogeneity of internal consistency of the shortened version of Buntzman’s 31 item scale used in the study. Surveyed 110 US businessmen working in these countries. Suggests that findings show India to possess a more favourable business climate but perceive China’s economy to be better.

The purpose of this paper was to assess and determine the impact of the five core technologies of Industry 4.0 (3D Printing, Big Data Analytics, Cloud Computing, Internet of Things (IoT) and Robotics) on the organizational performance of the retail industry in the context of Pakistan.

Pakistan's retail industry was chosen as the target sector, and the target population was composed of senior-level employees, including managers from first-level positions to top-level positions, as well as subordinate employees working under the supervision of first-level managers, possessing the technological know-how of Industry 4.0. The data were collected through a matrix-based survey questionnaire that was based on a five-point Likert scale, ranging from “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree.” The process of data analysis was conducted using IBM SPSS Statistics.

The findings obtained by this research work showed a significant relationship among the five core pillars of Industry 4.0 and the organizational performance of Pakistan's retail industry. Besides, the obtained findings provided preliminary evidence that Industry 4.0's disruptive technologies, particularly, 3D printing, big data analytics, cloud computing, IoT and robotics, could help Pakistan's retail industry solve various problems and challenges, such as meager revenues, increased expenses and unorganized systems.

The present study extended the theoretical body of knowledge through studying and examining Industry 4.0's five crucial factors that significantly contribute to the service sector, particularly, the retail industry, of the big emerging markets (BEM) economies, including Pakistan.

Traditional market selection analysis relies on purely macroeconomic and political factors and fails to account for an emerging market's dynamism and future potential. The objective of this paper is to present a tool composed of four criteria specific to the preliminary assessment of emerging markets (EM) as international expansion opportunities.

Based on the literature pointing out the limitations of international market selection (IMS) models and the need for a specialized approach, additional criteria are introduced to assess emerging market potential. Review of prior work on internationalization, EM and market selection provided the rationale for the selected criteria. Using secondary data and primary data from a sample of 500, the proposed criteria are applied to the assessment of an emerging market for US apparel specialty retailers.

Assessment of the emerging market with the criteria introduced revealed growth and sourcing opportunities that might otherwise have been overlooked. Case application exposed strong future market potential, manageable level of cultural distance, supportive and developing local industry and positive customer receptiveness for foreign products and business. The findings illustrate the need to improve and supplement assessment criteria of traditional analysis for EM.

Follow‐up studies validating, integrating and determining the relative importance of the criteria introduced will contribute to the development of an assessment model for EM.

A useful complementary tool for international marketers.

The paper develops the body of knowledge on IMS by addressing the shortcomings of traditional analysis and expands the two prior studies on emerging market potential.

Today's marketplace can best be characterized as dramatic and uncertain. This situation dictates that multinational corporations (MNCs) design strategies and policies that enable them to reduce uncertainty while satisfying customer needs across borders. Traditionally, MNCs are motivated by the demand of an advanced industrial society but ignore the demand of customers in the semi‐industrial societies within developing nations. The purpose of this study is to suggest certain factors in a strategic market planning framework that will maximize the interaction between MNCs and societies in which they operate, especially in Asian countries.