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The paper reports on an exploratory study aimed at analysing a series of independent variables derived from international industrial marketing and channel management literature.

The respondents represent a number of dyadic business‐to‐business relationships of different duration, and involve firms of different size (multinational enterprise buyers and their corresponding medium sized enterprise suppliers).

Initial findings support much of the extant literature on relationship marketing, demonstrating that certain aspects of a relationship tend to change over time. In particular, the study revealed that: there is a high degree of optimism associated with dyadic relationships at early stages, and these are characterised by both parties having high initial perceptions of the relationship; in mid‐term relationships some negativity maybe apparent, where certain aspects regress; and in long‐term situations, there is a tendency for relationships to be well structured, and these are particularly highly perceived among both exchange parties.

The research approach shares those benefits as well as limitations associated with earlier empirical investigations. That is a trade‐off in favour of undertaking dyadic exploration, than administering large samples and data sets. As a consequence of the sample size, some caution should be exercised when interpreting these findings.

Firms need to pay particular attention to relationships of differing time duration. This is because specific aspects of relationships may not develop in a uniform direction.

The research attempts to unravel the complexities and difficulties associated with obtaining data of a dyadic perspective for a significant number of relationships of different length. Such studies that map the evolvement of buyer‐seller relations over time are rare.

The paper aims to further extend our understanding by assessing the extent to which two prominent cultural values in East Asia i.e. face saving and group orientation drive consumers’ perceptions of luxury goods across four East Asian markets.

A multi‐methods research approach was adopted consisting of: an expert panel of close to 70 participants, group discussions with five extended East Asian families, personal interviews with eight East Asian scholars, a pilot test with over 50 East Asian graduate students and a multi‐market survey of 443 consumer respondents in Beijing, Tokyo, Singapore and Hanoi.

The authors extend previous conceptual studies by empirically investigating the impact of these two cultural values on the perception of luxury among East Asian societies. Specifically the study reveals that across all four markets face saving has the strongest influence on the conspicuous and hedonistic dimensions of luxury, group orientation meanwhile is the strongest predictor of the quality, extended self and exclusivity dimensions of luxury. Collectively these two cultural values significantly influence East Asian perceptions of luxury. Overall, the findings reiterate the importance of understanding different cultural values and their influence across different East Asian societies.

The findings have important implications for managers of western luxury branded goods that are seeking to penetrate East Asian markets or seek to serve East Asian consumers. Specifically, to assist with developing suitable brand positioning, products, services, communications and pricing strategies.

This study contributes to our understanding of the subject by exploring the impact of face saving and group orientation on the perception of luxury goods across four East Asian countries. Several directions for future research are suggested.

The purpose of this paper is to develop an understanding of what constitutes relationship quality in four different countries. The paper shows which attributes are important in assessing relationship quality and how they vary in importance among countries.

Conjoint analysis was used to derive how managers trade‐off different attributes of relationship quality. These attributes were: the levels of trust in the relationship, the understanding of each others' needs, the integration of systems between the two companies, the use or abuse of power, and the profit resulting from the interactions. Cluster analysis was used to classify the respondents in order to check if the overall results were indicative of a general consensus among the managers concerned, or alternatively if there were different perspectives on what constituted good quality relationship.

Whilst the routes to develop relationships may vary between different countries, the attributes which make up relationships are also likely to be valued differently in various places around the world.

Conjoint analysis questions are difficult to answer; making it difficult to have large sample sizes. However, further studies should try to consider increasing the sample size.

The paper shows that there are indeed differences between what it is that managers seek from the relationships that they have to manage: but while noting certain national traits that seem to dominate within particular cultures, there is still variance in the individual datasets, pointing to the fact that managers have to manage their portfolio of relationships in an individual way.

This is the first study that compares the importance of relationship quality within and between four counties.

The purpose of this research is to differentiate and examine how country image (cognitive and affective image) has different impacts on product judgment and purchase intention in rational versus experiential purchases.

A large-scale survey involving over 1,200 consumers was conducted in China. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data and test hypotheses.

Empirical results show that the impact of country image on consumer purchase intention is mediated by general and category product image. In particular, the impact of cognitive country image on category product image is fully mediated by general product image in both rational and experiential purchases, whereas the affective country image has a direct impact on category product image in experiential but not in rational purchases.

This research extends the extant country-of-origin literature and shows that the product image dimension of the country-of-origin construct mediates the effect of the country image dimension of the country-of-origin construct on consumer purchase intention, and demonstrates the different effect of affective country image on product image in rational versus experiential purchases.

The findings of this research can help multinational marketers, exporters and retailers to better decide when to benefit from their positive country image and avoid the potential pitfalls associated with negative country image.

This study differentiates between cognitive and affective country image and between general and category product image. Thus, it provides insight to further understand how country image can influence consumer product judgment and purchase intention differently in rational and experiential purchases.

Growing globalization in recent decades has been responsible for the emergence of a new stream of research focusing on international marketing. However, compared to domestic marketing knowledge, this field has received relatively less attention from mainstream marketing journals. The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of a study that assesses the contribution of leading mainstream marketing journals to the international marketing discipline.

A total of 508 international marketing‐focused articles were identified from the top ten mainstream marketing journals during the period 1975‐2004. Each article was content‐analyzed in terms of six major aspects: article nature, authorship characteristics, research design, scope of research, research methodology, and thematic areas.

The paper revealed that: although there was an increase in the number of articles with an international focus over time, in most journals their share was limited; most of the articles were of an empirical nature, with an increasing trend over time; articles were mainly written by multiple authors, who were in most cases US‐based; research designs of the studies reported were increasingly more formalized and causal, as well as statistical and cross‐sectional; the scope of research provided a balanced coverage of country settings, product groups, and units of analyses; methodological aspects, especially sample sizes, response rates, and analytical methods, improved over time; and a wide array of thematic areas was examined, with issues pertaining to the macro‐environment, marketing mix, and buyer behaviour attracting heightened attention.

Although many insightful attempts have been made in the past to review, assess, and consolidate extant research on international marketing, this paper focuses specifically on the contribution of top mainstream marketing journals to the international marketing field. This can assist in identifying possible gaps in the international marketing literature that have to be filled by future research on the subject. It specifically helps: to reveal the actual involvement of these influential journals as outlets for publishing research that focuses on international dimensions of marketing; to identify the characteristics of scholars publishing international marketing articles in such journals; to evaluate the methodological content of these international marketing‐related articles; and to establish trends regarding the evolution of the international marketing field from the standpoint of leading mainstream journals.

This study aims to signal the relevance of internal market orientation (IMO) as an organizational process for improving interdepartmental relationships and employee satisfaction, which, in turn, serves to leverage performance. The study has three main objectives: to consider the adaptation of IMO at the departmental level, whereby internal departments are identified as internal customers; gauging the impact of IMO on interdepartmental relationships, employee satisfaction and organizational performance; and testing the mediating role of employee satisfaction in linking interdepartmental relationships, i.e. connectedness and conflict with organizational performance.

The study observes the proposed relationships by drawing on a sample of 816 managers from 272 companies. Through accessing three respondents in each organization and asking them to focus on different constructs, the study’s methodology avoids common methods bias. Partial least square was used to test the hypotheses posited in the concept.

The findings confirm that IMO at the departmental level is critical for facilitating interdepartmental relationships within the organization. In particular, high levels of IMO can enhance interdepartmental connectedness, reduce interdepartmental conflict and improve employee satisfaction. Employee satisfaction not only influences firm performance directly but also plays a mediating role in linking interdepartmental relationships, i.e. connectedness and conflict with performance.

While this study is conducted in the Chinese context, future research may consider testing the framework in different sectors and geographical areas. In addition, more objective measures of firm performance could be used in future studies, and other mediating and moderating variables may be added to further advance the understanding of the subject at large.

The identification of IMO at the departmental level can help firms collect ideas from staff across different departments, facilitate open and constructive communication and react promptly to other departments. Through a social information processing lens, this leads to the creation of a positive organizational atmosphere, contributing significantly to enhancing employee satisfaction and firm performance.

The findings of the study contribute to the area by supporting the legitimacy of IMO at the departmental level and its positive impact on internal relationships and employee satisfaction, which, in turn, leverages performance advantages for the firm.

Children experience toxic stress if there is pronounced activation of their stress-response systems, in situations in which they do not have stable caregiving. Due to their exposure to multiple poverty-related risks, African American children may be more susceptible to exposure to toxic stress. Toxic stress affects young children’s brain and neurophysiologic functioning, which leads to a wide range of deleterious health, developmental, and mental health outcomes. Given the benefits of early care and education (ECE) for African American young children, ECE may represent a compensating experience for this group of children, and promote their positive development.

This chapter aims to review evidence of the relationships between dog ownership, dog walking and overall walking and the factors associated with dog walking. It reviews the evidence using a social ecological framework. The chapter finds that dog ownership and dog walking are associated with higher levels of walking. A number of social ecological factors are associated with dog walking. Motivation and social support provided by the dog to walk and a sense of responsibility to walk the dog are associated with higher levels of dog walking. Positive social pressure from family, friends, dog owners and veterinarians is also associated with higher levels of dog walking. Built and policy environmental characteristics influence dog walking, including dog-specific factors such as access to local attractive public open space with dog-supportive features (off-leash, dog waste bags, trash cans, signage), pet-friendly destinations (cafes, transit, workplaces, accommodation) and local laws that support dog walking. Large-scale intervention studies are required to determine the effect of increased dog walking on overall walking levels. Experimental study designs, such as natural and quasi-experiments, are needed to provide stronger evidence for causal associations between the built and policy environments and dog walking. Given the potential of dog walking to increase population-levels of walking, urban, park and recreational planners need to design neighbourhood environments that are supportive of dog walking and other physical activity. Advocacy for dog walking policy-relevant initiatives are needed to support dog walking friendly environments. Health promotion practitioners should make dog walking a key strategy in social marketing campaigns.