Search results

The purpose of this chapter is to offer instructors and students a real managerial dilemma faced by a large Brazilian company in the cosmetics industry as it ventures into the European arena after successful expansion in Latin America.

This is a teaching case for use in class discussion about the advantages and disadvantages of certain courses of internationalization, in particular, standardization versus adaptation of the marketing mix, the choice of entry and operation modes, and the management of international acquisitions.

Since this is a teaching case, there are no “findings” in the usual sense of the word related to traditional empirical studies.

Data for the case came mainly from the manifested perspectives of the company’s Vice-president of International Operations, complemented by the opinions of the company’s Senior Manager of Strategic Planning and of a business analyst of the cosmetic industry, which has been following the company for years. Such data may reflect the particular views of these actors. The authors also used public secondary data from the company’s presentations to the public, consulting companies, and business magazines. Although these accounts may be partial, this is not a severe limitation since a teaching case is expected to provide some information, but not a full set of information, in order to reflect better the real context of managerial decisions.

This teaching case study can help students reflect upon a real managerial dilemma related to international expansion of a firm into psychically distant markets.

This teaching case discusses how an emerging market firm can challenge strong incumbents in developed markets and find a viable positioning, based on a distinctive sales model and value proposition for customers.

Islamic finance and Halal product sectors are thriving successfully. This chapter is a general review of the perception of Asian consumers on Islamic finance and Halal sectors in the global Halal economy.

The first section will briefly describe the Halal concept in both Islamic finance and Halal industries, and the growth of both sectors in Asian countries. The second part highlights the review of Asian consumers’ perception towards Islamic finance products and Halal products.

The review found that the consumers’ perception towards the Islamic finance products and Halal products is distinctive. This is due to the diversity of Asian countries in terms of geography, religion, culture, ethnic, school of thoughts (madzahib), income per capita and government’s involvement.

The third part of the chapter concentrates on planning towards Halal marketing, which involves the move and future challenges in different layers of industries to gear up and strengthen the Halal economy.

Packing for travel is an intriguing aspect of tourist behavior. Until recently, no research has sought to explain what the modern traveler packs for air journeys or why these items are packed. Perhaps for some observers these questions appear mundane, and the answers appear obvious, yet these issues attract a great volume on commentary on websites, blogs, in travel books, in magazines, and conversations between travelers. From these sources, Hyde and Olesen (2011) developed a grounded theory of packing for air travel. The purpose of this article is to test the grounded theory of packing for air travel using video-ethnographic case study data. The findings are that the grounded theory for air travel is able to explain what possessions are packed and the motives for these items being packed. The emphasis that any individual places on the possessions they pack and the role these possessions play during a journey will differ by traveler. This adds to extant literature on packing for travel.

I met Anita Roddick in the early 1990s. I was a PhD student and her talk was so impactful that I clearly remember our interaction to this day. I enjoyed hearing her talk about her inspiration for “The Body Shop” and how she stayed true to herself in creating her company – a company based on her strengths, values, and how she would want to be treated by a business. She shared stories about her family and her travels to source new products. In her talk, she described how she translated her personal values into The Body Shop’s vision, mission, and values. She created The Body Shop to do good in the world through sustainability, corporate social responsibility, ethical decision-making, and delivering products sourced from natural ingredients. These terms are familiar to us today, but they were not common in 1976 when The Body Shop launched. This chapter explores the strengths and personal values Roddick used to create The Body Shop.

Purpose – Stemming from extant literature on consumer brand narratives and the rising quest for consumption authenticity, the chapter aims at merging these two streams of knowledge. How can brand authenticity be defined and narrated? To what extent do companies and consumers interact? What are the consequences for branding?

Methodology – The chapter is case-based, and illustrates the branding strategy of l’Occitane en Provence, a company producing toiletries with a strong Mediterranean rooting. Data were collected through multisited ethnographic fieldwork in Paris and Manosque, Haute Provence. Depth and short interviews with customers and managers of l’Occitane were complemented by extensive observation and secondary data. The comprehensive dataset was analyzed consistently with interpretive research tenets.

Findings – Data document (i) five dimensions of brand authenticity contextualized to l’Occitane Mediterranean brand; (ii) the different branding strategies made possible to companies by the varied combination of these five dimensions; and (iii) the distinct profiles of brand consumers according to the specific authentic narrative each of them is more receptive to.

Practical implications – Implications for authentic brand narratives are drawn. I argue that when companies adopt a narrative approach to branding they can establish a stronger dialogue with customers and defend their competitive advantage more effectively. Actually, each brand narrative cannot be easily imitated by competitors since its imitation would turn out as a fake, unauthentic tale for the market.

Originality of the chapter – The chapter contributes to the fields of branding and authenticity, by extending the notion and understanding of consumption authenticity to brands.

The fragmentation of the production process is a major theme of research in international business. Trade benefits arise from the “slicing up” of the aggregate value chain, as well as the entry of new countries bearing low labor costs. If, initially, multinational corporations (MNCs) relocated only standardized, low-value manufacturing activities in new emerging economies (exploitative offshoring), now they are also offshoring their knowledge-intensive activities (explorative offshoring). In the past, the literature on internationalization was mainly focused on the characterization of the MNC as a specific monolithic organization active in the international production. In the present, numerous analyses have discussed the international location of R&D activities, mainly in advanced countries. The foreign R&D subsidiaries are still tightly linked to the headquarters, maintaining a controlled position. Future research must address two orders of issues. The first is the progressive autonomy of the foreign subsidiaries, which are more and more developing new and independent lines of research. This process leads MNCs to mobilize and leverage untapped pools of knowledge scattered around the world. The second is the R&D offshoring toward emerging economies. This complex process can be characterized as a move from the smile model discussed extensively by Ram Mudambi (where emerging economies were considered as pools of low-cost labor tout court) to a new model, called here the λ (lambda) model (where emerging economies are also pools of skilled labor). This paper will explore these new trends using some illustrative cases: L'Oréal (FR), Pfizer (US), ST Microelectronics (CH), and Geox (I). The cases reveal the double orientation of MNCs toward emerging economies, where both explorative and exploitative offshoring takes place.

This chapter examines the consumption experiences of Saudi Arabian female domestic tourists visiting the shopping malls of Jeddah and contextualizes this in terms of Islamic consumption more generally. First, the wider academic literature on the relations between shopping and tourism is discussed, and then aspects of Islamic consumption in terms of both shopping and tourism. Next, a review of the context of tourism development in Saudi Arabia and specifically Jeddah is provided. After a brief note on the methodology used for this study, the results from the focus groups conducted with female domestic tourists about their shopping experiences in Jeddah are discussed.

Plastic waste is one of the long-standing global issues in the recent era. Unfortunately, India is one of the countries which has been affected by the mismanagement of the use of plastics. India has recorded a substantial growth in the production of plastic and is considered a country of increased consumption of plastic. Due to the absence of an appropriate waste collection and segregation process, it has created the major issue of waste management and discarded used plastic items used for packaging application. There are various plastic waste management laws and programmes that have a cascading effect on almost every sector of business. In 2016, two years after the new union government took power in New Delhi, The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has made some improvements in rules for the collection, segregation, processing, treatment and disposal of the waste. In the pandemic era, effective plastic waste management became more important than ever. The COVID-19 pandemic has created an increased demand for single-use plastic because of pressure on the already out-of-control global plastic waste problem. It is recorded to be large, and the magnitude of this pandemic related to mismanaged plastic waste is unknown. However, understanding the changing landscape and alarming need for effective plastic waste management, the government of India has proposed certain changes to prohibit imports, handling, manufacturing and use of single-use plastics in the country. This is in line with the government's intent to phase out single-use plastic by 2022. Considering this, this chapter highlights the changes in the rules and regulations in India related to plastic waste management and its effects on various sectors of business.