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1 – 10 of over 1000Studies on cross-culture marketing often focus on either localization or globalization strategies. Based on data from pre-communist China (1912–1949), product hybridization …
Abstract
Purpose
Studies on cross-culture marketing often focus on either localization or globalization strategies. Based on data from pre-communist China (1912–1949), product hybridization – defined as a process or strategy that generates symbols, designs, behaviors and cultural identities that blend local and global elements – emerges as a popular intermediate strategy worthy of further inquiry. After examining the mechanisms and processes underlying this strategy, a schema for classifying product hybridization strategies is developed and illustrated. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
Critical historical research method is applied to historical data and historical “traces” from pre-communist China’s corporate documents, memoirs, posters, advertisements, newspapers and secondhand sources.
Findings
Strategic interactions between domestic and foreign companies in pre-communist China fostered products and a city (Shanghai) containing Chinese and non-Chinese elements. Informed by historical traces and data from pre-communist China (1912-1949), a 2 × 2 classification schema relating company type (i.e. foreign or domestic) to values spectrum endpoint (i.e. domestic vs foreign) was formulated. This schema reflects the value of communication, negotiation and cultural (inter)penetration that accompanies cross-culture product flows.
Research limitations/implications
Cross-culture marketing strategies meant to help companies satisfy diverse marketplace interests can induce a mélange of product design elements. Because product hybridization reflects reciprocity between domestic and foreign companies that embodies multiple interests and contrasting interpretations of product meanings, researchers should examine globalization and localization synergistically.
Practical implications
Strategies adopted by domestic and foreign companies in pre-communist China (1912–1949) can help contemporary companies design effective cross-culture marketing strategies in a global marketplace infused with competing meanings and interests.
Originality/value
Examining historical strategies adopted in pre-communist China (1912–1949) can inform contemporary marketers’ intuitions. Understanding product hybridization in global marketplaces can improve marketing efficiency.
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This paper claims that global corporations should rethink the concept of cultural control, which relies on an implicit culture, corporate culture, for the control of local…
Abstract
This paper claims that global corporations should rethink the concept of cultural control, which relies on an implicit culture, corporate culture, for the control of local managersș thoughts and behavior. Instead, based on hybridizations of corporate and local management cultures created through personal socialization conducted by Swedish and American corporations in local offices in Thailand and Mexico, the paper offers a perspective for cultural control that views and understands cultures in terms of change and hybridizations.
Pilar Rojas Gaviria and Julie Emontspool
– Studying the cultural dynamics of expatriate amateur theater in Brussels, the purpose of this paper is to investigate multicultural marketplace development in global cities.
Abstract
Purpose
Studying the cultural dynamics of expatriate amateur theater in Brussels, the purpose of this paper is to investigate multicultural marketplace development in global cities.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper performs an interpretive analysis of the expatriate amateur scene from an ethnographic perspective, combining observations of rehearsals and performances, in-depth interviews with actors, directors and audience, and secondary data.
Findings
The fluidity of global cities allows their inhabitants to engage in creative processes of cultural experimentation, performing a continuous back-and-forth movement between hybridization and pluralization. The former creates enough homogeneity for the expatriates to feel targeted; the latter ensures a level of cultural diversity necessary to satisfy their cosmopolitan aspirations.
Practical implications
The paper points to the important role of global cities for cultural experimentation. Such cities are not only an interesting market for culturally diverse products, but also experimental hubs. Managers willing to address multicultural marketplaces might target these markets with dynamic cultural offers that ensure a balance between rendering a product globally appreciated and recognizable, and maintaining a cosmopolitan appeal for consumers in search of diversity.
Originality/value
Drawing on global cities as markets in continuous reconstruction and subject to cultural experimentation, the paper turns the attention of the research community to the collective, reflexive, and experimental aspects of symbolic consumption. It shows how arts and cultural products represent valuable contexts for international marketing research, providing original insights into market dynamics and cultural experimentation.
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Shanta Shareel Davie and Tom McLean
This historical study explores accounting’s association with processes of cultural hybridisation involving themes such as image-(un)making, alliance-formation and norm-setting as…
Abstract
Purpose
This historical study explores accounting’s association with processes of cultural hybridisation involving themes such as image-(un)making, alliance-formation and norm-setting as part of Britain’s civilising mission during the era of modern globalisation. In doing so, the purpose of this paper is to examine the manner in which accounting may be implicated in micro-practices through which multi-layered socio-political relations of inequality are produced.
Design/methodology/approach
Archival materials enable an accounting understanding of the historical processes of image-(un)making, norm-setting and formation of a hybrid form of rule through elite indigenous alliances.
Findings
The study finds that the British Empire’s colonial project on civilising the indigenous peoples in British Fiji involved: the (un)making of indigenous identities and their moralities; and the elaboration of difference through ambiguous, partial and contradictory application of accounting in attempts to support the globalised civilising course. The globalising challenges indigenous peoples faced included accounting training to change habits in order to gain integration into the global imperial order. The study also finds that the colonised indigenous Fijians had emancipatory capacities in their negotiation of and resistance to accounting.
Research limitations/implications
The paper identifies avenues for further accounting examination of such processes in the context of post-colonialism and current forms of neo-liberal globalisation.
Originality/value
By investigating accounting’s association with processes of cultural hybridisation, this paper makes a significant contribution by providing the detail on the role of accounting records kept by the British Empire to facilitate Britain’s domination and control over the colony of Fiji and its residents.
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This paper aims at analyzing salient cultural transformations and their implications for business and management.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims at analyzing salient cultural transformations and their implications for business and management.
Design/methodology/approach
First, the interpretative approach is explained, and its adoption is justified. Then, seven major cultural transformations associated with globalization are identified and analyzed. Finally, business and management implications are discussed.
Findings
The cultural trends/transformations caused by or associated with globalization include convergence, divergence, hybridization, the clash of cultures/civilizations, diversity, multiculturalism, time-space compression, temporal acceleration, short-termism, risk, insecurity and uncertainty.
Research limitations/implications
This study, like any other interpretative study, is limited in its internal validity. Furthermore, some scholars may have different perspectives on cultural transformations, such as clash of cultures, diversity, multiculturalism and risk society.
Originality/value
At the methodological level, this paper adopts an interpretative research design and takes into consideration historical, contextual and social components of culture. While the culture in management is often conceptualized as bipolar and mutually exclusive dimensions, this study offers a more versatile conceptualization of culture.
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Nagathisen Katahenggam and Victor Wee
This paper aims to intend to contextualize touristification with a focus on Asia. It argues that touristification in Asia extends beyond physical transformation and is used as a…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to intend to contextualize touristification with a focus on Asia. It argues that touristification in Asia extends beyond physical transformation and is used as a socio-political mechanism by the state and communities alike. This study aims to broaden the discussions on touristification by noting how the issue of authenticity and state intervention is approached in Asia.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is based on literature review, sourced from academic material discussing touristification and the influence of tourism.
Findings
Aside from undertaking physical changes, states in Asia adopt a socio-political angle in the commercialization of culture for tourism so that the culture that is presented to tourists is aligned to its national image. The construction of culture and narration of history for tourism branding predominate touristification in Asia. Conversely, minority culture had also used cultural touristification in asserting their identity, as can be seen in South Thailand and Bali, Indonesia Also, hybridization and recreation of cultural activities in Asia contribute to the evolving debate on authenticity in tourism within Asia.
Practical implications
The paper suggests the implication of state intervention in branding and commodification of tourism among minority communities in Asia.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to an extended discussion on touristification by contextualizing the issue within Asia.
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Alexandre Rabêlo Neto, José Milton de Sousa-Filho and Afonso Carneiro Lima
This study aims to investigate the moderating effect of soft power on the relationships between affinity toward country, country image, cosmopolitanism and preference on the…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the moderating effect of soft power on the relationships between affinity toward country, country image, cosmopolitanism and preference on the internationalization of Brazilian cultural products.
Design/methodology/approach
This survey used data collected from a non-probabilistic sample of 478 Portuguese respondents, which was further analyzed using the partial least squares technique.
Findings
Affinity related to Brazil, the image of Brazil and cosmopolitanism influenced preference, and this, in turn, influenced the internationalization of Brazilian cultural products. Soft power moderated the relationships between cosmopolitanism and preference, country image and preference and preference and internationalization of cultural products.
Research limitations/implications
This study focuses on the internationalization of a cultural product from one particular emerging economy (Brazil) to a specific developed economy (Portugal). Thus, the findings are bound to this specific context. However, it contributes to the field of international marketing research by concentrating on the moderating effects of soft power in the relationship between the investigated constructs.
Practical implications
In the case of Brazilian cultural products, i.e. music, emphases on Brazilian unique resources, i.e. the beauty, excitement, fantasy, mystique, prestige, etc. of natural resources, may be important features to be taken into consideration in national cultural policies.
Originality/value
The study contributes to the international marketing and consumer behavior literature by showing that consumer preference, affinity toward country and cosmopolitanism are important antecedents of the internationalization of cultural products.
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