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This paper aims to present the case study of Arçelik, which has become Turkey's leading manufacturer and exporter of home appliances, as a means of offering insight into why, how and with what results companies from developing countries expand internationally.

Primary data have been drawn from in‐depth interviews conducted with senior executives and industry experts, and this has been based on a statistical analysis of the export and international strategies of Turkish home appliance and television set industry.

The evidence indicates that international expansion may buffer a firm against fluctuations of demand in its home market and provide opportunities for growth. Difficulties faced by a later arrival from a developing country are greater than established rivals, and a developing country firm will have to rely on different resources and different operational strategies in developed vs developing markets.

Even though one case cannot yield general conclusions, it may indicate fruitful theoretical directions. This study raises issues worthy of further investigation. On the outset, it would be useful to apply the four propositions to more Turkish MNEs in order to test the robustness of the conclusions.

The study has important implications for companies from developing countries. First, international expansion appears to be a viable means of offsetting home‐market volatility for emerging‐country firms. Second, international expansion is still predicated on significant investments in firm‐specific advantages and their development may shorten the internationalization process.

The report contributes to knowledge in the area of international expansion of companies from developing countries by providing evidence on how one company has achieved a world position in a highly competitive market through selective use of quality, innovation, and branding based on the competitive position that is available in each of its chosen markets. In particular, it contributes to the limited evidence on the international expansion of Turkish companies at the present time.

Severe competition in the domestic appliance industry is forcing manufacturers to examine their methods. One company decided that it needed to rationalise both the organisation and the methods of manufacture.

Savage concentrated on building a small world, which is not a probabilistic, but the definite world, in which sure‐thing principle works. He reached Kullback‐Leibler’s information through Bayes’ theorem, in which he intends to improve personal probability as the a posteriori probability. However, he stopped his thinking there. Akaike obtained Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) by starting from the K‐L information. AIC enables us to evaluate which model is the closest to the true value which we cannot recognise. If we call the context of sure‐thing principle personal probability, Bayes’ theorem and AIC the logical structure of information, the author thinks we have the same structure in relation to the Japanese production and distribution system.

States that supply industry privatization, its restructuring and strong competition from other fuels means that constant innovation is required in the electric heating business. Credanet is such a product with central programming and remote heater control. Credanet appears similar to a traditional central heating system in its operation and offers superior controllability with its advanced electric heating appliances. Feedback from both end users and specifiers indicate it is considered superior to existing electric heating systems. Credanet’s advanced communication technology also appears suited to other domestic appliances and related areas such as metering.

Addresses the issue of supply chain competitiveness from the manufacturing capability perspective. Six supply chains are analysed, based on three manufacturers in the Korean home appliance industry. The case study findings demonstrate the strong connection between capability requirements of suppliers of critical parts and competitive priorities of manufacturing customers. For suppliers of non‐critical items, delivery and cost are the most important capability dimensions. The factors influencing congruence between customer requirements and the capabilities of constituent firms are also examined. Mutual co‐operative behaviour, specificity of transaction‐related assets, and “criticalness” of traded parts are identified as the key factors influencing congruence.

The latest technology in high solid paints and their application by high speed electrostatic disc or bell was discussed at a symposium organised by Tl Drynamels at the Post House Hotel, Nottingham, on April 7th. Papers were given by equipment manufacturers, an industrial user, as well as Tl Drynamels specialists. Delegates came from several industries, but particularly the domestic appliance manufacturers.

An empirical analysis is presented of the effects of selected contingency variables on the product innovation activities of firms in entertainment electronics and major household appliance industries in West Germany. The following contingency variables were analysed: the size and industry affiliation of the firm, the top management function executed either by owners or salaried managers, and the competitive pressure that a firm has to face. The empirical findings indicate that smaller enterprises, owner‐run firms and those facing comparatively less competitive pressure are especially active in product innovation, while product innovation plays a less significant role in large and manager‐run firms, as well as in enterprises facing intensive competitive pressure. Conclusions are drawn for competitor analysis and business strategies of firms with regard to the German industries considered.

The dramatic expansion in the use and capability of electronic devices in recent years has been facilitated by the substantial development of production techniques. Modern electronic circuits as used in the computer, defence, aerospace, vehicle and domestic appliance industries contain a great many joints and these have to be made reliably and economically without degrading sensitive circuit components. This article describes the major microjoining developments currently of interest to the microelectronics industry, with emphasis on the work conducted by the microjoining section of The Welding Institute, much of which has been directly sponsored by the UK Ministry of Defence (DCVD).

The purpose of this paper is first, to review current literature on corporate identity, image and reputation; second, to analyse the “green reputation” on a sample of Slovene companies based on their web sites and third, to present implications for companies and further research.

Content analysis and discourse analysis were used to examine sections of web sites related to sustainable development of 20 Slovene companies representing the pharmaceutical, chemical, energy, food production, retailing, automotive, construction, logistics, sales of oil products and domestic appliance industries.

The web sites of 20 Slovene companies studied show that all companies present their values about environment protection and social responsibility, which they relate to sustainable development. However, “green” identity is not fully exploited in terms of being used as a distinctive feature of a company and as such it does not sufficiently contribute to gaining competitive advantage for a company.

Although constituted by all relevant Slovene companies, the sample is limited in size. Further research could be done with a larger sample to test the findings. Different tools and media of marketing communication and a stakeholder survey could confirm the importance of the findings and significance for green reputation development.

Senior company management can use the findings from the research presented here as a starting‐point for the development of corporate reputation as a “green” company through appropriate use of corporate communication.

The research paper contributes to the scarce literature on green reputation development, which is almost non‐existent with regard to non‐multinational companies from post‐transition and transition economies. The paper also reveals new findings about the problem of standardisation within “green” marketing communication.

The concept of globalisation has received wide currency in the literature on international business strategy. Authors such as Levitt and Ohmae argue that, in the future, only global companies will succeed. This paper examines the theoretical concepts and their applicability to clothing products and then studies the global spread of the UK clothing industry's exports and overseas investments. It concludes that the applicability of the concept of globalisation to this sector may be limited by the nature of the product and that, in practice, the global spread of export and investment activity as exhibited by the UK clothing industry reveals some potentially disturbing features; notably an over concentration upon the EU. The paper appears in two parts.