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The purpose of this paper is to represent the first empirical attempt to explore global-local consumer identities as drivers of global digital brand usage. Specifically, this study considers a unique category of digital products, social networking sites (SNS), and develops a set of hypotheses to assess the mechanism through which location-based identities influence the actual usage of global SNS (Facebook and Instagram). Moreover, cross-country variations are investigated under the lens of developed vs developing countries.

Cross-country surveys in a developed (Austria) and a developing country (Thailand) were conducted. Data collected from 425 young adults were analyzed using SEM techniques in order to test a set of hypotheses.

Results show that in Thailand, users with a global identity enjoy participating in global SNS more than their counterparts in Austria. In addition, consumers with a local identity in Thailand demonstrate less pleasure when participating in global SNS than their counterparts in Austria, and consequently are less inclined to use global SNS.

Findings provide digital marketers with useful insights into important strategic decisions regarding the selection and potential adaptation of global digital brands according to the country context.

This research is the first to extend the location-based identity research in the context of global digital brands, explain how global-local identities predict SNS usage through an engagement mechanism and investigate cross-country variations of this mechanism.

An examination is made of developments in port dynamics since 1965. Initially, this task is addressed by studying changes in past port patterns using a simple descriptive model to accommodate shifts induced by containerization. Over time these changes have led to the reversal of the concentration and centralization of port activities. Then consideration is given to the behavior of stakeholders active in the contemporary port scene by elaborating a bipolar global-local analytical framework through an invocation of the hybrid concepts of glocalization and loglobalization. This analysis leads to an examination of emerging economies to gauge future trends in port dynamics following the dramatic emergence of China. Finally, there is a discussion of the need to go beyond inter-port competition to comprehend global production-distribution networks by exploring synergies between the supply chain and the total transport network to bring out parallels in the hub-and-spoke structure not only underpinning maritime activities but also air transport and telecommunications.

Supply chain (SC) configuration has gained increased acceptance as an important issue when evaluating new customization possibilities and this evidence has contributed to the strengthening of the debate between global vs local production locations. This work contributes in enrichment of this topic by studying how local or global SC location decisions influence performances by considering a SC point of view, in terms of cost and time, in traditional and customized productions.

A discrete event simulation approach, based on experimentation through executable configurations, was used to evaluate different SC scenarios for customized as well as traditional products within the footwear industry.

The results indicated that to identify proper SC locations, existing trade-offs between the time and cost performances should be studied, avoiding the evaluation of a single performance independently and, instead, adopting a complete SC point of view while considering these performances.

This evidence has contributed to the reinforcement of the discussion between far-shore destinations vs near-shore production locations. Further studies are encouraged to adopt the present model, in which addition of other variables such as specific manufacturing competences to differentiate suppliers, both local and global suppliers, or the possibility of realizing special types of product customization required by final consumers can be done.

The paper contributes to the academic and practitioners' debate by proposing a systemic approach to assess SCs’ performances in customized contexts and to compare them to traditional collections. Results indicate that cost and time performance must find a balance that does not necessarily correspond to an exclusively local or global production.

This work contributes to the SC configuration issue by considering the trade-off between efficiency and effectiveness (i.e. SC costs and SC times) for customized productions by reviving and enriching it with an SC perspective in customization contexts.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how professional service firms (PSFs) manage the linguistic tensions between global Englishization and local multilingualism. It achieves this by analysing the work of Big Four audit firms in Luxembourg, where three official languages co-exist: Luxembourgish, French, and German. In addition, expatriates bring with them their native languages in a corporate environment that uses English as its lingua franca.

The paper combines the institutionalist sociology of the professions with theoretical concepts from sociolinguistics to study the multifaceted role of language in PSFs. Empirically, the paper draws from 25 interviews with current and former audit professionals.

The client orientation of the Big Four segments each firm into language teams based on the client’s language. It is thus the client languages, rather than English as the corporate language, that mediate, define, and structure intra- and inter-organizational relationships. While the firms emphasize the benefits of their linguistic adaptability, the paper reveals tensions along language lines, suggesting that language can be a means of creating cohesion and division within the firms.

This paper connects research on PSFs with that on the role of language in multinational organizations. In light of the Big Four’s increasingly global workforce, it draws attention to the linguistic divisions within the firms that question the existence of a singular corporate culture. While prior literature has centred on firms’ global–local divide, the paper shows that even single branches of such firm networks are not monolithic constructs, as conflicts and clashes unfold amid a series of “local–local” divides.

This paper fills a gap in the literature on branding, as local and glocal brands have not received as much attention as global brands from academics and practitioners and the scarce amount of relevant research done on glocal branding strategies is mainly theoretical or conceptual.

This paper therefore defines a model relating brand beliefs (brand quality, brand image, brand familiarity and brand as a social signalling value), brand attitudes and brand purchase intentions. The model is then tested with a sample of different categories/types of consumer brands (local, global and glocal). The influence of the type of brand on these relationships is then analysed.

The findings suggest that brand quality is the most important driver of brand attitude for any type of brand, and that the relationship between brand quality and brand attitude, as well as between brand attitude and brand purchase intention, is weaker for a glocal brand than for a local or global brand.

This paper provides new empirical evidence of the influence of brand type on brand associations and attitude configurations and the effects these attitudes have on buying intentions. This work is also relevant for the managers’ efforts to develop more effective global, glocal and local marketing strategies for brand positioning.

El presente trabajo persigue contribuir a la literatura sobre marcas al tratar sobre las marcas locales y las marcas glocales, puesto que éstas han estado menos estudiadas que las marcas globales.

Definimos un modelo que relaciona las creencias de marca (la calidad de marca, la imagen de marca, la familiaridad de marca y la marca como señal de valor social), las actitudes de marca y las intenciones de compra de la marca, probamos el modelo con una muestra de diferentes categorías de marcas de consumo (local, global y glocal) y analizamos la influencia del tipo de marca en estas relaciones.

Nuestros resultados sugieren que la calidad es el impulsor más importante de la actitud hacia la marca, para cualquier tipo de marca, y que la relación entre la calidad y la actitud hacia la marca, así como entre la actitud hacia la marca y la intención de compra es más débil para una marca glocal que para una local o global.

La investigación proporciona nuevas evidencias empíricas en relación a la influencia del tipo de marca (local, global o glocal) en las asociaciones de marca y en la configuración de las actitudes hacia dichas marcas y en su intención de compra. Nuestro trabajo es de interés también para los directivos de marketing ya que les puede permitir desarrollar mejores estrategias de posicionamiento para marcas locales, globales o glocales.

Marca global, Marca local, Marca glocal, Teoría de las señales, Actitud hacia la marca, Intención de compra

Trabajo de investigación

The purpose of this paper is to explore the scope for action of local human resource managers, who are employed in foreign subsidiaries of multinational companies (MNCs), for implementing training activities. These managers are situated in relationships to headquarters and the local environment. Related to this is the question whether MNCs contribute to the local skill base by implementing training activities or whether they exploit the existing skill formation system.

This study focusses on German subsidiaries of MNCs with headquarters in the USA and the UK, France, China and Japan. The study is based on 107 expert interviews with subsidiary managers and representatives of local stakeholder organisations, such as educational organisations, chambers, economic promotion agencies and governmental bodies in Germany.

The study reveals that headquarters introduce general schemes for training. In addition to these MNC-internal trainings, local managers use their information advantage over headquarters to implement dual training activities.

The training activities of subsidiaries are dependent on the institutional settings of the host country.

Albeit dual training activities are laborious and tie the local managers down for the medium and long term, the future need of the subsidiary for adequately skilled workforce prompts local managers’ engagement in implementing dual training activities.

Subsidiaries contribute to the local skill base and do not act in a free-rider position, at least in the German variety of capitalism.

The study deepens insights on distanced relations within and how subsidiaries generate scope for action by using this kind of relationships.

This study advances a reconceptualization of data and information which overcomes normative understandings often contained in data policies at national and international levels. This study aims to propose a conceptual framework that moves beyond subject- and collective-centric normative understandings.

To do so, this study discusses the European Union (EU) and China’s approaches to data-driven technologies highlighting their similarities and differences when it comes to the vision underpinning how tech innovation is shaped.

Regardless of the different attention to the subject (the EU) and the collective (China), the normative understandings of technology by both actors remain trapped into a positivist approach that overlooks all that is not and cannot be turned into data, thus hindering the elaboration of a more holistic ecological thinking merging humans and technologies.

Revising the philosophical and political debate on data and data-driven technologies, a third way is elaborated, i.e. federated data as commons. This third way puts the subject as part by default of a collective at the centre of discussion. This framing can serve as the basis for elaborating sociotechnical alternatives when it comes to define and regulate the mash-up of humans and technology.