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The UK continues to be one of Europe’s leading investors in China. Many companies have chosen the international joint venture (IJV) option as their market entry method. However, in 2000, the growth of wholly foreignowned enterprises (WFOEs) exceeded that of JVs for the first time. Could it be that IJVs are on their way out as amarket entry method for British firms in China? This article reports on a qualitative study of business relationships between British and Chinese firms designed to examine the comparative advantages and disadvantages of IJVs and WFOEs. Case study companies came from a variety of industries and varied in terms of company size. The evidence from the case studies suggests that the preference for an IJV or a WFOE as amarket entry method depends on a number of key factors including company size, experience in China, type of industry, and conditions in the macro‐environment.

Guanxi has been well documented as being an essential part of doing business in China. Yet, as China continues with market liberalisation, there are indications that its strategic importance is set to decline. From a joint venture perspective, this study seeks to examine the strategic importance of guanxi when doing business in China.

First, the researchers reviewed articles on guanxi and established that although guanxi is still widely considered important, some experts are arguing that this importance is diminishing. Second, qualitative research was used to create a holistic picture of the importance attached to guanxi in UK‐Chinese joint ventures. This involved 25 semi‐structured interviews with those involved in establishing or managing such a joint venture.

Although guanxi remains important when doing business in China, a number of factors indicate that this importance may begin to decline. These include China's market liberalisation, outward investment, “guanxi learning” on the part of foreign companies and online intermediaries.

Since the paper is based on a review of existing research and 25 qualitative interviews, the findings are largely exploratory. Future research might focus on a larger sample, different industries or possibly Chinese firms engaged in outward investment.

The findings suggest that to simply describe guanxi as being “important” is too simplistic. Hence, by identifying issues that are likely to affect the strategic importance of guanxi we can help both parent company managers and those engaged in Chinese business practice.

Both the review of existing papers and empirical findings help academics to understand a “contemporary view” of guanxi. While managers that have an interest in China can gain a clear understanding of guanxi and its significance in modern day China.

This paper sets out to address the influence of relational variables, such as trust and commitment, on international joint venture (IJV) performance, in the empirical context of UK/Chinese joint ventures.

The paper starts with a discussion of the importance of inter‐firm relationships in China and how there currently exists relatively little research in this area. Qualitative research was chosen to create a holistic picture of the possible impact of relational factors on IJV performance.

Trust appears to be the most important of the relational factors on IJV performance, followed by commitment, cooperation and satisfaction. Chinese cultural values, such as guanxi, also need to be taken into account as an important factor of IJV relationships.

When researching inter‐firm relationships, ideally data would be gathered from both parties. This was not possible owing to difficulties encountered in gaining access to the Chinese parent organisations. Nevertheless, the findings are of interest to British firms interested in the Chinese market.

Joint ventures in China continue to experience high failure rates. Failure to nurture relationships with joint venture partners is one reason for failure. Despite the limitations noted above, the findings make a useful contribution to the management literature on China.

Whereas many researchers have studied financial and non‐financial measures of joint venture performance, little has been written on relational factors and performance.

Multiculturalism and diversity are both evident and encouraged in the UK. However, this paper highlights evidence pointing towards the passive and sporadic transmission of unifying values – especially prevalent when interacting with individuals across cultures, or in culturally diverse settings. The aim is to stimulate debate surrounding day‐to‐day practices and accountability, at an operational level.

Reflective practitioner‐based commentary, using inductive reasoning as a basis for critical discourse analysis. Evidence gathered from literature reviews – supported by anecdotal evidence, personal observations and experiences.

The position held is that critical to the future long‐term successes of business education, students and lecturers should adopt a two‐way bottom‐up approach which prioritises the implementation of the following: an appreciation and participative study of culture, followed by active encouragement towards embracing further multiculturalism, and finally the preservation and transmission of tacit knowledge within a cultural paradigm – between host and surrogate cultures. Without this, business schools and the study of business are hampered. Using the analogy of an orchestra conductor, the suggestion is that lecturers as facilitator conductors should increase their efforts towards championing culture, embedding them within the formative aspects of their duties. To this end, they should be nurtured and supported as such.

Furthermore, lecturers require resources and recognition from institutions, beyond mere compliance with human resource legislation and the pursuit of institutional commercial gains.

The paper presents a proposed innovative approach – centred on cultural diffusion innovation, convergence continuum and hybridisation.

The purpose of this study is to examine the link between research and practice within the context of Islamic marketing (IM), an issue which is controversial in the literature. It offers reasonable answers that bridge the gap between research and practice, as well as the way to mitigate it.

This study uses a critical approach to analytically review the literature on IM, and relates it to research and practice.

The study finds that the advancement of knowledge on IM necessitates research and practice. There is a gap between research and practice which evolved from decades of objectivity between researchers and practitioners in the field of IM. It is necessary to search for some practicable solutions that can narrow the gap between theory and practice.

The basic limitation of this study is that IM has not yet emerged as a distinct discipline. Hence, there is limited study on IM issues in the context of research and practice.

This study makes essential contributions to the chastisement by research and practice, a theoretically new field of IM subject.

The purpose of this paper is to outline the contributions presented in this special section on the selfie phenomenon and its significance for marketing practice and scholarship.

The significance of the topic is reviewed and themes related to the selfie phenomenon and marketplace issues are discussed in connection with extant research. The contributions of each paper are briefly highlighted and discussed.

Although the selfie is a relatively new phenomenon, both marketing practice and scholarship have noticed its prominence in consumer lives and potential for generating marketplace insights. Despite its frequently presumed triviality, the selfie is a multifaceted phenomenon of significance to key marketing areas such as branding, consumer behavior or market research. Possible avenues for future research are outlined.

Key issues relating to research into the selfie phenomenon for marketing scholars are illuminated.

The purpose of this paper is first, as a sort of “health check”, to examine the research approaches, aims and sentiments of academics in the field – based upon their output. Second, to raise key questions with the aim of elevating scholarship within Islamic marketing and its sub-disciplines – through encouraging thought leadership, grounded in: more rigorous and in-depth application of Islamic knowledge; and transformational scholarship – through intellect rooted in creativity and heterodoxy.

The paper employs a grounded theory approach to phenomenological investigation, based upon desk reviews of published and unpublished manuscripts from the Journal of Islamic Marketing. Investigations were also supported by expert knowledge elicitation from Editorial Advisory Board members and reviewers; using participant observation methods and data collected from manuscript reviews.

There are varying perspectives and standpoints which can be adopted, which in turn will raise divergent philosophical positions. However, it appears that many opt for approaches rooted in a dogma of heterodoxy. It is argued that a broader collection of lenses, more creative and revolutionary scholarship, and a greater depth of Islamic knowledge comparable to that shown in the critical appraisal of marketing sub-disciplines are needed – as a necessary process of generative discovery in an emergent field.

This paper gives consideration to a fan of philosophical epistemologies, also offering guidance on the sourcing of further supporting Islamic texts, beyond the Qur ' an and ahadith. In addition, two brief examples of Islamic data theory are presented.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the nature and definitions of culture and its relationship to language and cultural sensitivity in hospitality management services.

The paper takes the form of a critical literature review followed by a phenomenological exploratory pilot study, using template analysis.

Previous studies indicate that the more individuals understand and embrace notions of intercultural sensitivity, then the better they become at being able to recognise and discriminate between cultural differences. Furthermore, as a by-product, there is an increased appetite and tendency towards adopting cultural perspectives other than ones’ own. However, the operationalisation of this process encourages benchmarking along linear scales, which is problematic and over-simplifies the dynamic and fluid nature of effective cultural transmission. The paper’s findings suggest that rather than there being singular cultural and language constructs, there are cultures, which in places overlap, but elsewhere do not and therefore cannot be placed on universal scales; second, the critical success factor is less about linguistic literacy linked to vocabulary and explicit rational comprehension, and more about a pre-emptive cultural interpretive intelligence which identifies emotion and sentiment.

This is largely a conceptual paper, which, it is suggested, needs further empirical investigation – both longitudinally and on a larger scale.

This perspective moves management, marketing and service delivery away from zero-sum games and transactional exchanges, whether financial, social or linguistic, towards collective wealth creation and empowerment – manifest in social cultural capital and the generation of tacit knowledge. The challenge that remains is how this process can be formalised and the tacit and implicit knowledge gained and created can be preserved.