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Introduces the traditional German apprenticeship training approach which has been received favourably in US governments (federal and state) and in industry, but suggests that certain conditions in America do not favour heavy investment in such training. Shows that the educational transfer of the apprenticeship model may be facilitated by German firms investing and operating in the United States, as proved by the electronic giant Siemens which is committed to implementing the proven apprenticeship model in its US subsidiaries. Shows that the apprenticeship model alone may be insufficient, and may need to be supplemented by a higher level, dual system education which integrates theory and practice. Proposes that the Vocational Academy programme, illustrated by the Mercedes‐Benz experience, may fill this gap ‐ not to supplant the apprenticeship training, but to supplement it. Suggests that both the apprenticeship model and the Vocational Academy model, may fill an important need for an educational joint venture approach, not only in the United States but also in other countries, by making business and government organizations more competitive in the global market.

The purpose of this paper is to report an application of the CETSCALE measuring consumer ethnocentrism for high‐value consumer goods in the emerging markets of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The study examines how regional markings can be thought of as variants of national markings and then goes on to establish a regio‐centric scale, thereby taking up calls for ethnocentrism studies to be conducted across multiple countries that actively trade with one another.

This research is based on an empirical investigation of consumer ethnocentrism (CE) that includes simultaneous manipulation of country‐of‐assembly and region‐based country‐of‐components. The study surveys a sample of 720 car owners equally divided between the three largest automotive markets of ASEAN: Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

Statistical analysis of this study's empirical results confirms that for the three‐country sample of 720 respondents, this newly derived regional ethnocentrism construct is as relevant as the classic country‐based construct. The research concludes that regional use of campaigns with a (potentially collaborative) Made‐in‐ASEAN theme may reach the target group of regio‐centric consumers.

The study is original in providing a new perspective on the ethnocentrism debate by adding and testing for a regional dimension reflecting realities in the marketplace for a major product category. The study is also one of the few to focus upon the ASEAN region rather than the more commonly studied regions such as Europe or North America.

The paper aims to research the mechanics of voluntary export restraints (VERs). It first develops a comprehensive VER research agenda, subsequently covering a 1991 VER between the European Union (EU) and Japan that established “voluntary” quotas on Japanese cars until 1999.

Reflecting gaps in research, an overall VER research agenda is set up. Then, referring to the only source providing ex ante hypotheses on the specific EU/Japan VER, those hypotheses by Preusse are checked against available ex post data at the time of writing in 2002.

First, Japan has not exhausted any of its yearly quotas during and even accepted a cut of quota in some years – an outcome only partly influenced by lower than expected market growth in the relevant period. Then, the competitive power of the Japanese producers appears overestimated, while the European capability to catch up was underestimated. Potential “escape routes” such as transplants and third‐country imports fell short of estimations – providing no particular support for Preusse's efficiency effect hypothesis and competitive effect hypothesis.

Typical research limitations such as data source availability and actor accessibility notwithstanding, it is shown that the product upgrading effect often associated with VERs may happen independently of such agreements.

This first results‐based, hypothesis‐driven exploration of particular VER mechanisms supports the authors’ call for a dual, actor‐driven and multi‐disciplinary VER research approach. It holds promise for the potential avenues for related research.

This paper aims to examine the extent to which the nation branding activities of export promotion organisations (EPOs), investment agencies (IAs), national tourism organisations (NTOs) and embassies follow the principle of coordination that characterises an integrated marketing communications approach.

A qualitative exploratory approach was taken, comprising face‐to‐face in‐depth interviews with key informants from five Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) involved in the implementation of nation branding communications in terms of export promotion, tourism, investment attraction and public diplomacy.

Seven key dimensions of interorganisational coordination in a nation branding context emerge from our results. These dimensions include sector, organisation domicile, mode, strategy formulation, nature, frequency and target audience.

The relatively small dataset as well as the restricted geographic scope of the study limits the generalisability of the findings; further research is required to ascertain whether the findings of this study also apply in other settings.

Enhanced coordination needs to occur not only between the different governmental organisations engaged in nation branding strategy, but also between those organisations and their respective private sector stakeholders.

This paper extends previous work on the need for countries to adopt a coordinated approach to their nation branding activities. The paper is original in its examination of actors’ perceptions of the optimal degree of coordination that should occur between a country's EPO, IA, NTO and embassies. The paper is also original in its reporting of findings from a region (ASEAN) that is under‐researched relative to other areas, such as Europe and North America.

Set in the newly emerging hybrid product research stream, and reflecting trends towards multi‐national production and sourcing, this paper aims to present a three‐country study on perceived quality and image of automobiles “made in and for” Southeast Asia.

The authors used a multiple cue design in the stimulus definition, reflecting assembly and component origin plus warranty level. Actual car owners were targeted, thereby adding to a relatively low number of studies requiring actual prior purchase. The related face‐to‐face interviews in the local languages resulted in 720 usable questionnaires.

Country‐of‐assembly is shown to affect perceived quality as well as perceived image. Warranty extension can moderate the quality effects to some extent, whilst buyers of luxury models display a smaller positive home bias in terms of perceived image than those of non‐luxury models. Such home region bias is not demonstrated to be significant for country‐of‐components.

The paper contributes towards ongoing theory‐building, especially with regards to an optimum level of origin cue decomposition. It also establishes the importance of adding image perception measurement to the arsenal of origin researchers normally focused on quality effects.

Managers need to make strategic decisions on the decomposition of product origin cues, reflecting consumers' abilities to notice several such cues. The selected product origin cues must then be supported with appropriate communications strategies.

For the first time, origin effects are demonstrated for the Southeast Asia region. The paper establishes the significance of country‐of‐target and contributes to research on the ever more complex product origin construct.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how consumer cosmopolitanism (COS) and consumer ethnocentrism (CET) may affect young populations in China (an emerging country) and Korea (an advanced emerging country) on their evaluations of Japanese brands.

The author hypothesize that the levels and the effects of COS and CET will differ between China and Korea because of their differing levels of economic development and globalization. Surveys were conducted with 311 Chinese and Korean young individuals with comparable sample characteristics.

The research reveals a few interesting findings. First, the findings show that Chinese young consumers may be more ethnocentric and moderately less cosmopolitan than their Korean counterparts. Additionally, COS was found to have greater effects on evaluations of Japanese brands in China than in Korea. On the other hand, CET played a subdued role in brand evaluations for both countries.

The findings suggest that COS and CET may have reduced influences on future consumers in emerging Asia and other emerging countries as they experience increasing globalization.

This study addresses an under-researched issue of how consumer values may change in emerging Asia experiencing rapid economic development and globalization.