Search results

Regarding globalization trends, it is essential for multinational corporations (MNCs) to operate in China if they are to succeed in the international business environment. It is therefore vital to study how those MNCs investing in China have fared. The purpose of this paper is to devise a robust conceptual framework for the evolvement of market-seeking investments in emerging markets.

The typology is based on a network approach to internationalization processes, where a case study is made of Swedish MNCs’ experience of the Chinese market.

The case study contributes to the mostly static foreign direct investment (FDI) theory as well as the entry mode approach, both of which have paid little attention to the FDI carried out by MNCs in emerging markets 5–15 years after initial entry.

The case study also contributes to the mostly static FDI theory as well as the entry mode approach, both of which have paid little attention to the various types of FDI carried out by MNCs in emerging markets 5–15 years after initial entry.

This study aims to examine the components and evolution of the Chinese wine festival market using the Dalian International Wine and Dine Festival (DIWDF) as a case study.

Adopting a longitudinal approach, survey data were collected from attendees of the first, fifth and seventh DIWDF in 2012, 2016 and 2018, respectively. Cluster analysis segmented attendees by wine and festival experience and consumption features. Comparative analysis was conducted to examine segment differences by demography, festival motivation, satisfaction and intention. Changes in segments over time were examined across the three times.

The following three clusters were identified: “wine-novice fest-newbies,” “occasional drinker fest-goers” and “wine-lover fest-enthusiasts.” Over the study period, the proportion of “wine-lover fest-enthusiasts” increased significantly while the percentages of the other two segments decreased, demonstrating the evolution of the Chinese wine festival market and their consumer impacts.

This study offers straightforward indicators of market value via consumption features for both wine businesses and festival organizers. The characteristics of the segments and their inter-linkage have important implications for developing product mix, targeting strategies, festival service design and market development.

This is the first known empirical research globally to investigate relationships among market segments both horizontally (differences between segments) and vertically (development over time) and to incorporate both wine- and festival-related consumption features.

Dependence on access to European markets through subcontracting relationships with European firms has exposed subcontracting clothing and textile producers in less developed economies to the vagaries of international market competition. This paper aims to examine the problems that such exposure creates and the requirements for developing marketing activities through the concept of the alliance life cycle as a viable solution for a sample of Tunisian clothing and textile firms.

The inductive reasoning of this research was implemented through qualitative research based on a range of tools derived from a case study and a dual ethnographic approach.

The main results showed that life cycle stages of the subcontracting firms reflected Schumpeter's creation and destruction cycle of innovation. Therefore, subcontracting firms could learn from their activities with their business customers so that they developed marketing competences in innovative processes. The findings also demonstrated that some of the firms in the Tunisian clothing and textile industries were more successful than others.

This research focused mainly on subcontracting alliances with implications for future study of other alliances for different industries.

The life cycle approach could be of great interest to subcontracting managers in the post Multi Fibre Arrangement era. This approach is relevant mainly for decision makers in providing them with a framework within which they might optimise their marketing strategies and their implementations.

The research originality resides in its Schumpeterian perspective in considering business‐to‐business relationships. The value of the paper is to focus on the evolutionary aspects of relationships between contractors and subcontractors and the patterns of the marketing development within these relationships.

To evaluate the comparative effectiveness of perceptions‐based market segmentation strategies: to what extent do consumers' choice rules and the distinctness and variability of consumer preferences determine the success or failure of PBMS strategies?

The computer simulation is run on an artificial consumer market. Its firm and consumer agents enjoy a certain extent of autonomy and a limited capability of learning. Strategies for incorporating the choice information into the firms' segmentation schemes, consumers' brand choice rules, initial preference patterns and their variability over time are factors in the experimental design.

The market factors “brand choice rule” and “distinctness” and “adaptivity” of preferences significantly influence the profit performance of the segmentation and positioning strategies. The distinctness of the initial pattern of consumer preferences turns out to be least influential while the choice rule is most important.

Computer simulation cannot replace analyses of real‐world data. When, however, advanced explanatory models are made to fit to empirical data the results sometimes are disappointing (and then do not get published). Computer simulation on artificial markets assists in exploring the reasons for success or failure.

Boundedly rational consumers; product classes which are technologically homogeneous and subject to communications‐driven differentiation; consumer preferences that are directly inaccessible and must be inferred from actual brand choice; consumers' perceptions and preferences evolving over time are realistic settings.

Controlling for conditions such as the consumers' choice rules and the distribution and variability of preferences in real markets demands a prohibitive research effort. No empirical study so far has tried to systematically relate the profit performance of marketing strategies to choice rules and preference distinctness and variability.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the development of a general theory of the market, by defining markets as configurations and exploring: how market configurations emerge and evolve in a business‐to‐business context; how a market actor can influence market configurations; and what kinds of market configuration capabilities actors need to develop.

The topic is approached by theoretical analysis and conceptual development.

Markets can be viewed as configurations of market actors engaging in market practices. Market configurations are perpetually dynamic as new actors enter the context, and as actors introduce ideas and business model elements to the network. As a result the configuration's marketness evolves towards higher levels of configurational fit, resulting in increased value co‐creation opportunities. An actor wanting to influence the market configuration can do so by working on its mental models and business models. The power of the actor's mental and business models is mediated by the actor's network position, its clout, and the fact that a change in any element evokes reactions from other actors. Actors need to develop new sets of market capabilities, such as value sensing, the ability to measure markets, price formation and pricing logics, and market scripting.

For a scholarly audience the paper contributes to the discussion on how markets are redefined from being places where demand and supply meet and reach equilibrium, to being spaces where actors integrate resources to co‐create value. For a practitioner audience it offers ideas on how firms can shape their markets in their favour.

The purpose of this paper is to answer why the predominant competitive reaction (CR) is non-reactive one in the previous literature by showing that some fluctuations of CR may average out to zero.

This research proposes a model for measuring CR volatility to examine whether a firm’s CR differs over time. A rolling-windows time series approach is applied to three different data sets.

The results show that firms indeed react to each other, but the types of reactions vary over time, thereby creating a misunderstood “no-reaction” in the literature.

This study may help understand the gap between academic findings (i.e. no-reaction) and managerial reality (i.e. marketing wars).

Although a firm’s CR should be understood as a series of managerial actions that may change over time, the extant literature has not considered this temporal variation of CR. This paper provides a systematic review of the empirically based literature and provides insights into the importance of strategic variation in competitive dynamics.

Internet + and Electronic Business in China is a comprehensive resource that provides insight and analysis into E-commerce in China and how it has revolutionized and continues to revolutionize business and society. Split into four distinct sections, the book first lays out the theoretical foundations and fundamental concepts of E-Business before moving on to look at internet+ innovation models and their applications in different industries such as agriculture, finance and commerce. The book then provides a comprehensive analysis of E-business platforms and their applications in China before finishing with four comprehensive case studies of major E-business projects, providing readers with successful examples of implementing E-Business entrepreneurship projects.

Internet + and Electronic Business in China is a comprehensive resource that provides insights and analysis into how E-commerce has revolutionized and continues to revolutionize business and society in China.

It is salient to be acquainted with the key elements that determine educational tourists’ decision in selecting an overseas destination while considering the rise of international competition amidst nations concerning international students. There has been a growth in the number of nations committed to attracting educational tourists. This issue is evident in countries involved in higher education (HE), such as Northern Cyprus, identified as an edu-tourism destination. Northern Cyprus can attract a whopping number of tourists, and the higher population is most likely to be made up of international students regardless of its interdiction on direct flights and political pressure. This chapter centres on analysing educational tourists’ motivators in selecting a tourism education destination abroad and on revealing effective recruitment and promotion plans towards attracting them. The chapter includes the descriptions and discussions of educational tourism, the HE industry over the years, globalisation and internationalisation of educational tourism, factors influencing educational tourists’ decision-making process and key elements influencing educational tourists’ decisions in HE institutions. At the end of the chapter, a case study is presented that reports the findings of interviews with educational tourists, overseas recruitment agents and Eastern Mediterranean University staff responsible for promoting the institution. The results identified eight factors affecting educational tourists’ decisions on study destination. Those factors comprise cost, ease of access, location, social factors, quality of education, instruction language, cultural environment and communication quality. The sub-factors of the main eight factors are scholarships, destination’s scenery, safety, friends’ and relatives’ influence and cultural differences. This chapter brings a significant knowledge about the motives that affect educational tourists in selecting at a particular HE destination. Based on the study’s findings, educational institutions may consider various recommendations to redesign their strategies towards attracting educational tourists more effectively. Generally, this study promotes an apprehension about the diverse elements that affect educational tourists’ selection of a destination study. An in-depth understanding of these factors will help education institutions’ decision-makers better develop plans of action to provide desired services to educational tourists, attract and keep them in return.

Destination Management Organisations (DMOs) are very much a part of the Scottish tourism landscape in 2011. Some regional tourism stakeholders have created DMOs to manage their respective regional attractions, but until now, this has not been the case with north‐east Scotland. As a prelude to the potential creation of a regional DMO, the purpose of this paper is to empirically evaluate tourism business leaders' attitudes and likely acceptance of the DMO's structure and functions.

The Thomas‐Kilmann Conflict Mode (TKCM) was utilised to provide an evaluative framework, with discussion of the assertiveness versus cooperativeness needs of tourism business stakeholders in the region. The TKCM's measurement instrument was utilised along with a purpose‐built questionnaire to gather information about tourism leaders' interaction orientations and their level of support for the formation of a DMO, its structure and functions.

Tourism leaders in north‐east Scotland are collaboration‐oriented. Initial findings indicate that on balance, tourism businesses (as expressed by their managers/owners) are persuaded by the attractiveness of collaboration at an integrated regional level, but would nevertheless prefer a certain degree of competition. In addition, organisational size and membership of existing destination management networks appear to moderate the interaction choice preference.

First, the scale and questionnaire instrument developed to test attitudes toward a DMO formation have not been exhaustively evaluated, nor have the potential moderating factors been comprehensively assessed. A more robust and validated scale should be developed and moderators clearly modelled. Second, current sample size is limited and may not provide an adequate basis for generalisation. In future, a larger sample should be employed. Finally, this research is exploratory in scope, and future research, designed along an evaluative and analytical basis, is encouraged.

Collaboration within a new DMO in marketing to new markets and the support for this is not challenged, but some competition among tourism providers will continue. It is likely that the disparity between tourism performance in the city and rural areas will continue in the near future. The role of the DMO will therefore involve enlarging the customer base and raising the tourism profiles of both city and rural locations, in order to create a level playing field.

This research is the first to utilise the TKCM and Instrument to assess tourism business leaders' assertiveness versus cooperativeness orientations, prior to the initiation of an alliance in a region. The paper shows that this approach holds viability for future research in this direction, especially the potential of TKCM as a predictive framework for interorganisational interaction and collaboration.

The purpose of the paper is to discuss whether or not an acquisition changes the network identity of an acquired firm and, if so, how. This study aims to bring new insights to the corporate marketing field, as it examines corporate identity in the context of how a company is perceived because of its relationships with other firms. The focus of this research is acquired innovative firms.

This paper adopts a multiple case study approach. Data on four acquisitions of innovative firms were collected using 41 interviews, which were supplemented with secondary data.

Based on the case studies, it can be concluded that the network identity of the acquired firms does change following an acquisition. The acquired firms inherited the acquirers' identity, regardless of whether or not the companies were integrated. Previous, present and potential business partners regarded the innovative firms as being more solvent, but distanced themselves. In addition, some of them regarded the innovative firms as competitors.

Changes in the way a firm is perceived by its business partners, following an acquisition, will influence the future business operations of the firm. Expected changes to business relationships should ideally be considered part of due diligence. Acquirers need to consider how they can minimise the risks associated with business partners' changed perceptions of acquired firms.

This paper contributes to the research on identity, through discussion of the consequences of an acquisition for the identity and relationships of a firm. It also contributes to the existing corporate marketing literature, through consideration of perceptions at a network level. Furthermore, this paper contributes to merger and acquisition literature, by highlighting the influence of ownership on relationships with external parties.