Search results

International brands are expanding their business into emerging markets seeking new consumers for their products. Multiple research studies suggest that there are two key differentiators between developed and emerging markets that managers must take into account. These are that consumers differentiate between local and international brands, and that consumer segments differ between emerging and developed markets. This paper refutes these myths. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The authors examine large-scale data of purchase behaviour across seven countries and six product categories through telephone or online data collection. Surveys conducted in conjunction with research consulting projects form the basis of data collection, with samples skewing towards middle-income population from urban areas within the emerging markets. The different survey methods used support the empirical generalisability of the findings.

The authors find that brand user profiles in emerging markets rarely differ between local and international brands across age, income and gender. Differences in segmentation are related to geography – which is likely a factor of infrastructure differences. When brand users are compared, their attitudes towards the brands are also very similar between local and international brands across several attitudinal measures: “high quality”, “value for money”, “meet/understand my needs”, “affordability” and “trustworthiness”.

The research highlights that consumers in emerging markets need not be segmented based on their brand purchasing behaviour when it comes to local and international brands. This is in line with a growing body of literature in consumer segmentation and in contrast to a considerable amount of traditional literature on emerging markets.

The purpose of this research is to analyze brand competition in China using the Duplication of Purchase (DoP) law, with important implications for understanding Chinese buyer behavior in comparison with Western buyers. Discovered in the Western markets, the DoP law holds across a variety of product categories.

Multiple sets of new data are examined to extend past research in the application of the DoP law in Chinese buying behavior. This study draws on panel data and self-reported data, utilizing bootstrapping to identify partitions where excess sharing occurs.

This paper finds the DoP law holds across six categories (two personal care, two impulse categories and two durables), as well as over multiple years. Brands in China share customers with other brands in line with the market share of the competitor brand. There were few partitions where brands shared significantly more customers than expected. Partitions occur due to the same umbrella brand or ownership, and geographic location.

Areas for further research include extended replication in other categories, investigating partitions and whether a different consumer path to purchase occurs in China.

DoP can be applied across a wide range of categories in China to understand market structure. New entrants to China can use this approach to understand a category from a consumer behavior perceptive. DoP provides guidelines for marketers to identify competition and allocate resources appropriately.

This research provides a comprehensive, unparalleled examination across six very different categories of brand competition in China. This gives confidence in the robustness and generalizability of the results.

The purpose of the study is to explore the interrelation between internal factors of learners and the external environment. The results of this study help to design a learning environment that improves students' self-efficacy and consequently self-regulated learning (SRL) behaviors of students.

The study adopts a quantitative approach to explore the relationship between learner's self-efficacy, self-regulation behavior and three factors in the online learning environment: course design, learning activities and relationship with instructors and peers. Participants of the study are 350 students in two universities in Vietnam.

The study finds that factors in the learning environment namely course design, learning activities and relationship within class significantly affect students' self-regulation. Moreover, results show that students' self-efficacy plays the mediating role in the relationship between learning environment and self-regulation.

Samples are taken by convenience sampling method, which may lead to sampling bias, and results may, to some extent, be misleading. The study was conducted in only two universities with limited student populations. A larger sample of students from other institutions may contribute to a better explanation of the relationships.

The study has a practical implication of contributing to the limited understanding of learners in an underdeveloped-research country context. The study also implies necessary changes to the long-standing, prevalent yet ineffective teaching and learning style.

The study calls for a renovation in the nation's traditional educational practices, having a social implication of creating a learning environment beneficial for learners.

This study is the first to investigate the impact of online learning environment and students' internal factors on their learning behaviors in Vietnam. The study is among the very few empirical research studies on the country's education generally and on self-regulation specifically, contributing to better understanding of learning experiences and the improvement of teaching.

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to empirically evaluate the key impediments to the competitiveness of the rail sector in Australia; and second, to provide relevant transport management and policy recommendations for enhanced competitiveness.

This paper has adopted an empirical approach. A survey was developed and distributed among rail stakeholders in Australia. Accordingly, exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were conducted to evaluate the key impeding areas.

This paper found four areas that are impeding rail development, these being infrastructure management, shortage of freight data and poor information sharing, service delivery and organisational and commercial interactions.

The theoretical approach of this thesis can be applied to any freight market where competition exists between different transport modes. However, the specific strategies provided in this research in terms of transportation management, infrastructure planning and policy were made according to the specific market condition, infrastructure quality and regulation that exist in Australia.

The findings provide important implications for both industry and government in terms of making transport planning and policy decisions, but also useful insights by identifying the weak parts of the rail sector and directions to target them.

The notion of the rail stakeholder does not appear to have been previously defined in the literature. Therefore, this research takes a broader view of rail stakeholders to include various interest groups within the rail sector and its operational environment.

To motivate investments in housing projects, the state may allow private entities to mobilize capital through selling off-plan buildings and use proceeds to complete the project. The state senses the risks for consumers in these projects: frauds certainly occur. To safeguard consumers’ interests, the Vietnamese Government requires developers to obtain a bank's refund guarantee to sell off-plan. This paper aims to point out how consumers are marginalized due to the mechanism (mechanisms) dedicated to protecting them.

The authors review the legal regulations in Vietnam, contracts in transactions on which they have given legal consultation (the authors leave the information anonymous for privacy issues), and real disputes exposed by newspapers re: off-plan sales.

This paper argues that the measure fails for two reasons. First, there are many weaknesses allowing banks to avoid this mechanism. Second, banks lend to developers, and as such, play the role of a secured creditor. In these situations, there is a conflict of interest between the bank's roles and between the bank and consumers. Moreover, Vietnamese law, by endowing banks the privilege of seizing and obtaining possession of collaterals, may put aside consumers' interests.

Bank's refund guarantee’ is a recent initiative of the Vietnamese Government, offered to safeguard consumers’ interests in off-plan sales. Issues arising thereupon have not yet been fully exposed, especially, in conjunction with a broad view of the Vietnamese legal system. The analysis and critiques offered by this study may have policy implications for other jurisdictions as well.