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A major theme for studies in international marketing is whether marketing programs and processes can be generalized across countries. This study tests the generalizability of a model that predicts consumers' perception of value based upon extrinsic cues – such as brand name, price, retailer reputation, and country of origin – and their perceptions of quality, sacrifice, and risk. The study extends the perceived value model specified by Agarwal and Teas and tested in the USA. The results of this study, based on an experiment conducted in Sweden, suggest that while the overall structure of the model is supported across countries, the relative importance of the extrinsic cues may vary across countries.

In 2013, ‘Fashion Destination’, a well-established clothing retailer considered setting up a clothing and accessories rental service. They hired a market research agency ‘Wright & Company’ to conduct a research on the sustainability and profitability of such a business model. The consultants collected primary data and did an extensive analysis for Fashion Destination. Based on the secondary research, expert interviews, extensive qualitative and quantitative research the consultants recommended the management to start a clothes and accessories rental service but suggested that the product offering be limited to formal clothes only and offer accessories. Vishal had doubts despite of the go-ahead signal from consultancy. He wondered what recommendations should he accept and which needed further verification.

Since the concept of rental clothing business was new for Indian market and very few players were dealing in it, ‘Wright & Company’ consulting did an exploratory research to understand the model. Through two expert interviews and extensive survey of the business model of existing players across countries, they developed better understanding of kinds of business models, range of products offered, customer expectations and concerns regarding such service and business challenges. The research showed the purchase intention but further detailed primary research was required to validate the findings. To conduct the quantitative survey they designed a questionnaire but was not sure of the appropriateness of the questionnaire and thus wanted to pre-test it and construct a final detailed questionnaire. Vishal also wondered if he needed to do more extensive in-depth qualitative research.

Marketing scholars have long debated whether marketing programs and processes can be standardized across countries. However, empirical examination of cross‐national applicability of marketing models, which are originally generated for a single market – usually the USA – are rare. This study tests the standardizability of the Dodds, Monroe, and Grewal model that explains consumers’ willingness to buy based on extrinsic cues – such as brand name, price, and retailer reputation – and on their perceptions of quality, sacrifice, and value. The study examines the model via experiments conducted in the USA, Belgium, and Sweden. The results suggest that while the model is supported across countries, the relative importance of the extrinsic cues may vary across countries.

There is wide acceptance of the precept that market orientation is associated with superior firm performance. However, empirical support for the proposition in prior literature is weak. This study examines the relationship between market orientation and performance with data from 201 international hotels and finds that market orientation is positively associated with both judgmental measures of performance – service quality, customer satisfaction, and employee satisfaction, and objective measures of performance – occupancy rate, gross operating profit, and market share. Specifically, the study finds that the immediate impact of market orientation is to spur innovation, which, in turn, enhances judgmental performance, which, in turn, enhances objective performance.

Multiattribute ratings of country‐image are commonly obtained to study the influence of country‐of‐origin on product preference and purchase decisions. Usually, such ratings are obtained for products made in different countries in order to make comparisons across countries. However, recent research evidence indicates that, when individual respondents rate multiple entities (e.g., multiple countries), the ratings of a particular country can be affected by the other “contextual” countries included in the questionnaire. The purpose of this study is to examine, via a controlled experiment, the issue of measurement context effects in the measurement of country images. The hypotheses tested concern the stability of attribute‐based and entity‐based country image scaling and potential methods of reducing the vulnerability of multi‐entity scaling to entity context ‐‐ the use of an anchor entity and an insulator question set to increase country image measurement stability.

Investigates the transferability of country images from well‐known products to new product categories. States that analysis of data indicates that consumers’ perceptions of new products from a given country are related to the image they hold for well‐known products from that country. Further, the extent of transferability of beliefs is moderated by the extent of perceived similarity between the well‐known and the new product categories.

Empirical studies of the shareholder valuation impact of firms’ international joint venture (IJV) participation have usually emphasized firm‐specific factors, but rarely extended their analysis to location‐specific factors. This is a crucial omission because the two sets of factors are interconnected vis‐a‐vis their influence on firms’ performance. Yet, previous work has neither identified how the two sets of factors complement each other nor investigated the effect of these complementarities on the shareholder value of firms who enter into IJVs. This study attempts to fill these gaps. It develops a typology of IJVs and then performs cluster analysis on a sample of 241 equity IJVs. Results indicate eight clusters in the data, including three clusters with positive shareholder value. In deriving support for its six hypotheses, the study highlights both value‐creating and value‐neutral configurations of firm‐ and location‐specific variables.

The authors explore the nature of commitment, job satisfaction and job characteristics, and the nature of the interrelationships among these variables concerning expatriate employees in Saudi Arabia. An examination of a sample of 504 expatriate employees reveals that these employees are, by and large, indifferent with respect to their perceptions of commitment, job satisfaction, and job characteristics. In addition, the results provide strong support for (1) the influence of job satisfaction on commitment, (2) the influence of job variety on commitment, and (3) the influence of job autonomy, identity, and feedback on job satisfaction.