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The purpose of this paper is to explore Turkish students’ perceived relevance of Facebook, the value of Facebook advertisements and the ethics of Facebook targeting users with advertisements.

Latent class cluster analysis is estimated to determine whether segments exist and whether covariates differ among segments.

Segments differ on Facebook relevance and advertisement targeting ethics and usefulness and the covariates gender, hours spent on Facebook during the week and personality. The segment that finds Facebook most relevant and uses it the most disapproves of Facebook’s targeted advertisements. Facebook is an organization that relies heavily on advertising dollars for survival. This fact should be emphasized; otherwise, Facebook may not be able to sustain itself.

The paper provides an understanding of Facebook from a marketing perspective for a country at the crossroads of Europe and Asia.

In the globalization age, with worldwide increases in dual income households, decision‐making has become more difficult and even more important than in the past. In this article, a five‐countries cross ‐ cultural comparisons of husband and wife decision‐making roles in the purchase of various goods and services in unlike environments is presented. Despite substantial cultural variation, there are surprisingly high degrees of similarities in family purchasing decision roles among the five countries. This study provides insights for managerial and public policy makers on the implications of cross‐cultural similarities and differences in consumer decision‐making.

Purpose – As a key crucial point, this study aims to examine the relationship between export barriers and the perceived export performance of Turkish SME's. Design/methodology/approach – Major export barriers perceived by SMEs in Turkey are identified and, subsequently, the relationship between export barriers and export performance are examined. A web‐based questionnaire method was conducted among 2,000 SMEs that listed export associations with 7.25 percent response rate. The empirical analysis was conducted in two phases. The first step was to perform an exploratory factor analysis to 20 export barriers. The second step was to run a structural equation model to determine which barrier groups have a greater effect on perceived export performance. Findings – The findings suggest that procedural barriers and competition in foreign markets have the most effective impact on export performance. Both structures have negative effects as expected. In other words, as the procedural and competition barriers decrease, export performance also increases. Research limitations/implications – First of all, not all export barriers that might affect export performance were examined. Another limitation is that, the data obtained related to a very specific period. Export performance was measured by only subjective method with Likert scale. In the context of future research, export barriers of the Turkish exporters in relation to individual countries of origin should be investigated. Practical implications – The analysis of exporting problems on the basis of firm differences between domestic and foreign markets, procedural barriers, internal inefficiency barriers, competition and governmental barriers can provide both corporate and public policy makers with valuable guidelines for the formulation of suitable export marketing strategies and national export assistance programs respectively Originality/value – This study generally confirms the literature, but comes to some original further conclusions, based on export barriers of Turkish exporters.

In view of the existing void in the current international and cross‐national/cultural marketing literature, the purpose of this paper is to look into the similarities and differences of life‐style orientations prevalent among US and Canadian consumers. The AIO (Activities, Interest, and Opinions) and VALS (Values, Attitudes, and Life‐Styles) statements adapted from the current cross‐cultural marketing literature were utilized to determine different US and Canadian consumer market segments. The research tools and techniques used in this study help retail businesses as well as manufacturing companies of the two countries to develop and execute more effective target marketing strategies.

The data for this study were collected through self‐administered questionnaires. The questionnaires were administered in two different locations. First, in Brandon, Canada and second, in the rural part of south central Pennsylvania (York and Lancaster counties). Both regions are similar to each other, each having a flourishing agricultural industry and a significant number of companies in the service and manufacturing industries. The data were collected through a drop‐off and pick‐up method among a sample of 300 Canadian married or common‐law families and 400 in the USA.

The study results show that there are, indeed, differences among the consumers’ life‐styles in the two countries which were similar in demographics and as such may have been previously treated the same way by marketers, but in reality have very different lifestyles. Based on the survey findings, managerial and/or public policy implications are offered for orderly marketing decision‐making purposes.

A study of total urban consumers may produce different life‐style profiles than the ones presented here. This study only examined North American consumer life‐styles within the framework of product group (form). Additional studies may look at consumer life‐styles by use of product brands and even product options.

This empirical research study presents cross‐cultural comparisons of life‐styles, value orientations of consumers in the purchase of a variety of goods and services in the similar environments of North America, namely rural areas of the USA and Canada.

This article demonstrates the application of geodemographic segmentation to the service industry by using commercial banking as a case example.

Data were collected through self‐administered questionnaires. Two sets of variables were used to profile market segments.

Study results indicate that there are substantial differences between customers of local and national US banks in their evaluation of the relative importance of bank service charges and overall confidence in the bank. Compared to national banks, local banks were evaluated more positively by customers in areas such as extra services offered by the bank, image of the bank, and convenience of the bank.

More focused and concentrated marketing strategies are suggested to achieve better local bank performance.