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The author launched an online survey at a private English-speaking university in Kuwait to evaluate the status, value and importance of Japanese and Korean popular cultures in Kuwait. East-Asian culture is a subculture that is very widespread in the region because of Internet use and the influence of English-speaking education. The survey shows that this subculture can be understood as an alternative culture because it tends to contain a dissimulated critique of traditional Kuwaiti culture. Many students approach Japanese and Korean cultural products because they are in search of a coherent lifestyle founded on certain ethics. The Japanese–Kuwaiti cultural transfer implies a double resistance towards the local culture and towards American culture. The resulting marginalization is therefore two-fold. Resistance towards Western culture is here not based, as is often assumed in Arab contexts, on cultural closure and conservatism, but rather on the willingness to engage with an alien culture. This creates a paradoxical pattern of resistance to both the East and the West through adherence to another Eastern culture. The phenomenon can be understood in terms of globalisation as well as of anti-globalisation.

Increasing recognition is being given to the fact that simple solutions to organisational problems are no longer effective in complex environments. Corporations are now acknowledging many advantages in changing from a traditional to new non‐traditional models of organisations. The article considers how an American corporation aimed to remain competitive in a sharply competitive environment, while still retaining its reputation for quality creativity and leadership.

This paper aims to explore authenticity as a multidimensional construct from both consumer and service provider perspectives in the context of culturally themed restaurants in Kolkata, India.

Utilizing a phenomenological design, data have been collected through participant observation, photographs and semi-structured interviews in Bengali-themed restaurants over a two-year period.

By articulating the processes and dimensions that operate behind the narrative of authenticity, the findings display the interaction between market/cultural forces and the perception of authenticity. These reveal that authenticity embraces four major categories, namely, traditional, staged-form, postmodern and constructivist.

This study provides insights into the collective role of both consumers and service providers in mediating perceptions of authenticity. Theoretically, this study contributes to the literature by articulating four dimensions of authenticity.

Practically, this study assists marketers with insights into the balance of authenticity and the commoditization of culture.

As globalization weakens cultural boundaries and jeopardizes regional identities, there is a need for reassuring cultural continuity that upholds ethnic legacy for local consumers. Thus, this study provides theoretical and practical insights for both researchers and practitioners concerned about maintaining authenticity in a global marketplace.

Earlier research confirms the positive effect of innovation in shaping growth ambitions of entrepreneurs. The aim of this paper is to investigate whether the effect of innovation on growth ambitions of entrepreneurs is contingent on the role of institutions, namely, culture and economic freedom. In other words, the authors’ objective is to provide an institutionally contingent understanding of the role of innovation in shaping growth ambitions of early-stage entrepreneurs.

The authors applied hierarchical linear modeling technique on the data of 100,566 early-stage entrepreneurs in 109 countries that participated in annual surveys of Global Entrepreneurship Monitor.

The authors find that the effect of innovation on shaping growth ambitions of early stage entrepreneurs is contingent on the role of culture such that, in secular cultures, innovation benefits growth ambitions more than traditional cultures. Further, the authors found that the effect of innovation on growth expectations is dependent on the level of economic freedom in the country in which the firms operate so that in the countries with higher level of economic freedom, early-stage entrepreneurs expect more growth out of their innovation as compared to their counterparts in the depressed economies.

The results contribute to our understanding of entrepreneurial growth aspirations as a result of the interplay of entrepreneur–firm–environment nexus.

Food not only satisfies the need and nourishes positive experiences but also enhances involvement with the cultural, social and environmental attributes of a destination. As urban tourism is embracing sustainable consumption practices (SCP), this study aims to explore tourist’s responsible behaviour by embracing traditional gastronomic delicacies. More specifically, it pinpoints the driving forces behind why people choose traditional gastronomic delights.

The study adopted the triangulation method involving the grounded theory approach (GTA) attained through a series of focus group discussions followed by the survey method taking an emerging economy’s perspective (India and Bangladesh). This study accords equal importance to both the demand and supply perspectives of gastronomic tourism and its stakeholders.

Critical dimensions such as travel motivation, tourist expectations, socio-economic perspectives, mindful consumption, sustainable marketing efforts and community awareness were identified as major influencers towards traditional gastronomic delicacies.

The present study bears significance to the urban developers, policymakers, marketers, regional tourism bodies and tour operators in promoting urban gastronomic cultures through marketing traditional delicacies for sustainable development of the evolving gastronomic industry in India and Bangladesh.

This study makes a novel attempt in exploring critical dimensions in an evolving gastronomic industry by blending an innovative qualitative research methodology like GTA supported by the empirical validation process (quantitative). It proposes a theoretical framework for further advancement of gastronomic and urban tourism towards a SCP.

As organisations respond to changes in cross‐border business activity career practices more attuned to differences in business and cultural practices are required if organisations are to become more effective in their cross‐ border business activities. Missing from the career management practices of many cross‐border organisations are two complementary challenges. First is the selection, development and retention of a “diverse” cross‐section of skilled managers, representative of the various locations of the business entity, reflecting an organisational culture that values the “know‐how” possessed by skilled managers from disparate cultural backgrounds. Second is the existence of a corporate culture that values a “mindset” reflective of the cultural diversity of the organisation, as well as the disparate values, attitudes and behaviours that potentially exist across the firm’s foreign business operations. The literature on these themes is reviewed and some recommendations for the development and management of cross‐border careers and propositions for future research are outlined.

The police culture literature suggests that police officers’ attitude towards the public is characterised by suspicion and an “us-vs-them” mentality. It also refers to the moral mission of protecting the public by being tough on crime. The traditional police culture model seems to imply that these aspects are typical for the police. There is, however, a lack of empirical studies to test this proposition. The purpose of this paper is to propose a different conceptual framework, based on grid-group cultural theory (GGCT), which not only broadens the lens of the police culture model, but also allows for comparative research between different professional groups.

The newly developed conceptual framework is tested in an ethnographic study in the Belgian police and labour inspection. The main data collection methods are observation, interview and informal conversation.

The results of this study show that there are similarities in the way in which Belgian police officers and labour inspectors interact with the public, which raises interesting questions concerning the (often implicit) claim of the police culture literature concerning the specificity of police culture.

More research is needed to gain deeper insight into similarities and differences of the occupational culture in the police and comparable professional groups. GGCT offers a useful conceptual framework for such a research agenda.

This paper addresses a number of criticisms against the classic police culture model and provides an innovative perspective to not only study aspects of police culture, but also compare the police with other professions.

In this article, we discuss the role of the internet in cultural changes and transformation. The traditional view is that inherent cultures affect business operations so corporations must be cognizant of the prevalent cultures in their operating environments. Frequently, failures of multinational corporations in new environments are often blamed on corporate lack of knowledge and understanding of these prevalent cultures. While this may still be true in today’s environment, the influence of technology, particularly the internet in the 21st century, has been so significant that the world may be approaching a “unification of cultures”. Thus, this paper argues that the internet will lead to a global cultural transformation that will enhance global business operations by removing cultural barriers that lead to sub‐optimal business operations.

This paper aims at analyzing salient cultural transformations and their implications for business and management.

First, the interpretative approach is explained, and its adoption is justified. Then, seven major cultural transformations associated with globalization are identified and analyzed. Finally, business and management implications are discussed.

The cultural trends/transformations caused by or associated with globalization include convergence, divergence, hybridization, the clash of cultures/civilizations, diversity, multiculturalism, time-space compression, temporal acceleration, short-termism, risk, insecurity and uncertainty.

This study, like any other interpretative study, is limited in its internal validity. Furthermore, some scholars may have different perspectives on cultural transformations, such as clash of cultures, diversity, multiculturalism and risk society.

At the methodological level, this paper adopts an interpretative research design and takes into consideration historical, contextual and social components of culture. While the culture in management is often conceptualized as bipolar and mutually exclusive dimensions, this study offers a more versatile conceptualization of culture.

China has long been dedicated to introducing the Western management ideas to the local enterprise practice. But the situation has changed since the financial crisis, and the China model has become a hot word with its fast recovery from crisis. Moreover, Chinese traditional culture has become increasingly popular. Yin and yang are the most familiar Chinese philosophical terms to Western minds, and also the core concept of Chinese Taoist philosophy. The purpose of this paper is to analyze how the yin yang or lao‐tzu influences a firm's core competence and performance, and to demonstrate that the Taoist‐oriented Chinese culture remains meaningful and in many situations powerful in enterprise practice.

A case study is carried out from Town Star Ltd, established in 2001, and located in Linfen city, Shanxi province, China, a city which topped the list of the world's most polluted cities. It is an integrated joint‐stock company, specializing in coal coking chemical industry, gardening, logistics and technology development. Based on the humanized management doctrine, the company has formed the 5S management model which boosts its rapid and sustainable development. It coped well in major junctures such as industry restructuring and transferring, financial crisis, etc. Five key dimensions of the yin and yang, which were applied to the leader's daily behaviors and management style, are: Wu‐wei (inaction), Wu (emptiness), hardness with softness, moderation and He‐xie (harmony). First, this paper built a dynamic company growth model based on this philosophy which enhanced the core competitiveness effectively by emotional management innovation and personalized HRM, among which its pivotal regulator of variables is just yin yang conversion degree. Then an approach is provided to validate the model with empirical data collected from the years 2001‐2010 (2001‐2005, 2006‐2008, 2009‐2010) of Town Star Ltd.

It is demonstrated that yin yang ideology embedded in the company growth model organically is an important means to increase marginal benefit. In practice, the firm with yin yang philosophical ideology would shape a management paradigm which combined rules and human nature appropriately to a family‐oriented business atmosphere. Based on the above philosophical wisdom, Town Star Ltd has harvested good economic and social benefits, strong core competence through the elaborately constructed unique management model and harmonious humanity environment.

This paper opens an avenue for indigenous firms, as a framework for guiding management research and practice in coping with the post‐crisis era. In addition, it is expected to attract more attention from scholars, entrepreneurs both in China and in the rest of the world, to contribute to knowledge creation in Chinese management studies.