Multinational enterprises and the global economy

Problems and Strategies in Services Marketing

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a new marketing mix based on MBA students' attitudes and opinions towards the marketing initiatives of business schools in South Africa. The post‐graduate business education market is, and increasingly, getting more aggressive in their efforts to attract students on to their flagship degree, the MBA. The traditional marketing tools historically grouped into 4Ps (product, price, place and promotion), 5Ps (adding people) and 7Ps (adding physical facilities and processes) may be wanting in this market.Design/methodology/approach – The approach taken was a quantitative survey of students registered at state subsidized universities in South Africa.Findings – The factor analysed data showed seven quite distinct underlying factors in the marketing activities of these business schools, some covering the same elements of the traditional marketing mix: people, promotion, and price. There were, however, four different elements: programme, prominence, prospectus, and ...

A new higher education marketing mix: the 7Ps for MBA marketing

In the global university sector competitive funding models are progressively becoming the norm, and institutions/courses are frequently now subject to the same kind of consumerist pressures typical of a highly marketised environment. In the United Kingdom, for example, students are increasingly demonstrating customer-like behaviour and are now demanding even more ‘value’ from institutions. Value, though, is a slippery concept, and has proven problematic both in terms of its conceptualisation and measurement. This article explores the relationship between student value and higher education, and, via study in one United Kingdom business school, suggests how this might be better understood and operationalised. Adopting a combined qualitative/quantitative approach, this article also looks to identify which of the key value drivers has most practical meaning and, coincidentally, identifies a value-related difference between home and international students.

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Making sense of higher education: students as consumers and the value of the university experience

The international branch campus has emerged as a prominent feature on the international higher education landscape. Although there exists a fairly substantial body of literature that has sought to ...

https://purehost.bath.ac.uk/ws/files/271725/Wilkins_JSIE_2011.pdf

Student choice in higher education: Motivations for choosing to study at an international branch campus

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose a theoretical model that integrates the different groups of factors which influence the decision‐making process of international students, analysing different dimensions of this process and explaining those factors which determine students' choice.Design/methodology/approach – A hypothetical model is presented which shows the purchase intention as an independent variable dependent on five factors: personal reasons; the effect of country image, influenced by city image; institution image; and the evaluation of the programme of study. The consideration, whether conscious or unconscious on the part of the prospective student, of the different elements making up the factors included in this study will determine the final choice made by that student.Findings – The limitations of this study stem from the nature of the study itself. As a theoretical model, it aims to integrate the factors identified in the existing literature. Thus, future research must try to ex...

/pdf/international-students-decision-making-process-525wf30nec.pdf

International students' decision‐making process

In the past ten years, Cuba has recorded the highest rate of growth in tourism arrivals of all Caribbean countries to become the third most popular tourism destination in the Caribbean region and the second destination in the region for Europeans. In the process, tourism has become Cuba’s most lucrative sector. Based on in-depth interviews with senior executives of Cuban and foreign international hotel chains operating on the island and desk research in and outside Cuba, it appears that the benefits for international operators in Cuba outweigh the risks involved. With its expansion of infrastructure and promotion of its history and ecotourism, the country will continue to play a major role as a tourist destination in the Caribbean, regardless of whether the U.S. embargo remains in place.

/pdf/hotel-and-tourism-development-in-cuba-opportunities-sj644ogv87.pdf

Hotel and Tourism Development in Cuba Opportunities, Management Challenges, and Future Trends

This paper considers the issue of international brand strategy from a resource-based perspective. The topic of standardized branding has been widely debated in marketing literature. Since evidence of global or Pan-European branding is mixed, and the topic has become increasingly polarized in the academic and business press, this study provides a different perspective from which this problem can be analysed, avoiding, thus, the contingency perspective widely used in this area. Trademark registration data from the World Intellectual Property Organization show evidence of a trend towards Pan-European branding strategies among European multinationals and an increasing international coverage of brands. 1. Introduction Since Levitt (1983) put forward his theory of the globalization of markets, the debate on globalization and standardization versus adaptation has become a central point in every discussion of international marketing strategy (Douglas and Wind, 1987). Centered in this discussion, the topic of internationally standardized branding has been widely debated in the marketing literature. The issue of standardized brand marketing versus local brand strategy is not new. It has been the vexing question debated by international marketers, academics and practitioners since the 1960s (Buzzell, 1968), and has become increasingly polarized in the academic and business press after the seminal article of Levitt (1983). However, most of the debate has been characterized by opinions, mere descriptions of partial realities and a list of contributory factors pressing for one side or the other, rather than structured theoretical arguments, strategic models and frameworks and systematic empirical evidence (Samiee and Roth, 1992; de Chernatony, Halliburton and Bernath, 1995). It has been observed that more empirical research is needed to find out why, under what conditions and to what extent companies tend to standardize or adapt their international marketing strategies and decisions (Boddewyn, Soehl and Picard 1986; Samiee and Roth 1992). Taking this reality as a starting point, the purpose of this paper is to provide a conceptual, strategic framework for international branding decisions and to put forward some ideas on how resource-based analysis contributes to our understanding on global branding. To support these arguments, an empirical analysis is undertaken with statistics on national, international and Community trade mark registrations provided by the World Intellectual Property Organization in Geneva. 2. Literature review on international branding strategies. The international marketing standardization dilemma stems from 1961, when Elinder's article on the standardization of communication policies in Europe was published. Interest in this area has been increasingly significant, specially since the publication of Levitt's (1993) article on the globalization of markets. In the light of literature, the decision of localization versus globalization should not be a categorical proposition. In fact, the existence of a spectrum of possibilities with different elements of the marketing mix having greater or lesser degrees of homogeneity across markets seems to be more likely (Buzzel and Quelch, 1990). Therefore, the most logical approach is to find the middle ground between both extremes, which would be more suited to the nature of the environment facing the international company. Furthermore, literature indicates that the various elements of the marketing mix have different levels of pressure for standardization and adaptation, where product policy as well as the elements shaping it (design, packaging, brand name...), presents the highest degree of international standardization (Wind, Douglas and Perlmutter, 1973; Sorenson and Wiechmann, 1975; Kapferer, 1992). Moreover, a number of studies have identified brand names as being the most highly standardized aspect of the international marketing mix (Boddewyn and Hansen, 1977; Sorenson and Wiechmann, 1975; Still and Hill, 1984). …

A Resource-Based Perspective on Global Branding: An Analysis of Trademark Registration Data

This paper intends to contribute to the knowledge on the externalities produced by a foreign industry within the host region of the investment. Particularly, this study focuses on the influence of internationalization strategies implemented by a foreign industry on the local territory when its workers install their own companies or are hired by local companies, and on the effect of imitation strategies within the local environment. This analysis reveals a positive correlation between the territorial strategy of the industry and the permeability of its organization, and also between the maturity of the investment, new market access strategies, and the local impact. On the other hand, the productive linkage established between local and foreign companies and the previous labor relationship of its owner or administrators influence the internationalization process.

Market access spillovers: an empirical approach to the flagship firm effect

The objective of this study is to analyse the influence of a multinational corporation (MNC) on the productive network of the host territory and the proliferation of entrepreneurs. In particular, a...

José María Cubillo

Papers

International students' decision‐making process

Hotel and Tourism Development in Cuba Opportunities, Management Challenges, and Future Trends

A Resource-Based Perspective on Global Branding: An Analysis of Trademark Registration Data

Market access spillovers: an empirical approach to the flagship firm effect

International Entrepreneurship in Local SME Supplier Networks