Showing papers in "Journal of Euromarketing in 2007"

Faster and More Successful Exporters: An Exploratory Study of Born Global Firms from the Resource-Based View

Abstract: SUMMARY In this paper, we develop a resource-based model for analyzing the effect of several firm resources, more concretely those of an intangible character, on the born global nature of an exporting firm. We test then whether several intangible resources may have influenced the fact that a firm started its export activity almost from inception, and also whether the results achieved from this activity (as measured through the export intensity ratio) are indeed better than those obtained by other firms that were not exporting from inception. The model has been empirically tested among a representative sample of Spanish exporting manufacturers. Results seem to confirm that basically both human and organizational capital resources show a significant impact on those firms being considered as highly successful born globals. Relevant conclusions and implications for future researchers in this field are derived from these findings.

International Entrepreneurship and Sourcing: International Value Chain of Small Firms

Abstract: SUMMARY This contribution focuses on international sourcing as an entrepreneurial act and aims at demonstrating that it is actually at the core of internationalization processes of small firms, both established and international new ventures Another issue of this research is to understand how these firms, characterized typically by scarce financial and managerial resources, can engage in managing international value chains and not only being the passive agent of subcontracting agreements The breadth of internationals sourcing activities and the nature of the ties established under these agreements is investigated through an empirical survey on 150 Italian SMEs, comparing early with late internationalizing ones

Consumer Trust in Electronic Service Consumption: A Cross-Cultural Comparison Between Finland and Portugal

Abstract: Lack of trust has been identified as a major barrier to consumer acceptance of e-commerce. This empirical study examines consumer trust in electronic service consumption in a cross-cultural setting, comparing perceived trust between Finnish and Portuguese Internet banking users. Consumer trust is a significant factor both in consumer attitudes and behavioral intention to using Internet banking. Consumer trust in Internet banking is reflected as the trust in the information and trust in the medium, that is, the Internet, and respondents' trust levels are compared at this two-construct level. This study enhances the understanding of trust in the Internet banking context and discusses some cultural factors possibly facilitating anticipation of cultural differences in consumer perceived trust in electronic service consumption. The findings of the Internet surveys conducted indicated differences between the countries studied, and underlined the importance of further studies on the role of culture in c...

Profitability of Rapid Internationalization: The Relationship Between Internationalization Intensity and Firms' Export Performance

Abstract: SUMMARY Internationalization is seen as a critical ingredient in the strategy of firms to achieve growth and superior performance. Although this has been a subject of intensive research during the last few decades, there is still a scarcity of empirical research to determine when rapid, accelerated internationalization, in other words, increase in export intensity is profitable. In this paper we study a sample of 783 Finnish exporting firms and explore the relationship between export intensity and different types of performance by structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis. Our base model does not show any significant relationships between these two constructs. However, when studying small and large firms separately, the results differ. For small firms higher internationalization intensity means better sales performance, better profit performance and indirectly also better efficiency performance, whereas for large firms higher internationalization intensity reflects only better profit performance.

International Growth of Finnish Software Firms: Starting Points, Pathways and Outcomes

Abstract: SUMMARY Internationalization cannot be seen as an isolated activity within growth-oriented SMEs. Indeed, internationalization and growth are very often intertwined, especially in knowledge-intensive industries such as software. Consequently, the aims of this paper are the following: First, to present a conceptual growth model with typical starting points, pathways and outcomes of international growth; and second, to try to demonstrate its validity with short case examples from the domain of software industry in Finland. Because of the special context, also the characteristics of the industry and the specific challenges software firms are facing are presented. Suggestions for future research directions are also given.

Variety in International New Ventures–Typological Analysis and Beyond

Abstract: SUMMARY Different from the earlier research with its tendency towards a rather homogenous view on International New Ventures (INVs), the contribution of this study is the identification and understanding of the possible variety among INVs. The study aims at exploring the following: (1) Are INVs different from one another in terms of their international development? and (2) If they are, how and why are the differences manifested in these firms? The pioneering INV-framework by Oviatt and McDougall (1994) is applied, accompanied by a long-term perspective on their development and inclusion of several factors as possible agents of the differences. Based on the analysis of eight INVs, the results highlight the importance of the founding conditions, the internationalization motives and the international experience of the founding managers on the INV's development in the early phase. Both initial and subsequent development of the INVs varied with regard to geographical breadth and type of operations abroad, and ...

Internationalization and Performance: Evidence from Spanish Firms

Abstract: SUMMARY This research presents a model to describe the stages of the internationalization process, and its potential link to performance, based on cluster analysis of data from 200 interviews with Spanish companies. The results show four initial phases in internationalization that are similar to those found in earlier research, but also a new stage at the end of the process, “Globalization,” which has not been reported before. Firm performance in relation to the stages of internationalization is analyzed using eight indicators, which yield somewhat different results for distinct measures of international versus overall performance. The data also show a non-monotonic “valleys and peaks” relationship of performance across the five stages, suggesting that firms face critical challenges at key points during their international expansion. The study concludes with an outline of implications for business and public policy as well as suggested directions for future research.

Partner Selection in International Joint Ventures

Abstract: SUMMARY Although the importance of partner selection with regard to any type of cooperation has generally been agreed on, the amount of research analyzing the relationship between partner selection and IJV performance in more detail has so far been surprisingly limited. The goal of this paper is to analyze the influence of various foreign partner-specific, IJV location-specific and investment-specific variables on the relative importance of task- and partner-related selection criteria. Furthermore, the study analyzes the relationship between IJV performance and the relative importance of the selection criteria. The empirical part of the study is based on a sample of 60 IJVs established by Finnish companies in various foreign countries during the 1990s. The results indicated that IJV location-specific and investment-specific variables had influenced the relative importance of the partner selection criteria used by the Finnish companies, while foreign partner-specific variables had a much more limited influ...

Alliance relationship dynamics: Conflict, structure and control

Abstract: With the current trend towards globalization and the increasing competitive and technological challenges of today's environment the formation of international strategic alliances has become an important part of many firm's international business strategies. Experience with international strategic alliances has shown that they face a number of problems, which can often result in the termination of the alliance. This study, was therefore, designed to assess the linkages between conflict, structure and control on relationship dynamics using a sample of UK-Japanese, UK-European and UK-American partnerships established during the period between 1989 and 1995. Data were gathered through a questionnaire survey amongst UK senior executives. The results show that conflict, the way in which the alliance is structured and managed can have important implications for the way in which the relationship is developed.

International counterfeiting in the European Union: a host country approach

Abstract: SUMMARY This paper adopts a host country approach to empirically test the factors that attract international counterfeiting to the European Union. Our empirical tests show that countries' attractiveness to international counterfeiters is closely linked to corruption. Another finding is that economic development (measured by GDP per capita) is inversely associated with international counterfeiting. Therefore, counterfeiting must be seen as a public policy issue that affects society as a whole and that needs intervention from both nation-states and international authorities. Other key partners are brand owners, who need to have their own intellectual property protection in place and develop anti-counterfeiting tactics to prevent or reduce trademark counterfeiting. Global mutual cooperation between international companies is also important to lobby governments and politicians in general to ensure more effective enforcement of IPR (Intellectual Property Rights) laws and alert users and consumers about fakes.

Buyer Loyalty Development Through Seller Education of Service Buyers

Abstract: The present paper develops a model where service buyer loyalty can be achieved by seller education of the service buyer. Buyer education implies both offering services and development of the service buyer's capability to use the service. Service buyer education is facilitated by seller competence on the service offering and the buyer's context. The reason for this is that the more embedded the service seller is in the buyer's context, the better able are they to educate the service buyer. Antecedent to seller competence, at any given point of time, or level of relationship development, is the service buyer's current understanding of seller resources. The model is tested and confirmed on 255 small firms. The model identifies that education can align the service offering, buyer resources, and seller resources in buyer-seller relationships.

An Investigation of the Effect of Provocative Imagery on Norwegian and Thai Consumers' Attitudes Toward Products: A Cross-Cultural Study

Abstract: SUMMARY Despite growing interest and research in cross-cultural advertising, little has been done to address the influence of provocation on consumers' attitudes. This research investigates the effect of provocative imagery on Norwegian and Thai consumers' attitudes toward products. This study focuses on cross-cultural advertising using a nested experiment designed to investigate the impact of the provocative contents of a print advertisement on the two different cultural groups. One hundred adult subjects per culture were asked to rate two different products (Walkman and chocolate). For each culture, an experiment group (Group A) and a control group (Group B) was established. Significant differences in product ratings and attitudes were found between the groups for each culture. Norwegian respondents' attitudes were on average more negative than Thai respondents' attitudes when exposed to the provocative imagery. The findings suggest the need for advertisers to consider the impact of such provocative mat...

Information Content of Magazine Advertising in Turkey

Abstract: The information content of advertising in Turkish magazines, based on the 14-item scale developed by Resnik and Stern, is examined in the study. The database of the study is the 1,743 advertisements from sixteen consumer magazines published in Turkey between the years 1996–2004. The results show that 92.0% of the advertisements are informative in terms of providing one cue or more, and the average cue per advertisement is 2.24. Availability, characteristics or contents, benefits or performance, variety and quality are the most frequently used cues. Significant differences were observed between product categories and magazines in terms of degree of informativeness. A great majority of the products related to consumers' health were found to contain less information than other product categories and information on safety and guarantees or warranties, which have higher information value in the area of consumer protection, received very low emphasis.

Advertising in Czech and French Magazines

Abstract: SUMMARY The aim of this research is to determine the main features in which the Czech and French advertisements are similar and in which they differ. The study concerns the content analysis of 577 printed advertisements published in the 10 most representative magazines in the Czech Republic and France. The five largest categories of magazines in terms of their focus are represented as follows: women, men, businesses, seniors and juniors. The results show some noticeable divergences in the basic structure and content of advertising, such as the size, the presence of children or elderly people, the number of product features and the indication of prices. Some convergences appear as well, such as the human presence, the use of testimonies and/or celebrities and the mention of the brand only. These results open up new possibilities for future research in order to verify the key factors, which advertisers could standardize or adapt for their advertising campaigns.

Assessing the performance of foreign equity ventures: The case of Turkish manufacturing FDI firms

Abstract: The objective of this study is to examine and assess foreign equity ventures' (FEV) performance from the perspective of a developing country-based parent firms. In this study, we employed management, marketing, production and finance-related perceptual measures, as reported by the parent managers, to assess the performance of foreign subsidiaries. We hypothesized that the performance of sampled firms will be influenced by the following FEV characteristics: age, size, industry, host country location and entry mode. Based on an analysis of cross-sectional survey data concerning 94 FEVs of Turkish manufacturing firms (TMFs), we find that these firms achieve moderate level of performance. Our empirical results also indicate that while the type of host country positively influence the performance of FEVs, the age of FEVs have negative impact on performance.

Relationship Between Customer Focus, Innovation, and Committed People and Their Impact on Business Performance: A Case of Turkish Firms

Abstract: This paper examines the impact of the three organizational success factors–customer focus, innovation, and personnel commitment–on the business performance of Turkish firms. A survey instrument was developed and administered to the managers of the firms. The study found a significant relationship between the organizational success factors and business performance, where firms with high customer focus, personnel commitment, and innovation significantly outperformed those firms with low customer focus, personnel commitment, and innovation on a number of performance measures. High correlations among the three organizational success factors indicate synergistic relationships among them. This suggests that in order to achieve high performance and organizational success, firms need to “have a customer focus culture, must have personnel commitment, and must innovate.”

Internationalization of Retail Strategies

Abstract: This article focuses on the internationalization of retail strategies. A sample of 25 large international food retailers was used. Four groups of actors are identified according to the strategies used (franchising, acquisition of foreign subsidiaries, joint ventures and opportunity-seeking strategies). An analysis of these groups emphasizes continental or regional strategy adaptations, as well as a variety of other strategies used by international retailers.

What Makes Export Co-Operation Tick? Analysing the Role of Commitment in Finnish Export Circles

Abstract: SUMMARY The objective of this study was to find out whether partner commitment to export co-operation leads to a higher degree of success. A distinction was made between commitment to internationalisation, to co-operation, and to the group, and the role of these factors in successful co-operation was examined. A Finnish promotion programme–export circles–was selected as the focus of the study. All of the participant firms from the years 1998–2002 were contacted in autumn 2003, and the majority of them agreed to take part: the response rate was 75 per cent. The findings indicate that the different types of commitment are related to success in export co-operation, particularly in terms of the achievement of financial objectives and the impact on the internationalisation process.

Changing Environment and Consumer in Turkey

Abstract: Economic liberalization caused remarkable changes in Turkey in the 1980s. Changes in environmental variables had significant impact on the behavior of Turkish consumers and on the marketing management of firms. In this article, changes in economic, demographic, and cultural factors in Turkey and changes in consumption patterns during the past two decades are briefly described in order to assess information about consumers in Turkey, an applicant candidate country for the European Union.

Economic Confidence and Shopping Costs: An Empirical Analysis in an Emerging Economy

Abstract: This study is aimed at exploring consumers' economic confidence in an emerging market recovering from a major economic crisis. The study analyzes the perceived impact of shopping costs on male and female consumers, as well as the effect of shopping habits (shopping style and timing) on the purchase of three different frequently purchased products-FPP-(a global brand, a local brand and a new product). Personal interviews and a survey were conducted at the point-of-purchase while consumers were buying promoted products within the retail store after a major economic crisis. Our binary logistic regression results showed that changes in consumer confidence and major shopping cost components might be used as indicators of changing consumer attitudes toward promoted local products in stores with additional merchandising support for FFPs in emerging economies. The study's results introduce new survival strategies for both local and international retailers and manufacturers trying to reach marketing effec...