The country of brand communication in the retail setting: An analysis of Italian products in China

The aim of this paper is to investigate the role of country of brand (COB) communication within the retail environment of emerging markets. Drawing from the literature on store image, we developed a framework to analyse static and dynamic elements of COB communication. By adopting an inductive approach, we analysed COB use in a sample of 20 stores of Italian fashion brands in China using the mystery shopping technique. Given the increasing growth of e-retailing in China, the in-store observation is complemented by an analysis of the use of COB within the brand's local website and e-commerce page. In order to have a multi-layered representation of the phenomenon, in-depth interviews with managers of Italian firms in fashion industry are carried out. Findings confirm that retailing represents a primary communication channel for firms operating in China; however, the results of the participant observation show that COB is a cue information utilised only by a small percentage of the sample, mainly in a textual and iconic way. Managerial implications are discussed on the extent to which COB communication in store should be managed within an effective marketing strategy in line with the country and consumer characteristics in order to enhance the brand image in a growing market like China

Sanitation Practices among Undergraduate Students at the University of Benin, Nigeria

The purpose of this study was to identify the sanitation practices among undergraduate students in halls of residents in University of Benin. The study followed a descriptive research design. The students residing in the halls of residents in Ugbowo campus at University of Benin constituted the study population. The sample size for was 400 students. These were selected through multi stage sampling. A structured questionnaire designed by the researchers titled “personal attributes influencing sanitation practices among undergraduate students” was used. The instrument was validated by three experts and when subjected to reliability testing, a reliability coefficient of 0.72 was obtained. Data collected was analysed using frequency counts and percentages. The findings were that sanitation practices among the students are poor and that age and gender influenced these practices. It was also found that inadequate water supply, poor toilet facilities, insufficient toilets, bathroom and waste disposal facilities and poor drainage system are major causes of poor sanitation in the halls of residents. It was recommended that there is need to educate the students on cleanliness during their orientation exercise and that keeping the environment clean on campus should be a joint responsibility of the school authority and students

Consumer Xenocentrism as Determinant of Foreign Product Preference: A System Justification Perspective

Foreign and domestic product purchase behavior largely depends on consumer predispositions. The dominant construct in international marketing literature explaining such behavior has been consumer ethnocentrism, which is conceptually anchored in social identity theory. However, such a perspective overlooks evidence that certain consumers are consistently attracted by the “foreignness” of a product. Drawing from system justification theory, the present investigation conceptualizes and provides an empirical test of the consumer xenocentrism construct that is intended to explain consumer attraction toward foreign products. Using survey data from five complementary studies, the authors develop and validate a new scale (the C-XENSCALE) to measure consumers’ xenocentric tendencies and offer extensive evidence on its ability to explain consumer preferences for foreign products. The authors discuss implications of the findings for theory and managerial practice and identify future research directions

Technology use and availability in entrepreneurship: informal economy as moderator of institutions in emerging economies

This paper investigates the contextual influences of institutions on the use of latest available technologies by early stage entrepreneurs in emerging economies. Hypotheses are developed and then tested using multi-level modeling techniques on a dataset covering entrepreneurs in 20 emerging economies. We utilized 10,431 individual-level responses from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor survey from 2002 to 2008 and complemented it with data on country-level institutions such as the size of a country’s informal economy, intellectual property rights (IPR) regimes obtained from the Index of Economic Freedom and inward foreign direct investment (FDI) from the World Bank Group. Results on the direct effects suggest that levels of FDI negatively influences the use of latest technology by entrepreneurs in emerging economies, while the moderation effects of informal economy suggest that as its size increases (1) the negative effects IPR on the use of latest technology by entrepreneurs strengthens, and (2) the negative effects of FDI on the use of latest technology strengthens. These findings support the overall proposition that the size of a country’s informal economy is an important moderator of institutional influences on technology use by entrepreneurs in emerging economies. More generally, the study proposes that institutions may not have the same effects on entrepreneurs in emerging economies that might be expected in developed countries, suggesting that future research should take the level of socio-economic development of a country into account when theorizing the role of institutions