Cross-cultural consumer perceptions of advertising via mobile devices – some evidence from Europe and Japan

Mobile devices allow constant access to the World Wide Web without time and location barriers and present new challenges for marketers and an array of research questions for marketing researchers. The topic of mobile advertising is of special interest for companies as it enables communication with customers in unprecedented ways. As mobile technologies are being increasingly adopted on a worldwide basis, international m-advertising becomes an issue of growing importance. This paper therefore presents first cross-cultural evidence of individuals’ perceptions of mobile advertising. The analysis is based on a survey of business students in two respective markets, Japan and Austria. Findings of this study show that people are still skeptical about mobile advertising. However, there are slight differences in perceptions between Japan and Austria. Japanese respondents perceive madvertising as more entertaining and valuable. Despite the fact that they are more frequently exposed to mobile advertising messages, they also show a more positive attitude toward it. Implications for practitioners as well as for future research are suggested based on these findings

Storytelling as a tool for knowledge transfer in the IT industry

As organizations increase their offshore software development efforts, they must develop new methods and models for handling the vast amount of knowledge involved in these projects. Successful knowledge management and transfer is considered key to the success of contemporary organizations. When transferring knowledge to other operating units of a multi national company, the overall goal is to successfully implement the knowledge sent to the receiver. Cultural differences however, can interfere with successful knowledge management intentions. This paper investigates storytelling as a tool to transfer knowledge between global corporate units. A case study on how this instrument is used to communicate knowledge between a German and an Indian IT company gives first insights into factors that influence implementation success