Externalizing, internalizing and fostering commitment: the case of born-global firms in emerging economies

This paper examines the HR practices of mature born-global firms from twenty-nine emerging economies. Through an examination of large scale survey data the paper questions the extent to which firm size impacts the employment of temporary workers, the employment of skilled workers and the extent of employee training. Findings suggest that as firm size increases the use of temporary workers decreases, the number of skilled workers increases and the number of employees receiving training also increases. The paper highlights how born-global firms are able to shift away from externalized, market-based approaches towards more internalized, commitment-based approaches in order to survive, adapt and grow

Regional differences in portion size consumption behaviour: Insights for the global food industry

Abstract: Given the influence of globalization on consumer food behaviour across the world, the purpose of this paper is to contribute to the theoretical discourse around food portion size as a global consumption-related symbol and its underlying socio-economic drivers for food industry strategy. Overall, 25,000 global food consumers were surveyed across 24 countries to elicit insight on portion size consumption behaviour as well as consumer perception on eating and drinking small portion size within selected socio-economic classes. The data was quantitatively analysed to answer the pertinent research objectives. In 20 out of the 24 global markets surveyed, large food portion size was statistically established as a prevalent consumption-related symbol. The paper found that there are regional differences in portion size food consumption behaviour, and further disparities exist across age, gender and income status in 24 countries covering all regions, including Australia, China, Mexico, South Africa, United Kingdom and United States of America. The outlined food industry implications reveal that adaptation and standardisation strategies are still relevant in global food and nutrition strategy as revealed by the variations in the preference for food portion sizes across various countries of the world

Consumer-based brand equity and country-of-origin relationships: some empirical evidence

Purpose – The objective of the present research is to examine the impact of the country of origin of a brand on its consumer-based equity.Design/methodology/approach – Brand equity was conceptualized in this paper as a combination of brand awareness, brand associations, perceived quality and attitudinal brand loyalty. A doubly multivariate design was incorporated in a structured questionnaire to collect data via mall intercepts in an Australian capital city.Findings – Multivariate analysis of variance of the data indicated that consumer-based brand equity varied according to the country of origin of the brand and product category. This impact of country oforigin on brand equity occurred where consumers perceived substantive differences between the countries in terms of their product category-country associations.Research limitations/implications – An important direction for future research would be to examine how the consumer-based equity of a brand would be affected, if the country of origin were changed from a country with weaker association with the product category to a country with strong association with the product category. The results would be useful to MNCs contemplating international manufacturing.Practical implications – Marketing managers operating in the international context must identify the sources of brand equity, and understand the importance of incorporating country of origin intotheir brand equity measurement. Further, the results suggest that, when a brand offers a variety of product categories, brand managers should monitor and track the brand’s consumer-based equity foreach product category.Originality/value – The present study is one of the first to empirically examine and confirm the impact of country of origin on the consumer-based equity of a brand

The effects of extrinsic cues and product involvement toward willingness to buy non-deceptive counterfeit branded products: The case study of Indonesian consumers

The current study investigates Indonesian consumers’ willingness to buy counterfeit products. Two predictors have been utilised in this regard are product involvement and extrinsic cues (brand, store, and price). The sample of the study is postgraduate students in the field of business and management. The research found that hypothesis 1 has been clarified as being different by product, depending upon whether the category is categorised HPI (High Product Involvement) or LPI (Low Product Involvement). Other findings, the study confirmed that single direct effects of brand and retailers’ reputation significantly influenced consumers’ responses about willingness to buy a counterfeit product, no matter the product category. However, the discounted price did not significantly influence the willingness to buy a counterfeit branded product no matter their product category. Thus, consumers’ responses to hypothesis 2 and hypothesis 3 were fully supported, but not fully supported for hypothesis 4

Guilty by association: image ‘spill-over’ in corporate co-branding

This paper reports a case study that investigates corporate image transfer and bad image management in a corporate co-branded sports team. A literature review covers image in sports, corporate co-branding and image transfer. The extent and management of potential bad image transfer is explored through a case study based on the 2007 Formula One spying scandal involving the Vodafone McLaren-Mercedes Formula One team. There is some evidence of bad image transfer, but the management of the crisis, led by the team's management, and supported by the silence of key team sponsors has largely averted the bad image crisis and deflected media attention