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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to offer a state of the art description of open air markets (OAM), a little-known phenomenon that is indispensable in Africa’s consumer packaged goods industry. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative methodology comprising in-depth semi-structured interviews and direct observation was employed. Findings – Analysis of data from Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy and most populous country, reveals that channel members have roles that are different from that of their Western counterparts. For example, distributors often do not distribute and principals are expected to actively sell on behalf of their distributors to empty the latter’s warehouse. Also, while many end-users in developing countries expect credit sales and opportunity to bargain, extant literature does not include these demands in the formal list of service output demands. Another major finding is the surprising order underlying OAM. It is the bedrock of commercial activities: for most consumer packaged goods manufacturers, sales through OAM account for over 90 percent of revenue. Research limitations/implications – The focus on one industry and country limits the generalizability of the above findings. Practical implications – Africa is the next growth frontier. Tapping into this growth requires a deep understanding and appreciation of the important role played by its unique marketing channels. Originality/value – Given the dearth of documented knowledge about marketing channels in emerging markets, this study addresses an important gap. Its findings could inform theory development and encourage more research on marketing channels in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the motivations underpinning the foreign direct investment (FDI) activities, including the location and entry mode decisions, of nascent multinational enterprises (MNEs) from West Africa.Design/methodology/approach This research adopted a case study approach entailing the triangulation of interview data with documentary evidence on two leading West African financial service companies that have FDI footprints in over 50 country markets.Findings Evidence suggests the primacy of market-seeking motivations in explaining the FDI activities of the explored nascent MNEs, with relationship, efficiency and mission-driven motivations emerging as strong sub-themes. Having neither the global resonance of their traditional counterparts nor the government-augmented resource profile of their Asian counterparts, the study firms appear to have shied away from costly strategic asset and prestige-seeking FDI, and preferred psychically and institutionally proximate sub-Saharan African markets and non-organic collaborative entry modes.Research limitations/implications The above insights should be considered tentative given the study’s limited evidence base. This underscores the need for a larger scale empirical effort to assess the propositional inventory outlined at the end of this paper.Practical implications Africa’s growing population of MNEs are urged to continue to strengthen their positions across African markets, view these regional markets as a platform to learn and upgrade their capabilities for future expansion into more challenging global markets, and to augment their limited resource profiles, including by tapping into their global diaspora networks. Policy makers should support their market-seeking initiatives given evidence that they could be a pathway to higher order FDI motivations. This evolutionary approach reflects enduring lessons from earlier generations of MNEs. Policy makers should also support continuing intra-African investment flows as a pathway to creating more sizeable, integrated African markets and generating positive spill-overs, including in typically blind-sided post-conflict or fragile African markets. This also entails pushing for cross-border regulation needed to minimise the transfer of systemic risks across countries.Originality/value The study provides rare empirical evidence on hitherto neglected MNEs from sub-Saharan Africa, thus extending the geographic compass of research on FDI motivations. It identifies some distinctive aspects of the explored MNEs’ FDI behaviour, including the previously unheralded mission-driven motivation, whilst also revealing shared characteristics with traditional MNEs and emerging market multinational enterprisess. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose — To evaluate the cross-regional equivalence of repair service quality for mission-critical equipment Design/methodology/approach — Using the five dimensions of SERVPERF as a framework, clinical laboratory directors across Europe and the USA were surveyed about repair service for mission-critical equipment Assessment of construct equivalence across the two regions was then performed using item bias analysia Following this, assessment of model equivalence across the two regions was conducted using both the Chow test of model equivalence and regression in structural equation modeling (SEM). Findings — Results suggest that service quality in this B2B domain is perceived to be remarkably the same in both the USA and Europe. Research limitations/implications — Future research could focus on repair services for other types of mission-critical equipment, and another region of the world, such as Asia Both of these steps would boost the generalizability of the study's findings. Practical implications — The practical implications of the study's results suggest not only the applicability of the SERVPERF framework across these two regions, but also standardization possibilities in repair service for mission-critical equipment because of the homogeneity evident in these markets regarding service quality. Originality/value — This study should be valuable reading for those interested in issues related to service quality, as well as international services. The paper provides new insight into the relative importance of service quality dimensions, as the "responsiveness" dimension was found to be more than twice as important as any other dimension — even the "reliability" dimension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose — The purpose of this paper is to propose and test a model that shows how extending a brand affects the overall brand image. The relations between the relevant variables in brand extension strategies in the UK and Spanish markets are analysed to determine if the brand extension strategies have the same effect on brand image. Design/methodology/approach — An empirical study was conducted in the UK and Spain using structural equation analysis. Two pre-tests were conducted to select the brands and the extensions. Findings — Results show that the brand extension strategy dilutes the brand image in both markets. It is found that brand image before extension and fit has positive effects on brand image after extension. The concurrence between the models studied in the two markets suggests that UK and Spanish consumers respond similarly to brand extensions. Research limitations/implications — The study was only conducted in two countries. Researchers are encouraged to test the model in more countries. Practical implications — Results suggest that a firm which has a good brand image before the extension will be less at risk when it launches a new product onto the market with the same brand name. Its best market will be those consumers who already know the brand's products and who at the same time perceive a better image of it. The firm should not forget that the closer the extended product is to its core market, the more positive will be its acceptance by consumers, which will translate into a better image evaluation. Originality/value — The study analyses how extending a brand may affect the parent brand image in global brand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose — International marketing researchers have long been concerned with determining whether consumers are predisposed towards a preference for domestic products, as opposed to foreign products. The purpose of this paper is to assess such a domestic-country bias (DCB) in the German market. Design/methodology/approach — This study empirically investigates DCB across six countries and 14 product categories in the Germany market. By so doing, it replicates an earlier study conducted in the UK. Ordered logit analysis was employed as well as multidimensional unfolding to present results. Findings — As in the study conducted in the UK, there is in general a strong DCB in the German market. However, it differs largely across the 14 product categories. Results indicate that consumer preference rankings can best be explained by a combination of demographic variables and country-of-origin effects. Practical implications — Results indicate that domestic firms in Germany can well rely on a safeguarding effect when marketing their products. At the same time, managers from foreign countries cannot rely on consumer ethnocentrism as a reliable indicator of the inclination of consumers to downgrade their products. Originality/value — This study confirms some findings from the UK. However, results from Germany indicate that at least economic competitiveness of the country-of-origin plays a role in determining respondents' judgments. This study underlines the value of replication studies in cross-cultural settings in particular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose — This paper aims to report research on the relationship among market, industry, and company factors and the level of global product standardization. Design/methodology/approach — The study is based on a survey of executive level managers in US-based companies that market products both domestically and internationally. Findings — Significant relationships were found between specific market, industry, and company factors and global product standardization. Originality/value — The results of the research can be used both to understand and to manage global products in light of the market, industry, and company factors that influence their existence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – One role of a foreign subsidiary within a multinational corporation's (MNC's) global portfolio is to connect the MNC to foreign customers. To examine this key customer contact point, this study aims to examine the linkages between local market conditions and strategic orientation, and how strategic orientation influences knowledge management capabilities of MNC subsidiaries, employing the Miles and Snow strategic orientation perspective. Design/methodology/approach – A survey was conducted of 112 managers in foreign MNC subsidiaries in Croatia. Data were analyzed with both discriminant analysis and MANCOVA. Findings – The results indicate that in highly dynamic and competitively intense markets, MNC subsidiaries primarily employ a Prospector orientation. Furthermore, the results indicate that there is a significant difference in knowledge management capabilities among subsidiaries depending on their strategic orientation, with the Prospector orientation most closely aligned with knowledge acquisition, knowledge conversion and knowledge application. Practical implications – The findings highlight the importance of strategic orientation in MNC subsidiaries tailoring to local market conditions. The results suggest that MNC subsidiaries undertaking a Prospector strategic orientation develop greater knowledge acquisition, conversion and application capabilities. Originality/value – This study conceptualizes the MNC subsidiary as a key marketing element of the global MNC whole and examines the nuanced relationships between the host environment and MNC foreign subsidiary strategic orientation as well as MNC subsidiary strategic orientation and knowledge management relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a study which developed a framework for defining markets that focuses on the time it will take an innovation to diffuse through a target population with particular attention to the time between the product's introduction and take-off and between take-off and full adoption. Approaches to defining market; Factors the influence the shape of the diffusion pattern; Framework for global market entry.