Editorial

Citation

Akbar, Y.H. (2010), "Editorial", International Journal of Emerging Markets, Vol. 5 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijoem.2010.30105aaa.001

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: International Journal of Emerging Markets, Volume 5, Issue 1

Dear Readers, welcome to Volume 5 of International Journal of Emerging Markets! Below is a brief summary of the articles in this issue. As ever, the papers cover a range of disciplinary areas and empirical perspectives.

We start the issue with a paper by Ilan Alon, Christoph Lattemann, Marc Fetscherin, Shaomin Li and Anna-Maria Schneider on corporate social responsibility communication strategies of firms from Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRIC) countries. The four countries are among the biggest emerging markets, forecasted to have increasing influence in economic and political spheres. How these countries manage their corporate communication in regards to CSR is, thus, the focus of their investigation. Through a sample of over 100 companies in BRIC, the authors find that that CSR activity differs among BRIC nations with respect to CSR motives, processes and stakeholder issues. Chinese firms seem to be least communicative on a number of CSR issues. Furthermore, even though India’s GDP per capita is lower than that of China, for example, its communication of CSR is more intensive. This suggests that economic development alone cannot fully explain the differences in CSR communication. A fuller understanding of differences in CSR communications across BRIC is, thus, needed as a central implication of their paper.

Second, is a paper by Shrimal Perera, Michael Skully and J. Wickramanayake that examines whether any deviations in South Asian banks’ interest margins can be attributed to market concentration after controlling for other bank-specific factors and exogenous environmental influences. Exploiting an improved structural price-concentration model with multiple definitions of market share covering loan and deposit markets. Their sample consisted of 120 South Asian banks with a total of 1,226 bank-year observations over 1992-2005. The main empirical conclusion is that no significant deviations in bank interest margins can be attributed to market concentration. Instead, only dominant South Asian banks with larger market shares were found to extract higher interest margins. Regulators should closely monitor dominant banks with larger loan and deposit shares because these institutions operate with higher interest margins. Similarly, state-owned banks (with relatively inefficient cost structures) should also draw regulatory attention for they extract higher interest margins, possibly, for survival.

Next is a paper by Mamoun N. Akroush and Samer M. Al-Mohammad whose purpose is to investigate the relationship between marketing knowledge management (MKM) and performance in Jordanian telecommunications organizations (JTOs). Building on the resource-based theory, the study approached this relationship through adopting a MKM definition that emphasizes the importance of marketing assets and capabilities as major components of MKM, and direct contributors to organizational performance. A structured questionnaire was developed and distributed to a sample of 339 managers in JTO with an excellent response rate of 92 percent. Using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, MKM assets were classified into built-in and invested-in marketing assets, while MKM capabilities were classified into internal and external marketing capabilities. Furthermore, JTOs’ performance was classified into three dimensions: market, customer, and financial performance. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was utilised to test the stated hypotheses and model. The empirical findings indicate that MKM assets and capabilities have a positive effect on the overall performance of JTOs, with all its dimensions. Built-in marketing assets show the strongest influence on market performance, internal marketing capabilities show the strongest influence on customer performance, while external marketing capabilities show the strongest influence on financial performance. On the other hand, and despite showing the least influence on financial and market performance, invested-in marketing assets have maintained a positive relationship with all dimensions of JTOs’ performance. This is an excellent example of rigorous empirical work and sets a high standard for emerging market research.

Our fourth paper is by Ol’ga Khmel’nyts’ka and Jonathan S. Swift, and examines the attitudes and behaviour of Ukrainian consumers in terms of the purchase of beer (both foreign and domestic brands). There is an emphasis on the relative importance of the country of origin (COO), when compared to other factors. Based on a convenience sample of 774 beer drinkers in the city of Simferopol, Ukraine, surveyed through face-to-face questionnaires, the research findings suggest that the COO is important to consumers, as are image, and the role of advertising in the creation of this image and in informing as to product availability. However, the COO would appear to be of lesser importance than quality, taste, brand, and availability. Respondents commented on the image of foreign beers and the excellent advertising campaigns created by international companies. The Ukrainian consumer is brand conscious and also displays intense patriotism – reflected in the popularity of local beers. However, consumption patterns are changing, and the demand for foreign beer is growing rapidly. This would suggest that any foreign company developing a market presence in the Ukraine, should seek to buy outright (or at least acquire part ownership) of a Ukrainian beer producer. This will provide an entrance into the market, and a production/distribution channel for international brands produced under licence. Ownership will also facilitate the importation and distribution of foreign – produced branded beer.

The last paper in this issue is another marketing study, this time in India, by Rajesh Kumar Srivastava. A study was conducted to find out whether global advertisements of FMCG and consumer electronics companies are effective communication tools and how they are perceived by Indian consumers. The author used a sample of 1,000 consumers to test for a range of social and demographic factors that explain the responsiveness of consumers to global advertising. He found that religion, age, and education do play a role in perception of global advertisement. They play an important role in buying intention towards global advertisement campaigns. This study could easily be extended to other emerging markets the author claims.

Yusaf H. Akbar