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The purpose of this paper is to provide an understanding of the banking needs of urban informal poor consumers in South Africa. These consumers find it difficult to obtain access to banking products.

A survey of consumers was undertaken in a large informal settlement outside Johannesburg. A qualitative exploratory pilot study was undertaken first to gain a better understanding of these consumers and to develop a research instrument. Second, a quantitative analysis was undertaken among 200 households.

Banking products used by the sample are discussed as well as all their patronage motives. It was established that the majority of consumers did have a bank account and there was a significant association between having an account and various demographics such as income level, employment status and level of education.

Each informal settlement may have unique characteristics and therefore it may be difficult to generalize the findings.

Banks will have to address the patronage factors of these consumers as they have very different needs when compared to middle and upper income customers. Specify strategies are recommended to bank management.

No study has been done on the banking needs of this segment of the market and very little is known about the urban informal poor in general. This paper gives insight into how banks can play their part in uplifting the poor in societies where they make up large segments of the population.

In view of the intense competition in the banking industry all over the world, managers of both commercial and public banks more and more are applying marketing strategy techniques in the operations. The use of marketing techniques in banking becomes even more important in developing country environments, as the supply of bank services far exceeds the demand in most cases. To be able to remain competitive, commercial banks in developing countries need to be more market‐oriented. In the light of this, the factors used in selecting a private/public commercial bank in an advanced developing country – Turkey – are examined. Study results indicate that there are differences among bank customers in their bank patronage behaviour when demographic and socioeconomic factors are considered.

In recent years, we have witnessed a tremendous movement of the manufacturing firms around the globe. In response to this trend large advertising agencies from the triad countries are following on the footsteps of their manufacturing clients. In view of these globalization efforts, the advertising industry is experiencing growth in many countries of the world, as evidenced by the increased number of advertising agencies and total billings. In particular, certain issues have come forward for investigation. For instance, how to manage and produce the advertising strategies? Should the domestic agency or in‐house advertising department do it? What are the duties and responsibilities of advertising agencies? The present study examines current structural characteristics of advertising agencies in an advanced developing country , Turkey, and critically compares the role, function, and structure of the advertising agency and client relationships in that country.

This article presents the results of a survey of 202 male Taiwanese consumers. In this study, consumer judgements of two technological products varying in their level of complexity made in highly, moderately, and newly industrialised countries were obtained in a multi‐attribute context. The results show that the country‐of‐origin image of moderately and newly industrialised countries was less negative for technologically simpler products (i.e. a television) than they were for technologically complex products (i.e. a computer). It appears that the negative image of moderately and newly industrialised countries can be attenuated by making Taiwanese consumers more familiar with products made in these countries and/or by providing them with other product‐related information such as brand name and warranty. Newly industrialised countries were perceived more negatively as countries of design than as countries of assembly, especially in the context of making technologically complex products. The image of foreign countries as producers of consumer goods was positively correlated with education. The more familiar consumers were with the products of a country, the more favourable was their evaluation of that country. Consumer involvement with purchasing a technologically complex product such as a computer was positively associated with the appreciation of products made in moderately industrialised countries. Managerial and research implications are derived from these results.

Islamic banking contributes significantly to the total assets of Malaysian banking sector. Yet, many argue that Islamic banking in Malaysia does not receive satisfactory support and participation from the public mainly due to poor awareness of its products and services and misconception about the Islamic banking system. It is timely to study consumers’ awareness of Islamic banking in the hopes of providing useful strategies for and assistance with marketing plans. This study is to explore consumer awareness towards Islamic banking products and services across a diverse set of demographic variables.

A quantitative approach was used in this study. A total of 1,000 questionnaires were distributed via convenience and snowballing sampling method to bank customers in a public university in Malaysia, and 817 responses from the survey were used for the analysis. Descriptive and non-parametric statistics were employed to answer objectives of this study.

The findings of this study are anticipated to provide a holistic and comprehensive marketing insight to improve and strengthen Islamic banking in Malaysia.

This study examines the role of demographics such age, gender, race/religion, education level, occupation and income level in trying to understand the issues of Islamic banks’ product awareness. It is well accepted that the consumer’s attitude or behaviour should be studied among others through understanding customers’ demographics.

Consumption is a way of communication whereby consumers express, position or/and differentiate themselves within their society or affiliated groups. A great part of consumers’ lives are spent on various purchase activities, and many would be eager to understand the factors underlying those behaviours.

This chapter primarily deals with the cultural, social, psychological and personal factors that affect consumer behaviour. Each of these factors in relation to consumer behaviour is discussed in detail. The types of consumer buying behaviours and the consumer decision-making processes then provide the fundamentals of the topic along with their relevance to Turkish consumers.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate young New Zealand shoppers' ethnocentricity and brand perceptions by extending the research of O'Cass and Lim. The paper does this by looking at the relationship between ethnocentrism and brand choices, and by investigating whether young New Zealand shoppers have different price and brand‐user image congruency perceptions for local and foreign brands.

A total of six hypotheses were tested using data gathered from a mall intercept survey of 208 respondents aged between 16 and 25 years. The shoppers were measured through a series of Likert‐scale questions from the O'Cass and Lim study, the Shimp and Sharma CETSCALE items, and a range of demographic characteristic items.

Young New Zealand shoppers are about mid‐level internationally in terms of ethnocentrism, and ethnocentricity does not have an influence on their perceptions of brands. Price perceptions and self/brand user congruency perceptions are important to young New Zealand shoppers, and these are different for local versus foreign brands.

Foreign brands do not suffer from ethnocentricity but they do have a distorted (high) price perception amongst young New Zealand shoppers, suggesting a need for marketing aimed at dispelling this misperception. There is also a lack of congruency with brands, indicating that more active promotions with stronger and more distinct brand images are required.

This is one of the first studies to examine young New Zealand shoppers in any context, and is the only study to link young New Zealand shoppers with other international studies of ethnocentrism and brand perceptions. While adding to the understanding of brand perceptions it also provides practitioners with insights into young shoppers' perspectives on international brands.

The purpose of this paper is to report an application of the CETSCALE measuring consumer ethnocentrism for high‐value consumer goods in the emerging markets of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The study examines how regional markings can be thought of as variants of national markings and then goes on to establish a regio‐centric scale, thereby taking up calls for ethnocentrism studies to be conducted across multiple countries that actively trade with one another.

This research is based on an empirical investigation of consumer ethnocentrism (CE) that includes simultaneous manipulation of country‐of‐assembly and region‐based country‐of‐components. The study surveys a sample of 720 car owners equally divided between the three largest automotive markets of ASEAN: Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

Statistical analysis of this study's empirical results confirms that for the three‐country sample of 720 respondents, this newly derived regional ethnocentrism construct is as relevant as the classic country‐based construct. The research concludes that regional use of campaigns with a (potentially collaborative) Made‐in‐ASEAN theme may reach the target group of regio‐centric consumers.

The study is original in providing a new perspective on the ethnocentrism debate by adding and testing for a regional dimension reflecting realities in the marketplace for a major product category. The study is also one of the few to focus upon the ASEAN region rather than the more commonly studied regions such as Europe or North America.

The present study compared Indian consumers' attitude (AT) toward and purchase intention (PI) from Western apparel brands, as a function of their Western acculturation (WA), consumer ethnocentrism (CE) in apparel consumption, consumer cosmopolitanism (CC) and country of residence (India vs the USA).

The sample included Indians residing in India and the USA, who were 19 years or older, and visited online or brick-and-mortar apparel stores. An online survey was administered through Amazon Mechanical Turk to collect the data. The data was analyzed through multi-group structural equation modeling.

WA engenders CE among Indian consumers, especially among Indians residing in India. WA and CC positively influence AT. CE did not have a significant negative influence on AT. Although a high CE lowers the PI, a high WA, CC and positive AT can translate into high PI.

The study did not use an experimental design. Therefore, causal relationships between the research variables could not be explained. Majority of the respondents were male. This might have confounded the findings with potential gendered effects.

Western apparel brands targeting Indian consumers in India and the USA should focus on projecting their cosmopolitan and pro-Indian image to target this population's cosmopolitan and ethnocentric outlook, thereby enhancing PI.

The study proposed and empirically tested a conceptual model indicating the relationship between some of the important predictors of Indian consumers' PI in the context of Indians residing in the USA and India.