Roger Brooksbank, Zahed Subhan and Steven Miller
Emerging markets present strategists with a unique set of challenges that result from a business environment that is quite different from that which characterises developed…
Abstract
Purpose
Emerging markets present strategists with a unique set of challenges that result from a business environment that is quite different from that which characterises developed markets. Yet, little is known about marketing’s contribution to successful strategic decision making in emerging markets. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to examine the usage of conventional strategic marketing practice, as it relates to developed markets, within groups of higher- and lower- performing manufacturers in the emerging market of India, comparing it against that of their counterparts in the developed market of the USA.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is based on separate web-hosted questionnaire surveys conducted in India and the USA, yielding samples of 71 and 84 self-reported manufacturing companies, respectively. Data analyses were conducted using independent-sample t-tests and logistic multiple regression, and sought to compare and contrast successful strategic marketing decision making in each country.
Findings
The results confirm that conventional strategic marketing plays a vital role in facilitating the competitive success of manufacturers in India. However, they also suggest that differences in the strategic environments faced by manufacturers in both countries necessitate quite different priorities for success at each stage of the strategic marketing decision-making process.
Research limitations/implications
Due to relatively low response rates, the extent to which the study samples are representative of the population under scrutiny remains unknown. Also, differences in the respondents’ interpretation of certain questions and some of the marketing vocabulary and terminology used cannot be ruled out.
Practical implications
The research highlights the important contribution that conventional strategic marketing makes to the achievement of competitive success of manufacturers in India. However, it also identifies several specific practices that differentiate higher firm performance in the two countries, drawing into question the direct applicability of the conventional model of strategic marketing within an emerging market.
Originality/value
As far as is known for the first time, the applicability of the conventional model of successful strategic marketing within an emerging market is assessed. As a result, a new model is forwarded.
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Karenza Moore and Steven Miller
The vast majority of young drug users see substance use as a positive experience. Why else would they continue to take them? Most research on the other hand pathologises drug use…
Abstract
The vast majority of young drug users see substance use as a positive experience. Why else would they continue to take them? Most research on the other hand pathologises drug use by looking solely at the negative consequences, contributing to the misunderstanding that young people are increasingly self‐indulgent and, in a meaningless world, hell‐bent on self‐destruction. In this refreshing new article Karenza Moore and Steven Miles try to understand the social roles of drug use in the everchanging lives of young people and come up with an alternative view. Rather than seeing drugs as a destructive force, Moore and Miles portray drug‐taking as a stabilising factor in the volatile world of growing up.
Companies are ignoring a wealth of untapped marketing gold embedded in their internal customer files. If this information can be extracted from a database, it could become a key…
Abstract
Companies are ignoring a wealth of untapped marketing gold embedded in their internal customer files. If this information can be extracted from a database, it could become a key source of sales leads.
Mark C. Schug, Ashley S. Harrison and J.R. Clark
The teaching of economics at the Kindergarten-12 level has been highly researched and reported upon since the 1970’s and has primarily concentrated on curriculum, materials…
Abstract
The teaching of economics at the Kindergarten-12 level has been highly researched and reported upon since the 1970’s and has primarily concentrated on curriculum, materials, enrollments, and effectiveness of teaching techniques. This paper summarizes two recent reviews of research, the results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress in Economics, and two recent national surveys. Taken together, the findings suggest that more students are taking high school economics than ever before, and that their performance is better than reported performance in other social studies fields. While adequate teacher training remains a stubborn problem, economics teachers appear to use somewhat more variety in their teaching than do their peers.
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Madhubalan Viswanathan and Arun Sreekumar
The purpose of this paper is to provide a perspective on consumers and technology in a changing world using insights gained from subsistence marketplaces. Consumers in a changing…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a perspective on consumers and technology in a changing world using insights gained from subsistence marketplaces. Consumers in a changing world are on different parts of the economic spectrum and are also reflected in contexts of poverty that is termed subsistence marketplaces. “Data” comes from pioneering the subsistence marketplaces stream of research, education and social enterprise.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors study the intersection of poverty and marketplaces, beginning at the micro-level, and take a bottom-up approach to deriving implications.
Findings
The authors cover both aspects – what micro-level insights about thinking, feeling and coping mean for technology perceptions and usage in general and what specific insights are derived for designing and implementing solutions that have bearing on the use of technology. In the course of all endeavors in research, education and social enterprise, technology, particularly information and communications technology, has been central.
Research limitations/implications
The authors discuss implications for research at the confluence of a variety of uncertainties inherent in the context of subsistence marketplaces, in environmental issues and climate change and in the nature and speed of technological change and progress.
Practical implications
In this paper, the authors discuss what subsistence marketplaces mean for consumers and technology in a changing world, lessons learned for the design and development of technological solutions, technological innovation from subsistence marketplaces and a broader discussion of the importance of bottom-up approaches to the intersection of subsistence marketplaces and technological solutions.
Originality/value
The authors use insights developed from pioneering the arena of subsistence marketplaces and creating synergies between research, education and social enterprise.
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Otto E. Stallworth and Brian H. Kleiner
Outlines the legal position in which US firms can downsize. Comments that the current climate of laying off workers could lead to significant increases in claims if employers do…
Abstract
Outlines the legal position in which US firms can downsize. Comments that the current climate of laying off workers could lead to significant increases in claims if employers do not follow correct procedures. Consider issues such as wrongful termination, violence, age and disability discrimination. Looks at recent trends within this area of litigation and concludes that whilst job security for life is thing of the past, companies still have a responsibility to deal sensitively in this area.
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Abstract
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The paper aims to provide an overview on how the Sarbanes‐Oxley Act may impact on standard library management operations.
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to provide an overview on how the Sarbanes‐Oxley Act may impact on standard library management operations.
Design/methodology/approach
The study extracts key elements from the legislation and illustrates how they can be incorporated into library management.
Findings
The paper finds that, while there is confusion about the IRS status of libraries and to what extent the Sarbanes‐Oxley Act will directly affect them, there is much in the legislation that can be adopted now for better accountability and governance.
Originality/value
The paper provides examples of key elements in the legislation and how they can be incorporated into library governance now. By proactively complying with the parts of the legislation that are natural fits with library operations, it places the library on a better footing for future needs and demands.