Search results

The study attempts to identify the common attributes of the physical retail outlets favored by Hong Kong youths and to assess the relative importance of “hard” and “soft” aspects of the retail marketing mix in appealing to this consumer segment.

A convenience sample of 89 Hong Kong youngsters aged 15 to 21 were asked to describe their favorite shops and explain why they favored them. They were asked to take pictures of their favorite shops and participate in a face‐to‐face interview.

The two types of shop most frequently named were food outlets and apparel retailers. The attractiveness of these stores was mainly based on product or service quality and price, but location and the behavior of the shop assistants were also cited as influential. Ranking as “my favorite shop” was a combination of tangible qualities and intangible services.

The convenience sample used probably was not representative of all young people in Hong Kong.

The results reinforce the conclusion that Hong Kong retailers need to emphasize sales training and management in order to create an appealing shopping experience for young consumers.

This has been the first study to explore in detail the attributes of young Chinese consumers' favorite retail shops.

Some progress have been made over time in improving health conditions in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). There are, however, contradicting reports on the relationship between health outcomes and economic growth in the region. The paper aimed at assessing the effect of health outcome on economic growth in SSA.

Data for 41 countries from 2000 to 2018 were obtained from WDI and WGI and analyzed using system generalized method of moment (sGMM) which is appropriate for the present scenario. AR(1) and AR(2) tests were used to assess the validity of the model while Sargan and Hansen tests were adopted to examine the validity of the instrumental variables. The robustness of the estimation was confirmed using the pooled OLS and fixed effect regression.

Health outcome (proxied by life expectancy), lagged GDP per capita, capital formation, labor force (LF), health expenditure (HE), foreign direct investment (FDI) and trade openness (TOP) significantly affected economic growth emphasizing the importance of health in the process of economic growth in the region. AR(1) and AR(2) tests for serial correlation and Sargan/Hansen tests confirmed the validity of the estimated model and the instrumental variables respectively. Robustness of the GMM results was established from the pooled OLS and the fixed effect model results.

Improvement in the national health system possibly through the widespread adoption of National Health Insurance, increase government spending on healthcare alongside increased beneficial trade and ease of doing business to facilitate investment were recommended to enhance.

The study used up-to-date data with appropriate methodology.

The paper demonstrates prejudicial effects of the rising private participation and the lacuna of state in ensuring the accessibility and affordability of healthcare.

Secondary data analysis from national and international databases is employed to demonstrate the low government spending and the alternate healthcare financing mechanisms in the country. The company reports of six Indian pharma companies are examined to map the profits and revenues, and also taking into account the sales growth and return on investment.

The paper observes the pharmaceutical sector, via its spiralling drug prices, is the primary contributor to the huge out-of-pocket expenses borne by households. The study findings indicate that there is an increased divergence between the out-of-pocket expenses of households and exorbitant profits of the private drug companies in the country over the years.

Amidst debates on the importance of public health in the aftermath of the pandemic, the paper examines the rising hands of private sector in healthcare, and implores – who benefits? The authors study the implications via looking into the rise in the wealth of pharma giants; at the time of crisis when the lives of common citizens in the country were at stake.

The paper emphasises the repercussions of the higher markup of the pharma industry in raising the healthcare costs of households. The authors emphasise that the nonregulation of the pharma sector leads to high medical debts/poverty, in the wake of growing out-of-pocket expenditures of the citizens.

This study aims to investigate the cultural factors that influence global account management (GAM) in the context of Indian buyers and German suppliers from a wide perspective.

After conducting a critical literature review on key account management (KAM), GAM and organizational culture, the authors conducted an exploratory case study with 23 global account managers (GA managers) who work for German-based multinational companies and manage global accounts from India. The results of a qualitative data analysis are demonstrated using consensus and template methods.

The findings of this study indicate that language, communication, the concept of time, conflict avoidance, organizational structure, decision-making, trust and relationship are among the cultural factors that can influence GAM in a German and Indian context.

Given the substantial cultural disparities between Northern India and Southern India, it is especially difficult to generalize cultural factors in GAM. On the other hand, these factors can be used as a prerequisite for the development of cultural dimensions when collaborating with individuals and organizations from diverse cultures.

This research is essential for global sales managers, GA managers and executives who intend to collaborate with Indian buyers or suppliers.

Prior business-to-business marketing literature on KAM and GAM has been mostly on the western context. This study is the first step in examining the cultural effect on GAM relationships between Indian and German organizations.