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China′s foreign trade and investment policies have appeared more attractive to Western marketers in recent years. China presents an opportunity for huge market potential and rapid growth for American multinational firms. However, Western marketers have only limited knowledge about Chinese purchasing decision making, particularly the supplier selection and evaluation criteria of Chinese purchasing managers. Highlights six key criteria of supplier selection and describes the responses of a sample of Chinese purchasing managers. Segments the respondents into three clusters, based on similarities in their supplier evaluation processes and differentiates these clusters in terms of whether the managers emphasize reliable deliveries, price/cost considerations, or product quality. While these findings are of a preliminary nature, they reveal that service/responsiveness of a supplier is not a high priority as opposed to purchasing managers in Western industrialized countries. As China moves rapidly towards a market economy, many Chinese purchasing managers will require suppliers to improve their responsiveness, given comparable levels of price and quality. An understanding of this transition will help Western marketers to enhance their market positions in China.

This paper seeks to use the consumer‐perceived levels of internet shopping skills and challenges, to cluster the young Chinese customers and to compare the quality perceptions of customers from the different clusters.

A survey of 237 college students from Beijing with the average age of 20.2 was conducted via a paper‐and‐pencil questionnaire. All the constructs were measured using established scales. The students completed the questionnaire in their native language.

The paper finds that, at the present level of internet development in China, online consumers can be segmented on the basis of their self‐rated internet skills and their perception of the challenges involved in online shopping.

Online customer segments obtained through internet skill and challenge level perceptions are demonstrated to explain some of the differences in the online shopping behaviors and service quality perceptions. The managers of online stores in China could segment young Chinese consumers based on this conceptual background.

The online shopping environment in China is characterized by a relatively low level of participation, but a rapid rate of growth, especially among young consumers. This is one of the first studies which evaluated the young Chinese consumers' online shopping behaviors and provided a conceptual basis for segmenting this market.

The need for cultural sensitivity in global marketing is recognized widely. Using content analysis of 543 advertisements from four East Asian countries, determines the marketing factors which lead to the use of two advertising strategies that might be perceived as culturally insensitive. Indicates that, while foreign languages are used widely, a substantial number of advertisements also employ western models. Shows the use of western models to be influenced by five factors: use of a foreign language, target audience, product′s country of origin, product type and customer country. Shows the use of foreign language words, on the other hand, to be influenced by just two factors: customer country and product type.

Examines the issue of how variations in language used in advertising affect advertising preference with a sample of bilingual, Korean Americans. Uses past literature to hypothesise that the level of acculturation would moderate ethnic consumers’ preference for advertisements in English versus their native language. Extends previous research in the field of ethnic advertising by considering whether findings from studies conducted with Hispanic American consumers are applicable to Asian Americans. Shows that no significant differences were detected in bilingual Korean American preferences for advertisements in which the message was presented in English as compared with those that used Humgul (Korean language) to communicate with the audience. Concludes with suggestions for further research.