/ Newsletter for the Members
of the Global Marketing
Special Interest Group
Global Interests /
Volume 11, Issue 1
Editor: Kate Gillespie, University of Texas at AustinFebruary 2008
MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR
Global Marketing
Special Interest Group
Happy New Year to you all! May the coming year, the Year of the Rat, treat you kindly and lead to exciting and thought-provoking travels and experiences. Global SIG members are known globe trotters, so I’m sure you have resolved to travel far and wide in your pursuit of learning about global marketing. If one of your trips is to Austin, Texas for the Winter Educators’ Conference, be sure to check out the Global Marketing sessions and events. One planned SIG activity is a Special Session featuring several of our leading educators, who will give us their take on the future of our field. Expert speculation on topical and research directions promises to deliver more than a few insights on what will be occupying our efforts in years to come. Forecasting is vital to seeing what’s next. Whether predictions are 100% accurate or not, the implication is that the status quo is a nonstarter. Ideas from sessions such as these lead us forward, and the presentations at these sessions provide fertile ground for ideas. And if you crave follow up discussion on your take aways, stop by the GM SIG Member Reception on Saturday evening to find receptive ears for ideas the session inspires. Leadership requires followers -- thought leadership requires listeners.
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In This Issue
1 / Chair’s Message
2 / AMA Winter Educators Conference Global Highlights—11 Global Sessions
3 / The Global Marketing Classroom: Demonstrating Culture’s Impact on Marketing Strategy in the Middle East
4 / Global Nuggets
5 / Upcoming Articles in JIM
6 / JIM Call for Conceptual Articles
THE GLOBAL MARKETING CLASSROOM
Demonstrating Culture’s Impact on Marketing Strategy in the Middle East
Liesl Riddle
Assistant Professor of International Business and International Affairs
School of Business
The GeorgeWashingtonUniversity

Despite the growing economic importance of the Middle East, the region remains understudied in the Western international business literature (Robertson et al., 2001). Few textbooks or teaching cases examine international business issues in the region (Gillespie & Riddle, 2004).
I have developed four small curriculum modules to better expose students to the ways in which culture influences international marketing activities in the Middle East. The modules can be inserted into any international marketing course during discussions of cultural values, political economy, product adaptation, and service adaptation. The modules include short readings, audio and video clips, and web sites. Depending on your web browser, these links may or may not work directly for you. If the internet links do not work, cut and paste the link directly into an open browser page. To view the audio and video files, you will need to have installed Real Player available here:
Cultural Values – Most academic and “doing business in” guides characterize the Middle East as a homogeneous, highly collectivistic cultural region. Findings from a survey my colleagues and I collected (Riddle et al, 2007) among managers in five Middle Eastern countries (Algeria, Egypt, Pakistan, Turkey, and the UAE) draws a more complex cultural picture.In our study, many Middle Eastern managers were found to simultaneously perceive collectivistic and individualistic values as important, providing evidence of cultural crossvergence (Ralston et al 1994, 1997) in the region. Our study also identified significant differences both between and within countries in terms of the importance of individualistic values.
When I cover cultural values in my international marketing class, I assign students to read a short, distilled summary of our research, which was published in the Women in International Trade’s quarterly newsletter ( I then ask students the following discussion questions:
Global Classroom – continued from page 2, column 2
  • How do the Mecca Cola commercials establish a negative country-of-origin association with Western colas, such as Coca-Cola and Pepsi?
  • How were the launches of Cola Turka and Mecca Cola responses to events in the global political economy?
Product Adaptation – Increasingly Western toys, such as the Barbie and the Bratz dolls, are facing increased competition in the Middle East as more culturally adapted local and foreign competitive products are marketed in the region. When we discuss product strategy in international markets, I assign my students an internet exercise to encourage them to think about culture’s impact on product strategy. First, I have them listen to a recent Public Radio International audio segment, called, “Bratz dolls vs. The Muslim Barbie” available at Then, I ask them to explore the web sites for three culturally targeted dolls, including the Syrian Fulla doll ( the Iranian Sara and Dara dolls ( and the American doll, Razanne (
I ask students to write a short reflection essay, answering the following questions:
  • Why are the Barbie and Bratz dolls facing increased product competition in the Middle East? Why might these standardized products be limited in their appeal in the region?
  • In what ways are Fulla, Sara & Dara, and Razanne more culturally appropriate in the Middle Eastern context? In what ways are they similar? In what ways are they different?
Service Adaptation - To illustrate culture’s impact on service offerings, I assign students to read an editorial written by Washington Post reporter, Colbert King (King, 2001). The article also raises interesting issues regarding business ethics. In the article, King accuses McDonalds of “gender apartheid” because they have adapted their restaurant eating areas in Saudi Arabia to include a “family room” where female customers eat separately from men. I also assign students to read some of the responses King received to his editorial, including a critical one from Susan Aykurt (Aykurt, 2001), a female Saudi Arabian resident and McDonalds customer. In her response, she argues in favor of the family room, stating that women in Saudi Arabia “appreciate our own eating sections, which mostrestaurants have, not just
UPCOMING ARTICLES IN THE JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL MARKETING
Here are some of the articles from the upcoming issue of JIM!
Brand Origin Identification by Consumers: A Classification Perspective
by George Balabanis and Adamantios Diamantopoulos
The authors apply a classification perspective to (1) examine the extent to which consumers can identify the correct country of origin (COO) of different brands of consumer durables, (2) investigate the factors facilitating/hindering correct COO identification, and (3) trace the implications of correct/incorrect identification on brand evaluation. The results from a U.K. sample indicate that consumers’ ability to classify brands correctly according to their origin is limited and also reveal substantial differences in the classification of different brands to their COO. Moreover, the key antecedent of correct COO identification is consumer enthnocentrism with sociodemographics (e.g., age, gender) also playing a role. Finally, the authors find that though there are differences in brand evaluations depending on whether the correct COO was identified, such differences are not observable for all brands investigated.
The Complexities of Perceived Risk in Cross-Cultural Services Marketing
By Hean Tat Keh and Jin Sun
Previous research has found that cultural differences influence consumer risk evaluation. From a cross-national perspective, the authors explore the individual and cultural causes, as well as the consequences, of post purchase personal and nonpersonal risks for a credence service (i.e., insurance). Using survey data from 309 Chinese consumers and 193 Singaporean consumers, the authors find that two cultural dimensions (self-transcendence/self-enhancement versus conservation/openness to change) and individual contextual factors (involvement and face consciousness) exert differential effects on consumer perceived risk in the two countries. In addition, the authors find that personal and nonpersonal risks have varying levels of impact on perceived value and customer satisfaction in the two countries.
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Ideas -- the Global Marketing SIG is always looking for new ones. The events at the Winter Educators’ Conference have followed a pattern the Global Marketing SIG settled into over the years. A variety of activities, meetings, and gatherings have evolved to maintain communication and provide a setting for SIG members to interact. To add value to your membership, the SIG activity agenda includes:
  • a research-oriented session at the Winter Educators’ Conference,
  • a teaching-focused session at the Summer Educators’ Conference,
  • social/networking events at both conferences,
  • monthly communication of news through Global eNews;
  • quarterly communication involving longer stories and announcements in Global Interests;
  • Awards and special recognition for achievement at the Summer AMA Conference.
In pursuit of different directions, two activities, have resulted from member suggestions. First, you asked for more international conferences. Not that long ago, AMA sponsored an international conference every other year. But the event appears to have been retired, or at least put out on the shelf for a while. In its wake, entrepreneurial efforts are rising. One example recently provided a terrific opportunity for Global Marketing SIG members. This January, the Global Business & Innovative Development Conference [GBID] took place in Rio de Janeiro. In addition to co-sponsoring the event and providing approximately one third of the attendees, the Global Marketing SIG awarded free registration for the “best” SIG paper submitted, a $500 value. Winners were Daniel Tolstoy and Henrik Agndal, from the Stockholm School of Economics, for “Network Resource Combinations in New International Ventures." Thanks also to Camille Schuster and Bill Lundstrom for coordinating our SIG session. At the Conference, opportunities were available for interacting with global scholars from many cultures, as well as sampling the culture of one of the world’s most vibrant and picturesque cities. It was enlightening to hear presentations and comments from scholars I do not get exposed to often. The beach was nice, too.
A second recurring request is for the Global Marketing SIG to take a more active role in providing information about overseas teaching opportunities. This is an activity many global marketing educators have participated in, but there does not appear to be
much information available on the topic. We are hoping to conduct a special session on the topic at an upcoming Educators’ Conference. Some members have suggested the Global Marketing
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Participants:
The Accommodation Process in International Strategic Alliance Relationships
Dan Bello, GeorgiaStateUniversity
Constantine Katsikeas, LeedsUniversity
Matthew Robson, CardiffUniversity
Outsourcing and Financial Performance: A Negative Curvilinear Effect
Masaaki Kotabe, TempleUniversity
Managing on the Mainland: An Institutional Perspective
Peter Walters, The Hong KongPolytechnicUniversity; Howard Davies, The Hong KongPolytechnicUniversity
Is the Influence of Intangible Firm Capital on Performance Consistent Cross-Culturally?
David Griffith, Michigan State University
Roger Calantone, Michigan State University
Goksel Yalcinkaya, University of New Hampshire
Export Marketing Strategy-Performance Relationship: An Application of Strategy Co alignment Theory
Ann Chirapanda, LeedsUniversity
Saeed Samiee, University of Tulsa
Constantine Katsikeas, LeedsUniversity
8:30-10:00, Sunday, February 17 5.6Global MarketingStrategy
Chair: Cheryl Nakata, University of Illinois-Chicago
Participants:
Sources of Global E-tail Advantage: Relationships among Firm Orientations, Resources, and Performance
Deborah Ann Colton, Rochester Institute of Technology
Martin Roth, University of South Carolina
William Bearden, University of South Carolina
Understanding the Drivers of the Subsidiary Innovative Capacity in Host-Markets
Esra F. Gencturk, KocUniversity
Destan Kandemir, Bilkent University
Towards an Enriched Organizational Ecology Framework of Foreign Market Entry: The Explanation for Retailers’ International Expansion
Chuanyi Tang, University of Arizona
Eric J. Arnould, University of Wyoming
Reciprocal Effects of Commitment on Exporter-Importer Relationships
Farid Ahmed, University of Western Sydney
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3:30-5:00, Sunday, February 17 8.7 New Directions for Marketing the Organization and Its Products and Services - A Global View
Chair: Frank Franzak, VirginiaCommonwealthUniversity
Participants:
Forecast of Globalization, International Business and Trade
Michael Czinkota, GeorgetownUniversity
Thriving in an Age of Paradoxes: Some Implications for Global Marketing
Leyland Pitt, SimonFraserUniversity
Bodo Schlegelmilch, Wirtschaftsuniversität-Wien
Directions in Global Marketing Research
Dan Bello, GeorgiaStateUniversity
International Government and the Future Regulation of Marketing
Phil Harris, University of Otago
Global Marketing with Relevance: The Future is a Meaningful Dialogue
John Bord, Salt River Project
Richard Way, Hewlett-Packard
8:30-10:00, Monday, February 18 9.7Branding Issues in Global Markets
Chair: Aysegul Ozsomer, KocUniversity
Participants:
A Model to Include the Potential Impact of Governmental Public and Foreign Policies on Global Brand Equity
Peter A. Kaufman, Illinois State University
Frederick W. Langrehr, Valparaiso University
National Culture and Adoption of Technology-Based New Products
Abhijit Patwardhan, University of Mississippi
Douglas Vorhies, University of Mississippi
Standardization With Respect To What? A Conceptualization of Advertising Standardization Measurement in Past Research
Fernando Fastoso, BradfordUniversity
Jeryl Whitelock, BradfordUniversity / AMA WINTER EDUCATORS CONFERENCE
Global Highlights
10:30-12:00, Saturday, February 16 2.9 Relationship Marketing SIG (Special Session)
The Impact of Culture on Relationships in Global Marketing Organizations: Academic and Industry Perspectives
Chair: Leila Borders, University of New Orleans Panelists:
Robert Morgan, University of Alabama
Michael Ehret, Freie Universitaet Berlin
Torsten Oltmanns, Roland Berger Strategy Consultants: Stephen Ferguson, MattressFirm
1:30-3:00 Saturday, February 16 3.3 International Marketing of Services
Chair: Saeed Samiee, University of Tulsa Discussant: Sengun Yeniyurt, RutgersUniversity
Participants:
Cross-Cultural Differences in the Development of Trust in Relational Service Exchange - An Empirical Analysis in the Banking Context in China and Germany
Jan H. Schumann, Technical University of Munich
Florian Wangenheim, Technische Universitaet Muenchen, Zhilin Yang, City University of Hong Kong
Consumer Responses to Service Failures: a Cross-Cultural Comparison across two Service Sectors
Venkatapparao Mummalaneni, VirginiaStateUniversity
Offshoring Customer Service: Communicating Across the Cultural Divide
Anne Stringfellow, Thunderbird
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  • What might account for the observed differences in individualism between Middle Eastern countries identified in the study?
  • Why might younger people in the Middle East be more individualistic than older people in the region? Do you think they are individualistic because they are young? Will they become more collectivistic as they grow older (a life stage event)? Or is this a more individualistic generation; will they remain individualistic—or even become more individualistic—as they grow older (a cohort effect)?
  • What might the implications of crossvergence be for international marketers operating in the region?
Political Economy – When we address the influence of the political economy on international marketing activities, I discuss how US foreign policy has affected the marketing of cola products in the Middle East. I show video advertisements that aired in the region for Cola Turka and Mecca Cola. The advertisements are available on the internet (Cola Turka – Mecca Cola – In the Cola Turka commercials, actor Chevy Chase and his American family become “Turkish” (speaking Turkish, eating Turkish food, singing Turkish songs, etc.) after drinking the Cola Turka product. Cola Turka was developed and marketed by Ülker, a Turkish consumer package goods company in 2003 when anti-American sentiment was high in Turkey after the US invasion of Iraq.
In the Mecca Cola ads, images of American soldiers at Abu-Ghraib prison in Iraq are shown as consumers are encouraged to “drink with a conscience” and drink Mecca Cola instead of American cola products. Details of both products and the ad campaigns can be found in Financial Times articles written by Finkel (2003) and Carter (2004). You often can find these products in Middle Eastern grocery stores.
After showing the videos, I ask students:
  • How do the Cola Turka commercials serve as a commentary on the cultural impact of globalization?
  • Why might country-of-origin become particularly important in consumer product decision-making in an era of globalization?
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McDonalds, because we can be comfortable there without men glimpsing our faces.” I also assign another editorial response written by Moin Rahman (Rahman 2001) that is more supportive of King’s argument.
In class, I ask students:
  • What does Colbert King mean when he uses the term “gender apartheid” when referring to Saudi Arabia?
  • What do you think about McDonald’s decision to localize their store format in Saudi Arabia?
  • To what extent should American firms represent American values in overseas markets? To what extent should they adapt?
These four curriculum modules infuse greater Middle East-specific content in the international marketing classroom and demonstrate the critical impact of culture on international marketing strategies in this region.
CALL FOR CONCEPTUAL ARTICLES
JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL MARKETING
The greatest advances in international marketing thought often begin with novel, insightful and carefully crafted conceptual articles that challengeconventional wisdom. The Journal of International Marketing (JIM) wishes to publish conceptual articles that advance international marketing thought and that can serve as a foundation for future research streams.
Conceptual manuscripts should advance theory or the theory development process in the area of international marketing.While welcoming theoretical contributions grounded in management, psychology, sociology, or economics, JIM also welcomes submissions that approach international marketing theory from nonstandard perspectives.
Manuscripts can be submitted at:
Questions pertaining to the submission of conceptual work should be directed to: