Emerald | International Marketing Review

The International Commitment of Late-Internationalizing Brazilian Entrepreneurial Firms

2012-05-25 00:00:00.0

Abstract

Purpose - This paper aimed at contributing to the understanding of international commitment of entrepreneurial firms from an emerging economy to their foreign operations. Specifically, it intended to help bridging an existing gap in the literature by (i) focusing on the international commitment of established small entrepreneurial firms, a topic that has been largely overlooked; (ii) investigating small-firm commitment to foreign investments whereas most studies focus on exporting; (iii) combining the different research streams that studied international commitment; and (iv) using the RBV to explore the interplay between resource allocation and commitment in the foreign investments of small entrepreneurial firms. Design/methodology/approach - The study adopts an abductive approach to theory development and uses the case method of investigation. Three case studies were developed from primary and secondary sources. A total of 153 pieces of documentation were used to reconstruct past events, in addition to the interviews and information from company sites, permitting triangulation. Pattern-matching logic was employed as case development progressed, continuously comparing with the theoretical background used in the study.Findings - Findings: The interplay between resource availability, goal congruence, entrepreneur’s desire to internationalize and family attitude seem to have a combined impact on the arousal and initial development of international commitment. The relative importance of managerial over financial resources in the early stages and the impact of preparatory activities on the speed and scope of internationalization seem to be specific manifestations of commitment among emerging market firms. As to the outcomes of commitment, performance appears both as an outcome and an antecedent, and, knowledge acquisition and opportunity development seem to increase pari passu with international commitment of emerging market firms.Research limitations/implications - The study suffers of limitations due to the specific research setting (country and industry) and the applicability to large publicly-held firms. Also, although the choice of three firms from the same industry and of equivalent size, products, and resources enabled us to avoid the impact of these differences on firm’s international commitment, the choice also limits the applicability of the research results. Practical implications - The findings can be useful to emerging market firms by pointing out the potential negative impact of low international commitment on a firm’s internationalization process. Since most firms from emerging markets cannot count on previous internationalization knowledge accumulated by other firms in their (domestic) institutional environment to be used as guides to international expansion, this type of research can provide some guidelines to help their internationalization efforts.Originality/value - While certain results agreed with the extant literature, new findings generated a set of theoretical propositions regarding international commitment of late-internationalizing entrepreneurial firms from an emerging Latin American market.

Risk, Trust, and Consumer Online Purchasing Behaviour: A Chilean Perspective

Constanza Carolina Bianchi, Lynda Andrews — 2012-05-25 00:00:00.0

Abstract

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to investigate Chilean consumers online purchase behaviour with a specific focus on the influence of perceived risk and trust. Studies of this nature have been conducted quite extensively in developed countries and in cross-cultural comparative studies most noticeably comparing the United States with Asian countries. However, examining consumers’ perceived risk and trust with online purchasing in a Latin American context is very limited. While not a cross-cultural study, we address this gap in the literature with an empirical study conducted in Chile. Moreover, it addresses calls to investigate consumers’ post adoption acceptance of a technology to gain insights into which factors are most influential in explaining continuance behaviourDesign/methodology/approach - We test a model of the influence perceptions of risk and trust on consumers’ attitudes and intentions to continue purchasing on the Internet. An online survey method is used. The sample consists of 176 Chilean consumers who purchase online. The data is analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM).Findings - The analysis reveals that perceived risk online had an inverse relationship with consumers’ attitude and that attitude has a positive influence on intentions to continue purchasing. Of the trust factors examined, trust in third party assurances and a cultural environment of trust have the strongest positive influence on intentions to continue purchasing online, whereas trust in online vendors and a propensity to trust were both insignificant. Practical implications - In a Latin American context, for marketers in domestic and global companies these results identify which trust beliefs have the most effect on consumer continuance behaviour towards purchasing online. Additionally, this research shows that consumers in a Latin American country, recognized as a collectivist, high risk avoidance culture, are willing to continue making purchases online despite the risks involved.Originality/value - The study and its results is one of few available that investigates consumers’ perceptions of risk and trust for online purchasing in a Latin American country. The value of the findings provides insights into the specific trust factors that influence post adoption behaviour that is: Chilean consumers continued purchasing online. The findings add value not only to the literature on a Latin American population’s e-commerce behaviour, but have managerial implications for domestic and global companies considering offering online retailing for consumers in this region where Internet penetration rates are very high, but local e-commerce availability is low.

Comparative advertising effectiveness in Latin America: Evidence from Chile

2012-05-25 00:00:00.0

Abstract

Purpose - The objective of this study was to test the viability of comparative advertising in Chile.Design/methodology/approach - Data were collected via controlled experimentation. The study employed a 3 (comparative advertising intensity: noncomparative, indirect comparative, and direct comparative) × 2 (product category involvement: low, high) × 2 (sponsor brand’s relative market share: market leader, other brand) between-subjects factorial design.Findings - The results suggest that direct and indirect comparative ads are not more effective than noncomparative ads in Chile. Additionally, data do not support the idea that the effect of comparative advertising intensity is moderated by the product category involvement and/or by the sponsor brand’s relative market share. Since comparative advertising was not shown to be more effective than noncomparative advertising, the authors hypothesize that it is due to cultural biases and the novelty of comparative advertising in Latin America, as expressed through negative message believability.Practical implications - While experimental research is not sufficient to establish the generalized non-superiority of comparative advertising in the region, the results support the idea that comparative advertising might not be more effective than noncomparative advertising for many marketing campaigns in Latin America.Originality/value - Several recent studies have investigated international differences in advertising practices. Most of these address advertising in general, leaving the transferability of comparative advertising practices largely unexplored (White Nye et al., 2008). Analyzing the case of Latin America is highly relevant due to the limited development that exists with respect to comparative advertising in the region.

INFLUENCE OF CSR ON THE PURCHASING BEHAVIOR IN PERU AND SPAIN

Percy Marquina, Carlos Morales — 2012-05-25 00:00:00.0

Abstract

Purpose - Even though Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has been gaining ground worldwide, on the academic level there are not many empirical studies that provide conclusive results about the magnitude and type of impact of corporate social initiatives on consumers purchasing behavior. The present investigation explores precisely this relationship through a study carried out on students from two business schools: CENTRUM Catolica in Peru and EADA in Spain.Design/methodology/approach - The experiment was conducted using a random sample of 238 consumers, 119 from Peru and 119 from Spain. A discrete choice modeling experiment and a binary logit model are used, with the objective of quantifying the intention to purchase and establish how much they are willing to pay for specific social features. Findings - The research provides empirical validation of the positive relationship between corporate social responsibility and the consumer behavior from the sample. However, the results show that the effects of corporate abilities as a whole are stronger than those of corporate social responsibility among the consumers of both countries.Originality/value - The study is exploratory in character due to the lack of research in this area up to now comparing Soanish and Peruvian samples, the impact of CSR in the consumers purchasing behavior of a developed and a developing country.

THE IMPLEMENTATION OF INTERNATIONAL ADVERTISING STRATEGIES: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY IN LATIN AMERICA

Fernando Fastoso — 2012-05-25 00:00:00.0

Abstract

Purpose - This paper addresses the issue of the implementation of international advertising strategies by firstly introducing a framework of four options that multinational enterprises (MNEs) can use to implement such strategies and secondly by drawing on contingency theory to develop and test hypotheses relating to how environmental factors and company characteristics affect such implementation.Design/methodology/approach - Hypotheses are tested using web-survey data obtained from 182 Latin American managers based in the Mercosur trading bloc.Findings - Findings show that the choice of implementation process option is contingent on the environmental factor cultural homogeneity and the company characteristics subsidiary size and MNE country-of-origin, yet not on regional economic integration.Research limitations/implications - Our exploratory study contributes to advertising theory by offering an alternative approach to the consideration of the international advertising standardization question that focuses on the implementation of strategies rather than on their development. Our findings further confirm the theory of regional multinationals in the context of international advertising decisions. Practical implications - Our study presents practitioners with four distinct approaches to implementing their international advertising strategies as well as with clear guidelines as to how managers should implement those strategies depending on the specific benefits of standardization they want to achieve.Originality/value - To our knowledge, this study is the first to specifically address the implementation of international advertising strategies.