Global Consumer Behavior E-Book

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 410

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013

Beschreibung

Globalization is a leading force for industry worldwide, especially the new technology sector. This presents both problems and opportunities in the emergence of a new type of consumer and the effects of globalization on industry in terms of culture, economics, marketing, and social issues at every scale from local to global.

The main aim of the book is to enhance the reader’s knowledge – especially from a multidisciplinary perspective rather than from an individual functional perspective – of international consumer behaviour. It also explores the role of globalization in the evolving world of the new technology sector and provides an overview of the development of international consumer behavior from historical, geographical and social perspectives, while focusing on new technology products and services.

Professionals, students and researchers working in the fields of new technologies and information and communication technologies (ICT) as well as specialists of marketing and management are the target audience for this book.  At the same time, the book will be pitched at a level so as to also appeal to a more general readership interested in globalization.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Introduction

PART 1. Topics of Themes

Chapter 1. E-Travel Agents Selling to Ethnic Customers

1.1. Introduction

1.2. Market structure

1.3. Customer relationship through the Internet

1.4. Electronic distribution channel

1.5. Services marketing

1.6. Relationship marketing

1.7. Hypotheses and findings

1.8. Conclusions, limitations and future research

1.9. References

Chapter 2. Local Advertising over the Product Life Cycle: The Product-Consumer Relationship in the International Context

2.1. Introduction

2.2. Background and objectives

2.3. Theoretical framework

2.4. Data and methods

2.5. Results and contribution

2.6. Conclusions and limitations

2.7. References

Chapter 3. Culture and Diversity: A New Approach of Management

3.1. Introduction

3.2. The notion of culture

3.3. Culture and globalization

3.4. Multiculturalism and the global economy

3.5. Conclusion

3.6. References

Chapter 4. Is Behavior Prone to Social Influence?

4.1. Introduction

4.2. The problem

4.3. Theoretical view: a psychoanalytical “interactionist” diagram

4.4. Culture in the sociological sense

4.5. Does behavior result from social identity?

4.6. Behavior and collective conscience

4.7. Behavior: from individual identity to social identity

4.8. Conclusion

4.9. References

PART 2. Applications at the National Level

Chapter 5. The Gender Approach to Understanding Time-Saving Durables Buying: Tunisian Women in 2000

5.1. Introduction

5.2. Gender approaches in marketing

5.3. Housework

5.4. Assumptions of the research

5.5. Summary of results

5.6. Conclusion

5.7. References

5.8. Appendix

Chapter 6. The Cultural Impact on Changes in Consumption: Lithuania and Bulgaria

6.1. Introduction: globalization and culture

6.2. Material determinant for consumption

6.3. National culture values

6.4. Material culture

6.5. Changes in consumption

6.6. Conclusion

6.7. References

Appendix 1: Lithuania and Bulgaria basic characteristics in 2004

Chapter 7. Country of Origin: Perceptions and Attitudes of Portuguese Consumers

7.1. Introduction

7.2. Country of origin effects on consumer behavior

7.3. Research hypotheses

7.4. Empirical analysis

7.5. Results

7.6. Discussion

7.7. Concluding comments

7.8. References

Chapter 8. Consumer Shopping Behavior Online: The Case of Spanish Web Users

8.1. Introduction

8.2. Online buyers worldwide

8.3. Key drivers of global consumer shopping behavior online

8.4. The case of Spanish e-shoppers

8.5. Conclusions and managerial implications

8.6. References

Chapter 9. The New, Improved, Indian Consumer

9.1. Understanding the billion minds

9.2. A springboard for more consumption

9.3. A new consumption push for 2006–07

9.4. Impact on marketing

9.5. Conclusion

9.6. References

Chapter 10. Globalization and Consumer Behavior: A Case Study of Cell Phone Owners in India

10.1. Introduction

10.2. Data and methodology

10.3. Empirical results and discussions

10.4. Conclusion

10.5. References

10.6. Appendix

Chapter 11. Factors Affecting Technology Adoption in India: A Consumer-Based View

11.1. Introduction

11.2. History of diffusion of innovation

11.3. A theoretical framework

11.4. Adoption of electronic banking service innovations

11.5. Data

11.6. Discussion and conclusion

11.7. References

11.8. Appendix

Chapter 12. Chinese Culture and Chinese Consumer Behavior

12.1. Introduction

12.2. The cultural difference between China and the West

12.3. Chinese traditional culture and its values

12.4. Some essential aspects of Chinese culture

12.5. Who are the major customers in China?

12.6. Brand effect on Chinese consumer behavior

12.7. Managerial implications and suggestions

12.8. Discussion and limitations

12.9. Conclusion

12.10. References

Chapter 13. Modeling the Indicators of Purchasing Behavior Toward Counterfeits: An Exploratory Study in China

13.1. Introduction

13.2. Hypotheses development

13.3. Research design

13.4. Data analysis

13.5. Discussion

13.6. References

List of Authors

Index

First Published in Great Britain and the United States in 2007 by ISTE Ltd

Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms and licenses issued by the CLA. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside these terms should be sent to the publishers at the undermentioned address:

ISTE Ltd 6 Fitzroy Square London W1T 5DX UKwww.iste.co.ukISTE USA 4308 Patrice Road Newport Beach, CA 92663 USA

© ISTE Ltd, 2007

The rights of Chantal Ammi to be identified as the author of this work have been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Global consumer behavior/edited by Chantal Ammi.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-905209-63-7

1. Consumer behavior. 2. Consumer behavior--Cross-cultural studies. 3. Consumers--Social aspects. 4. Internet marketing. I. Ammi, Chantal.

HF5415.32.G548 2007

658.8'342--dc22

2007003376

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 13: 978-1-905209-63-7

Printed and bound in Great Britain by Antony Rowe Ltd, Chippenham, Wiltshire.

Introductions

Globalization is leading industry worldwide, especially the new technology sector. Globalization – the unification of goods, services, capital and labor into a single global market, based on free trade, comparative advantages and economies of scale – has created a really radical force for economic development. It speeds and expands the strengths but also the weaknesses of the market system: its inefficiency, instability and inequality.

Globalization has promoted the emergence of a new type of consumer and has had effects on industry in terms of culture, economics, marketing and social issues at every scale from local to global. We can see a proliferation of global brands and an alleged homogenization of cultures in driving regions: “Europeanization”, “Westernization” or “Americanization”.

Moreover, many researchers who worked on technology said that technology is a universal, uniform and consistent factor which crosses national and cultural boundaries. For them there are no cultural boundaries limiting the application of technology. Once a technology is developed, it immediately becomes available everywhere in the world with the same efficiency.

However, the reality is not so obvious and local resistances are still present and sometimes are even growing.

Despite this tendency of uniformity between all the countries with similar products, services, advertisements, etc., the cultural factor has still an important rule to play. We can see strong differences according to behaviors, modalities of commercialization, the type of products and packaging, contents of advertisements, price fixing, even the diffusion of technology. Each country, each nationality and sometimes each ethno culture or tribe has its own characteristics. To ignore this diversity would be a major risk and to integrate it in a bad or incomplete manner would create significant dysfunctions.

This book aims to analyze the importance of culture in globalization in different cases: in different countries, across different types of products or brands, according to the sector of activity, or according to the level of development.

This book is divided into two parts:

– the first part is focused on specific themes according to the degree of globalization;

– the second part is oriented to the applications at a national level in different countries, each with a different level of development;

In the first part, which is composed of four chapters, the authors aim to show the consequences of, or the reasons for, globalization across a sector of activity, the life cycle, the multiculturalism or the rule of the social identity.

Chapter 1 analyzes the sector of e-tourism and the importance of culture in this activity. Even if globalization is leading this market, each supplier, each consumer is unique and offers must integrate cultural factors.

Chapter 2 analyzes global advertisements and notes that, despite the global marketing messages for each phase of the product life cycle, it is still crucial to adapt messages for the local markets in order to target those local markets.

Chapter 3 analyzes the importance of multiculturalism inside the global market and the necessity for firms to integrate these specificities. Two cases are developed: countries with multicultural, religious, linguistic or ethnic local diversities such as India, China, Canada, Belgium and Switzerland and countries with a large flux of immigration, such as France and the USA.

Chapter 4 analyzes the influence of social aspects on behaviors and its application in different ways.

In the second part, composed of nine chapters, the authors show the importance of the local specificities across many different cases in various countries: the act of purchasing, the brands, the use of the Internet, the behavior of mobile phone users, etc.

Chapter 5 analyzes the role of gender in the purchase of goods or services and its application in a Muslim country such as Tunisia. “Is this rule the same everywhere?” and “are the cultural aspects important?” are two of the many questions asked by the author.

Chapter 6 analyzes the emergence of globalization in two Eastern European countries, Bulgaria and Lithuania. The authors notice that the consequences and the impact on the economy, behavior, or social life are not exactly the same in each country and they try to explain the origins of this divergence.

Chapter 7 analyzes the importance of the country of origin (the image of the country or origin that the item portrays) on the act of purchasing across the Portuguese market. The role of the cultural characteristics is detailed.

Chapter 8 analyzes globalization and the ubiquitous nature of the Internet which facilitates e-commerce activities across nations. Even global tastes have been homogenized; we notice online consumer segments with different purchase motivations for each local environment.

Chapter 9 analyzes the new Indian consumer. The emergence of the Indian economy has created a large local market with its own characteristics: social, religious, ethnic, regional, etc.

Chapter 10 analyzes the specificities of the local aspects on the consumer behavior for a high-tech product, such as a mobile phone, with a comparison between different countries and India.

Chapter 11 analyzes the role of factors affecting the adoption of technology in general and in India, in particular. Although many authors think that this adoption is universal, many local facts prove the opposite.

Chapter 12 analyzes, across the Chinese consumer market, the role and the importance of the cultural aspects: differences between Western countries and China, differences between Chinese customers according their values, their religion, or their habits.

Chapter 13 analyzes the perception of brands in general and in China in particular. The importance and the acceptance of counterfeit goods in this country have modified this perception and local, as well as global, companies have to integrate this aspect.

This book does not seek to be exhaustive and to analyze every aspect of global consumer behavior, but through the chapters, written by researchers living around the world, we wanted to prove that globalization is not uniformity and that it is still necessary to integrate the local characteristics to avoid misunderstandings, rejections or business failures.

PART 1: Topics of Themes

Chapter 11

E-Travel Agents Selling to Ethnic Customers

1.1. Introduction

Over the past decades, the travel and tourism sector has emerged as one of the most important sectors for developing, as well as developed, countries. The World Travel and Tourism Council 2 [2006] estimates that the relative importance of tourism will grow to approximately 11% of the global gross domestic product (GDP) in 2016. Tourism incorporates many of the features of the information society,3 such as globalization, mobility and information richness. People from all nations, social ranks, professions and different ways of life are potential tourists.

Tourism as a global industry links a worldwide supplier community with consumers, equally distributed worldwide. Its physical and virtual networks enable worldwide traveling, bringing together very distant cultures and habits. The tourism industry is diverse and partly fragmented and the size of tourism principals varies from micro- to global enterprises. Only certain segments, such as airlines, are concentrated into an oligopoly of global alliances.

The growth in the development of transportation after the First World War enabled people to travel to previously inaccessible areas and, furthermore, technological innovations improved transportation and the cost of travel declined, meaning that tourism throughout the world expanded.

Historically, travel agents were tour planners, as well as sales agents, for travel suppliers. Not only would the travel agent sell transport, accommodation and tours for suppliers, they would organize travel plans for customers and provide advice, as well as specialized information on destinations and other travel related information.

In the 1950s and 1960s, airlines entered the era of the jet aircraft and this was soon followed by the rapid introduction of wide-bodied airplanes in the 1970s and 1980s. Airlines viewed the use of travel agencies as an inexpensive and effective method of widening their distribution network in order to reach these new and expanding markets, combined with high labor costs and difficulties in reaching the marketplace. This led to the use of travel agents as intermediaries, to act as sales agents for their products. Airlines soon came to rely heavily on travel agents often as an extension of their own office for distribution, airline reservations, ticketing, transactions, travel advice, market coverage, market presence and packaging.