Clifford J. Shultz

From segmentation to fragmentation

Attempts to contribute to the growing literature on postmodernism and marketing by addressing the changes in the market and the corresponding changes that have to take place in marketing strategies. Assesses the implications of postmodernism for marketing managers and other marketing practitioners, and proposes the marketing strategies that are needed to respond to the changes in the market with the growing influence of postmodernity. Discusses directions for future research.

Protecting intellectual property: Strategies and recommendations to deter counterfeiting and brand piracy in global markets

Abstract Many provisions articulated in the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements are intended to protect intellectual property rights (IPR). The authors contend that despite these provisions IP pi racy, especially counterfeiting, will continue to be rampant in the foreseeable future. The authors discuss the factors that will continue to make IP piracy problematic and offer proactive solutions to companies interested in protecting IPR should they not have the fullest confidence in the enforcement mechanisms provided by the WTO.

Marketing as Constructive Engagement

The purpose of this essay is to provoke a more comprehensive, historically accurate, and meaningful definition of marketing. Toward that outcome, the author introduces a framework for marketing that argues for constructive engagement with a complex, conflicted, and increasingly interdependent world in which marketing can and should play an important role. The framework offers a new synthesis commensurate with ideals generally espoused in macromarketing. An illustration based on longitudinal study of Vietnam is shared, with implications for current global affairs and with new directions for meaningful marketing research and practice.

When Policies and Marketing Systems Explode: An Assessment of Food Marketing in the War-Ravaged Balkans and Implications for Recovery, Sustainable Peace, and Prosperity

The authors examine forces, policy failures, and the ensuing war and devastation of the marketing system of the former Yugoslavia. They provide an overview of the region and discuss food marketings contributions to recovery. The authors then describe food-marketing institutions that have emerged from destruction and suggest some successful cases and best practices that can be leveraged to sustain peace and prosperity in the war-ravaged Balkans, as well as the broader global community.

The Paradoxical Relationships Between Marketing and Vulnerability

Marketing both reduces and contributes to consumer vulnerability. In this essay, the authors explore this paradoxical relationship. Complexities and nuances captured in existing definitions are revisited. The authors then share a more expansive perspective; they offer a new typology with hopes of drawing attention to multifaceted and conflicting challenges so as to stimulate fresh thinking. Several points are raised so that policy makers and marketers might be inspired to invoke systemic solutions that increase the security and well-being of consumers who are subject to various vulnerabilities.

Sustainability as Megatrend Two Schools of Macromarketing Thought

Is sustainability a megatrend? If so, what does it mean to be a megatrend, and how can macromarketing advance our understanding of sustainability as a megatrend? This article makes three contributions to research on sustainability as megatrend. First, if offers a set of elemental criteria to understand the concept of a megatrend. Megatrends are complex in nature, whose understanding requires the skills and perspectives of macromarketers. Second, this article articulates two schools of thought in Macromarketing scholarship, a Developmental School and a Critical School. The former operates from the premise that marketing systems are important parts of the solution to the human condition, while the latter operates from the premise that they are part of the problem. Each concludes that sustainability is the megatrend of our time, but for different reasons. Finally, this article offers directions for macromarketing scholars, who are uniquely positioned to explore sustainability as megatrend.

Brand Name Translation: Language Constraints, Product Attributes, and Consumer Perceptions in East and Southeast Asia

The primary purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between foreign brand name translation and product-related cues—such as physical quality, perceived origin, and brand name—on consumers’ perceived quality, price, and purchase intentions. In translations from alphabetic to character-based languages such as Mandarin, two generic methods of brand name translation are available: (1) direct translation for the meaning of the brand name and (2) phonetic translation for the pronunciation of the brand name. The results from a series of structurally related experiments designed to investigate the effects of brand name translation in a cross-cultural context indicate that for an unknown brand, a phonetic translation may be mandatory, whereas for an existing strong brand name, it may be best to retain the original name.

Marketing Ethics across Cultures: Decision-Making Guidelines and the Emergence of Dialogic Idealism

This article extends the macromarketing literature by discussing the relevance of culture to marketing ethics and by proposing decision-making guidelines for multifaceted, cross-cultural contexts. American and European cultural influences and perspectives are examined and used as illustrations. The intent is to provide fresh insights on the ethnocentrism versus cultural relativism debate by offering contemporary translations to some classic arguments and by discussing contemporary European philosophical perspectives. Dialogic idealism is introduced as an ethical theory that combines deontological and teleological elements for the purpose of framing managerial decisions in international and cross-cultural settings in which various stakeholders may have conflicting values.

Improving Life Quality for the Destitute: Contributions from Multiple-Method Fieldwork in War-Ravaged Transition Economies

Life quality is a fundamental outcome of the macromarketing ethos, yet the majority of the worlds population is impoverished. Consumers residing in war-ravaged transition economies are especially needy. Multiple-method fieldwork can enable macromarketers to collect data needed to affect policy change and thus to enhance life quality for some of these most destitute groups. The cases of rice production in Vietnam and explosive ordnance removal in the killing fields of Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Cambodia are used to support the arguments presented. Since all our tools are imperfect, it is all the more important to know their limitations.

Tourism as Catalyst for Quality of Life in Transitioning Subsistence Marketplaces: Perspectives from Ha Long, Vietnam

Tourism is a potential catalyst for transforming subsistence marketplaces, and the quality of life (QOL) for people who live in them. The authors share findings from a study on tourism development in Ha Long, Vietnam, a community transitioning from central economic planning and a focus on heavy and extractive industries, to one that is increasingly dominated by tourism and the industries, goods and services that support it. The authors used multiple methods to gain insights into QOL in Ha Long; those methods included site observations, depth interviews and data collection via an instrument designed and developed by the authors that quantifies perceptions of the evolution of residents’ well-being, including anticipated QOL. Findings indicate that a large majority of citizen-stakeholders in Ha Long generally feel life-quality has improved because of policy changes and subsequent tourism development. Concern is growing, however, that some environmental and societal degradation has accompanied positive economic outcomes. Marketing and policy implications, and opportunities for further research are discussed – not only for Ha Long, but for other actual or hopeful transitioning subsistence marketplaces whose leaders see tourism as a catalyst from economic hardship and subsistence-living toward enhanced QOL.