Dorothy A. Yen

Focusing on Relationship Dimensions to Improve the Quality of Chinese–Western Business-to-Business Exchanges

Abstract The article reports on a number of items that have been assembled to compare business relationships involving Western and Chinese counterparts. Whilst the extant buyer–seller and channel management literature has tended to focus on Western or Chinese relational forms in isolation, an attempt has been made here to broaden our understanding by providing a comparative overview of these two perspectives. By focusing on several key items that appear significant, yet may also imply different forms of relevance in a Chinese and Western context, several managerial implications are extracted, and these are considered useful in the quest to help firms improve the quality associated with managing and developing such hybrid international relations.

A space of one’s own: spatial and identity liminality in an online community of mothers

ABSTRACT This paper investigates the role of an online community in the life of 11 Taiwanese women living in the UK and considers the implications this empirical case has for theorising about motherhood and the spatial dimensions of online/on-site space. Findings from a nethnographic and ethnographic fieldwork show how online discussions reflect and amplify the liminal identities of the community’s members. In looking at doing mothering at a collective rather than at the individual level, this study highlights how collective practices of consumption perpetuate liminal identities, exacerbating consumers’ sense of being out of place. It shows how online space is at the same time the product of online and on-site liminal identities and liminal social interactions and the re-producer of such interactions.

Ranking Gives Power: Relationships between UK Universities and Chinese Agents

This article investigates the working relationships between UK universities and Chinese student recruitment agents. Data draw on insights from the senior management of ten UK institutions. Findings reveal that the ranking position of a university is the ultimate source of power that defines its position in the international HE network of universities and agents. In addition, this article throws light on the debate of power relations between universities and agents in the international HE context and discusses the various sources of power that universities could employ to counterbalance the influence of rankings and to negotiate their network positions. Finally, the findings offer practical advice to university managements and government policy makers by discussing how universities of different ranking positions could exercise their sources of power to better leverage their relationships with Chinese agents.

The Internet of total corporate communications, quaternary corporate communications and the corporate marketing Internet revolution

ABSTRACT The advent of what we call, ‘The Corporate Marketing Internet Revolution’ necessitates a radical rethinking of marketing practice and scholarship. As such, mindful of the importance of the Internet and, in particular, the Internet of Things (IoT) phenomenon, this article formally introduces and elucidates the Internet of Total Corporate Communications (IoTCC) notion. Moreover, it particularises the nature and importance of quaternary (fourth-order) total corporate communications. To date, the total corporate communications effect of the Corporate Internet Marketing Revolution has not been accorded importance in the extant literature. As such, this article seeks to address this omission.

Enhancing firm performance through internal market orientation and employee organizational commitment

Abstract Considering the importance of retaining key staff and managing the negative impact of high labor turnover on firm performance, this study investigates the notion of internal market orientation (IMO) as an employee management tool for helping companies retain employees and leverage performance via their organizational commitment. Drawing on data from three different managerial respondents in 275 companies based in China, the findings demonstrate the precedential effect of IMO on corporate performance through employees’ organizational commitment and retention. Interdepartmental relationship and interdepartmental communication, together with ownership types are identified as potential moderating variables, which may vary IMO’s effectiveness in the framework. This study provides scholars and practitioners with empirical evidence of IMO’s contribution to different industries and markets. Building on a western perspective, this study extends the literature in an emerging market context and specifically has implications for managing Chinese employees.

Animosity within borders: The mediating roles of regional identification and perceived discrimination on regional media preference

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify and examine the antecedents and consequence of regional animosity and their impacts on regional media preference. Design/methodology/approach – Computer-assisted telephone interviews were conducted with randomly selected adult residents in Northern (206) and Southern (201) Taiwan. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling in LISERAL and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis. Findings – The findings reveal that perceived economic threat, economic hardship and dissatisfaction with government economic policy increase home region identification and perceived discrimination, which in turn lead to heightened animosity toward the opposite foreign region. This increasing animosity then affects consumer choice over home region media compared to media originated from the other region. Research limitations/implications – The findings suggest that military and political tensions alone cannot explain why consumers would harbor animosity between on...