Zhongqi Jin

Brand origin in an emerging market: perceptions of Indian consumers

Purpose – The study aims to examine the usefulness of the brand origin concept in shaping the perceptions of Indian consumers.Design/methodology/approach – Guided by recent advance in social identity theory and social motivation theory, a dynamic iterative model of brand origin recognition is proposed. Six hypotheses were tested using a sample of 145 consumers from west of India. Using paired t‐test, average consumer preference of brand origin was analysed for different product categories. A factor analysis with varimax rotation for determining band images was also carried out.Findings – The results demonstrated that most consumers can recognise the brand origin correctly but the power of recognition decreases when the brand has a long history of “localization”. Distinguished trajectories of consumer perceptions of foreign brands and domestics brands were projected, and this allowed one to extend existing country of origin (CO) research to brand of origin research.Practical implications – The results impl...

How Product Newness Influences 'Learning and Probing' and the Linearity of its Development Process

In this paper, the relationship between product newness and non-linearity of new product development processes has been examined in the context of the UK?s information and communications technology industry. The results showed that new product development and implementation are contingent on the should be aware of such differences in order to avoid costly iterations when they are not necessary, and accept them when they are. Such knowledge may encourage managers to consider the scope for deliberately introducing feedback/iteration processes when they lead to more effective new product development.

Playing the game of catching-up: global strategy building in a Chinese company

Despite growing interest in emerging Chinese multinational corporations (MNCs), most previous studies have focused on the strategic content and end results of their internationalization strategies. There has been little or no research on the process by which some Chinese companies are beginning to build integrated global strategies. The purpose of this contribution is to identify issues with regard to the benefits, difficulties, the learning process and the adaptation associated with companies arriving much later than their well-established competitors in the context of the global television manufacturing industry. This research adopts a qualitative approach to examine the way that the Chinese company, TCL, has attempted to build a global strategy behind such rivals as Samsung and Panasonic over a period of 10 years. The findings show that a catch-up company may struggle to obtain the benefits of an integrated global strategy and may face greater difficulties than the existing players, particularly in learning to adjust to the companys new strategic direction. However, latecomers experience shorter learning processes than their well-established rivals, facilitated by advances in technology and by a better understanding of the globalization process. The evidence suggests that the development of existing resources, the learning of new skills and innovation by such companies will be important in the game of catch-up.

The nature of NPD and role flexibility of R&D/marketing in a fast growing high-tech setting.

This study investigated the mutual learning process between marketing and R&D in the context of the information and communications technology industry. The relationship between product newness and role flexibility of R&D/marketing was examined via correlation analysis and multiple regression against a stratified sample of 171 new products. The results showed that different aspects of product newness are associated in a different way to role flexibility of R&D/marketing. Management should therefore be aware of such differences when planning their product development portfolio so that effective integration between R&D and marketing can be achieved.

Exploring the relationship between risk management and adoptive innovation: A case study approach

Adoptive innovation becomes increasingly important in today’s competitive world. However, in the presence of current economic downturn, cautions are voiced against potential risks; these innovative activities can bring to from firm to country level. Our research addresses such concerns. The research is drawn from two key streams of literature: risk management and innovation management. We developed a conceptual framework that consists of three components: risk behaviour, environmental conditions and adoptive innovative (REAI). Applying the REAI framework, we examined the risk management efficacy of adoptive innovation activities of one organisation under a historical perspective. We conclude that although adopters have a high tolerance for managing uncertainty and appetite for risk taking in line with competitors, there are two key elements that deter mine the performance of such behaviour: level of environmental turbulence and the role of senior management. It is the first time research determining the relationship between risk and adoptive innovative behaviour is being undertaken and will also provide direct guidance for managers regarding how to manage risk and uncertainty under different circumstances of their innovative practices.

How Does Reputation Win Trust? A Customer-Based Mediation Analysis

Abstract This study investigates the relationship between customer-based corporate reputation (CBR) and customer trust, in particular, the mediating role of customer perceived risk in this relationship. We propose and test a model comprising of four components: cognitive CBR, affective CBR, customer perceived risk and customer trust using a sample of 156 customers from the fast-food services industry in Pakistan. The results suggest that the cognitive and affective dimensions of CBR behave differently in developing customer trust. Affective CBR has a direct positive relationship with customer trust; whereas, customer perceived risk and affective CBR mediate the relationship between cognitive CBR and customer trust. Implications for research and practice are proposed based on the study results.

CONFIGURING PRINCIPAL OPPORTUNISM IN INTERNATIONAL JOINT VENTURE (IJV) PARENTS-IJV RELATIONSHIP: A COMBINATION OF SYMMETRICAL AND ASYMMETRICAL ANALYSIS TO ADVANCE AGENCY THEORY AND RESOURCE DEPENDENCE THEORY TRACK: PRODUCT INNOVATION AND DIFFUSION IN EMERGING MARKETS

The paper addresses the phenomenon of the opportunism that arises from a parent (principal) toward an IJV (agent) and its antecedents. This study integrates Agency Theory and Resource Dependence Theory (RDT) to discover its determinants from the perspectives of principal opportunism. Using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) techniques and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) based on a sample of 185 Chinese-foreign IJVs in China, which are useful to reals the overall story of the principal opportunism. This study finds an IJV depends on parents’ support in both knowledge- and property-based resources has more chances to subject to principal opportunism. The result also indicates that psychic distance has a negative impact on principal opportunism. fsQCA, however, provides further solutions that the specific combinations of these predictors or their negation predicts principle opportunism.