Suchergebnisse

Social media has provided opportunities for businesses to develop close relationships with customers leading to customers' engagement as it influences loyalty and satisfaction, and assists in expanding the markets. While small and medium enterprises (SME) are at a disadvantage compared to large firms, establishing management control in a foreign market remains a challenge. In addition, a considerable number of studies on foreign market entry mode choice have concentrated on large firms. Moreover, social media has become increasingly relevant for SME to "level the playing ground" with large firms. However, little is known about the SME role in engaging with their customers and especially in how SME use social media capabilities. We respond to this gap in the literature by exploring how SME use social media platforms to connect with customers in a foreign market. A qualitative analysis was conducted through in-depth interviews with six Portuguese firms. The findings indicate that social media provides a distinctive pathway to SME to connect emotionally with customers in a foreign market.

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine and compare the influence of age, education, income, product involvement and sales promotion (SP) characteristics on consumer attitudes towards SP across eight culturally dissimilar environments.


Design/methodology/approach
A multi-country mall intercept and mail survey was conducted in Brunei, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and Thailand (n=4,125 respondents).


Findings
Country, education level and income significantly influence consumer attitudes towards SP. Some countries show a significant monetary value interaction effect. Consumers using delayed-reward SPT reported a significantly more positive attitude towards SP. Discounts and coupons are the two most highly ranked SP across the sampled countries.


Research limitations/implications
Limitations include the use of intercept and mail sampling. Extending the study to include additional Asian countries and other regions would benefit the understanding of cultural influences on SP.


Practical implications
Multinational marketing managers should consider three aspects of SP implementation strategy: cultural and demographic factors, interaction between delayed-reward SP and socio-demographics variables; country specific SP preferences to promote both sales and brand equity.


Originality/value
This study investigates and extends research on SP across cultures. In particular the research helps better understand the impact of demographic factors and culture on attitudes towards SP, and implementation of global promotions.