Purpose: To investigate if accessible luxury fashion brands discriminate overweight and obese consumers.

Design/methodology/approach: The physical sizes of garments are surveyed in-store and compared to the body sizes of the population. A gap analysis is carried out in order to determine whether the supply of clothes match the demand of each market segment.

Findings: The surveyed accessible luxury garments come in very small sizes compared to the individuals that make up the population.

Research limitations/implications: The survey is limited to London while the corresponding population is British. It is therefore possible that the mismatch between assortments and the population is in part attributable to geographic and demographic factors. The study’s results are however so strikingly clear that even if some of the effect were due to extraneous variables, it would be hard to disregard the poor match between overweight and obese women and the clothes offered to them.

Practical implications: For symbolic/expressive brands that are conspicuously consumed, that narrowly target distinct and homogenous groups of people in industries where elitist practices are acceptable, companies can build brands via customer rejection.

Social implications: The results highlight ongoing discrimination of overweight and obese fashion consumers.

Originality/value: The study is the first to provide quantitative evidence for brand building via customer rejection, and it delineates under which conditions this may occur. This extends the theory of typical user imagery. © Emerald Publishing Limited 2018

This paper identifies that guest selection at exclusive nightclubs is a brand building process, and that the guests’ primary value to the clubs therefore is the image they bestow on the brand. The paper contributes to theory by providing empirical support for several mechanisms that have previously been stipulated in literature. It validates that companies build brand personality by controlling typical user imagery, and that for self-expressive product categories, negative user stereotypes are particularly powerful. It supports the theory of symbolic brand avoidance, as well as the notion that social rejection encourages people to elevate their perceptions of their rejecters and strengthens their predilection to affiliate with them. For practitioners, the paper shows managers in the hospitality industry that it is possible to build brands by controlling who is allowed to become a brand-user, and under which conditions this applies. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate if intermediate luxury fashion brands discriminate overweight and obese consumers.

Design/methodology/approach: 1,454 intermediate luxury garments were tallied and measured in-store in London. The physical sizes of the garments were matched to the body sizes of the population, and a gap analysis was carried out in order to determine whether the supply of clothes match the relative importance of each market segment.

Findings: While previous research shows that mass-market fashion companies do not discriminate overweight and obese consumers, intermediate luxury garments come in very small sizes compared to the individuals that make up the population.

Research limitations/implications: The findings show that purveyors of intermediate luxury fashion limit assortments of garments so they avoid fat typical user imagery.

Practical implications: Companies that market products that are sensitive to the typical user imagery can optimize their brands by limiting undesirable customer types access to their brands, provided that 1) they have the financial strength to reject customers whose image would be detrimental to the brand, 2) the companies are active in an industry in which people would tolerate customer rejection, and 3) they sell a product that actually can be denied undesirable customers.

Social implications: The study shows that fat consumers are relegated to mass-market fashion but are excluded from intermediate luxury fashion. This constitutes a social inequality.

Originality/value: The result of this study provides quantitative evidence that companies control assortments to exclude undesirable typical user imagery. It also delineates under which conditions they do it. This adds to the theory of user imagery.

Purpose: To investigate the effect of obese models vs. normal weight models on fashion brands’ attractiveness.

Design/methodology/approach: An experiment was carried out in which 1,225 university students in Sweden and Brazil rated the attractiveness of a fashion brand worn by a normal weight model and an obese model.

Findings: The overall effect of obese models’ effect on fashion brand attractiveness was insignificant. Further, neither culture, nor the consumer’s own weight had a significant effect. There was, however, a significant effect of the participant’s own gender; women rate fashion brands worn by obese models significantly higher on attractiveness than they did fashion brands worn by normal weight models. Men displayed the inverse response.

Research limitations/implications: The effect of the model’s ethnicity was beyond the scope of the experiment, and the brand attractiveness scale captured only one aspect of brand character, leaving other potential brand effects for future studies.

Practical implications: Companies can use obese models with no overall brand attractiveness penalty across markets and for marketing to women of all sizes. Given men’s negative reactions, such models might however be unsuitable for the male-to-female gift market.

Social implications: The results support the use of obese models, which can lead to greater representation of larger women in the media, and consequently, reduced fat stigma.

Originality/value: The study validates the theory of user imagery, and it extends the theory by examining how different target consumers react to user imagery traits and thus provides evidence for gender bias towards obese models. © Emerald Publishing Limited 2018

Purpose: This paper aims to expand the emerging field of symbolic green consumer behavior (GCB) by investigating the impact of anticipated conspicuousness of the consumption situation on consumers’ choice of organic products. In addition, the paper also explores whether self-monitoring ability and attention to social comparison information (ATSCI) influence GCB in situations of anticipated high conspicuousness.

Design/methodology/approach: Two experiments test the study’s hypotheses.

Findings: The results of both experiments show that the anticipation of conspicuousness has a significant effect on GCB. Moreover, in Experiment 2, this effect is moderated by consumers’ level of ATSCI but not by their self-monitoring ability.

Research limitations/implications: Because ATSCI significantly interacts with green consumption because of the anticipation of a conspicuous setting, although self-monitoring ability does not, we conclude that social identification is an important determinant of green consumption.

Practical implications: Marketers who focus on building green brands could consider designing conspicuous consumption situations to increase GCB.

Social implications: Policymakers could enact change by making the environmental unfriendliness of non-eco-friendly products visible to the public and thus increase the potential for GCB.

Originality/value: The results validate the emerging understanding that green products are consumed for self-enhancement, but also expand the literature by highlighting that a key motivating factor of GCB is the desire to fit in.

The aim of this study was to identify key success factor for SME customers of cloud based Business Intelligence products. A deep interview was made with four producers and a questionnaire was carried out among 36 SMEs. The findings suggest that the most important CSFs were the level of software functionalities, the ubiquitous access to data, responsive answers to customer support requests, handling large amounts of data and implementation cost. Each of these factors addresses a specific area that customers pay close attention to during the adoption process of a cloud BI solution. Offering ubiquitous access to date and respsonsive answers to customer requests are particularly emphasized for SMEs. We also found that industry tailored software is preferred, monthly or quarterly billings, and contact by email or phone for service. The paper shows recommendations, implications of research and suggests further research on the topic.

Research question: To examine what aspects affect some consumers to avoid e-bikes and others to desire them.

Purpose: The main purpose of this study is to see if e-bikes have a symbolic value. We aim to see if e-bikes is associated as an environmentally friendly product. We will examine stereotypes and brand avoidance. Further we will see what attributes consumers associate with typical users of e-bikes.

Theory: To test our research question we chose our main theory of the matching process between self-image and typical user. Prior studies on e-bikes in areas as typical users and environment were analyzed. Previous studies on e-bikes were analyzed in areas such as environment and typical users.

Methodology: A survey was made on two groups who are underrepresented in sales of ebikes. Students aged 21-30 and cycling enthusiasts.

Results and conclusions:

• We found that e-bikes have symbolic value.

• Many respondents perceive e-bike users as environmentally friendly, comfortable and lazy.

• E-bikes being perceived as environmentally friendly can be a pre-purchase indicator for students, but not for cycling enthusiasts

• Different groups of students have conflicting user imagery, one group describe e-bikers as lazy, and another group describe e-bike users as healthy

• The stereotype that e-bike users are old is not very frequent

• Viewing e-bike users as lazy influences impacts the perceived value and are likely to lead to brand avoidance

Choosing the right Business Intelligence (BI) software is critical to increasing productivity and effectiveness in organizations today. At the same time it is a very elaborating and complex process to choose the right software due to the fact that a large number of BI products exist on the market, which are quite different and updated frequently. The objective of this study is to develop and test a model for the evaluation of BI Software. The findings of the study revealed that it is difficult to declare what is the most competitive BI software as what is good for one user might not be good for another depending on their different business needs. Having said that the study initiated a new classification of BI Software vendors depending on the degree to which they comply with the functions in the Competitive Intelligence (CI) cycle. The software tested was divided into five categories: Fully complete, Complete, Semi Complete, Incomplete and Insubstantial. We conclude that the SSAV (Solberg Søilen, Amara, Vriens) Model Together with some proposed non technological variables and a classification developed can be used as a user's selection tool for deciding which BI Software to purchase.

This paper continues with a discussion on earlier research on entrepreneurs in international new ventures. It can be concluded that research that has shown that the entrepreneur is an important factor to understand the inception and development of INVs. It can also be concluded that the research, so far, has came up to somewhat different conclusions and focused on different aspects on how entrepreneurs influence firm’s international behaviour. Following the above discussion earlier research on entrepreneurs and firm’s international development is discussed next in this paper. It is concluded that the entrepreneur’s cognition and action is instrumental to understand firm’s international development. To build international ventures the entrepreneurs need to adapt to different context and build an organization that can continue to grow internationally. A global mind-set is important to see and act on international opportunities. The paper concludes with some practical implications.

DEBATT. Generellt stöd till företag att nå ut internationellt är oftast meningslöst. Identifiera och satsa istället på ”born globals” som tidigt har siktet inställt på den globala marknaden - de skapar både tillväxt och arbetstillfällen i Sverige, skriver ekonomiprofessorn Svante Andersson.

This chapter deals with how Swedish born globals have contributed to economic growth and job creation in Sweden. The chapter starts with an overview of the Swedish economy and international trade. Thereafter follows a description of born globals in Sweden, including information on their sector, number of employees, and willingness and expectation to grow. This is illustrated by two examples of Swedish born globals that have experienced a continued international growth and have created jobs in Sweden. These examples are from the manufacturing and med-tech sectors, which are over-represented when it comes to born globals. After that, the creative sector is presented as a new growing sector in Sweden. The creative sector has been identified as one of the key sectors, with many born global firms, which can help Europe remain competitive in the changing global market driving economic growth and job creation (Collins et al., 2014). Subsequently, this chapter discusses how born globals in Sweden have influenced economic growth and job creation in different sectors and finishes with reflections on implications for policy and managers. © 2018 selection and editorial matter, Irene Mandl and Valentina Patrini.

Branding has for a long time been in focus in strategic decision making for firms in a business-to-consumer context. Brands has been used as a tool to differentiate products and position firms’ offers towards competitors. In a business-to business context branding has not been in focus in the same way. Strategic decisions have more dealt with technology innovation and market expansions. In recent times, a greater interest for brand building in a business to business (B2B) context has emerged, both in practice and academia, especially for globally active B2B firms that strive to create a unified look of their products and firms. The hard global competition has made it difficult to compete on product quality alone, services around the product and intangible features has been important parts of B2B firms’ offers. The B2B firms’ more complex offers can be incorporated under a common brand that differentiates the firms’ offer from competitors. Although that the practical importance of B2B branding has been acknowledge lately, research dealing with B2B branding is still relatively limited. Most studies on B2B branding attempt to describe what brands are, how they affect companies, or vice versa. Research on the process of B2B brand building is however scarce. Also, when B2B brands are in focus of a study, it is usually their tangible characteristics that are examined. In B2C brand literature, intangible aspects and, the metaphor to see the brand as a person is widely discussed (Aaker, 1997). However, there is very little research on brand as a person element in the B2B context. Brand personality is normally defined as the human characteristics associated with a brand, More research into the brand personality building processes in a B2B context are therefore needed. Following the above discussion this study’s aim is to investigate how brand personality is built in B2B companies.

A qualitative approach has been adopted to enable us to investigate, in-depth, an under-researched area (Ghauri and Gronhaug, 2010; and Yin, 1989) The key factor underpinning the selection of the two cases was conceptual relevance rather than representative grounds, so we used theoretical sampling (Miles and Huberman 1994). We combined secondary data research and field interviews and workshops with the CEOs in the case firms. The researchers constructed an interview-guide based on earlier literature and discussion in a workshop. Our aim and research question served as the basic structure for data analysis.  The study contributes to the literature by integrating theory on brand building from the marketing fields with the research dealing with the born global phenomenon discussed in the international entrepreneurship field.

The aim of this paper is to shed light on how a born global can obtain continued growth internationally, in institutionally distant markets. We are seeking a deeper understanding of international growth for born global enterprises by combining theories of networks and institutional perspective. We discuss how institutional distance affects the internationalization processes in born globals. We seek to highlight why and how a born global firm does enter different markets. In this respect, born globals from developed countries and those from emerging markets are compared, leading us to derive some propositions from our discussions. Finally some suggestions for future research are presented.

INTRODUCTION

Research on firms that already from their inception see the whole world as a market and/or the whole world as a source to access resources, so called born globals (Andersson & Wictor, 2003, Knight & Cavusgil, 2004; Cavusgil & Knight, 2015), has been growing during the last decades  (Servantie, 2016). Born globals are an especially interesting group of firms to study, in regard of value creation, as they have been able to create competitive offers fulfilling the needs of customers on global markets.

 The distinguishing feature of born globals is their international behaviour at birth and soon thereafter. The firms’ behaviour is initiated by the entrepreneurs’ and management’s global mindset and the commitment of resources leading to international growth (Andersson, 2000; Knight & Causgil, 2004). Born globals is, by definition, a born global firm “forever”, as has been characterized by their early years.  We argue that the early years make these firms a special type of firms that will influence their further international development. Firms with a long-term focus on the domestic market must unlearn routines rooted in the domestic context before new, internationally oriented routines can be learned. An early entrance to international markets forces born globals to adopt to new contexts and create new knowledge that leads to new routines and creates a culture in the firms to adapt to new international opportunities (Andersson & Evers, 2015; Autio et al ., 2000, Cavusgil & Knight, 2004).

There has been extensive research on born globals’ internationalization dealing with which markets, and market channels firms should choose to grow internationally. There has also been extensive research dealing with antecedents and factors influencing these choices. The focus on born global research has also been on the very early stages in the internationalization process. Few studies have captured the long-term behaviour and growth of born globals (2008; Gabrielsson and Gabrielsson, 2013, Melen Hånell, Nordman and Sharma, 2014). A question that has been very little addressed is: what happens to born global firms when they grow up (Cavusgil & Knight, 2015)? In this study we define this grown up born global firms as mature born globals (c. f. Hagen & Zuchella, 2014, maturing born global firms). To succeed with a continued international expansion, the born global firms need to increase sales on international markets. The underlying reason for success on international markets and continuous growth is that the mature born global firms have an offer that gives higher value to the customer than their competitors. However customer value is not explicitly treated in internationalization theories (Axinn & Matthyssen, 2002). To our knowledge there has not been any research that has, in- depth, explored how mature born globals create value for customers to create international growth. In line with the above discussion, the aim of this study is to investigate how mature born global firms create value for customers to create international growth.

METHOD

A qualitative approach has been adopted to enable us to investigate, in-depth, an under-researched area (Ghauri and Gronhaug, 2010; and Yin, 1989) “how born global firms create value for customers to create international growth”. In all, the study was conducted with five companies. The key factor underpinning the selection of the five cases was conceptual relevance rather than representative grounds, so we used theoretical sampling (Miles and Huberman 1994). We conducted a review of annual reports, other secondary documentation, and the websites of the case firms. We combined secondary data research and field interviews and workshops with the CEOs in the case firms. The researchers constructed an interview-guide based on earlier literature and discussion on a works-shop. Interviews were carried out with the five CEOs and transcribed. Data analysis included several steps. The information from the interviews, and other sources served as descriptive narratives, which helped us process the large volume of data (Mintzberg and McHugh 1985). This process enabled the unique patterns of each case to emerge before cross-case comparison (Eisenhardt 1989; Yin 1994) was undertaken. Our aim and research question served as the basic structure for data analysis.

CONCLUSIONS

We conclude that a strong focus on customer value creation was in focus. To create customer value a combination of proactive and reactive market orientation was implemented built on a competitive offer that was hard to replicate. Depending on the characteristics of the buyer-seller relationship different tools were used to build relationship value. The revenue earned is invested in further international growth, by investing in market driving activities, and entrepreneurial alertness to act on upcoming opportunities was crucial. This study contributes to the international entrepreneurship field by explicitly including marketing literature and empirically investigating how value is created to achieve international growth in born globals. This study also contributes to the industrial marketing field by developing a model that shows how born global firms create value for international customers to generate international growth in a B2B context.

Purpose – This study aims to investigate how mature born global firms create value for customers to achieve continued international growth.

Design/methodology/approach – The study employs a case study approach to investigate the underresearched area of how mature born globals create value for customers and, by doing so, contribute to their continued international growth. This in-depth examination of how three born globals developed over time uses interviews, observation and secondary data.

Findings – The findings indicate that the entrepreneurs of born global firms, that continued to grow, created a culture in the early stages that supported value creation for foreign customers. These firms have built a competitive position by developing international niche products. They have also implemented a combination of proactive and reactive market orientation to facilitate the creation and delivery of value to customers. To maintain growth, they further invest the revenues earned on additional international marketing activities and continuously enhance their focal products.

Research limitations/implications – The study relies on three cases. We therefore recommend that future studies extend the scope of the research to several companies in various industries and countries, in which the theoretical arguments can be applied. In addition, further studies that test the propositions developed in this study, in different contexts, are highly recommended.

Practical implications – To gain international growth, managers should create an organizational culture that facilitates satisfying international customer needs. Firms should continuously invest in sales and market development (e.g. social media marketing, personal selling) and undertake technology development of niche rather than new products. To achieve international growth, managers need to standardize part of the offer to achieve economies of scale and adapt the other part to international customers’ needs.

Originality/value – Research on born globals has focused on the early stages of their internationalization processes, while largely neglecting the later stages (mature born globals) or the factors that lead to continued international growth. To address this gap, this study explores what happens when born globals ‘grow up’. This study contributes to the literature by capturing the factors and processes underlying how mature born globals create value for customers, for international growth. In particular, the study shows that the culture and strategies developed in the born globals’ early stages also lead to international growth in later stages. The mature born globals have also invested in niche products, brand building, and effective market channels and adopted a combination of proactive and reactive market orientations. © 2019 Emerald Publishing Limited

The aim of this paper is to investigate how born global firms co-operate with local and international network actors to provide innovations for international growth, Consequently, born globals’ use of their own innovation capabilities, stemming from firm-specific advantages, and their access to complementary resources and activities of their network partners, termed here as network capabilities, are analyzed to aid our understanding of the provision of innovative solutions that lead to firms’ international growth. The paper opted for an exploratory study, using a qualitative case study approach of five born global companies. Focus groups, work-shops and interviews with the entrepreneur-CEOs in the companies are used to gain deep insight into innovation and internationalization processes that underlie the case companies’ international growth. The study shows that the entrepreneur-CEOs’ networking and innovation capabilities, have been crucial for the born global firms international growth. A high responsiveness to changes in the environment and incremental rather than radical innovation characterize the firms’ growth. A fruitful relationship between the Born Globals and other actors is crucial for them to be able to get access to resources, which can complement their own to create innovative solutions that will lead to growth. 

Importance and key contribution

Research on firm’s that already from inception see the whole world as a market and/or the whole world as a source to access resources, so called born globals (Andersson & Wictor, 2003), have been growing during the last decades (Jones, Coviello and Tang, 2012).  These firms are characterized of innovative business models that are competitive on the global market already from inception (Hennart, 2013). To succeed with a continued international expansion, the born global firms need to adapt their respective business models for a more complex environment; in more institutionally remote markets. The continued growth phase of born globals are scarcely treated in earlier research (Gabrielsson & Gabrielsson, 2013).

Earlier studies on Born Globals have focused on Born Globals’ development in western, developed countries. Therefore there is a need to examine Born Globals’ activities on emerging markets (Kiss et al, 2012). The attractiveness and growth opportunities in emerging markets are perceived to be higher than what obtains in other conceivable markets of the world (Cavusgil, Knight, and Risenberger, 2012).

Important in this stage is handle relationship with different stakeholders on a global base. An important tool to handle this relationship is the companies’ branding strategy. Few studies have combined research on born globals’ internationalization and branding (Gabrielsson, 2005) and there is a need to further develop the knowledge about branding and international growth. This study aims to explore how born global companies are using brand management when growing on emerging markets. This study contributes to the international entrepreneurship field by exploring growth on emerging markets, it also contributes by adding knowledge from the brand management field to explore international growth.

Theoretical base

In recent studies the “global” part in the BG has been criticized (Lopez, Kundu and Ciravegena, 2009, Rugman and Almodovar, 2011). Some researchers argue that there a very few really Born Global firms with activities in the three economic and political power bases in the world. NAFTA, EU and the largest eight Asia-Pacific economies (Rugman and Almodovar, 2011). Implicit in research on Born Global firms is that distance (geographic, psychic, cultural, and institutional) is no longer an important issue when the international behaviour and international performance in a Born Global is discussed. We argue that the reason for that is a bias in the research treating Born Global firms with focus on companies that both have their origin and target markets in high-developed economies. Peiris, Akoorie and Sinha (2012) showed that most studies on Born Global firm were done on firms originating in developed countries and only a few studies were done on firms from emerging countries. Studies from emerging countries mainly were done on Chinese firms and very few studies has treated firms from Middle east, Africa or South Asia. Another reason why the Born Global research has not focused on institutional differences can partly be explained by the fact that the Born Global studies have looked internally at firm-specific factors (e.g. using resource-based view and knowledge-based view of the firm as a theoretical domain) (Andersson, Evers and Kuivalainen, 2014; Knight and Cavusgil, 2004).

We argue that institutional differences affect Born Globals’ international behaviour (scope, speed, and entry mode); and to investigate how institutional distances affect Born Global firms, it is important to include nations with a variety of institutional and cultural characteristics. Born Global firms from developed countries entering institutionally distant markets will meet a context that is different from their home markets. Regulations, culture etc. differ and relationships are often fewer and weaker than, the companies’ relationships with western companies.  Born Global companies from developed countries still first focus on other developed countries, followed by emerging markets (e. g China and Brazil). We argue that institutional distance still matters and that firms from developed countries still have more and stronger networks in other developed countries. More research is needed two explore how this influence Born Global firms’ internationalization processes.

Most studies on born globals have focused on firms in a business-to business context. Also this study is focusing on this sector. Even if most brand management studies have focus on business-to consumer sectors, there is an increasing stream of literature that has shown the importance of brand management also in business-to business settings (Gabrielsson & Gabrielsson, 2005). Brands are used to build relationships with customers. In emerging markets, western companies have fewer and weaker relationships, as the distance is longer (see the discussion above. Research is needed to explore how brand management can be used to create and sustain relationships on emerging markets. The above discussion lead us to the following research questions.

Research questions

How do born globals manage the organization’s international growth in in emerging markets?

Which role has brand management to create and sustain relationships with internal and external stakeholders on emerging markets?

Method and Findings

Emprical data will be gathered during the Spring 2015. A case approach is considered as the most appropriate to catch the complexity of value creating process in international network context (Yin, 1994). The case study approach is under-represented in studies about internationalization and has been recommended as a fruitful way to expand the knowledge in this area (e.g Andersson, 2000, Cavusgil, 1980). Eisenhardt (1989) recommends case studies as a fruitful way to give a deeper insight in conflicting literature, as well as sharpening the generalizability of different theoretical standpoints which is an important goal in this study. There is a need to learn more about special types of firms and not only to look for the average firm (Andriani and McKelvey, 2007). The close relationship already established with the firms will make it possible to receive information that is hard to get access to with other methods (Welch et al, 2002).

The cases will be built built on action research in co-operation with the partner firms, work-shops, personal interviews and observations but complemented with secondary data, such as, annual reports and internal documents. The individuals who have the greatest influence on the internationalization processes will be interviewed. Interviews and observations will lead to the identification of individuals/actors who are central in the international value creating processes. This includes actors outside the focal company, such as customers, suppliers, and co-operation partners. Our long co-operation with the companies has created trustful relationship between the researchers and the company representatives.

The analysis of the data will include several steps. The information from interviews and other sources will be written down in descriptive narratives. This process allows the researcher to become intimately familiar with each case and allows the unique patterns of each case to emerge before cross-case comparison (Eisenhardt, 1989). The analysis will be carried out together with companies and results will be a base for decisions in each companies as well as part in academic research.

Patterns will be identified among the cases (Yin, 1994). Earlier theoretical findings will be compared with the international development in the cases. Thereafter, the theory will be revised and the findings examined again. The reasoning is, in other words, not entirely inductive or deductive (Yin 1989). Following Eisenhardt’s (1989) recommendations, the analysis will include several iterations between theory and data.

Implications

The study will also give knowledge about pros and cons with different localisation alternatives on emerging markets. It is easy to just follow management trends (everyone should out-source production and buy supplies from China) and “go with the flock” instead of get knowledge of different alternatives. The comparison between the different firms will increase the knowledge about when different alternatives are suitable.

The aim of this chapter is to shed light on how a born global can obtain continued growth internationally, in institutionally distant markets. We are seeking a deeper understanding of international growth for born global enterprises by combining theories of networks and institutional perspective. We discuss how institutional distance affects the internationalization processes in born globals. We seek to highlight why and how a born global firm does enter different markets. In this respect, born globals from developed countries and those from emerging markets are compared, leading us to derive some propositions from our discussions.

Finally some suggestions for future research are presented. 

The purpose of this study is to examine whether mega-sport events influence visitors' destination images and to explore which factors influence their perceptions of and intentions to attend a mega-sport event in certain destinations. We examine visitors' perceptions of the 2016 UEFA European Football Championship in France, the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, and the upcoming 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar through a structured questionnaire published on the Facebook group Camp Sweden, a community of Swedish football supporters. We find differences among supporters’ destination image after they attended the mega-sport football events. The study also shows that positive destination images after visits were based on whether the destinations were able to satisfy important factors for supporters when visiting the destination. Qatar will be challenged to improve its destination image, as supporters do not connect factors important for visiting destinations with their current perceptions of Qatar. © 2020 Elsevier Ltd

A wealth of research in the past decades has examined born globals or international new ventures, which are firms that from inception view the whole world as a market and as a source to access resources. Many of these firms build their competitive advantage on high-tech knowledge. However, although many studies have shown how born globals can achieve success if they access resources through their relationships from actors in their networks, few studies have explored the relationship between born globals and universities. Universities are important actors in creating new technology knowledge, and many studies have shown how new firms, or so-called university spin-offs (USOs), are formed around universities. The current study explores why some USOs are successful in their international growth strategy and discusses the factors that influence and facilitate the internationalization process. The study investigates 10 USOs around the newly established Halmstad University in Sweden and finds that universities have a positive effect on firm creation and initial international growth. The regional competence base increases from the establishment of a local university, primarily by strengthening the regional human capital and by increasing university research. This study shows that researcher entrepreneurs’ ventures start as born globals, but that these firms do not continue to grow. Born global business models, per se, do not lead to competitive advantage and successful internationalization. Instead, a strategy built on customer focus and an ability to adapt to different customer demands lead to growth, and the location of growth is dependent on the size of the home market. This study also shows that student entrepreneurship can be a successful growth strategy for USOs focusing on both international and local markets. © 2016 Springer Science+Business Media New York

Research on firm’s that already from inception see the whole world as a market and/or the whole world as a source to access resources, so called born globals. Many of these firms, build their competitive advantage on high-tech knowledge. Universities have shown to be an important actor, to create technology knowledge, and numerous studies have shown how new firms are created around universities, so called University Spin-offs (USOs). Earlier research has shown that some USOs are successful with their international growth strategies. This study aims to explore why some USOs are successful in their international growth strategy and some are not. 10 USO around the newly established Halmstad University in Sweden is investigated. Both USOs founded be students and researchers are included in the sample. This study shows the positive influence of a university for firm creation and international growth. The regional competence base has increased by the establishment of a local university, primarily by strengthening the regional human capital, but lately also by an increased amount of university research. This study has showed student entrepreneurs more successful in growth and international development than researcher entrepreneurs, which imply that further development of support for student entrepreneurship is fruitful to create international growing firms.

Born Global firms are becoming increasingly more important in terms of internationalization, innovation, ability to grow and providing employment. Most of the previous research about BornGlobals is done in North America, Europe or Australia, all these being developed industrialized countries but not developing countries or emerging markets. However, the emerging markets in general, and the Chinese in particular, have become very important for the world economy. Our aim is to investigate the differences between Western literature and literature from emerging markets, regarding internationalization process of Born Global firms. We also aim to discuss the various success factors, which underlie Born Globals’ internationalization process, particularly focusing on Born Globals firms in the China. Our methodology in this research has been literature review and interviews with Chinese CEOs of Born Global firms. However, this paper is only based on the litterateur part of our research. Our analysis shows that most of the Chinese Born Globals publications about the internationalization success factors are based on the Western literature and use them as the theoretical platform in the design of their own research strategy and research questions design. The consequence of this observation is important as it indicates that Chinese researchers are reproducing research under different contextual and situational conditions that might lead to unclear conclusions or maybe even wrong conclusions. Furthermore, compared to most Western Born Global companies, which treat innovation as core competence, the innovation culture becomes one of the biggest weaknesses of Chinese manufacturing Born Globals’ internationalization. China has special economic environment. Chinese manufacturing Born Globals not only need to follow the market but also the government policies, since the government greatly influences the industries and the whole economy. To foreign investors who want to exploit Chinese market, they also should take Chinese economic background and government policies into consideration. One important aspect of Chinese born Globals, neglected in previous research on Born Globals, that has been identified in our research, is the critical success factor of Chinese manufacturing Born Globals—the political and economic background and the role of the Chinese Government in the transformation process of Chinese business life, and the Guanxi network.

This article aims to advance theoretical knowledge of the international opportunity recognition in international new ventures (INVs) from a dynamic capabilities perspective with particular focus on the emergent perspective of dynamic managerial capabilities. Building the extant literature on international opportunity recognition, dynamic capabilities theory, this paper presents a conceptual framework explaining how dynamic capabilities of the firm can be created and enacted through the entrepreneur’s dynamic managerial capabilities and actions for international opportunity identification for international firm growth. Drawing on the dynamic capabilities theory and more recent dynamic managerial capabilities perspective, this article enriches understanding of how opportunities are identified for the venture’s international development and growth. The article concludes with theoretical and research implications. © 2015 Springer Science+Business Media New York

This article explores how the firm’s business and social relationships influence how adolescent Swedish born globals and Born Again Globals develop their customer base following post market entry into China. Using the network perspective and extant research on Chinese Guanxi, this study shows how Swedish manufacturing exporters leverage their network relationships in different phases the internationalisation process, in term of the extension, penetration and integration upon entry and post-market entry into China. A qualitative case study approach of three Swedish manufacturing adolescent born global and born again firms, on the Chinese market is employed. A framework developed from a network perspective is used to analyze the data. The study demonstrates the importance, and the degrees of impact, of business and social networks in market and post market entry into China. Business networks emerge as most important in the first part of the market entry process and when networks were integrated between China and other markets. However, social relationships had greater impact in facilitating the firm’s commitment of resources and its market penetration into China. The study also shows that business and social networks were interpreted as synonymous in the Chinese business context, in that social relationships (Guanxi) were considered just as important as business relationships from the Chinese perspective. Hence managing social dimensions of the relationship (Guanxi) were just as important as the business dimensions when conducting relationships with their Chinese customer and business partners.

Purpose: This study aims to explore the entrepreneurial marketing (EM) behaviour of Swedish born globals entering the Chinese market through their international networks. Drawing from the network theory of small firm internationalisation, this study is positioned in the domain of EM, and thus captures the relevance of EM behaviour to explain how born globals internationalise through their networks.

Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative case study approach of two Swedish born global companies active in the Chinese market is used. The network theory helps analyse the data in the three phases of firm internationalisation processes.

Findings: The study shows the importance of networks for the enactment of EM for born globals. The study traces the evolution of network development in the market entry process of born globals and highlights the importance of aligning network leverage with contextual factors for market performance.

Research limitations/implications: The generalisation of the findings is limited due to the exploratory nature of the study and the size of the research sample.

Practical implications: Management of different types of networks is essential in the entry process and further growth of born globals in the Chinese market. In addition, born globals operating in psychically distant and complex institutionally contexts can especially gain support from intermediary networks.

Originality/value: This study extends knowledge of international entrepreneurship by demonstrating that born global managers can enact EM behaviour by leveraging networks to gain rapid entry into the Chinese market. It further highlights the role of firms’ networks in the EM activities in their internationalisation. The conceptual underpinnings of EM and network theory provide greater understanding of how born globals enter and grow their psychically distant markets.

 © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited.

The nature of the industry, or the environment in which the firm operates, can have a significant impact on the internationalization of the new venture. The impact of industry factors has received limited attention in the context of international entrepreneurship, however. The goals of this conceptual paper are the following: First, we present some insights into the industry idiosyncrasies and INVs and present a conceptual framework identifying key industry variables to aid further examination of the role industry factors on new venture internationalization processes and strategies, and hence, this paper can be seen as an early version of the conceptual review. Second, we build up propositions how industry affects the internationalization process of the INVs. In this we provide a platform for further studies in the domain of international entrepreneurship.

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to, first, offer insights into the relationship between industry idiosyncrasies and international new ventures (INVs), and then present a research conceptual framework that identifies the role of industry factors in new venture internationalization processes and strategies. Second, the authors introduce the content of this special issue. Design/methodology/approach – This conceptual article builds on extant studies on INVs operating in different industrial contexts. Particular attention is given to the role of industry influences in the processes of new venture internationalization, in terms of speed, geographical scope and entry strategy. Such factors are discussed to formulate a conceptual framework as a basis for further research. Findings – The conceptual framework identifies key industry factors as well as emergent factors that influence the new venture internationalization process, in terms of speed, geographical scope and entry strategy. Such key influencing factors are competition and structure, industry life cycle, industry concentration, knowledge intensity, local cluster internationalization and global industry integration. Emergent factors are identified as new business models, technology and industry network dynamics. Research limitations/implications – This article is conceptual in nature, and thus empirical research is recommended in diverse contexts. Practical implications – Further analysis of industry factors is a valid research avenue for understanding INVs. Originality/value – This special issue offers new insights into how industry factors influence INVs’ internationalization processes in terms of speed, scope and entry strategy.

This study shows how imprinting episodes in entrepreneurs’ childhood and prior life story influence their mind-sets, which influence the entrepreneur’s venture creation and their firms international behaviour. Depending on the imprinting experiences, entrepreneurs develop skills and mind-sets with preferences and especially desires that will affect the total behaviour of their future organization.  The study also shows how firms’ international growth can be an important part of a firm’s strategy, but also a consequence of strategy that not per se include internationalization.

An emerging topic in the field of International Entrepreneurship (IE) is currently focused on international new ventures (INVs) and/or born-globals (Oviatt and McDougall, 1997; Madsen and Servais, 1997; Knight and Cavusgil, 1996) which are, by theoretic definition, start-ups that become international at inception or very shortly thereafter. More concretely, INVs have been previously defined as “a business organization that, from inception, seeks to derive significant competitive advantage from the use of resources and the sale of outputs in multiple countries” (Oviatt and McDougall, 1994: 49; McDougall et al., 1994:470). Quite similarly, Knight and Cavusgil (1996:11) conceptualise the born-global firm as ““small, [usually] technology-oriented companies that operate in international markets from the earliest days of their establishment”.

Even if the born global research has grown rapidly during the last decades, most studies have focused on entrepreneurs, resources and networks and only a few researchers are observant about the context in which the born global firms are established and thrives. Literature reviews in international entrepreneurship has shown that most research in this area is based on business to business firms (Jones et al, 2012). However, we have not found any studies which go deeper in the different customer-supplier relationships that exist in a B2B context.

Adaptation on B2B markets is important to make a relationship more productive, according to Hagberg-Anderson (2006).  There are structural factors, in the relationship between sellers and buyers which make different internationalization strategies more likely to succeed (Andersson, 2000).In this article we thoroughly discuss and review scientific articles that highlights the variation, differentiation and typology of international new venture. We complement this review with literature dealing with buyer-seller relationship in a B2B context. Based on these two strands on literature we develop a framework of different types of international new ventures in a business to business context. The framework gives theoretical contributions to the area of international entrepreneurship research but also managerial implication, showing how different types of relationships with customers make different internationalization strategies more or less likely to succeed.

Today’s mobile phone sector is marked by intensified competition and strong market penetration. In this environment, the carriers offer their customers a wide variety of services that are quite similar from one operator to another. These customers are always searching for a quality of experience (QoE). On one hand, operators interact with their customers through CRM practices inspired by their marketing strategies and rolled out through their procedures and technological support. On the other hand, the customers expect an extremely high quality of service (QoS) and subjectively perceive the utility and usability (Qp) of these mobile services. This paradox led us to study the impact of CRM on the customer experience (QoE) in the mobile phone industry, in this study with data from Morocco. Empirical data confirms existing theory, CRM determinants for QoE include quality of service, quality of interaction with customer, claims management and customer knowledge. However, we also found that practitioners are aware that organizations should look beyond the relationship to manage the customer experience. To this end we developed a model based on the first four CRM determinants and the findings in this study.

This study tests a construct of Conscientious Corporate Brand (hereinafter called CCB) introduced by Rindell et al. (2011). It assesses the dimensions of environmental and climate change issues, and the internal and external corporate codes of ethics. Subsequently, it builds upon and validates previous research in the field of ethical branding. The study was performed in business-to-business relationships of large Turkish companies. Copyright © 2013 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

This study examines a construct of relationship quality (RELQUAL) in Turkish business relationships, and appears to be the first of its kind in this region. The sample frame comprises the 500 largest companies in Turkey based upon revenue across multiple industries. The analysis yield support to the argument that continuity, trust, coordination, opportunism, commitment, formalisation, specific assets, dependence, satisfaction and cooperation are separate constructs that play an important role in creating relationship quality in Turkish business relationships. This study is of managerial and theoretical interest to executives and researchers since it provides a framework of constructs to be considered in corporate efforts in maintaining satisfactory levels of relationship quality, not only in Turkish business relationships, but it may also be applicable in other business relationships and countries. Copyright © 2012 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

The aim of this paper is to provide insights of market intelligence and answer to the question “What is market intelligence?” by reviewing existing literature of market intelligence. This study also aims to investigate the connection between market intelligence and Game theory, which is believed by the authors to create the foundation for market intelligence studies. The search of relevant material for this literature review was conducted by using the databases of Halmstad University and Google Scholar. Due to the lack of literature on market intelligence as an overall theory, also other literature, such as books, were utilized besides the articles. This study recognizes six theoretical connections based on the reviewed literature and Game theory. Also, a general definition of market intelligence was recognized as a result of the literature review.

The aim of this paper is to answer to a research question: “How does the entrepreneur’s motivation affect the success of the company in rural areas?” The theoretical framework conducted for this study discusses rural entrepreneurship and motivation as a success factor. Relevant material for this study is gathered by utilizing the databases of Halmstad university and Google Scholar. A case study approach is used and academic literature on the topic is reviewed. Different motivational factors of entrepreneurs in rural areas were identified based on this study. Further studies in this field is encouraged to strengthen this topic and/or provide with other aspects missing in this research due to limitations.

The aim of this review is to provide insights to the usage of Kano-model and innovation product development, and at the same time, answer to the research question “How customer needs can be identified by using Kano-model for innovation product development?” The research is conducted by reviewing existing literature on Kano- model and innovation product development (IPD). The relevant literature used for this research is conducted by utilizing the databases of Halmstad University and Google Scholar. A model for customer needs identification by using Kano model for Innovation Product Development (IPD) was constructed based on the reviewed theories. In addition, a general recognition for the term of IPD was acknowledged.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the corporate codes of ethics (CCE) that are put in place by companies in Taiwan and Turkey.

Design/methodology/approach – This study examines the use of CCE among the top companies in Taiwan and Turkey. It is a replication of a study performed in Australia, Canada and Sweden and a follow-up study.

Findings – The empirical findings show many similarities with top companies in Australia, Canada and Sweden, but more importantly identify key differences distinctly unique to each of the two countries under investigation. Statistical analysis suggests that the implementation, communication and benefits of CCE are paramount to Turkish companies operating in a domestic environment where the aspiration to participate globally and join the European Union is high, whereas in Taiwan it is low in favor of more traditional business practices (similar to the Chinese concept of guanxi) that focus on individual relationships in favor of formalized regulatory frameworks (such as CCE).

Originality/value – This study makes a complementary contribution to the accumulated knowledge in the area of CCE, particularly given the cultural and historical differences these countries possess in comparison to each other and those previously studied and documented in the literature.

We investigate how Cultural and Formal Institutional distances affect the performance of foreign multinational subsidiaries in Latin America. We measure distance in opposite directions separately in a way that allows verifying its asymmetrical properties. Data is from Orbis database and includes 1466 foreign subsidiaries and 168 combinations of home and host countries for a period ranging from 2013 to 2015. Findings reveal that not all formal institutional distances affect the performance of developed country subsidiaries in a negative manner when operating in less developed countries as these firms know how to interpret and respond to different regulatory quality conditions in the host countries. We show that Latin American firms are in advantage dealing with formal institutional distances while they are affected in the same manner by cultural distances when compared to emerging market firms from outside Latin America. Subsidiaries from emerging markets are affected in a positive manner when operating in less developed countries and in a negative way when in more developed host countries. Results show that formal institutional distances may be easier to convert into firm specific advantages when compared to cultural distances. Formal institutional distances moderate in a positive manner the relationship between cultural distance and performance.

This study investigates how Cultural and Formal Institutional distances and their interaction affect the performance of subsidiary firms in Latin America. We show that using Kogut and Singh (1988) index or attributing the positive and negative signals for distances in opposite directions fail to capture asymmetry as it treats distance as either symmetric or opposing symmetric. In order to overcome this limitations distance in opposite directions are measured separately and independently in a way that allows verifying its asymmetrical effects. Tests include 1466 subsidiaries and 168 combinations of home and host countries for a period ranging from 2013 to 2015. Findings confirm that formal and cultural distances are asymmetric as the effects depend on the direction. Moreover not all formal institutional distances affect in a negative manner the performance of developed country subsidiaries operating in less developed countries as these firms know how to interpret and respond to different regulatory quality conditions in the host countries. We show that Latin American firms are in advantage dealing with formal institutional distances while they are affected in the same manner by cultural distances when compared to other emerging market firms from outside Latin America. Findings indicate that emerging market firms are affected in a positive manner when operating in less developed countries and in a negative way when institutions in the host country are superior to its home country. Finally, results show that formal institutional distances moderate in a positive manner the relationship between cultural distance and performance. 

Despite being an important construct, there is an ever-growing concern related to the conceptual and methodological aspects of the Cultural Distance (CD) construct. Critiques suggest that several important properties of CD might have been neglected. While most studies focus on the magnitude (size) of CD, we argue that the construct is incomplete as it does not account for the direction and the specific characteristics of each cultural dimension. Furthermore, although cultures may not be compared in terms of better or worse, when it comes to the implication to foreign subsidiary firms, some cultural characteristics in the host country can be more or less favorable to doing business. We use panel data including foreign subsidiaries from developed countries, emerging markets and Latin America operating in 10 host countries in Latin America totaling 4226 firm-year observations and a combination of 168 home and countries. The asymmetric effects for the direction of CD are highlighted as some cultural characteristics in the host country seem to affect firms in similar ways regardless of cultural similarities between home and host countries. While firms from the region do not seem to be in advantage in dealing with CD, the positive and significant effects for the Power Distance dimension reveals the legitimate use of power attributed to developed country firms operating in Latin America. The asymmetric effects are highlighted as some cultural characteristics in the host countries can be more or less favorable for foreign subsidiary firms to do business. The study highlights important characteristics of CD and points venues for future research."

Advertisements (ads) in social networking sites (SNSAs) have been considered by many researchers as a crucial area of research. However, the scope of the existing studies on consumers’ assessments of SNSAs has been very limited. Most of the existing studies on assessing SNSAs have focused on Ducoffe’s (1996) model with its three variables, and they have ignored other related variables like the credibility value and interactivity value of the advertisement, which are more logically related to SNSAs than the traditional ads. Moreover, most of these studies have been skewed towards younger users and have ignored the social networking site (SNS) users from other age categories. Finally, previous studies about the assessment of SNSAs have depended on data collected from users of popular SNSs and ignored active users from the brand communities (fans of brands on SNSs). In this thesis, the present author has emphasized these three points as the major gaps in the literature about assessing SNSAs. Moreover, to deepen our understanding of how SNS users assess SNSAs this study presents the research findings of three published papers with three different purposes and with different levels of analysis.

The first article aimed to extend Ducoffe’s (1996) model – which was used in the previous literature in assessing SNSAs – by considering the ads’ credibility and interactivity values in addition to Ducoffe’s (1996) three variables of information value, entertainment value, and irritation value. A multiple regression analysis was used to test the modified model, and based on the regression analysis of testing the five predictors, the model without the irritation value had the best coefficient of determination (R2). Moreover, coefficient analysis to test the given hypothesis and to determine the coefficients of the predictors was used. According to this survey study, the four primary variables that predicted the consumers’ assessment of the SNSAs were the information value, entertainment value, credibility value, and interactivity value. As perceived by the SNS users, the interactivity value was the strongest among the four predictors.

Based on the unexpected result ofthe irritation value of the first paper, the second paper focused on testing the extended model of the assessments of SNSAs as perceived by a different research population, in this case, brand communities’ consumers (BCCs). Based on the regression analysis of testing the five predictors, the model with the five predictors had the best coefficient of determination (R2). The coefficient analysis was used to test the given hypothesis, to determine the coefficients of the five predictors, and to form a construct equation for assessing the SNSAs. Based on this survey study, the four variables with significant positive effects on the consumers’ assessment of SNSAs were informativeness, entertainment value, credibility value, and interactivity value, while the fifth dimension (irritation value) had a significant negative coefficient on the consumers’ assessment of SNSAs. Moreover, that study provided a deeper understanding of how the BCCs assess SNSAs, and it contributed to identifying the main characteristics ofthe BCCs on an SNS.

The third paper focused on exploring the effect of national culture on the consumers’ assessment of SNSAs. The cultural features of the respondents in that study gave additional evidence about how a nation’s cultural characteristics can influence the consumers’ assessment of SNSAs. This study helped to identify how SNS users from Egypt, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom assess SNSAs. In this study, one-way analysis of variance with post hoc tests was used to compare the assessments of the three nations. Based on the empirical findings of this survey study, the three groups had significant difference F-ratios for their perception of four of the five variables for assessing SNSAs. Their perceptions of the entertainment value did not significantly differ between the three groups while the interactivity value had the strongest F-ratio.

The overall purpose of this study was to deepen our understanding of how SNS users are assessing SNSAs in different settings by considering SNS users, BCCs, and others from various nations. All of the studies presented here have focused on variables for assessing the ads that have been used by other researchers in different research contexts.

A consequence of the growing number of the studies concerning ads on social networking sites, and the failure to provide an in-depth analysis of that stream of research is the need to adopt systematic approaches to assess and aggregate research outcomes. This article presents an up-to-date review of peer-reviewed relevant articles to consumers’ responses to advertisements on SNSs. It helps to identify 100 relevant studies published in the period 2009–2017 from different management and social science fields; including marketing, advertising, communication, social science, and relationship management. It reflects six predominate research trends; 1) Antecedents of acceptance or avoidance of ads 2) Consumers’ perception and assessment of ads’ value 3) consumers’ attitude towards ads 4) Consumers’ purchase intention  5) Consumers’ referral mechanism, and 6) Benefits gained. Also, the topics researched and major results, year of publication, journal, theoretical framework, research method, sampling, and means of analysis were examined for each article. It helps to provide an objective summary of research evidence on the antecedents of consumers’ responses to ads on social networking sites. It concludes by offering an agenda for future studies.

In light of the identified shortcomings in the earlier studies of consumers’ assessment of advertisement value on social networking sites, and the relative importance of explaining advertisement value, the overall purpose of this dissertation is to develop and empirically test a conceptual framework that can advance knowledge and increase our understanding of how online consumers assess the value of advertisements on social networking sites. In reference to this purpose, this doctoral dissertation has sought to answer the following overarching research question: What are the relevant variables that predict online consumers’ assessment of advertisement value on social networking sites, and how do these variables affect their assessment?

To achieve the purpose of this study and to answer its overarching research question, a mixed method approach was used, adapting both quantitative and qualitative methods. A sequential explanatory strategy using mixed methods was the primary approach used to explain and interpret the quantitative results, by collecting and analyzing follow-up qualitative data. Consequently, this study started by doing a systematic literature review to identify the related factors, followed by a conceptual study to provide an extended conceptual framework that connected consumer beliefs to their sources of gratifications from using SNSs. That conceptual framework was partially examined in three survey papers to test the effects of its five belief factors (information value, entertainment value, irritation value, interactivity value, and credibility value) on assesments of advertisement value on SNSs. The three survey papers found that these five belief factors have significant effects on assessments of advertisement value on social networking sites. However, those effects varied according to consumers’ cultural backgrounds. The three survey papers were then followed by a qualitative focus group study to give a deeper explanation, and to discover the underlying reasons behind consumers’ assessment of advertisement value. That focus group study confirmed the role of culture in assessing the value of advertisements, and it gave deeper explanations behind the reasons for that variance in assessments of advertisement value within the context of social networking sites from one research population to another. In general, this study contributes to the understanding of consumers’ assessments of advertisements on social networking sites. It offers a new approach by connecting consumers’ gratifications from using social networking sites to their assessment of advertisement value. In turn, it helps to reflect a number of valuable insights that can be utilized by both researchers and marketers in order to understand how the addressed factors enhance consumers’ assessments by testing the contribution of credibility, interactivity value, social influence, pre-purchase search motivation, and cultural backgrounds, in addition to previously tested variables: information value, entertainment value, and irritation value.

The aim of this paper is to propose a conceptual framework addressing factors that predict users’ assessment of the value of ads on social networking sites (SNSs). The basic unit of analysis is the SNSs’ user. The action scene is composed of a set of components that together shape the outcomes of the model to identify these factors. The suggested framework consists of five belief factors (information value, entertainment value, credibility value, irritation value, and interactivity value), one motive factor (individuals’ pre-purchase search motivation), in addition to two social factors (social influence, and national culture). The study aimed to characterize these key elements of the framework, their relationship, and interactions with the perceived value of advertisements. This paper intends to create a common understanding of the basic concepts and a shared conceptual model among scholars researching advertisements on online social networks.

Do consumers of the same brand from different culture have the same perceptions while assessing the advertisements on Social Networking Sites’ (SNSAs)? To answer this question, the data for this study were collected from brand communities’ consumers (BCCs) on SNSs. 278 respondents from three different cultural backgrounds (Egyptians, Dutch and British) answered the questionnaires. Five main variables to collect the consumers’ assessment of SNSAs were tested (information value, entertainment value, credibility value, interactivity value, and irritation value). Based on the empirical findings, the three groups perceived five of the six variables with significant difference F ratios. Consequently, their perception of the entertainment value of SNSAs has no significant differences between the three groups. Based on the cross-cultural theory, the findings of this study have some agreements and some contradictions, especially the influences of power distance and uncertainly avoidance. Moreover, the researchers used the One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with Post Hoc tests to compare between the assessments of the three groups. ©2015 IEEE

Despite the extensive research in the context of brand communities on social networking sites (SNSs), the theoretical foundations underlying consumers’ assessment of advertisements on SNSs’ brand communities was not yet explored. The present study consequently aimed to explore how SNSs’ brand communities’ consumers assess social networks’ advertisements (SNAs). Regression analysis was used to identify the best fit model, and the most effective predictors on the assessment of SNAs. From the collected data, four dimensions had positive significant effects on the consumers’ assessment (informativeness, entertainment value, credibility value and interactivity value), while the fifth dimension (irritation value) had a significant negative effect. The results of this study had some contradictions with some results on previous studies, and confirmed other results. Moreover, the researchers used the descriptive analysis to gain deeper understanding of how the brand communities’ consumers (BCCs) on SNSs assess SNAs, and to identify the main characteristics of the BCCs on SNSs.

Marketers use social network sites (SNSs) to merchandise their products and services more efficiently. However, the scope of the published studies about assessing social network sites advertisements’ value (SNSAV) is limited. The present study consequently aims to include credibility and interactivity in addition to informativeness and entertainment and irritation values as variables for the assessment of SNSAV, as perceived by SNS users.

The data analysis supports the central concepts of this study that informativeness, credibility, interactivity and entertainment values are the main variables of assessing SNSAV, while irritation value has no significant effect on the assessment of SNSAV. Moreover, according to the beta coefficient, informativeness and entertainment values, in conjunction with credibility and interactivity values, have different effects on consumers’ assessment of SNSAV compared to the results of the previous studies.

This study is successful in terms of introducing advertisements’ credibility and interactivity as crucial variables in the assessment of SNSAV. It is also successful with regard to offering a new construct model for assessing SNSAV based on four main dimensions: informativeness, entertainment and credibility and interactivity values. According to the data analysis, interactivity value has the highest significant effect with regard to the assessment of SNSAs.