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JOURNAL OF GLOBAL MARKETING , VOL. , NO. , – http://dx.doi.org/./..

EDITORIAL

New Emerging Business Models, Frameworks, and Trends in Global Marketing

Introduction

This is the fourth issue of the Journal of Global Market- ing (JGM) that I have edited. I am glad to report that there is a continued growth both in the quantity and quality of manuscripts being submitted to JGM. As the word of improved quality spreads, the journal’s appeal and reputation will further grow. It is our goal to gain recognition of the Journal of Global Marketing among the top-tier journals and attract the best research arti- cles with a global, cross-cultural, and/or cross-national research in marketing.

I am pleased to announce that we have recently released a Call for Papers for a special issue on the Role of Gender in Global Marketing by Vanessa Ratten and her colleagues. We have also resumed the tradition of publishing book reviews in JGM. We welcome all schol- ars to contact our Book Review Editor, Dr. Justin Paul, if you would like to recommend or review a book.

The team at Taylor and Francis, together with the Associate Editors and Editorial Review Board (ERB) members that we have assembled, is in a unique posi- tion to provide quick and high-quality feedback to the authors on their research manuscripts. It is truly an international team of highly motivated scholars from around the world. I invite you to submit your best research articles in the international, cross-cultural, and cross-national areas for publication consideration in the Journal of Global Marketing. Please visit the jour- nal website (web link provided in the reference section) to check out our Associate Editors and ERB members as well as to review a list of research topics covered in the journal.

It is my pleasure to welcome you to the Volume 29, Number 4 issue of the Journal of Global Marketing. In this issue, we have included five excellent manuscripts that exemplify new emerging business models, frame- works, and trends in global marketing. We have also included a book review in this issue. The five articles and the book review are discussed briefly in this edito- rial.

First article

The lead article, by Shuai Yang and his colleagues, investigates business on WeChat, a new emerging business model in China. WeChat essentially com- bines the traditional e-business with social media networking. The advent of WeChat business has chal- lenged long-established Taobao, the largest Chinese e- commerce website. However, Taobao cannot guaran- tee the authenticity of all products sold on its platform. Buyers need to judge vendors’ reliability by relying on feedback ratings and other information about the ven- dors that is posted on the stores’ webpages. This lack of ability to identify “real” products on Taobao pushes consumers to move to WeChat, as they trust the qual- ity of products that are recommended by their friends or relatives. WeChat enables firms to develop multiple relationships with customers through communications between firms and customers, and between customers and other customers. The key results of the empiri- cal study reported in this article support the positive effects of friendships on product sales. The authors sug- gest that the WeChat business model might be useful in other countries that have online business problems similar to those experienced by Chinese consumers on the Taobao platform. However, if the new Chinese business model were to be applied in mature markets, such as the United States and the United Kingdom, in order to guarantee the authenticity of online prod- ucts, the effects of friendships on product sales may be weakened.

Second article

The second article, by Wan-Hsiu Sunny Tsai and her colleague, is an empirical cross-country study that examines the mechanisms driving consumers’ online group-buying (OGB) intention in China and the United States. Specifically, OGB (like Groupon in the USA) reflects the booming trend of “crowd clouting” that transforms individual purchases into

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172 EDITORIAL

social and collective buying. OGB heavily relies on social influence to attract more buyers. While con- sumers often depend on recommendations from reference groups to minimize the efforts in decision making, social technologies have enhanced the avail- ability, accessibility, and impact of such social influ- ence, particularly in the case of OGB. This article examines the perceptual and psychological antecedents of OGB from a cross-cultural perspective and pro- vides theoretical and strategic insights into the emerg- ing global trend of social e-commerce. The results of the empirical study confirmed that Chinese consumers expressed stronger inclination to purchase from group- buying websites than their U.S. counterparts. In terms of antecedents of U.S. consumers’ OGB intentions, perceived trust and opinion leadership emerged as crucial factors. In other words, when U.S. consumers perceive group-buying websites as trustworthy and keeping promises and commitments, they are more likely to engage in OGB. Additionally, U.S. consumers who consider themselves as opinion leaders in online shopping are more likely to participate in OGB. Among Chinese consumers, their opinion leadership trait sim- ilarly leads to OGB intention.

Third article

The third article, by Linwan Wu and her colleagues, is also an excellent report that investigates effects of country-of-origin, COO, facets and country stereo- types on advertising effectiveness. The authors use the decomposition of the COO concept. That is based on the fact that a large number of products in the current global market are the results of cooperation between two or more countries. Given that a uni- dimensional concept cannot reflect the multinational nature of contemporary products, COO is believed to be multidimensional and can be decomposed into dif- ferent facets, such as country-of-assembly (COA) and country-of-design (COD). The results present a match- up effect between COO facets and country stereo- types. The results of the empirical study show a more favorable attitude towards the advertisement when the participants see COA with a functional country (e.g., Germany) or COD with an emotional country (e.g., Italy). Product types (utilitarian vs. hedonic) do not influence such a match-up effect. Another signif- icant contribution of this study is the demonstration of the effect of COO on consumers’ attitudes toward

advertisements. The article also provides theoretical and practical implications of the findings as well as future research directions.

Fourth article

Tanuj Mathur and his colleagues have reported an excellent empirical study on the effect of service con- venience on consumers’ satisfaction and, in turn, the mediating and direct role of consumers’ satisfaction as well as the role of organizational and consumer per- sonal factors on repurchase intentions. The authors use structural equation analysis to test the hypothe- sized relationships. They used responses from 424 con- sumers who have purchased health insurance from six leading insurance companies in India. The results of the empirical study supported the hypothesis that the service convenience affects consumer satisfaction, which, in turn, plays both a direct and mediating role in influencing consumers’ repurchase intentions. How- ever, the role of organizational and consumer personal factors as moderators between service convenience and consumers’ satisfaction could only be established indi- rectly through post-hoc analysis. The article provides the important implications of the empirical results for planning, designing, and managing the health insur- ance business.

Fifth article

The fifth article, by Qin Sun and her colleagues, fills an important gap in the literature (Seno-Alday, 2010) by examining the relationships between country insti- tutions and resources, country image, and exports based on the institution theory and resource advan- tage theory. Both archival and primary data for 24 countries over 12 years (1995–2006) were used to assess a random-effects panel data model. The coun- tries were selected from six continents (i.e., North America, South America, Asia, Europe, Africa, and Australia). The countries selected were differentiated in terms of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s classification of advanced, emerging, and developing economies. The results of the empirical study reveal the significance of economic development and communi- cation infrastructure on exports. In addition, country image was found to indirectly affect exports. I am confi- dent that the study will provide an impetus for research on export performance at the macro-national level and

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the related international business and country brand- ing issues. Continued research in this field would pro- vide invaluable insights not only for researchers, but also for practitioners and government agencies, espe- cially those from emerging countries.

Book Review

Matteo Montecchi has written a fascinating review of the Handbook of Research on Global Fashion Manage- ment and Merchandising edited by Vecchi and Buckley (2016). The Handbook provides a critical understand- ing of the issues, strategies, and tools that the fashion industry needs. There is a wide range of topics covered in this handbook by many experts in the international fashion management and merchandising field, explor- ing approaches to creativity and innovation, strategic management, and technology in fashion and global marketing practices.

Acknowledgment

I would like to thank the Associate Editors, Editorial Review Board members, and ad hoc reviewers for their time and

effort in providing high-quality feedback to the authors in a timely fashion. I also sincerely appreciate the invaluable support from the editorial, production, and marketing staff of Taylor & Francis.

References

AE and ERB Member contacts, at the Journal website. http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation? show=editorialBoard&journalCode=wglo20#.VvIgS- IrIdU

Seno-Alday, S. (2010). International business thought: A 50- source footprint. Journal of International Management, 16(1), 16–31.

Vecchi, A., & Buckley, C. (Eds.). (2016). Handbook of research on global fashion management and merchandising. Hershey, PA: IGI Global.

Ajay K. Manrai Department of Business Administration,

University of Delaware, DE, USA Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Global Marketing

[email protected]

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