College of Business Administration

One of the most difficult choices that multinational corporations face is deciding whether to run the same marketing campaign globally or to customize it to the local taste in different countries. In many cases, companies develop their marketing strategy in one country and then do" disaster checking" as they launch the same strategy in other countries instead of trying to discover what would work best in each market (Clegg, 2005). This often leads to ineffective marketing campaigns and damaged reputations.

We argue for the importance of a relatively new cultural distinction in the horizontal (valuing equality) or vertical (emphasizing hierarchy) nature of cultures and cultural orientations. A review of the existing cross-cultural literature is presented suggesting that, although the contribution of the horizontal/vertical distinction is sometimes obscured by methods that conflate it with other dimensions, its impact is distinct from that associated with individualism–collectivism.

Abstract 1. Five studies indicate that conceptualizations of power are important elements of culture and serve culturally relevant goals. These studies provide converging evidence that cultures nurture different views of what is desirable and meaningful to do with power.

Purpose–This paper aims to study English as second language (ESL) consumers in the USA. The authors seek to focus on consumers who are literate in their native country, yet akin to fish out of water due to language difficulties and unfamiliarity with the marketplace. Design/methodology/approach–Using qualitative interviews of 31 informants and shopping observations of a small subset, the authors examined cognitive predilections, decision making, emotional trade-offs, and coping strategies of ESL consumers.

Abstract This research examines the relationship between literacy and consumer memory. The effects of a variety of stimuli at exposure (ie, brand names, brand signatures, and products in usage) on memory (ie, recognition, stem-completion tasks) were examined for a range of literacy. In a series of experiments, we find that the use of pictorial representations of brands (ie, brand signatures) results in superior brand memory for individuals with lower literacy levels when compared to those at higher literacy levels.

The commentaries by Aaker (2006), Meyers-Levy (2006), and Oyserman (2006) extend the implications of the horizontal/vertical distinction described in our article (Shavitt, Lalwani, Zhang, & Torelli, 2006) in a number of interesting directions. We join these authors in calling for further research on horizontal and vertical individualism and collectivism constructs.

Abstract With globalization, the number of individuals with knowledge about multiple cultures is on the rise. This article illustrates how studying consumer reactions to brands that are loaded with cultural meanings can contribute to developing a cultural psychology of globalization. Our review demonstrates that brands can be considered cultural 'products'–they are tangible, public representations of meanings and ideas shared in a culture.

Abstract Five studies indicate that conceptualizations of power are important elements of culture and serve culturally relevant goals. These studies provide converging evidence that cultures nurture different views of what is desirable and meaningful to do with power.

One of the most difficult choices that multinational corporations face is deciding whether to standardize their communication strategy or to customize it to the taste of consumers in different cultural settings. As new global markets emerge, and existing markets become increasingly segmented along ethnic or subcultural lines, the need to market effectively to consumers who have different cultural values has never been more important (Shavitt, Lee, and Torelli 2008).

Research on the role of brands for signaling social identity goals has gained momentum in the last few years (eg, Berger and Heath 2007; White and Dahl 2007). This growth is timely as we see in the marketplace that boundaries defining group-symbolic brands are increasingly blurred (eg, through increased cross-gender and cross-ethnic marketing and faster product adoption-abandonment) and consumers' social roles are increasingly fluid (eg, through digital social networking).

ABSTRACT This research examines the link between culture and consumer phenomena by focusing on the relationship between cultural orientation and mental representations of power. We distinguish among cultures that foster associations of power with statusenhancing concerns, those that encourage associations of power with concerns for the welfare of others, and those that do not emphasize the use of power as a theme for organizing social information.

Results from four studies uncover a relatively automatic cultural congruency mechanism that can influence evaluations of culturally charged brand extensions, overriding the impact of perceived fit on extension evaluations. Culturally congruent extensions (ie, when both the brand and the extension category cue the same cultural schema) were evaluated more favorably than culturally neutral extensions, which in turn were evaluated more favorably than culturally incongruent ones (ie, cue two different cultural schemas).

Abstract Global brands are faced with the challenge of conveying concepts that not only are consistent across borders but also resonate with consumers of different cultures. Building on prior research indicating that abstract brand concepts induce more favorable consumer responses than functional attributes, the authors introduce a generalizable and robust structure of abstract brand concepts as representations of human values.

People buy products not only for what they do, but also for what the product means; thus brands can be symbols that become part of the individual identities of consumers (Levy 1959). McCracken's (1988) model of meaning transfer states that such meaning originates in the culturally constituted world and moves into brands through several instruments such as advertising, the fashion system, and reference groups.

Abstract 1. This research makes strides toward reconciling mixed findings in the value-behavior relation by positing that values are abstract representations of ideal end states that are more likely to influence behavior when individuals think abstractly (vs. concretely) and focus on high-(vs. low-) level motivations for interpreting their actions. In 6 experiments, the authors measured the importance of values (or made them salient via a priming procedure) and simultaneously manipulated accessible mindsets (abstract vs.

Collective beliefs about the values that are widely shared among members of a group are important constituents of the normative shared reality in the group. In two studies, we examined how (a) the circulation of a narrative that resonates with intersubjectively important values and (b) communication that threatens the normative shared reality affect people's culturally motivated evaluative responses, and their implications for the maintenance of normative shared reality.