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Abstract In 2005 Manchester United was taken over by US businessman Malcolm Glazer, in part because of the club's brand name prominence in the global sport of soccer. This paper [...]

Abstract Background: Although elevated levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin (IL)-6, serum amyloid A protein (SAA) and total homocysteine (tHcy) have been associated with the increased likelihood of cardiovascular events, [...]

This paper studies global strategic marketing planning in the advent of worldwide competition and the growing rapidity of change in the international marketplace.

Latin America has emerged from the economic doldrums of the 1970s and 1980s to become a commercial power in its own right in the 1990s. The seeds for change were [...]

Global strategic marketing planning has emerged as a key process in managing today's worldwide marketplace. This survey of 90 large American global corporations reveals that most are bottom-up planners. US firms appear to have distinct cost and numbers orientations. Industry and competitive analyses are used in many companies, although managers appear to lack suitable frameworks for SWOT analyses. Economic climate changes tend to be most disruptive to global planning efforts. When faced with non-achievement of goals, most firms reformulate both objectives and strategies.

An examination of perceptions of television advertising restrictions across developed-developing markets, high-medium-low cultural context countries and individual markets showed that legal constraints oin TV advertising were relatively constant in developed-developing, high-medium-low cultural context countries while social constraints were more remarkable in developing nations. Developed countries, on the other hand, exhibited more liberal advertising policies. A surprising result was that high and low cultural context countries revealed similar trends in legal and social constraints, while a more liberated perspective was gleaned in medium context countries.

Controlling the foreign-based sales force is an increasingly important part of multinational sales management. U.S. firms favor tight, numerically based methods of evaluating sellers whereas non-U.S. tendencies are toward qualitative measures. This 14 multinational, 135 subsidiary study of salesperson evaluation methods in affiliates of U.S.-based firms shows that most U.S. companies 'do as the Romans do' in foreign markets and de-emphasize quantitative ratios in favor of softer qualitative measures. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

The availability of advertising skills in the global market according to the perceptions of advertising executives was analyzed in terms of geographic region, market development level, country and market entry method. A sample population consisting of advertising managers from foreign affiliates of US-based advertising firms was asked to answer questionnaires that required information on agency practices and overseas market conditions. The 344 completed questionnaires were then analyzed. Results of the survey indicated a gradual shrinking of the supply of skilled workers. Advertising agencies in developing countries were more likely to experience market skill shortages than those in developed countries. Among developed nations, small countries, such as Austria, Switzerland and Greece, suffered the most from the scarcity of skilled workers.

Some companies can use the same advertising message throughout the world, while others must adapt their advertisements to particular areas. Multinational companies' (MNC) standardization and adaptation of advertisements were investigated by surveying 15 MNCs and studying 175 promotional messages. The results indicated that 40% of the MNCs had sales platform standardization, while 37% had standardization of creative contexts. Some 81.1% of the messages exhibited either consistent standardization or adaptation of both platforms and creative contexts. The probability of maintaining both creative contexts and sales platforms was 29.1%.

International Communication: An Executive Primer Euphoria frequently turns to paranoia when domestic executives face their first overseas assignment. Disturbing memories come pressing to the fore: * A college anthropology professor [...]

Little empirical research has been reported on multinational sales force management, and none on organizational aspects. Reported here are results from a 14 MNC-135 subsidiary survey of overseas sales management practices. They show that MNCs use independent sales organizations to augment company personnel in affluent markets, in physically-large countries, and where markets are geographically-dispersed or culturally fragmented. In addition, about one sales force in five covers more than one national market. Industry factors are important in the structuring of sales forces, suggesting that industry practices are carried into overseas markets. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

The various aspects of the Japanese business system are not well-understood by foreigners, and as a result, few comprehend how the system as a whole works to support Japanese economic interests. An analysis indicates that Japan protects its markets to preserve an economic system which makes business responsible for retirement and social security and to maintain full employment. In Japan, economic forces and marketing forces come together to support Japan's business system. Industrialized countries which would like Japan to open its business system can suggest a number of changes including asking Japan to increase social security, unemployment, and retirement benefits so that consumers would not need to save as much; encouraging Japan to open its financial sector to international competition; and requesting that Japan establish a national policy to rationalize its distribution channels.