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The impact of linguistic proximity and diglossia on multinational corporations' visual identity extension strategies in multiple sociolinguistically different markets is investigated. Specifically, this study focuses on a sample of Fortune Global 500 corporations and explores their brand name/slogan extension practices in three distinct linguistic contexts: Turkish, Russian and Arabic. The study reveals that the different levels of linguistic proximity systematically influence brand name adaptation including brand name transliteration, as well as slogan translation and new slogan creation in English. The study also finds that these tendencies non-systematically but significantly vary across the levels of diglossia. Conversely, diglossia systematically influences slogan standardization and new slogan creation in a local language, while the effect of linguistic proximity on these practices is non-systematic. © 2017 Macmillan Publishers Ltd.

This research explores the extent to which business ethics and etiquette influence relationship performance across the business relationship lifecycle. Based on a survey from 583 business people from several major Chinese business hubs, this research finds that business ethics and etiquette significantly influence relationship performance success. Dimensions of business ethics such as relationship fairness and relationship stability are found to be significantly associated with relationship performance at the growth and maintenance stages, respectively. Commitment/loyalty business etiquette protocols are found to be important at all stages of the business relationship lifecycle. Additionally, the study found that goal-oriented males and females are more likely to use business ethics and etiquette in comparison to apathy-driven males and females to build successful relationship performance.

Because careless responding to questionnaire items can be quite common, and even low rates of careless responding can substantially impact some analyzes, researchers have been advised to remove careless respondents before data analysis. However, identifying these respondents is a non-trivial task. In the context of multi-item, unidimensional scales, it has been suggested that response variance may hold information about careless responding. This notion was tested in the current research with two studies. Data collected from respondents indicates that people responding carelessly display more variance in their responses than people responding with more effort. Given this finding, a procedure which uses measures of response variance and cluster analysis to identify careless respondents was developed. The effectiveness of the procedure with different specifications was tested with simulated data and validated with data from actual respondents. On the basis of the results, we advocate using the procedure with specifications that conservatively identify careless respondents. Such an approach will identify the most extreme careless respondents, while maximizing the retention of careful, honest respondents. We discuss the advantages the developed procedure has over existing procedures for identifying careless respondents. © 2015 Macmillan Publishers Ltd.

PurposeTo examine customers' readiness for mass‐customised products in two European countries, Turkey and the UK.Design/methodology/approachExamines the demand side of the market and begins to explore whether mass‐customisation can be implemented as an international product strategy. A questionnaire was developed, pre‐tested and administered in the UK and (after translation) in Turkey to potential new car buyers.FindingsA large proportion of customers from both countries would be willing to pay extra to own a product which exactly meets their needs and preferences. However, more respondents in the Turkish sample were willing to do so than in the UK sample. Additionally, Turkish respondents were keen to update the features of their car over time, which favours mass‐customisation.Research limitations/implicationsThis study is exploratory and limited in terms of research sample. Consequently further research is needed to verify the findings. Second, how far the organisation is ready to adopt a mass‐customised approach is a further question to be answered requiring further research. Future research in contexts other than new cars should also be undertaken. Finally, we have focused on “readiness” for mass‐customisation and do not attempt to provide any link between this “readiness” and behavioural intentions.Practical implicationsThere may be a viable market of customers for mass‐customised cars, in both the UK and Turkey. Producers now need to examine the price that would be acceptable to both customers and themselves.Originality/valueThis is the first systematic research study to address the demand side of mass‐customisation in two European countries.

This paper examines the concept of mass customisation from the point of view of the customer. Although the theory of mass customisation has received considerable attention in recent years, the emphasis has been on identifying and classifying the ways in which mass customisation can be implemented efficiently and effectively. There appears to have been no empirical evidence to support the notion that customers are indeed ready for this approach. The aim of this study is to examine how far customers are “ready” for mass‐customised products, using the UK new car market as its basis for analysis. A framework is developed and results presented which suggest that a sizeable section of the market is ready to accept the “inconveniences” of mass‐customised products. However, the main inconvenience of mass customisation is identified as increased price, even for “ready” customers. It would seem, therefore, that both global standardisation and mass customisation strategies are appropriate in this market.

This paper addresses the issue of mass-customisation from the point of view of consumer demand. It aims to develop a framework to examine the demand side of the mass-customisation equation which will allow researchers to identify whether a market of customers who are ready for mass-customised products exists. In doing so it considers in particular three “inconveniences” of mass-customisation: the increased price of customised products; the delay in receipt of custom-made products; and the need for customers to invest time in specifying their preferences before the product can be produced. © 2003, MCB UP Limited