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Shopping is one of the most enjoyable leisure-time activities for many tourists. It is, for some destinations, the primary reason for tourism. This article introduces a conceptual model on cross-border shopping built on the extant literature of outshopping, cross-border shopping, and border travel. The authors incorporate macro- and microanalytical factors that influence cross-border shopping behavior. It is hypothesized that market and consumer characteristics (i.e., macro and micro factors) affect cross-border shopping. The model has been tested with data collected from 1,000 Hong Kong residents. Findings of this study confirmed that cross-border shopping behavior was affected by the macro-environmental factors (market characteristics) of the shopping area and socioeconomic as well as motivational characteristics of the consumer (microanalytical factors). On the other hand, the impact of traveling distance between the tourist's place of residence and the shopping area on cross-border shopping was found to be nonsignificant. Implications for retailers and tourism-related institutions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the multinational companies of the developing countries. Firms in developed countries or countries with a large domestic market tend to show less interest in exporting or in expanding business to foreign markets. Literature on the export behaviour of firms suggested that the export development process is a process of incremental commitment. Risk on capital involvement in foreign operations is the major consideration during the internationalization process. To sum up the views above, we can come to the conclusion that the internationalization process of a firm does not necessarily conflict with the internalization theory. They are in fact complementary to each other. For firms with limited resources, they tend to choose the incremental approach of internationalization, but for others, they have the option of selecting the three alternatives. Even for those choosing the incremental approach of internationalization, they are in fact building up firm-specific knowledge on soft technology over time. Once they have accumulated sufficient financial resources and/or human resources, the firm may internalize its firm-specific advantages through foreign direct investment, or contractual arrangements.

The underlying factors of consumer outshopping patterns have drawn various attention, both from scholars and practitioners. Outshopping is a significant retailing phenomenon, not only because of its managerial implications to retailers but also because of its influence on urban planning. The other approaches, such as demographic, socio-economic and psychographic approaches focus on the characteristics and attitudes of outshoppers, and their implications for the local community. All these approaches have one thing in common, that is they study the outshopping behaviour through the analysis of people. People are segmented into different groups, such as outshoppers versus inshoppers; frequent outshoppers versus infrequent outshoppers; and etc. The largest photographic equipment retailing chain store in Hong Kong was selected for this study. One hundred consumers were interviewed at the time of purchasing cameras. Ninety four questionnaires were usable. Ten districts in Hong Kong were covered, which included the four major shopping districts in Hong Kong, namely, Central, Tai Hang, Tsimshatsui, and Mongkok. Consumers were particularly requested to answer the question of why they bought the camera from the district. The purpose of this personal interview is to cross check with the results concluded from the sales record analysis.

Irrespective of the potential benefits associated with the international transfer of retail technology, the question over the appropriateness of marketing technology of Western origin in different socio-cultural settings is yet to be answered. Using the supermarket technology in Hong Kong as an example, this paper shows that the transference of the retail technology from one market to another is highly dependent on the socio-cultural environment. It concludes that in effecting an international transfer, a retailer may have to be satisfied with an incomplete transfer, proceed in a gradual, evolutionary process and maintain an adaptative interaction with the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]