Contents and Editorial International Journal of Export Marketing Vol. 1, No. 4 (published, Full-text available: 01.03.2018)

Full text

Int. J. Export Marketing, Vol. 1, No. 4, 2017
Contents
325 Editorial
Dafnis N. Coudounaris and Stanley Joseph Paliwoda
328 How culture shapes user responses to firm-generated content on social
media: the role of cultural dimensions of in-group collectivism, indulgence,
and masculinity
Agnieszka Chwialkowska and Minnie Kontkanen
357 Market entry strategies and performance of Indian firms in Germany
Ritam Garg
377 Challenges to the internationalisation of the Brazilian fashion industry
Maria Laura Ferranty Maclennan, Mariana Bassi Suter and Renata Spers
396 An experiment on the effect of psychic distance on internationalisation
of retailers
Flavia Szylit and Delane Botelho
415 Contents Index
417 Keywords Index
421 Author Index

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Copyright © 2017 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.
Editorial
Dafnis N. Coudounaris*
School of Economics and Business Administration,
University of Tartu,
J. Liivi 4-104, 50409 Tartu, Estonia
Email: dafnis.coudounaris@ut.ee
*Corresponding author
Stanley Joseph Paliwoda
Department of Marketing,
Strathclyde Business School,
University of Strathclyde,
199 Cathedral Street,
G4 0QU Glasgow, UK
Email: stan.paliwoda@strath.ac.uk
Biographical notes: Dafnis N. Coudounaris is an Associate Professor
of Innovation Management at the School of Economics and Business
Administration of the University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia. He received his
BSc in Economics from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens,
Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing from the Bristol Polytechnic, MSc in
International Business from the UMIST, and PhD in Industrial Marketing
from the Luleå University of Technology. He has published several papers
in international journals such as MIR, JI Management, IBR, P&M and JBR. He
serves as a member of the editorial review boards of Journal of Business
Research and Journal of Innovation and Knowledge and is a member of the
Board of Governors of GIKA. He recently became Fellow of the European
Mediterranean Academy of Business (EMAB).
Stanley Joseph Paliwoda is an Emeritus Professor of Marketing at
the Strathclyde Business School, Department of Marketing, University
of Strathclyde, Glasgow. He is a former Senior Examiner of the Institute
of Export in the UK and has written various textbooks and particularly a
seminal one entitled International Marketing with co-author Professor Michael
Thomas. He has published 57 articles in books and international journals. He is
a Deputy Editor of the Journal of Customer Behaviour and fellow of both the
Chartered Institute of Marketing and Chartered Management Institute. He is an
international trustee of IP Management Poland and has served as a member of
several editorial boards.
Welcome to the fourth issue of volume 1 of the International Journal of Export
Marketing (IJEXPORTM). We would like to inform the academic community that, as
from January 2018, IJEXPORTM will be published on a quarterly basis. This issue
includes four papers in the field of export marketing and international business. We want
to express our appreciation to and thank Professor Marin Marinov from the Aalborg
University in Denmark and Professor Satya Bhusan Dash from the Indian Institute of

326 D.N. Coudounaris and S.J. Paliwoda
Management Lucknow in India, who supported this issue by inviting the authors of the
last two papers to submit their research to IJEXPORTM.
The four papers which are included in this issue are summarised in the following
paragraphs. The first paper links users across the globe who interact with firms on social
media in Finland and Poland. The second paper deals with the relationship between the
market entry strategies of emerging market firms, specifically Indian firms, and their post
entry performance in a developed market, namely Germany. The third paper refers to the
challenges that Brazilian exporting firms face in the fashion industry, while the fourth
paper discusses one influential factor in internationalisation strategy, i.e., psychic
distance in a manipulated environment setting in an emerging market. In particular, the
papers deal with a variety of issues in social media, marketing entry strategies, the
challenges facing exporting firms of an emerging country and the psychic distance of
firms in an emerging market.
The first paper by Chwialkowska and Kontkanen has the objective of establishing
how users across the globe while interacting with firms operating in international
culturally diverse markets respond to firm-generated content on social media. Are users
affected by the three cultural dimensions of in-group collectivism, indulgence, and
masculinity? In order to achieve this objective, the authors utilise research diaries,
open-ended narratives and interviews with informants from Finland and Poland. Their
study reveals that it is not the intensity of social media use that differs among cultures
with different levels of in-group collectivism, as previously thought, but whether user
responses to firm-generated content are public (content sharing, commenting, or clicking
‘like’), or private (reading and watching content).
In addition, this paper investigates how the previously neglected cultural dimensions
of masculinity vs. femininity and indulgence vs. restraint shape user responses to
firm-generated content. Furthermore, the authors demonstrate that cultural dimensions
should not be studied in isolation. Finally, the study offers critical managerial insights
regarding how to appeal to the motivations of social media users from different cultural
backgrounds.
Garg explores the relationship between the market entry strategies of emerging
market firms by focusing on Indian firms and their post entry performance in a developed
market, namely Germany. This study is based on the learning theory of
internationalisation, and its hypotheses are developed in terms of the impact of different
market entry modes on performance, and on the moderating effect of international
exposure on this relationship. The hypotheses are tested on a sample of 159 Indian firms
in Germany by using secondary data. Multivariate regression analyses show strong
interaction effects of international exposure, but only weak direct effects of different
market entry modes on performance. This study contributes to the literature on market
entry in general and contributes new insights to the analysis of market entry strategies of
emerging market firms.
In the third study, Maclennan, Suter, and Spers investigate the characteristics of
emerging market enterprises (EMEs) in the Brazilian fashion export industry. A
qualitative and exploratory approach is applied. In depth interviews are conducted with
market agents (three demanding agents and five support agents). The results reveal the
challenges that Brazilian exporters face in the fashion industry. Many of the problems are
external to the firm, such as high duty and exchange rate variation. There are also internal
problems, such as the lack of quality and customer support. The study ascertains which
attitudes can mitigate some of the difficulties and challenges faced by EMEs. Thus, it

Editorial 327
contributes to guiding managers in the fashion industry when searching for
competitiveness abroad, and with contract deadlines and quality issues. Finally, this study
provides evidence of the main challenges to the maturity of international operations as
well as providing new insights on the business development opportunities of Brazilian
fashion exporters.
Finally, Szylit and Botelho investigate one influential factor of internationalisation
strategy, i.e., the psychic distance produced by cultural and business distance. Many
studies have analysed the relationship between internationalisation strategy and psychic
distance. However, most empirical studies up to now have analysed this strategy a
posteriori. The authors examine whether psychic distance impacts both the
aggressiveness of entry strategy and adaptation/standardisation of the marketing mix
elements in the retail industry in a manipulated environment setting in an emerging
market such as Brazil. Their results show that business distance influences both the
aggressiveness of the entry strategy and the adaptation of the marketing strategy, and that
cultural distance influences the adaptation of the marketing strategy. The authors provide
managerial implications and insights for practitioners and academics.
Acknowledgements
We would like to express our appreciation to and thank the following seven academics
who spent their valuable time in the development of this issue: Ahmad Arslan, Christos
Apostolakis, Rana Mostaghel, George Tesar, Sharon Thach, Tiia Vissak, and Judith
Zolkiewski.