The purpose of this investigation is to enhance the survival rate of patients by transporting them to the hospital within the golden hour through the operational improvement of emergency dispatch instruction. To this end, problems and improvements of current operating system were derived by carrying out a survey against paramedics of Incheon city in 2012 and analyzing the current emergency dispatch instruction. This study analyzed the emergency activity daily reports for one year from January 1 through December 31, 2012 and researched the consciousness of 119 emergency medical technician. According to the analysis of the survey, there were no meaningful differences in the on-site arrival times per triage. Therefore, the item of 'Emergency Classification' specified in the emergency dispatch instruction needs to be integrated in the scheme of "triage". Also, the feedbacks of the emergency action log and the emergency dispatch instruction are necessary for 'duty for operation' to review the adequacy to the severity after the end of emergency operation. Finally, the improvement of the system for the continuous communication between the paramedics and the command staff is necessary. This improvements as stated above are expected to contribute to raise survival rate of patients.

This study investigates the effect of strategies-based English reading programs on reading proficiency and affective domains of underachieving elementary school students. Eight fifth-grade students were selected and assigned to either the phonics/vocabulary learning group or the vocabulary/sentence learning group for two hours a week for 16 weeks. To address the research questions, data were collected from four main sources: English reading tests, questionnaire surveys, students’ learning logs and in-depth interviews with the students. The results of the study revealed that the English reading programs had positive impact on the students’ understanding of the relationship between letters and sounds, word recognition ability, and sentence reading. As students accumulated successful reading experiences, their self-confidence, interest in reading, and class participation increased while anxiety decreased. The study also revealed that there were differences in using strategies among students in each group, with higher level students tending to use higher-dimensional strategies with more variety than less able students. In conclusion, the leveled English reading programs customized for underachievers appear to be effective in assisting underachievers in their English reading skills.

“Broadway” is a powerful brand to audiences around the world, particularly in non-Englishspeaking areas. Also, each show should develop its own brand. It is mutually beneficial for both the original producer and the local producer or presenter to expand the international production network. However, the theatre industry has hardly examined this relationship closely enough or developed the mechanisms of international business. This research discusses how the theatrical markets in non-English-speaking areas have developed and what the benefits and obstacles are in bringing Broadway shows into those areas. Moreover, it would discover a better way to solve the problems and develop more effective ways for Broadway shows to branch out into foreign markets, especially Asian-Pacific areas including South Korea.

The city of Incheon has selected Deokjeok-do Island as a zero-carbon demonstration area using only renewable energy for promotion of Deokjeok-do Eco-Island project. Deokjeok-do Island boasts of having rich ecological resources as well as cultural ones, and attracts many tourists to the island. However, Deokjeok-do Eco-Island project has its limits in building housing and infrastructure with the use of renewable energy. In this regard, there is a need to propose a policy for sustainable tourism through a linkage of Deokjeok-do Eco-Island project with the island's tourism industry. For environmentally sustainable tourism, it is necessary to build a Deokjeok-do Eco-Island experience center and develop eco-friendly tourism programs for the prevention of the ecosystem in principle. For economically sustainable tourism, the city should operate an electric bicycle rental business and fair travel agencies based on the efficiency of local economy. For socially sustainable tourism, it needs to operate the consultative council of local residents and establish a public-private-academic network based on the equity of the community.

This study was carried out to investigate the present status of Korean rice export, and the feasibility of increasing exports as a countermeasure for rice surpluses. The medium to long term outlook for rice supply and demand in Korea is for an ongoing rice surplus, as a result of a decline in annual rice consumption per capita and continuing rice imports to satisfy MMA requirements. To investigate the present status of rice exports, information was collected from Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation, trading companies and a number of Korean domestic Rice Processing Complexes(RPC). Further data were obtained from consumers, buyers, and sellers in various countries including Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Netherlands, and Hong-Kong. Through the investigation, key problems of rice exports turn out to be the lack of price competitiveness, quality deterioration during the relatively long periods of handling, transportation and selling, lack of public perception of Korean rice, and the relatively small scale of export enterprises, distribution networks and sellers. On the positive side, Korean rice exports have significant advantages in safety and quality, and future price competitiveness will increase as the international rice price rises, in particular with a degree of government support for distribution costs. The development of new markets will further improve the prospects for Korean rice exports. We suggest the development of a technical center for the promotion and expansion of Korean rice exports, helping to formulate mid-long term government policy support, providing research into minimizing rice quality changes during transit, together with education programs increasing the focus on expanding Korean rice exports. The results of this study will provide valuable information and strategies for increasing rice exports and strengthening the competitiveness of the Korean rice industry.

1. 카자흐스탄은 중앙아시아의 북쪽에 동서로 길게 위치한 국가로서 러시아, 중국, 우즈베키스탄 등 5개국과 국경을 접하고 있고 사막과 스텝이 국토면적의 80%이상을 차지하며, 동남부 지역은 4,000 m 이상의 산악지대 이고 국토의 최저점과 최고점의 차이가 7,000 m 이상이다. 2. 카자흐스탄은 전통적인 농업국가 이었지만 최근 석유산업의 발달로 농업생산이 GDP에 기여하는 비율이 5.2%로 낮아졌으나 경제 활동인구 중 농업종사자 비율이 25.9%로 높은편이다. 3. 카자흐스탄은 경지면적이 24,035천 ha로 넓지만 농업생산이 밀 위주로 되어 있어서 밀 생산량이 세계 10위, 수출은 7위이나 과일, 채소 및 유료작물은 상당량 수입하고 있으며, 강우량이 적고 건조한 기후조건 때문에 주로 관개농업에 의존하고 있다. 주요 농작물은 밀, 보리, 채소, 사료작물, 목화, 옥수수, 벼, 감자, 과수, 유료작물이다. 4. 축산업이 농업전체 생산액에서 차지하는 비율은 38.9%로서 높은 편이나 많은 량의 닭고기, 돼지고기, 우유 및 계란을 수입하고 있으며 유우, 육우, 면양, 돼지, 닭 및 말이 주된 가축이다. 5. 카자흐스탄은 야생 양파와 마늘 등을 포함한 400여 작물의 선조종이 자생하며 사과·살구 등 6 과수 종의 원산지이고 종자은행에는 75,000점의 자원을 수집하여 현지외 보존하고 있는 자원부국이다. 6. 현재 카자흐스탄과는 농업기술협력이 미미한 실정이나 카자흐스탄과의 현 실정으로 볼 때 농업기술 협력은 자급이 되지 않아 해외에서 수입하고 있는 작물의 재배나 생산성향상기술, 관개방법, 채소재배 시설 확충, 농기계, 농산물 가공분야, 양계 및 유전자원 교환 등이 협력 사업으로서 유망할 것으로 사료된다.

This study examines the contribution level of greenhouse gas(GHG) emission reduction and installation costs of renewable energy facilities. The GHG emission forecasts and industrial structures in the 16 regions of Korea are then analyzed to identify the proper supply of renewable energy sources for each region. The results show that water power is the most effective and efficient renewable energy source to reduce GHG emissions, followed by sunlight, wind power, geothermal heat, and solar heat, respectively. The 16 regions are then categorized into 4 groups based on their GHG emission forecast and industrial structure: high emission and manufacturing group, low emission and manufacturing group, low emission and service group, and high emission and service group. The proper supply of renewable energy sources for each group is then determined based on the contribution level and cost efficiency of GHG emission reduction.

본고는 저학년 학생들이 쉽게 글자를 틀리게 서사하고, 쉽게 잘못 인식하는 태도에 중점을 두고 서술되었다. 선행 연구의 기초 위에서 字理교수법과 部件교수법을 상호 비교하여 보았다. 모 소학교 2학년의 두 개반을 대상으로 실험을 실시한 결과 字理교수법이 部件교수법보다 학생들의 한자 학습에 더 긍정적 효과를 미치고 있음을 알 수 있었다. 이 실험결과를 토대로 본고에서는 한자의 조자 방법을 분류하고, 字理교수 학습법을 제안하였다.

사람들은 커피를 물 다음으로 가장 많이 마시는 어느새 생활의 필수 요소로 자리 잡아 가고 있다. 최근 커피전문점은 대형 프랜차이즈 업체들 그리고 자신만의 차별화된 아이템을 바탕으로 소규모 로스터리 커피전문점이 우후죽순처럼 생겨나고 있으며 거의 포화될 대로 많은 커피전문점 시장에서 과연 어떻게 살아남고 대응해야 할지 고려해 봐야 한다.따라서 본 논문에서는 미국, 유럽, 일본 등과 같이 우리나라에 비해 커피 산업 분야에서 한참 앞선 나라들의 커피 산업경향을 살펴봤다. 앞으로의 커피전문점은 경쟁력을 가진 업체만이 살아남을것이며 얼마나 고객들의 요구를 잘 충족하는지가 관건일 것이다. 따라서 경영자들은 소비자를 만족시키기 위해 커피 시장환경에 대응하고 발전시켜 나가야 할 것이다.

세계 공간정보 인프라 환경은 급격하게 플랫폼 기반으로 변화하고 있으며, 우리나라가 구축 완료한 공간정보 오픈플랫폼은 세계 각국의 공간정보 인프라 구축을 위한 대안이 될 수 있다. 다만 수출 대상 시장을 확장하고 수출 대상 국가에 성공적인 공간정보 인프라를 구축하기 위해서는 각 국의 국가 특성에 적합한 수출 전략의 마련이 선행되어야 한다. 이를 위해 본 연구에서는 국가 특성을 반영하는 다양한 대리변수들에 대한 전문가 AHP 조사 및 통계 분석을 통해 진출 대상 국가의 우선순위를 산정하였으며, 진출 대상 국가를 각각의 특성에 따라 5개의 범주로 분류하였다. 또한 이를 기초로 하여 수출 전략 수립을 위한 이론적 기반을 제시하였으며, 이론적 기반을 토대로 5개 국가 분류 각각에 대한 공간정보 오픈플랫폼 수출 전략을 제시하였다.

Empirical studies provide evidence that many consumers prefer a flat-rate, even though their billing rate would be lower on a pay-per-use tariff. When it comes to tariff choices, some consumers thus seem to be subject to a cognitive error, a so-called “flat-rate bias”. Based on survey data, we analyse causes and strategies to enhance the occurrence and intensity of flat-rate biases within 2 studies. The results of study 1 (n=104) point out to five important drivers of flat-rate biases, namely the taximeter, insurance, overestimation, convenience and smart-shopping effect. Within study 2 (n=416), we subsequently evaluate the effectiveness of advertisements using the identified causes for a flat-rate bias as setting levers to increase consumers' tariff-specific willingness-to-pay. Our findings show that the most effective way to enhance the return on flat-rate bias would be to enhance communication of the fact that consumers can protect themselves from fluctuations in the billing amount through a flat rate (insurance effect) and that consumers must not worry about costs when using a flat rate (taximeter effect).

This paper adopts an industrial network perspective on strategy. Business strategy in an interactive context has been a recurrent theme in the Industrial Marketing & Purchasing (IMP) literature for over three decades (Baraldi et al., 2007; Gadde, Huemer & Håkansson, 2003; Turnbull & Valla, 1986). The interactive context refers to how change by a company expectedly leads to changes in needs, or structures of interconnected parties (Gadde, Huemer & Håkansson, 2003). Strategy also becomes a response to changes among business partners, and any introduced change may have consequences that either reinforce or disable the intentions of the company. Based on how other parties act in parallel, try to adapt to present structures or intend to change them, outcomes are unforeseeable (Baraldi et al., 2007; Brennan, Gressetvold & Zolkiewski, 2008). Baraldi et al. (2007) even state that strategizing in an interactive context is an impossible task. Still, companies do formulate and implement strategies (Möller & Halinen, 1999). While some studies discuss actions and effects (e.g. Wilkinson & Young, 2002), a search in the EBSCO database, on business strategy and consequences/outcomes in a network context resulted in zero hits. Researchers have suggested the complexity of strategizing in an interactive context and referred such strategizing as conforming to or confronting present structures (Ford et al., 2003). Surprisingly, however, less is known about network consequences and the link to different kinds of strategies. This paper focuses on the issue. Network consequences refer to what happens in the network in terms of changed contents of relationships, and/or changed network structures. We describe the consequences as either intended or unexpected (cf. Andersson, Havila & Salmi, 2001) from the focal company’s perspective and link them to different strategies. The aim of this paper is to develop the understanding, from an industrial network perspective, of network consequences from a focal company’s perspective and how different strategies influence these. To that end the present paper bases on a case study from the optical recording media industry, and follows the Taiwanese company Ritek. The paper contributes to the growing interest for strategy in a network context and the link between different strategies and network consequences in the following ways: • Through the case study we categorize business strategies into copying, shared, reflexive, and company-rooted. These categories add to research on strategy in interactive contexts, through pointing to a more fine-tuned categorization than conforming/confronting and pointing to conforming and confronting as scale-measures rather than absolute categories. The division between company-rooted and network-challenging strategies is important as it indicates different viewpoints by the firm, and shared strategies acknowledge the net as an analytical level in networks. • The paper indicates how strategies may include other parties in terms of considerations (reflexive or copying strategies) or as joint parties (shared strategies), and how intended consequences foremost appear on that level, while unexpected consequences occur in the wider network. The paper divides unexpected network consequences into reinforcing, spin-off effects, partly disabling, and fully disabling, and thereby adds to understandings and categorizations of network consequences. • The link between strategies and network consequences points to how the more confronting the strategy, the more unexpected consequences, and also the more negative their impact on the strategy realization, which also attracts attention to the importance of including the network in strategy formulation. This adds to present understanding on strategizing in interactive contexts, and highlights the network’s impact to the strategy literature.

Introduction Over the past 30 years, Chinese textile and clothing manufacturers have successfully established themselves as leading original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) for world markets. This reputable position requires dedicated cost management; however, incremental increases in labor, land prices, rent, and production costs in China threaten and may eventually eliminate their OEM advantage (Yam, Lo, Sun, & Tang, 2003). The worldwide economic and business recession has intensified cost cutting measures as the essential survival tool for maintaining competitiveness. Since the mid-1990s, many Chinese companies have begun to recognize the importance of developing their own global brands and moving up the value-creation ladder (Fan, 2006). One such company is Aimer Group, Ltd., a vertically integrated premium underwear manufacturer. Initially founded in 1993 as an OEM, Aimer quickly transitioned to establish its own brands in domestic markets and, in recent years, has ventured into international markets. Currently, Aimer and its umbrella product lines are among the most recognized underwear brands in China with a manufacturing capacity of 10 million pieces. Their merchandise includes an array of women’s, men’s, teen girl’s and children’s lines as well as custom-made lingerie. According to the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce, Aimer Group has maintained the highest market share and the largest sales volume in the underwear sector for several years in China’s markets (Aimer, 2011). Objectives The purpose of the study was to investigate the design strategies implemented by Aimer to support their successful branding efforts. Specifically, the researchers seek to find: (a) the core elements in Aimer’s design strategies; (b) Aimer designers’ approach to product development; and (c) How design strategies support Aimer’s overall branding and marketing strategies. Findings will provide valuable implications for other Chinese apparel manufacturers who strive to integrate design innovation in order to remain competitive. Research Method A case study method was implemented which included: on-site visits to Aimer Group’s headquarters, manufacturing facility, and retail stores in Beijing; in-depth interviews with Aimer Groups’ Chairman, senior management, Chief Design Officer, designers, retail store managers, and the general manger of the Beijing manufacturing facility; and a review of the company website and other internal documents, as well as an extensive external search of relevant news reports, social media contents, industry information, and academic literature. A qualitative data analysis method was utilized. Findings Aimer brands have grown and matured along with the Chinese consumers. Until the late 1990s, consumers passively accepted whatever the industry provided for them. Today, 15 years later, consumers have become keenly aware of what they want in underwear and that desire drives the industry’s new product development. Aimer’s design strategies are consumer-centric but also a reflection of its internal strategic direction. Its core elements include the following: (1) Understanding consumer lifestyles: Extensive fashion industry trend analysis, consumer research, and market/sale feedback are just starting points for product development at Aimer. In addition, they use broader consumer lifestyle analysis, including an examination of new technology trends, consumer preferences for jewelry, cosmetics, car and cell phone designs, popular video/computer games, consumers’ financial management behaviors, and societal hot topics as a way of guiding product design. (2) Innovation: Innovation is of paramount importance in Aimer’s product development. They have maintained active partnerships with international suppliers and Research & Development teams to ensure the latest fiber discoveries, fabric developments, and pattern engineering technology are incorporated into new product design. (3) Tradition preserved and reinvented: Aimer brands keep certain essential elements integral to their overall style, reinventing and integrating heritage elements into new designs. By doing so, brand history is enriched and continuity sustained. Aspers (2010) suggests that product development must embrace contextual knowledge: the designer’s general knowledge of fashion and their lifeworld. Each domain is used to interpret fashion. A designer’s lifeworld comprises their inherent values and beliefs, presenting challenges when creating products for consumers who live in different lifeworld. Aimer’s solutions to the challenge include the following: (1) Designers as entrepreneurs: Designers are trained to be entrepreneurs who must think of design not only from creative aspects but also within a business context. The company has established effective protocols for new product design and adoption procedures and standards; meanwhile, designers are provided with weekly sales records as market feedback to guide their future design directions. They are also given opportunities on a regular basis to travel to various international and domestic markets to gain first-hand experience and knowledge of fashion trends and consumers. (2) Teamwork: Designers from various regions of China and internationally are grouped in teams and assigned to work together on brands. This provides ample opportunity for them to interact and learn from each other so that their lifeworld is expanded. Branding literature suggests that consumer’s individual and shared brand experiences affect a consumer-brand relationship (Chang, Long, Chieng, & Hua, 2006) which is of critical importance to brand loyalty. Aimer’s design strategies support its branding and marketing strategies by: (a) contributing to consumers’ positive, consistent, and multi-dimensional brand knowledge as a part of the brand-leveraging process (Keller, 2003); (b) providing value-added product and service features to enhance brand-augmentation (Magrath, 1997); and (c) offering strong and effective design capacity for brand tiering (Magrath, 1997). Implications Based on the findings, implications for Chinese apparel manufacturers who strive to upgrade with design innovation will be discussed.

Whereas the interest in the area of corporate crises and crisis response strategies has been increasing during the last decades (e.g. Coombs, 2007; Dawar & Pillutla, 2000), little is known on the spillover effects that an organizational crisis can induce towards other firms within the same industry. Though over the years, a variety of reputational collapses of single companies have become memorable by causing whole industries to suffer. Following these considerations, the aim of this study is to extend prior research on corporate crises and crisis management by focusing on intra-industry spillover effects. We investigate the topic by means of an experiment taking as an example the sportswear industry. We randomly assigned participants interested in sports to a scenario with either a personally relevant scandal or a personally irrelevant one about one major sportswear brand. We then measured the corporate reputation, purchase intentions and willingness to recommend the brand for an overall of five sportswear companies as dependent variables. We find a significant negative spillover and reduction of corporate reputation and behavioral intentions for different sportswear brands and thereby distinguish between the unexplored effects of scandal relatedness to the customer. We are the first to investigate the degree of personal relevance of upcoming negative information, finding no significant influence on the strength of scandal spillover. Furthermore, we argue against existing literature and question the role of reputation as protective shield and buffer against negative spillover, finding especially companies with high corporate reputation to suffer from scandal spillover. In a next step, we employed three different response strategies, namely active, defensive and collective (Dawar & Pillutla 2000) in order to find the best spillover correction method for competing brands. Conversely, we found none of the three response strategies to be suitable spillover correction methods placing managers of spillover-affected companies into a blind alley.

Product naming is one of the most important communication decisions for any firm to deliver product information to consumers. Product names are highly likely to have critical impacts on the market performances of products, in particular, consisting of unobservable attributes such as motion pictures, music, books, and games. The purpose of this study is to analyze the effects of product naming strategies on their market performances and provide managerial implications on how to name products, especially for experience goods such as movies. We, firstly, suggest a conceptual framework to describe naming decisions as two-stage strategic decisions. The first stage decision is about what type of product information should be provided to consumers via a product name, which we call information choice strategy, and the second stage decision is about how to express the product information in the name, which we call expression strategy. We develop a two-level hierarchical Bayesian log-linear model to consider the main effects of product information strategy with the 1st level of the model, and the mediate effects of expression strategies with the 2nd level of the model. We applied the model to a data set consisting of viewership, names, and release dates of 634 movies released in eight countries where English is an official language. We have decided the types of naming strategies with the help of three industry practitioners, who have been working in the film industry for over 10 years as a producer, marketer, and investor, respectively. The country characteristics, obtained from Hofsted's Homepage (National culture scores of each country) and the World Bank (GDP and population of each country at the released t year), were considered for country heterogeneity. The empirical results show that information choice for movie titles have significant impacts on the movie viewership. Especially, movie titles including story or negative words have more positive impact on their market performances. One of the important findings is that the effects of “what to choose” depends on “how to express”. For example, not frequently used words, nonwords, proper nouns, foreign words in movie titles have positive impacts on the viewership. Popular words used for movie titles have a positive influence directly on the viewership. Interestingly, while sentences for movie titles have negative impacts on the viewership, storyline and theme expressed in sentences show positive impacts on the viewership. Another important finding is the mediating effects of country and product heterogeneities. The effects of naming strategy differs across movie genres and country characteristics. This study makes at least three contributions to the literature. Firstly, this study suggest a conceptual framework an empirical model for naming strategies in the literature. Secondly, this study provides information on what type of naming strategies are more effective on market performance, which has never been addressed in the literature. Lastly, the study provides some managerial implications which are useful for researchers and industry practitioners who are interested in product naming.

Steel manufacturers in the Korean steel reinforcement market are facing increasing competition. Construction businesses are in a recession because demands have decreased, too many facilities have been built, and more imported materials are coming from Japan and China. Korean steel manufacturers focus on domestic sales as a result of these difficulties in the business environment. To overcome these difficulties, manufacturers must find strategies for producing high value products, minimizing distribution expenses, and reducing costs. However, such temporary expedients are insufficient. Accordingly, our study investigating steel manufacturer salespersons and agents that purchase supplies uncovered suggestions for remaining competitive. First, companies must outdo their competitors by offering more competitive prices. Second, they must be ahead of their competitors in announcing their prices. Companies can present their expected selling prices by analyzing their manufacturing costs, future market unit costs, and distribution unit costs of the present market. If they select prices for products they will sell in the next month, the data indicate that they can still expect to make profits. The lowest selling price is calculated by analyzing the manufacturing costs. By setting prices more rapidly than competitors, manufacturers should increase their market share by increasing sales volume.

The catching-up process of the emerging economies of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) towards the average income level in Western Europe has driven the marketing strategies of Western multinational companies (MNC) so far. Particularly, the boom years from 2002 to 2008 with an average GDP growth for the region of more than 6% (Becker et al., 2010) fuelled the notion that soon a large European market with similar demand and market structures will exist that will allow Western MNCs to sell their international brands in a highly standardized way in the whole region. The Great Recession of 2008-09 stopped this convergence process and highlighted the still existing differences in consumer behavior (Schuh, 2012). The recessionary developments in the aftermath of the crisis have shown that this is more of a structural problem than a temporary one (Labaye et al., 2013). The Western firms now have to acknowledge that many product markets are not “structural twins” of Western markets with a strong upper- and mid-price segment but that CEE markets are rather shaped like bottom heavy pyramids. By just transferring brand strategies developed for high-income economies to emerging markets they ignore large segments of the mass market. To tap these market segments MNCs have to think how they can make their products affordable to these lower-income consumers, i.e. bring-ing the purchase of a product within the financial means of a consumer or household. The neglect of low-income segments may be either a deliberate decision based on the well-proven inherent business logic of Western branded good marketers (“stick to our success-ful way of doing business”) or a blind spot in the strategic approach to emerging markets (Sheth, 2011). The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, a case is made for the relevance of affordability concepts to CEE markets; second, three case studies of affordability initiatives of leading fast-moving consumer goods companies are analyzed in order to get a better understanding of how these firms approach the affordability issue and what are the success factors of such strategies in CEE. Most of the existing emerging market literature is dealing with very low income consum-ers in Southeast Asia, Latin America and Africa earning less than US- 2,500 p.a. (Prahalad, 2005; London & Hart, 2011; Khanna & Palepu, 2010). While the coverage of the “bottom of the pyramid” is regarded as an extreme stretch for most Western firms, more attention is paid to the growing middle class in the emerging markets (Court & Narashimhan, 2010). The steady growth of the middle-class in the emerging economies is promising rising sales for the future and at the same time supporting the notion that West-ern MNCs can continue with their business model and just have to “wait for the market”. The rapidly growing middle class consumers in emerging markets include almost 2 billion people with a total spending of US- 6.9 trillion annually which will expand to US-20 trillion within the next decade (Court & Narasimhan, 2010). Surprisingly, lead-ing Western MNCs approach the affordability issues in the context of CEE rather defen-sively and reluctantly (Schuh, 2012). This may be resulting from the belief that the eco-nomic catching-up process will bring CEE consumers to a similar standard of living as in the “old” EU and any investment in products for the lower-segments would be only of temporary value. Therefore, CEE countries are not seen as the typical candidates for affordability strategies. This may be partly true for the most advanced Central European countries and Russia with rapidly rising household incomes in the last decade. But the economic downturn and the following recessionary development has shattered the consumption model that was based to a high degree on credit financing in those markets too. Moreover, studies show that there exists a high share of low-income households and price-sensitive consumers in CEE. According to the “Life in Transition” survey the mid-dle-class ranges from 4% in Albania to 27% in Slovenia – in between you can find Poland with 16% and Russia with 18% (EBRD, 2007). Pfeifer, Massen and Bombka (2007) estimate that 56% of the consumers or 57 million people, in Eastern Europe are low-income consumers (< 10,000 in PPP per year). In addition, in Russia and Ukraine 70% of the populations are falling in this category. A study of Roland Berger Strategy Consultants (2008) on “Consumer Archetypes in CEE” identified seven basic consumer types in CEE. Three out of them – the “self-centered consumers” (18% of population), “minimalists” (14%) and “rationalists” (12%) – can be classified as highly price-sensitive. Together, these three highly price-conscious consumer types make up 44% of the CEE market. What is more, other identified consumer types with less distinct price sensitivity could be taken into account as well. In total, these consumer types whose purchasing behavior is influenced predominantly by affordability amount to 56% of all CEE consumers. Summing up, the studies provide divergent figures of the size of the middle class and low-income segment in CEE. Different methodological approaches, classifications, and data bases are the reasons for these variations (Kharas, 2010). However, the findings show that the market below the middle class in CEE is a large one, accounting for more than 60% of the population of a country. The strategies that are used to address low-in-come consumers are described by the so-called “4 A’s”: affordability, acceptability, availability and awareness (Anderson & Markides, 2007). Affordability as a strategy con-cept can be defined as all measures of a company that aim at bringing the purchase of a product within the financial means of a consumer or household (or business). In the literature you can find different approaches towards this goal. Firms typically start with marginal changes in their marketing strategy (e.g., different packages, single portions). However, to tap the lower-end of these price-sensitive mass-markets and to reach non-consumers of your products changes have to go beyond rebranding and adapted market-ing elements. New business models with deeper and more comprehensive changes in product development and architecture of the supply-chain are needed to be successful in this segment (Johnson, Christensen & Kagermann, 2008). The purpose of the empirical part of this study is to get a better understanding of motives, goals and success factors of affordability initiatives addressing the countries of CEE. A case study approach is the best way to learn about underlying assumptions and considera-tions of managers involved in the decision-making process (Yin, 2009). The cases consist of two parts: a) a general company profile describing businesses, geographic presence and goals; b) the role of affordability for tapping emerging markets and the description of affordability initiatives in CEE countries. Globally active consumer goods companies in the food sector from USA and Western Europe were chosen as target firms: They ex-panded strongly into emerging markets and CEE in the last years, play a pioneer role in tapping low-income markets and exemplify the sought-after strategic constellation for this research, i.e. an MNC expanding from a traditional “premium-position” into lower-price segments. In addition, food companies serving broad segments of the population are faced with social responsibility issues, namely if they legitimately can deny people access to their products. So far three cases of Western companies with an extensive presence in emerging markets are available (see overview in Table 1). The results show that affordability is part of the marketing strategies in CEE of all these selected companies. A considerable share of the product portfolio and overall sales vol-ume in their CEE country organizations stem from affordable products. Higher growth rates of this segment than the overall market prove that there is a demand for this type of products. And it seems that these companies don’t see an insurmountable conflict in pursuing the two-pronged approach as indicated in the literature. All affordability strate-gies are run under a business perspective. They have to contribute to the growth and profitability goals, although social motives are mentioned as strong arguments too. The case of company A nicely shows how the affordability initiative started as a CSR project and then evolved into a business project. During this process they learned that they can make a “sustainable business case” out of it. This step was a break with so far existing concepts in the company, as it involved product development targeted to the demand and financial conditions of low-income households. Country organizations decide individu-ally if and to what degree they use affordability initiatives. In our cases Russian, Polish and Romanian subsidiaries were interested in the introduction of affordable products and looking for support within the group. The establishment of competence centers for affordability initiatives at global headquarters is a clear indication that a central hub is needed which provides basic strategy guidelines, offers assistance in the introduction of such initiatives and spreads best practices in the group. However, differences can be found in the market and branding strategy. While company A is using local brands in combination with the company brand, company C is using a strict two-tier strategy. Inter-national brands are sold parallel to local/regional ones which are used for the entry into the lower-income segment. Company B is covering all price points within a category with the international brand. So the brand stretches from the super-premium, premium and mainstream to the affordability segment. 4,000 “good value for money products” are sold worldwide today, in CEE the affordable category accounts for 25% of total turnover and grows twice as fast as the whole zone Europe. The differences can be explained via the basic approach towards branding: are they following a House of Brands or a Branded House architecture. As far as success factors are concerned all three cases show that the successful introduction of an affordable product range is based on (a) a commitment of the organization to the development of affordable products; (b) deep understanding of consumer behavior, buying patterns, and market situation; (c) utilization of synergies with higher priced brands; (d) focus on volume and scale via covering a large consumer base and (e) radical cost cutting along the whole value chain. In our ongoing research we try to increase the number of companies which run affordability initiatives to be able to cover a greater variety of industry and company types. Our research shows that multi-tier and affordability strategies can be found in other consumer and industrial markets in CEE too. This research shall help to clarify for which type of company it makes sense to ex-pand to lower-income segments. While so far the internal perspective was in the center of our research attention, market and competitive constellations should be covered in the future too.

This study provides a dynamic perspective of new service development (NSD) project management by exploring the joint impact of project manager’s behavioural orientation, internal team dynamics and knowledge management strategies on NSD resource optimization and decision-making quality. A hierarchical research design is adopted with evidence drawn from both NSD managers and participants from several service sectors. Results illustrate the importance of internal marketing philosophy, personalization and codification strategy, team climate, role ambiguity and conflict resolution for the specific NSD outcomes.

This study examined how fit between marketing capabilities and exporting marketing strategies affects high growth exporting manufacturing firms’ performance. The result indicates that the marketing infrastructure of high growth exporting firms affects marketing capabilities, the selection of exporting marketing strategies, and high performance. High growth exporting firms in this research belong to machinery, steel, vehicles, electronics & electricity industries. High growth firms by the OECD-Eurostat Manual on Business Demography Statistics (2007) achieve annual average sales or employment growth over twenty percent each year, during a three-year period, and to employ ten or more workers from the first observation year. High growth firms can be considered to have more appropriate marketing capabilities fit with efficient exporting marketing strategies. Barbero et al. (2011) indicated that high growth is based on market expansion and innovation, which is highly related to marketing capabilities. Vorhies & Morgan(2003) addressed that marketing organization fit with strategies affects positively marketing performance. Thus the purpose of this research is to examine the relationship between marketing infrastructure and marketing capabilities, to identify the influence of marketing infrastructure on marketing capabilities and the choice of marketing strategies, and to analyze the effect of fit between marketing capabilities and exporting marketing strategies on superior performance. The performance of high growth exporting firms can be obtained in various ways. Marketing capabilities can explain most the selection of strategy for performance (Barbero, Casillas, and Feldman 2011). Morgan, Katsikeas, and Vorhies(2012) addresses that architectural marketing capabilities influence directly export venture financial performance and that specialized marketing capabilities affect directly export venture market performance. The important role of marketing capabilities is positively associated with a more appropriate fit between identifying customers’ needs and implementing marketing strategies to achieve high performance (Barbero, Casillas, and Feldman 2011). Katsikeas et al.(2006) indicate that fit between marketing strategies and marketing infrastructure is a core factor on the performance of exporting firms. Vorhies and Morgan (2003) indicate that marketing capabilities fit with strategy is a vital engine of marketing performance. Although marketing strategy alone is not related to marketing performance (Barbero et al,2011), marketing organization fit with marketing strategy is positively related to marketing performance (Vorhies and Morgan, 2003). Katsikeas, Leonidou, Morgan(2000) analyzed export performance measures based on various primary data and indicated that the interrelation of export performance measures are considered. Vorhies and Morgan (2003) used the concept of ideal marketing organization profile and measured the relationship between fit of marketing capabilities and marketing strategies. Especially Shoham (1998) indicated that sales-related measures can be more reasonable for exporting firms at early stage, while profit-related measures can be more for export-experienced firms. These findings posit that to achieve high performance, high growth exporting firms understand the importance of fit between marketing capabilities and marketing strategies.