The Chinese ecosystem (especially in traditional markets) has been completely subverted by on-line stores such as Taobao and JingDong after 2010. This research is to understand how to improve traditional markets since 92.5% practitioners in the retail industry conduct business in traditional markets. By the mean time Korean traditional markets attract more customers. In this research the multi-group analysis is used to analyze the difference between Chines customers and Korean customers upon customer equity in traditional markets. The research objectives are: First, to understand the relationships among service quality, customer equity drivers and customer satisfaction in Chinese and Korean traditional markets; Second, find out how to improve the three drivers of customer equity through these variables mentioned above in traditional markets. In this study the relationships among service quality, the drivers of customer equity, customer satisfaction and customer lifetime value were studied based on the analysis of the data which were collected in Chinese and Korean traditional markets.

Women aged between 36 and 55 are the main players in the cosmetics market in Taiwan in recent years. Particularly, the sector of anti-ageing cosmetics has grown continually with the support of women at the ages, who have stronger purchasing power than others. Furthermore, the changes of the channel structure in Taiwan have an impact on cosmetics consumption. Department stores have been the leaders of the high-end cosmetics market for a long time. Nevertheless, Taiwanese middle-aged women no longer only purchase cosmetics products in the department stores, but also shop around the pharmacy chain stores, like Cosmed, Poya and Watsons, which expand rapidly in Taiwan recently, buying OTC (Over-the-counter) cosmetics brands and products. It is convenient for women to attach with cosmetics products since the widespread shops available for consumers to pop in and consume a wide range of cosmetics products with more affordable prices (Kantar Worldpanel, 2013). The current research examines the cosmetics shopping and consumption of middle-aged women in the Taiwanese cultural context. The phenomenological interviews were conducted with a purposive sampling with 6 Taiwanese middle-aged women ranging in age from 40 to 60, who used cosmetics on a daily basis, varied in duration, between 1 to 2 hours. The sample size is kept deliberately small as phenomenological interviews are designed to elaborate the richness (Baker et al., 1992) of individuals’ lived experiences, feelings and perceptions of cosmetics consumption. Each interview was conducted online using the social media, Skype, through a webcam. The purpose of the interview was described to the informants as an exploration of women’s cosmetics consumption and how it affected their experiences in their daily lives. They were encouraged to share their own experiences freely. The unstructured interviews started with a question, “What comes to your mind when speaking of cosmetics?” enabling participants to start the dialogue with their most familiar topics and be free to define the meanings of cosmetics in their own words (Liu et al., 2012). In the process of data analysis, 6 principal themes emerged to give more explanations in detail of how middle-aged women in Taiwan strategically manipulate cosmetic shopping to construct, maintain, change, and give meanings to the sense of self in transformational levels during their lifetime course. In addition, due to the widespread of pharmacy stores in recent days, it is found that the middle-aged women’s had changed their shopping behaviours in accordance with the change of retail stores. For example, Karen likes to shop around the pharmacy stores looking for open counter brands which are made in Japan and buying products with the signs showing that are ranked number 1, instead of shopping at the department stores, where she used to go. Moreover, Amy also likes to go to the pharmacy stores which are close to where she lives. There are many new-opened stores, such as Cosmed, Watsons, and Poya rapidly expanded in the rural area that make it more convenient for residents to shop in. She also prefers to buy facial cleansing products which are made in Japan and ranked number 1. As the structure of channel and lifestyle have changed with time, consumers’ cosmetics consumption is changing as well. The research finds that wearing cosmetics has become habits for the Taiwanese women aged between 40 and 60 since they have been using cosmetics for more than 20 years. The meaning behind their “used-to habits” with cosmetics is that consumer’s possessions - cosmetics, have become their extended self and being strategically manipulated to accompany them experiencing through every path of their lives, including pursuing their ideal, hoped-for possible selves, escaping from their negative, feared possible selves, managing their relationship with the social self, and developing their past-present-future self within the historical context.

The objective of the study is to assess the effectiveness of guilt-decreasing appeals in reducing anticipated guilt toward a luxury vacation and not comprising happiness across two cultures with different values. The results have practical implications for designing global advertising strategies and execution using this emotional appeal.

This research aims at analyzing the role of digital technologies for communication in the personalization of cultural heritage visitors’ experience and the potential of such technologies in valorizing cultural heritage sites. In order to explore such a phenomenon through a pilot study, a conceptual framework has been developed in the attempt to better conceptualize the modern notion of digital cultural heritage. The theoretical foundations are experiential marketing (Schmitt, 1999), authenticity in visitors’ experience (Neuhofer et al., 2014), and engineering studies on successful application of technologies in cultural heritage sites (Sparacino, 2004). From the proposed conceptual framework some relevant insights have emerged. In particular, main findings deal with digital technologies being characterized by three particular kinds of artificial intelligence, namely (a) perceptive intelligence, (b) interactive intelligence, and (c) narrative intelligence. Specifically, perceptive intelligence allows a digital technology to seize visitors’ movements inside the museum (Barrera et al., 2013). Interactive intelligence is the kind of intelligence that permits a digital technology to elaborate visitors’ preferences (Sparacino, 2004). Narrative intelligence, finally, enables a digital technology to communicate with visitors (Karaman et al., 2014). Technologies with such features, then, may potentially stimulate positive feelings and emotions in visitors. Particularly, the storytelling of digital personalization of cultural heritage sites can effectively personalize visitors’ experience and uplifts the visit toward an authentic and unique experience (Frow and Payne, 2007; Sani, 2011). Since these technologies could help visitors in fully understanding their personal interests towards arts and cultural heritage, they can also act as instruments of cultural heritage sites promotion. Specifically, these technologies can suggest visitors’ successive cultural heritage sites and also stimulate visitors to suggests others to visit particular sites due to their positive experience (Sweeney et al., 2012).Finally, this study stresses the importance of digital technologies as instruments of experiential marketing by improving visitors’ experience. Moreover, digital technologies for cultural heritage may be interpreted as a key competitive advantage for cultural heritage sites. In particular, digital technologies may be interpreted as strategic levers in order to stimulate the diffusion of word-of-mouth marketing in cultural heritage.Finally, this study stresses the importance of digital technologies as instruments of experiential marketing by improving visitors’ experience. Moreover, digital technologies for cultural heritage may be interpreted as a key competitive advantage for cultural heritage sites. In particular, digital technologies may be interpreted as strategic levers in order to stimulate the diffusion of word-of-mouth marketing in cultural heritage.

Fashion bloggers and their personal brands have attracted significant attention in recent years, as prior research has indicated their importance in shaping the fashion industry. As fashion is cultural-specific social construct, to understand how bloggers’ personal brands are developed, it is critical to examine the practices of bloggers from two different cultures, namely, Taiwanese and American. The two cultures are chosen because fashionable persons in the U.S. are well established and can be considered as qualified brands that accumulate a significant amount of followers and fame. However, this institutional process is still under development in Taiwan where routine practices, norms and rules, and the structural features that serve to guide and constrain the behaviours of individuals have yet been established. To focus on the practices within the institution, the framework of practice theory is applied to analyze how individual bloggers negotiate their ways to become branded persons. Focusing on the best practices in the field, 20 most popular fashion blogs from the U.S. and Taiwan were selected in the sample. The verbal and visual texts visible in these blogs are analyzed. The results suggest that moving from amateur bloggers who take interests in fashion to establishing a well-connected fashionable persona in the fashion industry is a long process of celebrities in the making. The contrasts between the two countries indicate that cultural elements are important factors to consider in understanding the formation of persona-fied brands. It appears that the usual assumption of distinction between the public persona and the private persona does not always imply in persona-fied brands. When the external institutions have yet been established, the practices of such a distinction may prove to be challenging. While all the bloggers included in the sample are still unified persons that encompass both the creation and the execution of the personal brands. U.S. bloggers are slowly moving toward professional management of the brands where they see themselves as persona-fied brands and where other persons may execute the brandable qualities on their behalf. On the other hand, Taiwanese bloggers rarely make such a distinction. In fact, most of the bloggers have yet identified the two facets in their personas. They do not see themselves as micro-celebrities that stand in a higher level of the hierarchy than their fans. They regard themselves as part of a fashionable community where others appreciate their taste. This is evident by the practices of how they organize their communities and how they interact with their fan bases.

This research explored how experiencing a country’s cultural heritage influences consumers’ authenticity evaluation of its luxury brands. It showed authenticity was culturally constructed and perception was influenced by marketing means selectively exposing the consumers to different brand attributes. It contributes to transcultural research by linking cultural attributes to brand authenticity attributes.

Urban regeneration has emerged as a new paradigm of urban development today. In this situation, awareness has increased that urban regeneration should be pursued in connection with culture and art (Evans, 2009). Urban transformation has continued through internal restructuring in an expanded or reduced scale by economic and social changes (Garcia, 2004). Initially, diverse public/private parties initiated urban image improvement and strong brand creation through leading developmental strategies in order to attract floating enterprises, residents and tourists. At this time, states built culture-centered urban regeneration strategies in relation to urban development and regeneration such as large-scale culture and art facility establishment or large event hosting (Couch, 1990). However, in the modern society, with the elevated awareness on environment, the focus has shifted from development towards service industry and tourist industry in urban. In this sense, cultural policies are deemed to be responsible for the expanded idea of urban development considering diverse aspects from physical and economic aspects, to social significance, sustainability and to culture and art (Bianchini & Parkinson, 1993; Garcia, 2004).

Within marketing and consumer research, scholars have explored cross-cultural issues, and found that most of the studies are sociologically based and assume intra-cultural homogeneity in mentality and logic among people (Fatehi, Kedia & Priestly, 2015). Research has also explored how acculturation in circumstances of hyperfiliation influences cross-cultural consumption (Bradford & Sherry, 2014). The issue of particular importance within this study is the situation of cultural mixing that takes place when migrants and refugees grow their families away from their home country, and how individual and family identity values are renegotiated given ethnic ties that bind the older generation, and the non-ethnic ties in the host country and amongst the future generations. These ethnic and non-ethnic ties influence the acculturation process (Capellini & Yen, 2013) and re-acculturation process. Given increasing migration across many countries, it becomes important to understand the transcultural experiences of both refugees and migrants, as they mix with the host country’s cultural practices. We take the view that transculturality is an illustration of “the complex relationships between and within cultures today: it emphasises not isolation but intermingling, not separation but disjunctive interactions, not homogenization but heterogenization” (Jung, 2010, p.19). The intermingling of multiple cultures, inevitably has implications on consumption decisions, particularly in cases where many children have been born in the diaspora. Whilst previous studies have explored acculturation as a static and linear process (Chrikov, 2009), our study takes the view that cultural identity formation and it’s resulting cultural orientations are an ongoing, fluid, hybrid and iterative project. Therefore, the objectives of this study are to: (1) explore how cultural identity processes are negotiated by third generation UK born British Sikhs. Here, we focus on 3rd generation British Sikhs with the intention of understanding how hybrid identities emerge, and how these impact on consumption decisions; (2) explore the acculturation and re-acculturation patterns of 3rd generation British Sikhs. It is our contention that the online environment offers opportunities to explore identity projects for those born in the diaspora.

Building on a sociological perspective, this study empirically examines how transformation expectations relate to conspicuous consumption and impulse buying by comparing Eastern (Thai) and Western (U.S.) consumers to scrutinize how consumers from completely different cultural and economic profiles diverge from each other with respect to their product/service expectations and their purchase and consumption tendencies. While Thailand represents a small developing economy, the U.S. denotes a large developed nation. Furthermore, Thai culture is characterized by a relatively high uncertainty avoidance, large power distance, femininity, and collectivism, whereas American culture is viewed as an individualist, masculine, risk-taking, and small power distance one (Hofstede, Hofstede & Minkov, 2010). The relationships set forth in this study are woven together based on the expectations states theory (EST), which generally bridges consumers’ expectations with their actions (i.e., the behaviors of buying impulsively and consuming conspicuously in this study). Our focal construct, transformation expectations, is treated as a second-order construct, consisting of four dimensions: “self-,” “relationship,” “hedonic,” and “efficacy” transformations. We postulate that transformation expectations positively influence conspicuous consumption and impulse buying, and that the relationships are moderated by culture. The data were collected from consumers in Thailand and the U.S. using a self-administered survey by means of quota and purposive sampling techniques. Our final sample size consists of 347 Thai consumers and 320 American consumers. The findings in this study show support for all hypothesized relationships. Both Thais and Americans tend to consume more conspicuously and purchase more impulsively when they have higher expectations that a product enables them to transform their lives. Surprisingly, the test of the moderating effect of culture showed a stronger relationship amongst Thai consumers. This finding contradicts to previous empirical evidences suggested in the literature. Future study thus should replicate and/or extend this study to confirm and validate the results so that appropriate marketing strategies can be tailored to fit diverse groups of consumers across the globe.

This study examines the influence of culture on consumers’ behavioral responses after an exposure to negative information, including their intention to search information and to spread the negative word-of-mouth. The study finds that the degree of collectivism and uncertainty avoidance had a significant and positive relationship towards the intention to search and intention to spread negative word-of-moth. Results show a significant and negative relationship between power distance and information search under the high severity scenario but a positive relationship between power distance and negative word-of-mouth under the low severity scenario.

With the rapid development of digital technologies and the Internet, the boundaries between countries are shrinking and markets are becoming global (Oh et al., 2016). Simultaneously, cross-border online shopping is another trend that has spread across the world, and global e-commerce has now become a reality (Johnson et al., 2003; Moore, 2015). However, in prior studies related to eWOM, the national culture has received little attention among the numerous factors that could adjust the effect of eWOM (Christodoulides et al., 2012). In addition, in the real world, although individuals are frequently exposed to combined eWOM messages containing both positive and negative information about the same product, most previous studies on eWOM have focused on the one-sided eWOM valence. There are not many empirical studies on the influence of the two-sided eWOM valence on consumers’ persuasions. Thus, Study I examines the attitude effect of the two-sided eWOM valence from a cross-cultural perspective, particularly on the basis of the differences in thinking styles between the Easterners and Westerners. For this, we use a 2[Valence: positive/negative, negative/positive] x 2[Culture: East (South Korea), West (United States)] factorial design. To classify the culture, the thinking style was measured as a within-group variable. As a result, the interaction effect between valence and culture (nation) was significant. Specifically, in the East (South Korea), no significant difference existed in the changes in brand attitude depending on the two-sided eWOM valence, whereas brand attitude changes from a negative/positive presentation order in the West (United States) were significantly larger than the positive/negative presentation order. Study II demonstrates the mediated moderation effect of perceived cognition congruency in a cross-cultural setting for explaining the underlying mechanism. Drawing on the cognitive fit theory, we present a two-sided eWOM-consumers’ perceived cognition congruency proposition: the two-sided eWOM valence that matches the information processing order consumers habitually have would facilitate the favorable comprehension (reflected by perceived cognition congruency) and assessment (reflected by changes in brand attitude) of the reviews. As a result, the two-sided eWOM valence indirectly affects brand attitude changes by mediating perceived cognition congruency. This valence directly affects the brand attitude changes in the Westerner (United States) group, which has an analytical thinking style. However, the direct and indirect effects of two-sided eWOM valence on brand attitude changes are not significant in the Easterner (South Korea) group, which has a holistic thinking style. This examination might explain why differences in the changes in brand attitude between the Easterners and Westerners were revealed through the twosided eWOM valence, thus providing in-depth insights into consumer responses for the valence. This study expands the diversity of studies conducted on the characteristics of the two-sided eWOM. Furthermore, it is expected to provide a strategic direction and practical implications for two-sided eWOM-driven information management by organizations.

This paper establishes the link between the “World of Barbie” and its influence in shaping the mindset of young, educated, urban Indian girls born post 1985 to belong to an albeit Transnational Imagined Community. Barbie, launched in India in 1985 by Mattel Toys India Ltd, quickly captured the mind, hearts and lives of young girls in the age 4-8years. Girls in the urban affluent Indian households became addicted to this “World of Barbie” and have enthusiastically imbibed the Barbie culture. Barbie, as Macdougall (2003) calls is a “Transnational Commodity”, has changed the way young Indian girls think of themselves belonging to a “Transnational Imagined Community”’ – be it the type of outfit they wear, how they converse with their peers, the way they define ‘glamour’ or ‘well-turned out’, or their aspired future state. The authors conducted a research amongst English speaking educated urban Indian affluent girls born between 1985 and 1998 who have internalized the “World of Barbie” which includes fashion accessories, bath sets, kitchen accessories etc. and enquired into how young girls think beyond their immediate environment , so as to delve deeper into the seminal work of Anderson(1983) on “Imagined Communities”. The present paper adopts the mix method research approach. Study 1 (Depth Interview) uses the deep understanding principle of case study research. Case study research is knowledge of “sense-making” processes created by individuals for a given stimuli (Woodside, 2010). Theory is built using case study research (CSR). “CSR method is an inquiry that focuses on describing, understanding, predicting, and/or controlling the individual” (Woodside (2010). Using CSR approach, Study 2 (focus group discussion) with Control group (girls not played with Barbie) and Research group (played with Barbie) was conducted. The authors used interpretive phenomenological analysis to infer the transcripts to understand the influence of “World of Barbie” on Transnational Imagined Community. Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) explores in detail how participants are making sense of their personal and social world; the inferences were given conceptual code as following factors viz.,i) Past memories with Barbie, ii) Possession Attachment iii) Personal Internalization, iv) Behavioral Manifestation v) Global Imagined Community. The study 3 was fixed point (Likert type) survey analysis. The questionnaire consisted of 35 questions covering above mentioned factors. The final survey was conducted with sample size of N= 315. Structural equation modeling was used to derive the results. To conclude, ‘home country culture’ into which the respondent is born is seen to be malleable if internalization of certain alien culturalartifacts are positively imbibed into early childhood. The process of internalization of this new culture should be embedded in early childhood memories to bring about this cultural transformation in adulthood. This process of reculturation in the young urban Indian girls has been facilitated through the ‘World of Barbie’ helping their mindset to migrate into a distinctly different global culture as defined in the Transnational Imagined Community.

The literature on co-creation of stakeholder and brand identities draws from (and reflects) a focus on cultures with dominant independent selves. However, this type of co-creation in a global context requires understanding of how cultural differences can simultaneously shape identity development and co-construction, from both a brand and a multiple stakeholder point of view. Processes involved in such a reciprocal co-creation of identity, as well as outcomes, are likely to differ across cultures, especially in the way brands, consumers, and, by extension, other stakeholders use one another in their respective identity construction processes. This study offers a first-of-its-kind conceptual framework, together with a set of propositions, that unpacks how cultural differences might affect such reciprocal co-creation processes. Drawing from this framework, the study advances both the cross-cultural and the co-creation literature by (1) offering several overlooked theoretical, managerial, and methodological implications and (2) highlighting important but currently under-developed avenues that future research could apply to more complex, multiple brand–stakeholder relationships.

The goal of this master plan is to utilize the historical and cultural landscape resources of Deokjin park, with a thousand years of history, to improve the park’s value, promote the creative development of the historical and cultural landscape, increase the number of tourists, and tourists’ experience elating to traditional culture in the northern district of Jeonju, Korea. To establish master plan, this study analyzed the location, natural environment, and human environment of Deokjin park. The target of this study was limited to the area surrounding Deokjinji within Deokjin park. In order to reflect visitors’ opinions, a survey was conducted relating to the tourism resources around Deokjinji. “Masterpiece of the world! Deokjin park” was selected as a vision statement for the park. The theme of the master plan for the area surrounding Deokjinji is “Pure love that has bloomed for a millennium in Deokjinji,” with the motifs of millennial history and lotus flowers. The development strategy includes thematizing the love of Deokjinji over a thousand years, strengthening the connections with nearby resources, and specializing in the nightscape and nighttime activities. This study suggested the following as facilities for year-round tourism: a traditional dike to reinforce the historic nature of Deokjinji; a performing ferryboat that connects Deokjinji with Jeonju Pansori (traditional dramatic songs); a water lily greenhouse and a botanical garden of sweet-flags/lotuses, thereby using lotuses, as the representative resource of Deokjinji. In particular, the dike around Deokjinji has been designed as the millennial love dike trail, taking into account the historic nature and structural significance based on its thousand-year history and its unique curved shape.

Recently, China's economy has entered a state of rapid growth from high growth to the growth of the so-called “The New Normal". In such a situation, "The Belt and Road" Initiativeas become the key of project The Chinese Dream. The cultural construction in "The Belt and Road" Initiative is really the key areas. According to this judgment that we say: "The Belt and Road"Initiative contains several important cultural significance. Its main contents are as follows: On the one hand, "The Belt and Road"Initiativeis not only the main spirit inheritance policies of socialist culture in contemporary Chinese, and The Chinese Dream future cultural policy to realize the plan. Second, "The Belt and Road" Initiativeis an important measure to spread China excellent traditional culture, create a good national image. Third, "The Belt and Road"Initiativein the construction of "people connected" is to expand cultural exchanges and strengthen people-to-people exchangesas the key target practice. Fourth, "The Belt and Road" Initiativeof advocacy and practice means to seek spiritual world through trade exchange settlement. This is to achieve the unity of the world "the Chinese Confucian philosophy, advocated "multicultural coexistence", "harmonious but different" pattern of world civilization. In a word, "The Belt and Road" Initiativeis not only an economic strategy, but more important is to promote along the cultural exchanges between the people all over the country. Chinese government is convinced that only relying on the profound Chinese culture, in order to overcome the difficulties "The Belt and Road "Initiative, finally realize the harmonious and win-win old world.

헬레니즘시대의 알렉산드리아는 그리스와 이집트 및 지중해 전역의 다양한 출신의 성원들의 문화가 공존하는 공간이었다. 본 연구는 프톨레마이오스 왕조의 집권기 동안의 알렉산드리아의 문화적 정체성을 그리스화와 현지화 정책을 통해서 고찰하고 흑인과 난쟁이, 꼽추를 재현한 소형 조형물에 투영된 다문화적 성격을 보이고자 한다. 흑인과 난쟁이, 꼽추는 왕족과 상류 그리스인들 의 유흥과 소비문화에서 노예나 광대로 참여했던 사회적 소수자이다. 이들의 조형물은 상류문화 를 동경한 비그리스인 중간계층의 시민들에 의해 소유되었을 것으로 여겨지는데, 그 소유자는 자 신이 그리스적 상류 문화의 주체가 아니라는 사실과 노예나 광대와 같은 소수자와도 구분되는 존 재라는 사실을 인지함으로써 도시 내 자신의 문화적 정체성을 규정했던 것으로 보인다.

The exploitation of the underwater cultural heritage (UCH) involves various competing interests, which are of private and public, commercial and non-commercial nature. The 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage (CPUCH) aims to deal with various issues apropos those competing interests. Its basic concerns include how UCH should be best protected, how in situ preservation should be practised, whether UCH should be commercialized at all or not, and whether salvage should be included in the UCH law. This paper examines these said competing interests and then looks for a balance between them. With an in-depth analysis of the concerned principles and rules, it argues for combination of ‘mutuality interests’ in consonance with the basic legislative scheme of the CPUCH. This approach is meant for the exploitation of UCH both for commercial and noncommercial purposes, which would, in fact, fulfill the expectation of the international community.

본 연구는 긍정적/부정적 마케팅 정보에 대해 동서양의 문화적 차이를 소비자심리학, 크로스컬 쳐, 음양이론의 융합관점을 통해 비교하였다. 음양이론은 철학적 이중적 사고(또는 이원성)라고 정 의되는데, 이는 두개의 상반되는 특성이 공존할 수 있음을 바탕으로 사고하는 것을 의미 한다. 음 양이론에 대해 강한 믿음을 가진 동양인은 어떠한 정보에 노출되더라도, 반대 측면을 추론하는 성 향이 높을 것이다. 이러한 성향은 마케팅 메시지에서 기대하지 않는 효과, 긍정적 정보의 부정적 효과, 부정적 정보의 긍정적 효과를 유발시킬 것이다. 연구결과, 동양인은 서양인보다 긍정적 정보에 대해 더 부정적 반응을 보였고, 긍정적 태도수준 이 감소하는 것으로 나타났다. 반면, 서양인은 긍정적 정보에 의해 강화 또는 비감소현상을 보임으 로써 동양인과 서양인의 차이를 보였다. 부정적 정보에 대해 동양인은 서양인보다 더 긍정적인 반 응을 보였고, 서양인은 더 부정적인 반응을 나타내었다. 본 연구는 긍정적 또는 부정적 정보에 대한 동양인의 정보처리과정을 음양이론으로 접근 방법으 로 설명하였다는데 학문적 의미가 있다. 글로벌 기업은 동일한 메시지에 대해 동양인과 서양인이 다르게 인식 및 반응할 수 있다는 인식해야할 필요가 있겠다.