International Marketing - A Cultural Metaphor for Greece (Part 2)

Agon When it comes to Agon, we refer to the manner the comedy-like activities are performed in the daily life of the Greeks. Agon refers to the formal convention according to which the struggle between the characters should be scripted in order to supply the basis of the action. Agon is a formal debate which takes place between the chief characters in a Greek play, protagonist and antagonist, usually with the chorus acting as judge. We can easily spot the motives suggested by Agon in all aspects of Greek society. Politics, political actions and debates, social arenas, collectivistic activities, TV programs, etcetera are often organized...

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International Marketing - A Cultural Metaphor for Greece

Within the field of international marketing, cross-cultural consumer behavior, organization and management studies, Prof. Martin J. Gannon uses cultural metaphors to describe, compare, and analyze national cultures worldwide. In order to explore in-depth the unique cultural characteristics of a nation, Gannon adopts an emic approach, focusing on the qualitative examination of cultural symbols, practices, and institutions within their local context. For the existing cross-cultural research into a country or a nation, the most influential one is the three-dimensional approach developed by Kluckholn, Strodtbeck, Hall and Hofstede. Their...

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Neuromarketing for Companies: Can it help?

Neuromarketing is a relatively new field of marketing research which focuses on consumers' cognitive and affective response to marketing stimuli. Neuromarketing is actually a child of the eternal corporate need to sustain a decision by all possible means when the pressure is way over the possibility of a decident to fight failure. Google, Coca-Cola, BMW, Procter & Gamble, Motorola, CBS are a few of the companies who have experimented neuromarketing for the past years. We have previously referred to neuroscience and neuromarketing research here and here, yet academics are still sceptical when it...

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Monozukuri for Sustainable Brands in the 21st Century

The word Monozukuri has only been in use for almost 15 years. In 1998, the Japanese Prime Minister’s Office set up a "Monozukuri Kondankai", in order to reverse the trend of deindustrialization and hollowing out that Japan was experiencing after the end of the Japanese financial bubble by affirming Japan’s strengths in manufacturing. In general, monozukuri  is the "art, science and craft of making things." While monozukuri is used to describe technology and processes integrating sustainable development, production and procurement, it also includes intangible qualities such as unique craftsmanship and dedication to continuous...

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Smart Brands - Economic Depressions 1-0

An economic depression affects everyone. During the Panic of 1857, the Post World-War I Crisis, the Wall Street Crash of 1929, the Great Recession of 2008-2009 or even the "Greek Crisis", the basic mechanisms of consumer attitudes were similar. Both the value perceived by consumers and shareholder value were heavily influenced by brand. Brand can drive growth in an up market or protect the company’s value in a down market. But, what really happens we enter a recession phase and what are the impacts? Actually: • Investors become very risk-averse. They are quick to criticize companies’ performance, resulting in decreasing share prices. •...

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Facebook Likes and Human Behavior

Earlier in 2013, the Psychometrics Centre of the University of Cambridge conducted an impressive research about how private attributes are predictable from digital records of human behavior, like Facebook likes. Digitally mediated behaviors like Facebook likes can easily be recorded and analyzed, fueling the emergence of computational social science and new services such as personalized search engines and targeted online marketing. However, the widespread availability of extensive records of individual behavior, together with the desire to learn more about customers and citizens, presents serious challenges related to privacy...

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Cross-Cultural Consumer Behavior

What are the key cultural constructs or dimension? The constructs of individualism and collectivism represent the  most broadly used dimensions of cultural variability for cross-cultural comparison. In individualistic (IND) cultures, people tend to prefer independent relationships to others and to subordinate the goals of their ingroups to their own personal goals. In collectivistic (COL) cultures, in contrast, individuals tend to prefer interdependent relationships to others and to subordinate their personal goals to those of their ingroups. The key distinction involves the extent to which one defines the self in relation to others....

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