NEWSLETTER FOR THE MEMBERS
OF THE GLOBAL MARKETING
SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP
Global Interests
Volume 10, Issue 4
Editor: Kate Gillespie, University of Texas at Austin
October 2007
MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR
INTERVIEW FROM THE EDGE
Global Marketing
Special Interest Group
Interview with Lamar Johnson, Executive
Greetings all,
“Adding value to your AMA membership” – In
addition to being the focus of Academic Council and
the AMA in general, that notion/promise is at the
core of the Global Marketing SIG mission. With that
in mind, here are some of the activities the Global
Marketing SIG has started to increase the value of
the SIG to you, our members. Please participate in
these programs, and even better, offer your
suggestions for desirable changes that will improve
them. And if radical innovation is more your cup of
tea, suggest some really new endeavors. We will be
happy to consider them. One of these is described
below, see blog.
Expanded member opportunities at AMA
Conferences: The Global Marketing SIG has
emphasized increasing the opportunity for member
participation in AMA Educators’ Conferences
through special SIG sessions. For both the Summer
and Winter Conference, the SIG Board requests a
special session composed of presentations
proposed by members. The call for participation
goes out via email about a month prior to the
deadline for submitting a proposal [let us know if you
are not on our email distribution list and you want to
change that status]. At the Summer Educators’
meeting, unique and meaningful teaching tools and
techniques for global marketing courses are
(continued on Page 3, column 1)
IN THIS ISSUE
1
Chair’s Message
2
Interview from the Edge
3
The Global Marketing Classroom
4
Global Nuggets
5
Upcoming Articles in JIM
6
JIM Call for Conceptual Articles
Director for Customer Insight and Marketing
Solutions and Senior Associate Director for the
Center for Supply Chain Excellence, McCombs
School of Business, The University of Texas at
Austin
Prior to coming to the University of Texas, you
worked for Procter & Gamble for nearly 34
years—half in sales and marketing and half in
supply chain management. As the former
Director of North American Customer Services
and Logistics, can you tell us how global
supply chain management changed during your
years at P&G?
When I first began to work in supply chain
management there was nothing global about it. All
purchasing, distribution and logistics were local.
Decisions were based on local relationships, and
as such they were suboptimal. P&G now takes
advantage of its global purchasing power. For
example, the company may buy $80 million in
corrugated paper a year. It can use that buying
power as leverage with suppliers to get low prices
and great service. Of course, global purchasing is
not always possible because suppliers may not
have global reach. For example, when we
outsourced warehousing, we could find suppliers
that were present in both North America and
Europe, but they wouldn’t have operations in Asia.
So we had to work with regional suppliers in Asia.
In general, we first looked for 2 or 3 suppliers for all
our global needs, but if there were no global
suppliers we would then look regionally, and then
sub-regionally.
On the flip side, P&G is now a global supplier to
Wal-Mart. What we learned being global
purchasers in supply chain management we
passed on to the marketers at P&G so they could
better understand the needs of our own global
customers.
(continued on page 4, column 1)
Global Interests 1
THE GLOBAL MARKETING CLASSROOM
The International Business Consultancy
William J. Lundstrom
Professor of Marketing
Nance College of Business Administration
Cleveland State University
w.lundstom@csuohio.edu
In 2006 the Nance College of Business
Administration established a program under my
direction to assist Northeast Ohio companies in
developing export programs to expand their
businesses overseas. The vehicle for conducting this
program was the establishment of a for-credit course
utilizing the talents of undergraduate and graduate
business students with an interest in international
marketing to conduct research and create market
entry/expansion plans for the client firms.
In April, three client firms agreed to participate in the
new program. Each firm had distinct needs that were
to be addressed by students groups. These projects
involved:



A possible market expansion into Great
Britain and Germany for channelized RF
equipment
A potential expansion into France and
Germany for liquefied natural gas
connections
Guest lectures were also provided by the university
librarian, the director of the regional U.S. Export
Assistance program, and area businesspeople.
These individuals became a resource for the
student groups for research and embassy contacts
in the respective countries, as well as international
trade databases, reports and country background
information.
Toward the end of the semester, students began
preparation of a written report for the client in
addition to a PowerPoint presentation that was
given to the client. I reviewed the reports, made
suggestions and revisions, and reviewed the
PowerPoint presentations. Dress rehearsals were
conducted on campus and critiqued.
All three companies have since acted upon the
advice provided by the student consultants:



However, global marketing instructors should be
aware of some challenges involved in such a
program:

The development of a marketing program to
open and penetrate the Indian water
softener marketing for a high-end product
offered in the U.S. and Europe
Three groups were formed, each consisting of two
graduate students and one undergraduate student.
The class was scheduled for Fall Semester 2006 as
a special topics course entitled “International
Business Consultancy.”
Clients and students met in late August 2006 at the
client firm for their initial briefing. Student groups
were assigned by their interests in the client projects.
A letter of agreement was developed by the students
stating the scope of the project, timelines, and
deliverables to the client. The letter was signed by
the client and the students and the projects were
undertaken.
A distributor has been obtained for India for
residential water treatment sales
The electronics company is successfully
developing the German market for channel
boosters
The gas company has abandoned plans for
LPG connectors in France and Germany




Getting the word out to appropriate
corporate clients can prove challenging
Recruiting qualified students is essential
Students will have little or no prior
consulting experience and may not realize
how to interact professionally with their
clients
Students often become frustrated at the
inevitable roadblocks encountered in
international research
Students may have difficulty seeing the big
picture and putting all the pieces together
in a cohesive report
Nonetheless, the program was truly win-win-win for
the clients, students and the college. Clients
received answers to some knotty and difficult
export challenges. Students found the task of
international planning much more difficult, but
ultimately more rewarding, than simply reading
about it in a text. And the college contributed to the
success of business firms in our community.
Formal classes were held each week where student
groups provided a briefing on the project, updates on
findings, and trouble spots/bottlenecks encountered.
Global Interests 2
Chair’s Message – continued from page 1, column 1
emphasized. At the Winter Conference, with its
research orientation, members are asked to submit
their views on the “Future of Global Marketing.” In
both cases, proposed presentations are evaluated
by the SIG Board and the session description is sent
to a special SIG Track Chair.
One future direction we would like to move in is cosponsoring Pre-Conference Sessions with other
SIGs. AMA encourages this type of activity, and
side-bar conversations indicate other SIGs would
welcome integrating with the global dimension, but
we have not been able to move beyond the idea
stage. If you are interested in helping out, let us
know.
International conferences: To offer more outlets for
your research and ideas, and to provide justification
for travel to interesting places, the Global Marketing
SIG has stepped up activity with conferences outside
of the United States. At one level, the SIG is
publicizing many international and special interest
conferences through the monthly eNews
communication, providing descriptions and listing
links to conference websites. Market entry of a
different nature involves Global Marketing SIG cosponsorship of international conferences. Pairing
the knowledge and experience of our international
membership with enterprising partners helps to
extend our brand, increasing the reach of
opportunities. An upcoming conference in Rio de
Janeiro, the Global Business Innovation and
Development Conference [GBID 2008], provides a
good example. The website,
http://www.gbid2008.com/, displays the AMA and
Global Marketing SIG logos. Perhaps I will see you
in Rio in January ’08.
article in a major journal. If anyone is interested in
lending their eyes for maintaining this site, let me
know.
“Adding value to your AMA membership” – Now
that you know some of what we are up to, please
don’t hesitate to let us know your thoughts and
ideas. Value for you benefits us all.
All the best,
Frank Franzak
fjfranza@vcu.edu
KATE’S GLOBAL NUGGETS

Consumer Happiness Factors,
Euromonitor, 24 September 2007.

What lies ahead? Here is a thought.
To blog or not to blog [?], that is the question
[apologies to W. Shakespeare]. This issue was
discussed at the recent SIG Board meeting in
Washington. While the value in creating a forum for
member posting of ideas and expressions is easy to
comprehend, the requirements of this type of activity
make it difficult if not impossible to maintain. But
what if the blog was entirely visual, consisting of
posted photos that conveyed international
experiences? I’m thinking of photos from SIG
members that capture culture and comparative
marketing techniques, all downloadable for
demonstrating a concept or for class use. Seeing
the artistic output from attendees at CIMAR 2006 in
Istanbul provided inspiration for this idea. I’m betting
the Global Marketing SIG membership has some
excellent photographers who have captured some
exceptional memories. And who knows, maybe
some time in the future there will be a visually-based
We know who’s happy, but do we know
why? According to a recent survey, the five
happiest populations reside in Australia,
the USA, Egypt, India, and the U.K. The
least happy live in Poland, South Africa,
Turkey, Russia and Hungary. So why are
Egyptians so much happier than Turks?
It’s different selling Avon in China’s
regulated environment. To sign up to be an
Avon Lady takes only minutes unless you
are in China. There it takes two weeks and
potential saleswomen must take a written
test and listen to a lecture on China’s latest
sales regulations. Although China lifted a
ban on direct sales in 2005, the industry is
tightly regulated. The government caps
sales commissions at 30 percent and sales
representatives can only make money
selling the product not recruiting other
sales representatives.
Mei Fong, “Avon’s Calling,” Wall Street
Journal, 26 February 2007, p. B1.

Global Interests 3
A new motivation for smuggling. Malaysian
beef importers faced an onslaught of
smuggle cattle parts when their
government banned beef offal (lung,
spleen, liver, tripe, tongue, etc.) from
Australian and New Zealand after 40 cattle
farms were accused of failing to meet
Islamic halal standards.
“Beef Importers: Banned Offal Smuggled
into Malaysia,” Dow Jones Newswire, 22
January 2006.
Interview with Lamar Johnson – continued from page 1,
column 2
If a global customer asked for the same price in Latin
America as we offered in the United States, we
would sit down and do the numbers. We would have
to consider transportation costs or the costs of
making the product overseas. If we could give the
customer the same price, we would. If not, we would
tell them so.
In global marketing, we now talk about
worthwhile global accounts. If global purchasers
are too demanding, suppliers may want to avoid
them. How does P&G remain worthwhile to its
suppliers?
P&G wants to leverage its global scale but expects
its partners to be viable, happy, and profitable—just
not excessively profitable! It was not uncommon for
P&G to invest resources in a supplier relationship if a
supplier needed assistance in becoming more
efficient.
How does supply chain management affect
marketing?
There is tremendous interdependence between the
two. Supply chain management is the optimal
management of information, product and cash flows
within the organization from the purchasing of raw
materials to the delivery of our product to the
customer. Sales and marketing fall outside this
definition, but they are critical partners. If the
relationship between supply chain management and
marketing fails, then the product doesn’t arrive to the
customer—or it arrives at too high a price.
Communication is key, but marketing and supply
chain management can behave like two different
cultures. Many managers in supply chain
management are engineers. They are held
responsible for costs, such as inventory, equipment
and warehousing. Marketing and salespeople can
tend to be creative—focusing on the next great
idea—but less interested in numbers. Because of
this, supply chain managers don’t always trust sales
forecasts. P&G installed rigor into its sales forecasts
and worked to bring the two sides closer together.
What issues do you think instructors of global
marketing should stress?
All markets are not alike. When P&G first introduced
Pampers to Latin America, we assumed that
consumers would want what we sold in the United
States—the best leak-proof diaper—and were willing
to pay for it. The product bombed. We then asked:
How much are you willing to pay for a disposable
diaper? Once we had the answer to that question,
we were able to develop a diaper at the price-point
consumers would pay.
What advice would you give students interested
in a career in global supply chain management?
In global marketing?
For global supply chain management, you need to
be well versed in general business—manufacturing,
finance, accounting and marketing. But you also
need to be a good communicator. Even though you
are not selling, you need to communicate your
needs as a buyer to suppliers. And a negotiations
course is an excellent idea.
For global marketing, an understanding of other
cultures is critical. I would suggest that students
take a semester or a year abroad during college if
at all possible. If I had to pick one foreign language
to recommend, it would probably be Spanish.
However, Asia is where the growth is. A student
with command of an Asian language, especially
Mandarin Chinese, could be very attractive to
global companies.
Although entry-level marketing positions are almost
always domestic, students interested in global
marketing should be willing to go overseas at some
point if they want to advance to top management.
At P&G, brand management has gone global. The
manager in charge of brand management for Tide
detergent in the United States could be assigned to
brand management for Tide in Latin America before
being promoted to global brand manager.
What was the biggest culture shock you
experienced during your career at P&G?
I was put in charge of sales training for new sales
reps. The company then informed me that a sales
manager from Japan would be visiting me for a full
day in order to learn about sales training. When the
man showed up, I soon realized that he didn’t
speak a word of English. Instead he put a tape
recorder on my desk and turned it on. I spent the
next eight hours speaking into a tape recorder. I’m
sure that was as enjoyable for him as it was for me!
Global Marketing SIG Website
www.amaglobalsig.msu.edu
Contact information for all board members, as
well as the SIG policies, procedures, and history,
is available through the website. Your thoughts
and ideas are needed and welcomed.
Contact the editor at
kate.gillespie@mccombs.utexas.edu
Global Interests 4
UPCOMING ARTICLES IN THE JOURNAL
OF INTERNATIONAL MARKETING
Here are just some of the articles from the upcoming
issue (Vol.15/ no.4) of Jim!
Assessing Measurement Invariance of Export
Market Orientation: A Study of Chinese and NonChinese Firms in China
Janet Y. Murray, Gerald Yong Gao, Masaaki Kotabe,
and Nan Zhou
Murray and colleagues test the cross-cultural
measurement invariance of the export market
orientation (EMO) and export performance (EP)
scales and examine the EMO–EP relationships with
a sample of Chinese and non-Chinese export
ventures. Their results provide support for
measurement invariance for both EMO and EP
between Chi-nese and non-Chinese firms. Using a
three-independent-factor structure of EMO, the
authors show that there are sig-nificant differences in
the EMO–EP relationship between Chinese and nonChinese firms. They also show that the effect of
export intelligence dissemination is not as critical as
that of export intelligence generation and export
intelligence responsiveness on EP.
An Examination of Exploration and Exploitation
Capabilities: Implications for Product Innovation
and Market Performance
Goksel Yalcinkaya, Roger J. Calantone, and
David A. Griffith
Yalcinkaya and colleagues argue that importers are
challenged to match worldwide product availability to
local product demand. They contend that the ability
to maintain a competitive position in the marketplace
is a function not only of the importer’s resource base
but also of its ability to develop specific capabilities
that act as a leveraging mechanism to stimulate
market performance. Further-more, they argue that
because the importer’s ability to develop a dynamic
exploitation capability is founded on marketing
resources, importers may believe that these
resources are the sole driver of market performance.
The findings also demonstrate not only that the
importer’s exploitation capabilities drive the
development of exploration capabilities but also that
this capability is founded on the importer’s
technological resources. This suggests to managers
the importance of developing both resource bases
for performance enhancement.
The Effects of Cultural Individualism and SelfConfidence on Propensity to Voice: From
Theory to Measurement to Practice
Piotr Chelminski and Robin A. Coulter
On a daily basis, millions of consumers worldwide
experience dissatisfaction with products and
services. Nonetheless, a majority of consumers
who experience problems do not complain (i.e.,
voice) to the company at fault. As a consequence,
firms are often unaware of consumer dissatisfaction
and ultimately lose many customers to competitors.
With globalization and the diversity of cultural
values, it is important to consider voicing in a global
context. Chelminski and Coulter examine the
conceptual and empirical relationships among
cultural individualism, self-confidence, and
propensity to voice (i.e., the inclination to complain
directly to a firm or salesperson), providing
important implications for organizations serving
culturally diverse consumer groups.
CALL FOR CONCEPTUAL ARTICLES
JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL
MARKETING
The greatest advances in international marketing
thought often begin with novel, insightful and
carefully crafted conceptual articles that challenge
conventional wisdom. The Journal of International
Marketing (JIM) wishes to publish conceptual
articles that advance international marketing
thought and that can serve as a foundation for
future research streams.
Conceptual manuscripts should advance theory or
the theory development process in the area of
international marketing. While welcoming
theoretical contributions grounded in management,
psychology, sociology, or economics, JIM also
welcomes submissions that approach international
marketing theory from nonstandard perspectives.
Manuscripts can be submitted at:
http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/ama_jim.
Questions pertaining to the submission of
conceptual work should be directed to:
David A. Griffith
Editor, Journal of International Marketing
Associate Professor
Department of Marketing
The Eli Broad Graduate School of Management
Michigan State University
Phone: 517.432.6429
e-mail: griffith@bus.msu.edu
Global Interests 5