In today’s world market no one would deny the importance of China marketing and no one will ignore the increasingly tight connections between China and the rest of the world. “As China goes, so goes the world” has become almost a common sense shared by the business leaders in the world. China is roaring into the 21st century with the force of a locomotive and its economy has doubled almost every six years. The great changes that have been made by the Chinese people in every aspect not only impact the domestic market in China but also the international economy (Wu, 2009; Yu et al., 2006). In Karl Gerth’s recently published book, As China Goes, So Goes the World (Gerth, 2010), the famous Harvard Business School Spangler Family Professor William Kirby claims that the changes that define Chinese markets today may transform the world in the future.
Thirty years ago the economic system of China was a centralized planning system that remained largely closed to international trade, in which the market mechanism played a limited role in the production and consumption process. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping, China launched its economic system reform and open door campaign. It is this campaign that brought China into a market oriented economy, created a rapidly growing for-profit sector, and made China a major player in the global economy. As such the market mechanism has became an important factor in the economic development of China (Tian and Wang, 2003; Tian 2008). Measured on a purchasing power parity (PPP) basis that adjusts for price differences, China in 2009 stood as the second-largest economy in the world after the US, although in per capita terms the country is still lower middle-income (Central Intelligence Agency, 2010; Saxon, 2006).
As the market oriented economic system in China is relatively new to the world, China marketing is even newer to the marketers in the world. China marketing as a new concept refers to all the issues pertaining to effectively marketing in China by the domestic marketers and the international marketers alike such as the issues including, but not limited to, product design and development, pricing strategy, distribution and logistics management, and advertising and promotions. As the market in China evolves and changes, marketing strategy must adapt to the changing environment. There is no doubt that the economic transition in China will definitely affect marketing strategies across a wide range of industries, namely telecommunications, the auto industry, the hospitality industry, the airline industry, textiles, cosmetics, and so on (Alon, 2003; Gerth, 2010).
Marketing China for us mainly refers to effectively marketing the products and service produced by the Chinese domestic marketers to the international market; it covers a large set of subjects, such as how to upgrade their products and service to meet international market needs, how to effectively reach the target market and establish the positioning of the product and service, and how to effectively conduct the advertising and promotions internationally and cross-culturally. The Chinese marketers need to realize the changes that are taking place every day in the world marketplace, and to better market their product and service internationally they must have a better understanding of the international market environments from a cross-cultural perspective (Paliwoda and Ryans, 2008; Terpstra and Sarathy, 2001; Yu et al., 2006).
We all realize that China markets and Chinese consumers are getting attention from marketers and scholars alike. We all agree to the fact that there are many special issues about China markets and Chinese consumers that require multi-disciplinary approaches. We all believe that a bridge should be built to connect the world marketers and scholars with the China markets and consumers, as well as to connect the Chinese marketers and scholars with the international markets and consumers. Therefore, it is important that a platform be set up to provide the marketers and scholars worldwide with a place to share ideas and exchange information about China and international markets.
This is the reason that the International Journal of China Marketing is created by a group of scholars who are interested in studying and discussing China marketing issues. It is our honor to have this opportunity to serve the community of China marketing scholars and meet the needs of China marketing scholars for publishing their academic works with strong practical values. It is our duty to build such a platform for our colleagues to share their thoughts, their findings, and their ideas. It is our obligation to promote China marketing and marketing China as a special field in the disciplines of marketing. It is our hope that in the near future China marketing and marketing China as a special field will be able to draw more and more attention from the academic world and from the business world as well. We are extremely confident about the success of China marketing and marketing China in the world today as well as tomorrow.
Our journal welcomes all the works pertaining to China marketing and marketing China that include such approaches as anthropology, economics, psychology, statistics, sociology, and so on. In this first issue we include seven articles. Dr. Philip Kotler, the internationally famous marketing professor, expresses his view on the importance of marketing in China and the connection between China Markets and the world. Dr. Kotler hopes that the journal can establish the bridge to connect the marketing scholars in China with the international marketing community and also the marketers all over the world with the marketers in China. Dr. Z. John Zhang and Dr. Dongsheng Zhou propose a framework to understand the prevalence of price wars in China, and they use the framework to articulate the art of planning and executing a price war at the same time. Their article is considered as a must-read for practitioners such as multi-national company executives and for academicians who are interested in research in the emerging market in China.
Mr. Milton Kotler, the President of Kotler Marketing Group, compares the technology development and strategies adopted in China and in the US from an American marketer’s perspective. It is suggested that the U.S. needs to adjust its strategies due to the great progress in China in R&D and high technology development. Dr. Charles Emery compared the effectiveness of cultural factors in advertising between China and the US. Their findings show that heuristics such as Hofstede’s cultural dimensions may be too broad to capture the detailed differences required in launching an effective advertising campaign. Dr. Philip Hancock, Dr. Natalie Simpson, and Dr. Eddie Rhee proposes agent-based modeling and simulation (ABMS) and argue that this methodology can provide a strong tool to analyze the complex human relationships observed in doing business in China.
Dr. Robert Guang Tian and Wang Hong demonstrate how cross-cultural consumer satisfaction can be reached through service and interactions between staff and customers at a Chinese ethnic restaurant in the US. They suggest that in order to create competitive advantages, cross-cultural customer satisfaction should be systematically studied by the Chinese foodservice marketers. Dr. Robert Logan and Dr. Duncan McEwan examine the positive and negative aspects of the shift from industrial era capitalist proprietary business practices to a tribal form of an open source based “open economy”, and explore some key issues pertaining to open economy and marketing. They predict that the open economy will bring more opportunities to the marketers in China.
The journal seeks articles by scholars and marketers on topics such as general marketing theories and methods, product design and development, pricing, distribution, promotion, brand strategies, public relations, service marketing, consumer behavior, international marketing, cross cultural marketing, and so on from different academic perspectives. We encourage marketing practitioners, students, and faculty members to submit theoretical articles, case studies, commentaries and reviews. Please send manuscripts, news notes and correspondence to: Dr. Robert Guang Tian, Editor, IJBA, via e-mail to ijca@na-businesspress.com, rtian@medaille.edu, or rgtian@yahoo.com (Robert Guang Tian and Eddie Rhee).
REFERENCES
Alon, Ilan (2003). Chinese Economic Transition and International Marketing Strategy, Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger Publishers.
Central Intelligence Agency (2010). The World Fact Book. Retrieved in October 2010 from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ch.html
Gerth, Karl (2010). As China Goes, So Goes the World: How Chinese Consumers Are Transforming Everything. New York, NY: Hill and Wang.
Paliwoda, Stanley J. and John K. Ryans (2008). International Business vs. International Marketing, Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Saxon, Mike (2006). An American’s Guide To Doing Business In China: Negotiating Contracts And Agreements. Avon, MA: Adams Media.
Tian, Guang (2008). A Critique of Pan-Market, Fort Worth, TX: Fellows Press of America.
Tian, Robert Guang and Camilla Hong Wang (2002). China National Economies. In Pendergast, Sara, and Tom Pendergast (Eds.) Worldmark Encyclopedia of National Economies. 4 vols. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group.
Terpstra, V. and Sarathy, R. (2001) International Marketing, 8th ed, Chicago IL, Dryden Press.
Wu, Zhongming (2009). China in the World Economy. New York, NY: Routledge.
Yu, LiAnne, Cynthia Chan, and Christopher Ireland (2006). China’s New Culture of Cool: Understanding the World’s Fastest-Growing Market. Berkeley, CA: New Riders Press.
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