Editorial
Article Type: Editorial From: Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, Volume 27, Issue 3.
The first piece of good news we like to share with everyone is that the APJML is now officially indexed in SCOPUS. We have received many congratulatory notes from our well-wishers and we like to take this opportunity to thank all the hardworking individuals to have helped make this happen.
In this third issue of 2015, the APJML presents a series of papers that stretches over four main research themes: retail management, consumer behaviour, international trade, and supply chain management. Our new “industry spotlight” section builds on this with an insight into the gambling industry in Macau.
The issue opens with two papers examining marketing topics on retail and customer relationship management, product authenticity,and consumer fashion consciousness. First, Chimhundu, Kong and Gururajan go in-store and study the relationship between retail category captains and grocery retail stores, and their impact on shelf management practice. A qualitative study of retail chains in New Zealand found that the strategic power that the grocery retail chains have in shelving practices, fluctuates depending on the variances in strong/weak category captain arrangements and high/low grocery retail concentrations. This knowledge allows retail managers skeptical of category captains to better manage their relationships.
Zhang and Merunka next examine the impact of territory of origin (TOO) associations on consumers’ perceptions of product authenticity. Surveying Chinese respondents, they found that TOO serves as an effective tool for developing authentic branding, appealing to the trend of regionalism, and create diversity in product portfolios that emphasise the region-specific authenticity associations for consumers. Next, Casidy, Nuryana and Hati present a paper on consumer fashion attitudes towards prestige brands in Indonesia. Expanding our understanding of Indonesian Gen Y consumers, their findings reinforce the notion that prestige brands appeal to consumers who are highly fashion conscious. These findings give brand managers further insight into the positioning of prestige brands to better engage consumers.
Moving onto international trade, Faroque and Takahashi present a paper on the contingencies of government marketing assistance on firms’ international export performance in developing countries. Conducted in Dhaka, they found, interestingly, that government assistance, whilst important, needs to work in synergy with the firms’ export commitment to achieve better performance. This provides crucial insight into how managers and policy makers can provide varying types of assistance to firms in varying levels of export development to achieve effective market export performance. Shepherd and Hamanaka then follow up with a discussion on logistics trade and policy issues in the Asia-Pacific region. Reviewing logistics performance data in the region, their research crystallises the key challenges that exist in the sector. Coupled with case studies across various international bodies like ASEAN; they provide insights on how managers and policy makers can better cope with these issues in future.
Next, Chang, Lee and Yen discuss supply chain management with an examination of the challenges and complexities businesses face, in the selection of competent international express suppliers. Surveying a series of businesses in Taiwan, they identified key areas of concern for businesses in supplier selection, and propose strategies for international express suppliers to raise their competitiveness. Continuing this theme, Wang, Jie and Abareshi delve into the risk and uncertainties faced by Australian courier firms, and identify methods to mitigate these issues. They find that logistics capability in terms of process optimisation and innovation-focused capability play a key role in mitigating uncertainty and risk, supporting the resource-based view in supply chain management.
This issue’s industry spotlight paper explores the world of gambling. Gambling is Macau’s biggest source of revenue, and developing a keen understanding of the market is crucial to the success of the industry. Liu, Chang, Loi and Chan thus embark on an investigation of the current situation of the gambling industry in Macau, and identify future opportunities for growth in the industry. Their macroeconomic perspective of the gambling industry in Macau provides key insights into the challenges that face casino operators, and gives perspective on managerial actions to alleviate these issues.
I hope this issue has provided interesting perspectives and unique insights to stimulate future research. I thank the reviewers and EAB for their timely reviews and contribution the APJML; and the authors for submitting manuscripts of exceptional calibre.
Ian Phau
