Purpose: The aim of this paper is to identify ways and motives of application of e-commerce in the foreign expansion of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) fashion brands.Design/methodology/approach: A multiple case study was used as the research method. Data were obtained from primarily in-depth interviews with managers of four Polish SMEs –fashion brands owners, whose products are sold in the foreign markets using e-commerce, and secondary sources.Findings: Through this study the authors identified both strategic-proactive and market-reactive motives of e-commerce applications in SMEs’ fashion brands in the internet-enabled foreign expansion and three different models of usage of e-commerce in the foreign expansion of SMEs.Research limitations/implications: The research was based on the multiple case study of only Polish SMEs in the fashion industry. The conclusions of this study can be applied by fashion companies in their internet-based foreign expansion.Originality/value: This study contributes to the existing body of literature on the internationalization process of SMEs, and particularly on the application of cross-border e-commerce in the foreign internet-enabled expansion of fashion SMEs by identifying three various models of applying e-commerce, in the internet-enabled foreign expansion and their both proactive and reactive motives.

This research investigates the influence of brand and customer orientations on social media (SM) marketing engagement and how applications of SM in international marketing affect brand and firm performance in foreign markets. The study relies on a survey of a representative sample of 245 medium and large companies using SM in international branding. Performance metrics include an index of brand performance (BP) in a foreign market and return on assets (ROA). Structural equation modeling analysis reveals the overall effect of SM use in international branding as positive, with brand-image creation and market research being significant contributors to brand and firm performance in a foreign market. SM effectiveness is negatively moderated by foreign partner involvement and centralization degree. Firms co-owned by foreign entities turn out to be more successful than their Polish-only counterparts. Of the two antecedents of SM international marketing engagement, customer orientation is significant for all firms, while brand orientation is meaningful only for those with foreign capital.

The study explores links between types of business models used by companies and their involvement in CSR. As the main part of our conceptual framework we used a business model taxonomy developed by Dudzik and Witek-Hajduk, which identifies five types of models: traditionalists, market players, contractors, distributors, and integrators. From shared characteristics of the business model profiles, we proposed that market players and integrators will show significantly higher levels of involvement in CSR than the three other classes of companies. Among other things, both market players and integrators relied strongly on building own brand value and fostering harmonious supply channel relations, which served as a rationale for our hypothesis. The data for the study were obtained through a combined CATI and CAWI survey on a group of 385 managers of medium and large enterprises. The sample was representative for the three Polish industries of chemical manufacturing, food production, and retailing. Statistical methods included confirmatory factor analysis and one-way ANOVA with contrasts and post hoc tests. The findings supported our hypothesis, showing that market players and integrators were indeed more engaged in CSR than other groups of firms. This may suggest that managers in control of these companies could bolster the integrity of their business models by increasing CSR involvement. Another important contribution of the study was to propose and validate a versatile scale for assessing CSR involvement, which showed measurement invariance for all involved industries.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify and profile clusters of retailers operating in emerging markets, in terms of positioning strategies of their own brands (based on the example of the Polish market). Design/methodology/approach: The study is based on a random sample of 143 medium and large retailers operating in Poland. The data were collected using a CATI method at the end of 2014 and then analyzed with the use of hierarchical and non-hierarchical methods. Findings: With the use of cluster analysis, six clusters of retailers were identified. Members of each cluster refer to different predominant factors when positioning their own brands. Members of each cluster do not differ significantly in terms of descriptive variables (exogenous to the cluster analysis) being used for profiling clusters. Research limitations/implications: In this study, only retailers operating in Poland were surveyed. This study does not refer to the targeting strategies, which may be analyzed jointly with the positioning strategies of retailers’ brands. Practical implications: The paper has implications in understanding the approaches to the retailer brand positioning representing by the identified clusters of retailers that might be a basis for the creation of the retailers’ competitive advantages. Originality/value: The main contribution of this research lies in the clustering approach to segmenting retailers in terms of their own brands’ positioning strategies and identifying clusters of retailers in the Polish market due to the retailer brands’ positioning.

Objective: The purpose of this paper is to identify the understanding and strategic importance of the country of origin (COO) and its dimensions from the perspective of the emerging market firms. Methods: A qualitative approach was applied using in-depth interviews with 11 informants from owners of emerging market companies of household appliances brands. Key findings: COO is perceived by managers of emerging markets’ firms as a multidimensional construct. In addition to the COO dimensions presented in the literature, informants indicate the following: country of technology/innovation origin, country of technical culture, country of service network localization, country of organizational culture origin (COOCO), and country of brand launching (COBL). Country of manufacturing (COM)/assembly/parts is perceived as a strategic imperative, first of all, from the sourcing strategy perspective, and it is less important from the marketing perspective than the country of brand origin (COBO). Originality: This study contributes to existing literature by developing a deeper understanding of the COO dimensions from a perspective of emerging market companies.