Global Diffusion of a New Product Class: A Study of New World Wine

<p>Understanding the drivers of product diffusion in global markets is a key determinant of success in marketing a product internationally. Factors such as national culture that are specific to a particular country market play a significant role in determining the speed of diffusion in that market. Examining the diffusion of New World wine provides an opportunity to test existing theories in the context of a new product class innovation as opposed to a new product innovation (as is the case in the existing literature). In addition, the study of diffusion of a new product class provides an opportunity to measure diffusion rates, within global markets, against a key explanatory variable in diffusion theory, 'prior experience of a previously introduced idea'. This is due to the fact that global markets have had previous experience with other wine product classes, before the advent of New World wine. This explanatory variable is an important part of classic diffusion theory however it has not been tested in a cross national sense. Through the study of 47 countries/regions that encompasses all countries in the world (at time of publication), the research found a strong negative correlation between 'prior experience of a previously introduced idea' and market share growth of New World wine across global markets. The author suggests that a key potential factor for this finding relates to the existence of a quality status hierarchy in existence in countries with higher levels of prior experience, resulting in a lower quality perception for a new product class in this market, when compared to a market that does not have an existing status hierarchy in place due to lower prior experience with a similar product. This concept potentially extends the cross national diffusion literature. In addition this research may provide important implications for managers in developing global marketing strategies.</p>

Global Diffusion of a New Product Class: A Study of New World Wine

<p>Understanding the drivers of product diffusion in global markets is a key determinant of success in marketing a product internationally. Factors such as national culture that are specific to a particular country market play a significant role in determining the speed of diffusion in that market. Examining the diffusion of New World wine provides an opportunity to test existing theories in the context of a new product class innovation as opposed to a new product innovation (as is the case in the existing literature). In addition, the study of diffusion of a new product class provides an opportunity to measure diffusion rates, within global markets, against a key explanatory variable in diffusion theory, 'prior experience of a previously introduced idea'. This is due to the fact that global markets have had previous experience with other wine product classes, before the advent of New World wine. This explanatory variable is an important part of classic diffusion theory however it has not been tested in a cross national sense. Through the study of 47 countries/regions that encompasses all countries in the world (at time of publication), the research found a strong negative correlation between 'prior experience of a previously introduced idea' and market share growth of New World wine across global markets. The author suggests that a key potential factor for this finding relates to the existence of a quality status hierarchy in existence in countries with higher levels of prior experience, resulting in a lower quality perception for a new product class in this market, when compared to a market that does not have an existing status hierarchy in place due to lower prior experience with a similar product. This concept potentially extends the cross national diffusion literature. In addition this research may provide important implications for managers in developing global marketing strategies.</p>

Adolescent Victim Types Across the Popularity Status Hierarchy: Differences in Internalizing Symptoms

Previous studies have called attention to the fact that popular youth are not immune to peer victimization, suggesting there is heterogeneity in the popularity of victims. Yet, no study to date has determined whether victims with different levels of popularity status can be identified using person-oriented analysis. Such analysis is critically needed to confirm the existence of popular victims. Further, there remains a paucity of research on internalizing indices of such popular victims, especially compared to other victim and non-victim groups. To address this gap in the research literature, the current study used latent profile analysis to identify subgroups of victims based on victimization (self- and peer-report) and popularity (peer-report). This study sought to verify the existence of popular victims and to compare victim subgroups on loneliness and self-esteem. Participants were 804 Dutch adolescents (50.2% boys, Mage = 13.65 years, ranging from 11.29 to 16.75 years). The results revealed six subgroups, including a group of popular self-identified victims. Popular self-identified victims were generally less lonely than other victims, but had higher loneliness and lower self-esteem than non-victims. Implications are discussed for understanding the victimization experiences of high-status youth.

Diversity Initiatives and White Americans’ Perceptions of Racial Victimhood

Seven experiments explore whether organizational diversity initiatives heighten White Americans’ concerns about the respect and value afforded toward their racial group and increase their perceptions of anti-White bias. The presence (vs. absence) of organizational diversity initiatives (i.e., diversity awards, diversity training, diversity mission statements) caused White Americans to perceive Whites as less respected and valued than Blacks and to blame a White man’s rejection for a promotion on anti-White bias. Several moderators were tested, including evidence that Whites were clearly advantaged within the organization, that the rejected White candidate was less meritorious than the Black candidate, that promotion opportunities were abundant (vs. scarce), and individual differences related to support for the status hierarchy and identification with Whites. There was little evidence that these moderators reduced Whites’ perceptions of diversity initiatives as harmful to their racial group.

Social Status, Self-Respect, and Opportunity

This chapter extends the requirements of liberal relational egalitarianism by way of an account of esteem-based norms of social status, analysing three kinds of injustices that such norms can engender or constitute. First, they can enable or aggravate domination. Second, they can harm self-respect. However, a closer analysis of self-respect and its crucial role for individual autonomy reveals that not all inegalitarian status norms can be classified as threats to self-respect without threatening precisely that role. Third, they can be unjust simply by depriving individuals of significant social opportunities, because losing such opportunities due to norm-coordinated, self-sustaining disesteem by others is a threat to one’s equal standing in social cooperation not present when they are foreclosed in other ways. This is an independent rationale for combating these norms which is fully accessible to liberals, and does better at capturing the distinct evil of status hierarchy than rival views.

Struggles for Recognition: The Liberal International Order and the Merger of Its Discontents

The Liberal International Order (LIO) is currently being undermined not only by states such as Russia but also by voters in the West. We argue that both veins of discontent are driven by resentment toward the LIO's status hierarchy, rather than simply by economic grievances. Approaching discontent historically and sociologically, we show that there are two strains of recognition struggles against the LIO: one in the core of the West, driven by populist politicians and their voters, and one on the semiperiphery, fueled by competitively authoritarian governments and their supporters. At this particular moment in history, these struggles are digitally, ideologically, and organizationally interconnected in their criticism of LIO institutions, amplifying each other. The LIO is thus being hollowed out from within at a time when it is also facing some of its greatest external challenges.