1st Edition

Ethnic Marketing Theory, Practice and Entrepreneurship

By Guilherme Pires, John Stanton Copyright 2019
    374 Pages
    by Routledge

    374 Pages
    by Routledge

    Together with the development of transformative technologies that epitomize globalization, the ongoing movements of people across borders and other socio-economic pressures are creating a fast-changing business environment that is difficult for business to understand, let alone control. Dominant social expectations that immigrants should seek to adopt an assimilationist socialization path towards the host country’s mainstream are contradicted by minority ethnic group resilience. There is no evidence that these groups naturally disappear within the cultural and behavioural contexts of their adopted countries. Since ethnic minority consumers cannot be expected to assimilate, then they maintain some significant degree of unique ethnicity related consumer characteristics that convert into threats and opportunities for business. The inherent socialisation process also provides opportunities for ethnic entrepreneurship and for proliferation of ethnic minority business.



    Following from the extensive examination of scholarly perspectives of ethnic marketing theory, there is an acknowledged and marked divide between theoretical exhortations and what is done in practice, a relative oversight of the implications of mixed embedded markets, and a propinquity to overlook the crucial role played by ethnic entrepreneurship and ethnic networks. Opportunity valuations are difficult to enact due to a lack of intelligence about ethnic markets. Variable sentiment about the future of ethnic marketing links to different predictions on how the drivers of globalization will impact on the acculturation paths of ethnic minorities.



    Keeping a focus on the ethnic group as the unit of analysis, combining ethnic marketing and ethnic entrepreneurship theories provides intelligence about contemporary ethnic marketing and practice perspectives. The ultimate objective is to reduce the theory-practice divide through the development of a collaborative framework between business and scholars that converts into theory-in-use.

      CHAPTER 1: ISSUES IN ETHNIC MARKETING THEORY, PRACTICE AND ENTREPRENEURSHIPConceptual ambiguityWhat is ethnic marketing? Definitional differencesEthnic marketing issuesOther issues identified by researchersCauses of a gap and approaches to reconciliationRecognising the gapOn the need for pragmatism or theory-in-usePragmatism in ethnic marketing theorySummary The path aheadReferencesCHAPTER 2: ETHNICITY, ETHNIC GROUPS AND ETHNIC IDENTITYThe meaning and relevance of ethnicityBasis for defining ethnicity We are all ethnic – or are we?Meaning and centrality of ethnic groupsEthnic groups as social networksEthnic group heterogeneityThe interlinking of ethnic identity with the ethnic group Development of ethnic identityEthnic identity, consumer behaviour and the ethnic groupSummaryReferencesCHAPTER 3: ACCULTURATION, THE ETHNIC GROUP AND ETHNIC CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR What is Acculturation?Acculturation PhasesIndicators of AcculturationAcculturation ForcesChoice of Acculturation PathIndividual AcculturationInter-generational differences Acculturation and ethnic identityAcculturation and consumer behaviourAcculturation and Ethnic Group dynamicsThe Acculturation Process in a Culturally Diverse CountrySummaryReferencesCHAPTER 4: RATIONALE FOR ETHNIC MARKETING FOC

    Biography

    Guilherme D. Pires, PhD, is an Associate Professor at the Newcastle Business School, Faculty of Business & Law at University of Newcastle, Australia. He is a Trustee for the Business & Economics Society International and serves on the editorial board of various scholarly journals.



    John Stanton, PhD, is an Adjunct Associate Professor (Marketing) in the School of Business, Western Sydney University, Australia.