Drawing from novel theoretical insights in social psychology, cultural psychology, and marketing, Globalization, Culture and Branding provides guidelines for imbuing brands with culturally symbolic meanings that can create deep psychological bonds with multi-cultural consumers.

This interesting book covers the development of 19 prominent European, American and Asian companies from their humble origins to their current status as global operators. The case studies review the changes of their corporate structures and the successes and failures of their marketing and branding strategies. A wide range of business sectors is covered, including foodstuffs, drinks, retail, apparel, electronics, aviation, cars and entertainment. Of prime importance for corporate survival and growth in all sectors and countries is the crucial shift from ownerOCofounderOCorun companies to consolidated management-led corporations. The wide range of sectors and countries of origin featured also permits valid conclusions on the persistence of distinctive national management styles and brand images. This clearly proves that there are corporate limits to globalization, which companies during thoughtless cross-national mergers ignore at their peril. Contents: Corporate Identities and Successful Branding; Mars Inc.: More than Candies and Cat Food; The Bitter Sweet Chocolates of Sprngli-Lindt; Kikkoman: Far Travelled Sauces; Who Loves McDonald's ?; For God, America and the Real Thing: The Coke Story; Zubrowka Bison Vodka: The High Is the Limit; Ikea: The SmNland Way Goes Global; The Rise and Fall of the Seibu-Saison Empire; United, the Benetton Way; Nike Just Did It; Nokia: Connecting People through a Disconnected Past; Sony: Made by Morita; Sir Richard Branson's Virgins; Toyota: The Reluctant Multinational; Fiat: The Festa Is Over; Corporate Mergers, Merged Brands in Trouble: DaimlerChrysler and BMW-Rover; The Lego Universe of Building Bricks; The Magic of Disney. Readership: Students, professionals and lay people interested in management and business issues."

From Chinese Brand Culture to Global Brands examines branding from the Chinese perspective, and predicts that China's greatest brands are poised for global dominance.

Globalization is now widely discussed but the debates often remain locked within particular disciplinary discourses. This book brings together for the first time a social theory and cultural studies approach to the understanding of globalization. The book starts with an analysis of the relationship between the globalization process and contemporary culture change and goes on to relate this to debates about social and cultural modernity. At the heart of the book is a far-reaching analysis of the complex, ambiguous "lived experience" of global modernity. Tomlinson argues that we can now see a general pattern of the dissolution between cultural experience and territorial location. The "uneven" nature of this experience is discussed in relation to first and third world societies, along with arguments about the hybridization of cultures, and special role of communications and media technologies in this process of "deterritorialization". Globalization and Cultureconcludes with a discussion of the cultural politics of cosmopolitanism. Accessibly written, this book will be of interest to second year undergraduates and above in sociology, media studies, cultural and communication studies, and anyone interested in globalization.

Brands are everywhere: in the air, on the high-street, in the kitchen, on television and, maybe even on your feet. But what are they? The brand, that point of connection between company and consumer, has become one of the key cultural forces of our time and one of the most important vehicles of globalization. This book offers a detailed and innovative analysis of the brand Illustrated with many examples, the book argues that brands: * mediate the supply and demand of products and services in a global economy * frame the activities of the market by functioning as an interface * communicate interactively, selectively promoting and inhibiting communication between producers and consumers * operate as a public currency while being legally protected as private property in law * introduce sensation, qualities and affect into the quantitative calculations of the market * organize the logics of global flows of products, people, images and events. This book will be essential reading for students of sociology, cultural studies and consumption.

Globalization stems from many sources, but as Thomas Gould makes clear, advertising is a primary driver of trans-global cultural change. Gould argues that advertising often carries unfiltered and unblocked cultural messages in addition to commercial speech; as such, it not only builds consumer demand to open new markets but also changes consumer expectations and values. At the same time, the evolution of increasingly targeted mobile and social marketing is transforming local and regional cultures into a new mix of global branding and individualized micro-space. Gould examines how advertising professionals negotiate these rocky and quickly-changing cultural terrains. He also explores how advertising—an increasingly global form of communication—is becoming a platform for change at the individual level, and as a direct consequence, at the social and political levels.