Chen, S., Kim, Y. y Kohli, C. (enero,2017).

A Korean, a Chinese, and an Indian walk into an American

bar: tapping the Asian - American goldmine. Business Horizons, 60 (1) pp. 91-100. (AR64581)

Business Horizons (2017) 60, 91—100

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com

ScienceDirect
www.elsevier.com/locate/bushor

A Korean, a Chinese, and an Indian walk into

an American bar: Tapping the Asian-American
goldmine
Steven Chen, Yuna Kim, Chiranjeev Kohli *

Mihaylo College of Business & Economics, California State University, Fullerton, 800 N. State College Blvd.,
Fullerton, CA 92831, U.S.A.

KEYWORDS Abstract Historically, globalization has been synonymous with mega brands’ ex-
Asian-Americans; pansion into international markets. However, changes in the marketing landscape–—
Cultural branding; namely, growth of immigrant consumers, new and emerging branding strategies, and
Branding strategies; advancements in technology–—have created a shift in the globalization paradigm,
Long tail marketing; opening opportunities for small brands. Focusing on the growing number of Asian-
Social media branding; American consumers, the authors develop a two-stage global market entry strategy
Cross cultural for small brands entering the U.S. market. Specifically, the authors show how Asian
marketing; brands can penetrate the U.S. market by serving Asian-American consumers or using
Market penetration them as a launchpad to reach mainstream American consumers. The growth of small
strategy global brands signifies an important and exciting change in the branded marketplace
currently dominated by Western brands.
# 2016 Kelley School of Business, Indiana University. Published by Elsevier Inc. All
rights reserved.

1. The growth of small global brands in
the U.S. market
KakaoTalk is a mobile instant messaging application
for smartphones with free text and call features.
It was launched in 2010 and is available on iOS,
Android, Bada OS, BlackBerry, Windows Phone,
Nokia Asha, and personal computers. KakaoTalk
* Corresponding author
E-mail addresses: stchen@fullerton.edu (S. Chen),
yukim@fullerton.edu (Y. Kim), ckohli@fullerton.edu (C. Kohli)
currently has 170 million users and is available
in 15 languages. In 2013, Kakao Corp., the South
Korean company behind the popular application,
generated revenue of approximately $200 million
through gaming, digital content, and mobile com-
merce. Following immense success in South Korea,
Kakao Corp. is expanding into international mar-
kets. In the U.S., KakaoTalk is used predominantly
by Korean-Americans, but these users are also
facilitating the adoption of the application among
their friends, including those not of Asian origin.
99 Ranch Market, the largest Asian supermarket
chain in the U.S., opened its first store in 1984 in

0007-6813/$ — see front matter # 2016 Kelley School of Business, Indiana University. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2016.09.003
92
California. Since then, it has expanded to over
39 locations in California, Nevada, Texas, and
Washington. It started by opening stores in neigh-
borhoods with dense Chinese populations, but soon
word spread among the consumers and a significant
number of non-Chinese Asians, American-born
Asians, and non-Asians who live in these communi-
ties also started to shop at 99 Ranch Market for their
grocery needs. To serve these non-Chinese consum-
ers, 99 Ranch Market diversified its products
to include brands from other countries including
Vietnam, Korea, Japan, Mexico, and the U.S. The
supermarket chain now uses dual languages (English
and Chinese) in its marketing communications to
appeal to its more diverse audience.
These two examples illustrate the new globaliza-
tion paradigm where consumers, rather than com-
panies, dictate the usage and adoption of global
products in international markets. Traditionally,
globalization studies have examined how Western
brands, particularly U.S.-based brands, flow into the
rest of the world. This perspective is known as the
Americanization thesis of globalization (Ritzer,
2009). The poster children of the Americanization
thesis include brands such as McDonald’s (which has
over 36,000 restaurants in over 100 countries), Ap-
ple, Starbucks, and Google. However, scholars are
noting increasingly that globalization is now dislo-
cated from Western centers (Iwabuchi, 2002).
Thomas Friedman argues that the ‘world is flat,’
meaning the contemporary marketplace has more
parity than it ever has had before. Businesses of all
sizes and national origins have an equal opportunity
to compete in the global market. Particularly, busi-
ness entities with origins in international markets
can approach or exceed major American brands in
terms of global relevance and fiscal performance.
For example, Samsung, a South Korean technology
brand, commands 28.2% and 20.7% global market
shares in the competitive smart television and
smartphones markets, respectively.
Historically, multinational corporations have
benefitted disproportionally from globalization.
The McDonalds, Starbucks, Samsungs, and Toyotas
of the world have become household names around
the world by leveraging their immense resources to
tap into international markets. Before entering an
international market, McDonald’s spends millions of
dollars to understand properly the local market
needs and creates localized products and services
to satisfy those needs. For example, McDonald’s
entered the Indian market by forming joint ventures
with prominent Indian industry veterans and lever-
aged their resources and expertise to penetrate the
Indian market successfully. Asian automotive com-
panies, such as Toyota or Hyundai, have entered the
S. Chen et al.
U.S. market successfully through direct investment
by building manufacturing plants and establishing
relationships with local state governments.
However, we make a case that the time has come
for comparatively smaller brands to make their
move. As illustrated through the earlier examples,
in the new global landscape, consumers–—and not
just company resources and support–—play an im-
portant role in market penetration. Specifically, we
draw attention to the significant role that immigrant
consumers play in facilitating the growth of smaller
global brands. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s
2014 American Community Survey (ACS), the
U.S. immigrant population stood at more than
42.4 million (13.3%) of the total U.S. population
of 318.9 million in 2014. Between 2013 and 2014,
the foreign-born population increased by 1 million
(2.5%). Immigrants and their U.S.-born children now
number approximately 81 million people (26%) of
the overall U.S. population. These consumers are
driving demand for products from their home coun-
tries and American retailers increasingly are devot-
ing a significant proportion of their shelf space to
smaller, ethnic brands such as Lee Kum Kee (Chinese
food sauce and condiment brand), Kingfisher (Indian
beer brand), and Huy Fung Foods (Thai food sauce
and condiment brand). As such, smaller brands from
emergent countries now have a wider window of
opportunity to go global.
The purpose of this article is to examine the
growth of smaller global brands in the U.S. market
by focusing on the role played by immigrant con-
sumers. We propose a two-stage market entry strat-
egy, where in the short run, brands can market to
immigrant consumers living in their new host culture
(e.g., U.S.) who demand products from their native
culture. In the long run, brands can use these immi-
grant consumers as a launchpad to reach main-
stream consumers in the host culture (e.g.,
American consumers). Specifically, we focus on
the global entry of East Asian brands and their
strategy to reach Asian-American consumers.
Asian-Americans are the fastest growing ethnic
consumer segment in the U.S., making them a par-
ticularly attractive market. Many first generation
Asian-American consumers were able to immigrate
to the U.S. because of their wealth. But Asian-
Americans are not only affluent respective to their
native countrymen; they are also more affluent and
educated than the average American consumer. The
combination of high disposable income, education,
and rapid growth rate makes Asian-Americans in the
U.S. one of the most appealing markets worldwide
for many businesses.
While the increase in immigrant population stim-
ulated demand for the smaller global brands in the
A Korean, a Chinese, and an Indian walk into an American bar: Tapping the Asian-American goldmine 93
U.S. market, significant changes in the marketing
landscape–—namely, the emergence of new branding
strategies and technologies–—have created an eco-
system for these brands to flourish. We discuss these
changes in the marketing landscape before outlining
our proposed market entry strategy.
2. Emerging branding strategies
Brands are the most valuable intangible assets that
companies possess, helping consumers identify and
differentiate a company’s product offerings from
competitors’ (Keller & Lehmann, 2006). More for-
mally, brands allow companies to enjoy the differ-
ential effect of brand knowledge on consumer
response to marketing efforts (Aaker, 2012). Brands
enable companies to appeal to consumers, charge
price premiums, and command loyalty for their
products. As such, once a brand is established, a
barrier is built against competing brands.
In the traditional market paradigm, marketplace
sovereignty generally is determined by a company’s
ability to make a substantial financial investment to
push brands onto the consumers who would buy into
the lifestyle articulated by the company. For exam-
ple, to create brand awareness, a company heavily
invests in advertising and promotion budgets during
the early stages of the product life cycle. As the
brand enters the growth and maturity stage, the
company can outpace new competitors entering
the market by leveraging existing competitive ad-
vantages such as economies of scale, learning
curves, and relationships established with channel
members. Based on the traditional market struc-
ture, multinational corporations thrived. However,
the model of branding has been transformed in the
recent past. While many aspects of the branding
landscape have changed, we discuss two notable
changes that have impacted smaller brands: a shift
toward cultural branding and long-tail marketing.
2.1. Cultural branding
We now live in the age of the informed, coproducing
consumer, and the market has seen a shift to the
cultural model of branding (Holt, 2002). According
to Holt, brands can strengthen their case by devel-
oping close relationships with brand communities or
distancing themselves from commercial sponsorship
and instead manufacturing original myths that en-
hance brand authenticity at the street level. For
example, Red Bull became a cultural icon through its
involvement with extreme sports such as hang glid-
ing and bungee jumping, as well as its participation
in the Formula 1 auto racing circuit. In international
markets, smaller global brands do not have the
name recognition of multinational brands, and as
a result they do not carry the aura of commercialism
that plagues multinational brands. Additionally,
many smaller global brands link their products to
their local cultural identity and, consequently, re-
tain an aura of authenticity that may elude larger,
multinational brands.
2.2. Long tail marketing
Another shift in the branding model is that consum-
ers are now noticing brands in the long tail of the
market. As the market becomes saturated, creating
a blockbuster brand or product is becoming increas-
ingly difficult. Even if a company is able to develop a
popular brand or product, the duration for which
this brand or product remains dominant in the mar-
ket is shortened. Long tail marketing focuses on the
fact that, contrary to the traditional marketing
paradigm where a small group of popular brands
or products dominate market share, a large group of
smaller brands can reach more consumers effective-
ly to generate more sales (Anderson, 2008). In other
words, the market will have more options but small-
er sales for each option, leading to a demand curve
with a shorter head and a much longer tail (see
Figure 1).
For example, despite the current larger market in
the music industry compared to the past, most of
the top 50 bestselling albums of all time were
produced in the 1970s and 1980s, and none were
produced in the new millennium (Anderson, 2008).
In other words, while there is an increasing number
of albums that sell well, there are no mega hits. The
same phenomenon can be observed in TV programs,
books, and cars (Kohli, Suri, & Kapoor, 2015). All
these factors strengthen the case of the smaller
global brands.
2.3. Social media and branding
In addition to these emerging branding strategies,
advances in technology, especially the spread of
social media, have also contributed to creating a
receptive market environment for smaller global
brands. Specifically, social media has lowered the
entry barrier for smaller global brands by disrupting
the traditional model of branding. Social media
essentially is consumer-generated media, covering
a variety of new sources of online information that
are created and used by consumers intent on sharing
information with each other on any topic of their
interest (Blackshaw & Nazarro, 2004). Perhaps the
biggest contribution of social media has been
its hand in transforming the traditional marketing
94
Figure 1. The long tail
communication model. In contrast to the traditional
model, where information flowed in a mostly one-
way direction from marketers to consumers, social
media facilitates two-way interaction.
As an interactive information source, social me-
dia has helped both consumers and companies.
Social media has empowered consumers by enabling
them to initiate communication directed toward
marketers, as well as facilitating information shar-
ing with other consumers. Now, consumers are used
to sharing information with other consumers if they
feel it may be useful or interesting. This may be
based on information consumers receive from the
marketers or based on their own experiences with
the brand. Through social media, such information
regarding the brand becomes more accessible,
spreads faster, and is amplified. Therefore, as con-
sumers become more adept at creating and sharing
information through social media, they can gain
more power to influence marketers at a much larger
scale. Companies have also benefitted by using
social media as a valuable source of real-time mar-
ket and consumer information. Social media plat-
forms, such as Twitter, can be used as low-cost
substitutes and supplements for traditional market-
ing research methods. Academic studies have shown
that data obtained from social media can be used
reliably to forecast market outcomes, such as box-
office revenues for movies (Asur & Huberman,
2010).
So, how does social media help the introduction
and success of smaller brands? Again, social media
contributes by lowering the entry barrier and en-
abling small brands to reach their consumers in a
cost effective way. First, social media can encour-
age small brands to overcome the fear of market
failure. Under the old paradigm, a few brands were
concentrated in the head of the long tail curve
(Anderson, 2008). This was mainly due to the fact
S. Chen et al.
that only a few resource-rich companies were able
to afford the expensive undertaking associated with
introducing a new product. Due to high cost, mar-
keters carefully evaluated and selectively intro-
duced products, followed by substantial upfront
investments to ensure success in the market. There-
fore, albeit limiting in terms of products choices,
the monetary and non-monetary support provided
by the companies ensured consumers of the quality
of products. On the other hand, brands in the tail–—
the relatively unknown small brands–—had difficulty
creating consumer demand since their quality could
not be signaled through such support. With social
media, marketers have less control over the content
their consumers view, create, and share. In other
words, social media leads to a more transparent
marketplace where desired products and brands
trump those being pushed by marketers. Now, a
brand/product can be accepted by consumers if
word-of-mouth ensures that it is good. Niches can
now thrive because small groups of consumers can
spread the word to others who may also want the
brands they like. Additionally, consumers are more
likely to transmit word-of-mouth regarding mun-
dane products and brands (e.g., Cheerios) than
popular brands (e.g., Disney World) because the
former is more salient in consumers’ everyday lives
(Berger, 2013). In essence, social media and word-
of-mouth level the playing field in favor of small
brands that do not have deep pockets for marketing.
Second, social media can help small brands build
brand awareness and knowledge. Creating brand
awareness is a daunting task, requiring substantial
investment over long periods of time. Therefore,
small brands (which are often the underdog brands
in the market) generally cannot compete against
larger brands using traditional marketing mediums,
such as advertisement. Social media provides small-
er brands with an effective alternative. Brands can
get noticed with smaller investments if they are able
to use social media in a creative way to connect with
consumers. For example, Maes (Belgian beer brand)
leveraged the power of social media to increase
brand awareness by offering everyone with the last
name Maes (one of the most popular last names in
Belgium) a code on Facebook to receive a free barrel
of beer to share with family and friends. Also, longer
time horizons for marketing initiatives are not need-
ed since social media has the ability to amplify and
move information faster. This limits the power of
advertising, making it difficult to justify large up-
front investments in it. In other words, social media
has democratized the process of creating brand
awareness.
It is important to note, however, that social
media is not a fix-all solution to branding and it will
A Korean, a Chinese, and an Indian walk into an American bar: Tapping the Asian-American goldmine 95
not (and should not) dictate the core elements of
branding. The positioning of a brand should reflect
the marketers’ conscious choice based on carefully
strategized data-driven exercises, which take into
account consumer preferences and the competitive
landscape, before entering the market and being
introduced to consumers.
Third, social media can help small brands induce
trial and develop loyalty. Consumers are known to
trust and rely on recommendations from their family
or friends when making purchasing decisions. Since
most social media platforms encourage users to
establish a social network (which is comprised
heavily of family and friends) and facilitate infor-
mation exchange within this network, social media
only makes it easier for family and friends to make
recommendations to each other and compare notes
on brands. Also, by enabling companies to engage in
a personal communication with individual consum-
ers, social media can increase the trustworthiness of
the company (Nejad, Sherrell, & Babakus, 2014).
Once companies connect with and establish an emo-
tional bond with consumers, it will help small brands
further induce product trial and loyalty.
We now return our discussion to how smaller
global brands can take advantage of these changes
in the marketing landscape to enter the U.S. market
by leveraging the Asian-American consumers.
3. The Asian-American goldmine and
its role in launching cultural brands
Asian-Americans comprise 6% of the U.S. population
but are the fastest growing ethnic group. Since
2002, Asian-Americans have grown 46% to 19.4 mil-
lion people, a growth rate that is four times faster
than that of the total U.S. population (Nielsen,
2015). Chinese, Filipinos, and Asian Indians are
the largest Asian groups in the U.S., and represent
over 60% of the Asian-American population (Nielsen,
2012). Of all ethnic segments in the U.S., Asian-
Americans are the most affluent, with purchasing
power projected to reach $1 trillion by 2018. The
median Asian-American household income is
$72,472, which is higher than the U.S. national
average of $52,250. Of the various Asian-American
groups, Indian-Americans have the highest median
household income at $100,547. Additionally, Asian-
Americans are also the most highly educated ethnic
segment. Asian-Americans are more likely to have a
college degree (49%) compared to the U.S. popula-
tion in general (28%). Again, Indian-Americans show
the highest educational attainment levels among
the Asian-American groups, where 68% of Indian-
Americans age 25 and older had a bachelor’s degree
or more education and 37% had a graduate or pro-
fessional degree. The corresponding numbers for
Vietnamese-Americans were 24% and 7%, respec-
tively.
Asian-Americans are also socially empowered and
technologically savvy. Relative to other ethnic seg-
ments, Asian-Americans have the highest rate
of social media and mobile technology adoption
(Nielsen, 2015). In addition, Asian-Americans are
prone to use digital media to augment entertainment
and shopping. They are 60% more likely than Hispanic
Americans to stream or download music. Younger
Asian-Americans are also leaders in the online shop-
ping space, where they outspend white Americans
by 22% on a monthly basis. Finally, Asian-American
media consumption has moved beyond physical
media (e.g., TV, DVDs, BluRay) into multimedia
streaming channels (e.g., smartphone, computer).
From a business perspective, all these factors make
Asian-Americans a particularly attractive market.
But going beyond this, we believe Asian-American
consumers can be leveraged as the launchpad for
introducing new global brands into the U.S. market.
Due to their relative wealth and education, Asian-
Americans represent the classic early adopter in
Everett Roger’s diffusion of innovation curve. Early
adopters make up the group that is the first within a
social circle to adopt, has low risk aversion, and is
considered trendsetting. Early adopters are impor-
tant to the adoption of new products, because their
word-of-mouth will determine whether a product
will (or will not) reach the mainstream. Word-of-
mouth can diffuse quickly amongst Asian-Americans
because many of them reside in ethnoburbs: neigh-
borhoods that have a high Asian-American density.
Additionally, their adoption of social media can
facilitate online word-of-mouth. For these reasons,
Asian-Americans are perfect ambassadors of prod-
ucts and brands from their home countries.
This role dovetails nicely with the culturally ad-
venturous nature of the rest of the U.S. market,
which is willing to try new products and easily
accepts new experiences. If smaller global brands
are able to motivate the Asian-American consumers
to introduce the brands to their variety-seeking
friends, the brands will be able to penetrate the
non-Asian mainstream market effectively. In addi-
tion to its culturally accepting nature, the U.S.
market’s receptiveness to foreign trade partners
also makes it an attractive market for global brands.
For instance, in 2014, the U.S. engaged in significant
foreign trade partnerships with about 25 countries
(trades valued at more than $25 billion). In contrast,
China, which represents a bigger market, only en-
gaged in foreign trade partnerships with about nine
countries during the same year.
96 S. Chen et al.

4. Executing the strategy Chinese-Americans; Philadelphia and Chicago have

Businesses can adopt two strategies with respect to
Asian-American consumers. On the one hand, Asian-
American consumers can represent an end-goal for
foreign businesses (henceforth, Strategy I), which
we conceptualize as a baseline strategy. The Asian-
American population in the U.S. is rapidly growing,
so it represents a sustainable market within itself.
On the other hand, Asian-Americans can be used as a
launchpad in the U.S. market with the ultimate goal
of appealing to mainstream American consumers
(henceforth, Strategy II), which we consider a more
challenging strategy but one with higher profit
potential (see Figure 2).
4.1. Strategy I: Targeting Asian-Americans
as the end goal
4.1.1. Ethnic segmentation approach
In executing Strategy I, how can marketers target
Asian-American consumers as the end-goal? The most
intuitive method is to segment Asian-Americans
based on their ethnicity (e.g., Chinese, Indian, or
Korean). To execute this strategy, marketers can
first discover geographic regions that have a dense
concentration of the chosen Asian segment. Asian
ethnoburbs are springing up all over the U.S., par-
ticularly around high-technology clusters that at-
tract educated workforces, which in turn, create
multicultural suburbs (Nielsen, 2015). For example,
San Francisco and New York have high densities of
significant proportions of Indian-Americans; and
Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth have large Korean
populations. To target specific Asian segments, mar-
keters could open retail stores or distribute their
products within the appropriate ethnoburb. For
example, Jollibee, the Filipino fast food giant,
adopted Strategy I as a means to grow its business
within the U.S. Jollibee opened its first store in
1998 in Daly City, California, to cater to the city’s
Filipino residents. Since then, Jollibee has opened
32 other locations, many of them in neighborhoods
with large concentrations of Filipino-Americans.
4.1.2. Acculturation approach
Marketing to Asian-American consumers based on
their ethnicity is sensible, but ethnic segmentation
does not capture all the variance in Asian-American
markets. Even within an ethnic group, individuals
drastically differ in their consumer behavior. For
example, a second-generation Korean-American
may make vastly different consumption choices
than a first-generation Korean-American. Instead
of using ethnic groups, scholars have suggested
the use of acculturation levels as a predictor of
consumer behavior (Kumar & Steenkamp, 2013).
Acculturation refers to the simultaneous process
of adopting elements of the host culture (e.g.,
the U.S.), while retaining aspects of one’s native
culture (Peñaloza, 1994). The Suinn-Lew Asian
Self-Identity Acculturation (SL-ASIA) survey and
the Vancouver Index of Acculturation (VIA) survey

Figure 2. Asian-American marketing strategies

Launch
hpad Strate
egies (Strate
egy II)

Leverage Relational
Pan-Asian Approach
r
Ties with Asian-
A Leveragge New
Ta
arget a specific Asian-
A Americans
a Platfforms Total De-Ethnicization
Ame
erican group and slowly
de-ethnicize and diversify Target produc cts and Leverage e expertise in Remove cultural elements in
prroducts and brands
n to brands to gain traction technology mmarketing to produ
ucts and brands.
reach other Asia
an- with
w Asian-Americans,
r and facilitate m arket entry.
Americans. then
t diffuse to non-Asians
n
o
through word-of-mouth.

Ethnic
c Accultu
uration
Segmenta
ation Apprroach
Reorient prroducts and
Target produc
cts and
brands b
based on
brands in appropriate
r
consumers’ aacculturation
ethnoburbs.
leveels.

Baseline Strategies
(Strategy I)
A Korean, a Chinese, and an Indian walk into an American bar: Tapping the Asian-American goldmine 97
are examples of scales that measure an individual’s
acculturation level. Based on responses to the sur-
veys, an individual can be categorized as low accul-
turation, high acculturation, or bicultural. The
implication is that marketers may need to change
up their marketing approach, depending on consum-
ers’ acculturation levels.
Low acculturation Asian-Americans have not
adapted fully to the host culture. They are more
comfortable speaking in their native language and
their social circles are comprised primarily of people
from the same ethnic group. In terms of consump-
tion, low acculturation Asian-Americans hold more
positive attitudes toward products and brands from
their culture of origin than products and brands from
the host culture. For some low acculturation con-
sumers, the consumption of culture-of-origin prod-
ucts is a means by which they can maintain their
cultural identity (Peñaloza, 1994).
To reach low acculturation Asian-Americans,
marketers can adopt a localization strategy that
emphasizes and reminds consumers of their native
identities. In the marketing literature, this ap-
proach is known as local consumer culture position-
ing (LCCP), a strategy that associates a product or
brand with local cultural meanings (Alden, Steen-
kamp, & Batra, 1999). LCCP may be more effective
in reaching low acculturation Asian-American con-
sumers because it reminds them of their cultural
roots (Guzmán & Paswan, 2009). Localization strat-
egies hold that the retention of ‘cultural odor’ is
necessary to attract consumers to cultural products
and brands (Iwabuchi, 2002). Certain products and
brands may benefit from anchoring themselves to a
place or their culture of origin. For example, iTalk
Global Communications, Inc., a Chinese internet
and television service provider with over 1.2 million
users worldwide, recently released iTalkBB Chinese
TV, a digital box that offers streaming Chinese-
language entertainment, in the U.S. market. The
product is a hit amongst first-generation Chinese-
Americans who wish to consume television shows
and movies from their homeland. As of 2016, iTalkBB
is the number one telecom provider for overseas
Chinese-Americans.
On the other hand, high acculturation Asian-
Americans have adapted fully to the host culture
(e.g., the U.S.). They are comfortable speaking
English, and their social circles are inclusive of
people from the host culture. Many high accultura-
tion Asian-Americans may be second- or third-
generation Asian-Americans, and lack the ability
to read, speak, or understand their native language,
which makes the consumption of cultural products
difficult. High acculturation Asian-Americans may
still consume products and brands from their native
culture as they are integral aspects of their cultural
identities. But they still prefer products and brands
from the U.S., as many view American brands as
symbols of modernity and economic progress.
In marketing to high acculturation Asian-
Americans, a de-ethnicization strategy may be
the most successful approach. Essentially, a de-
ethnicization strategy calls for the neutralization
of cultural elements, such as symbols, iconography,
or logos that link the product or brand to its culture
of origin. In the marketing literature, this approach
is known as global consumer culture positioning
(GCCP), which involves the removal of cultural odor
from products and brands to facilitate adoption to
global consumers (Alden et al., 1999). The consump-
tion of de-ethnicized products remind Asian-
American consumers of their global identities: they
are American consumers but also Americans of eth-
nic background. Certain products and brands may
benefit from adopting a de-ethnicization approach.
For many decades, Lee Kum Kee has been China’s
market leader in food sauce and condiments. In
1983, it established a U.S. subsidiary to distribute
its products in the U.S. The Panda brand, a low cost
version of Lee Kum Kee’s premium oyster sauce, was
introduced and marketed through the subsidiary to
target young Asian-American and non-Chinese con-
sumers. The Panda brand de-ethnicized its products
by modifying its product packaging and labels to
shed its strong Chinese identity. In contrast to Lee
Kum Kee products, which feature traditional images
and Chinese characters, Panda products use a more
globalized brand mark (picture of a panda) and
English (the lingua franca of the business world).
Panda products were an instant hit amongst young
Asian consumers and restaurants and successfully
penetrated the U.S market.
Finally, bicultural Asian-Americans have
adapted to American culture, but still have strong
ties to their native cultures. Biculturals may speak
primarily in English, but can also speak, read, and
understand their native language. Overall, they
are in-tune with American culture as much as they
are in-tune with their ethnic culture. With respect
to their consumption, bicultural Asian-Americans
have positive attitudes toward both American
brands and brands that originate from their culture
of origin. Through consumption, they oscillate be-
tween their American identity and their Asian
identities on an as-needed basis. The literature
offers limited insights into marketing to bicultural
Asian-Americans. Some scholars studying Hispanic
acculturation suggest that biculturals have positive
attitudes toward products and brands that originate
from their native culture (Zolfagharian & Sun, 2010).
On the other hand, other scholars indicate that
98
bicultural may be susceptible to cultural frame shift-
ing. That is, if bicultural Asian-Americans are primed
to think about their native culture, they will hold
more positive attitudes for localized products and
brands. If they are primed to think about their host
culture, then they will hold more positive evalua-
tions toward American products and brands.
In terms of marketing execution, this means that
marketers have the opportunity to invoke either
Asian-American consumers’ native or global identi-
ties depending on their goals. Certain products and
brands may benefit from taking a cultural frame
shifting approach. Talod Gruh Udyog produces
Indian instant mix products, such as khaman and
dhosa, which have cultural originations in Gujarat
and South India. In 2002, Talod shipped its first
export orders to the U.S. and the work of globaliza-
tion began. Talod predominantly distributes its
products to Indian retailers located in Indian-dense
communities. Many Indian-Americans consumers are
bicultural, second-generation Indian-Americans
who still desire cultural products. Talod provides
the raw materials to create traditional dishes, of-
fering product packaging in both English and the
native language. In doing this, Talod appeals to
bicultural consumers’ local and global identities.
4.2. Strategy II: Using Asian-American
consumers as a launchpad
Asian-American consumers can also be used as a
launchpad in the market with the ultimate goal of
reaching mainstream American consumers. This
strategy recognizes the buying potential and social
power of Asian-Americans consumers, as well as
their ability to introduce products to their non-Asian
peers. We lay out key components for successful
execution of this strategy.
4.2.1. Start with the pan-Asian markets
Unlike Hispanic-Americans, who are unified by the
Spanish language, Asian-Americans have different
written and spoken languages, which makes it diffi-
cult for marketers to reach all Asian-Americans with
a single marketing campaign. Thus, one goal of
marketing practitioners now is to develop a pan-
Asian approach in the long run. One expression of
the pan-Asian approach is targeting a specific Asian-
American group (e.g., Chinese-Americans) and use
them as a starting point, and then slowly de-ethni-
cize and diversify products and branding over time
to reach other Asian-American segments.
As mentioned in the beginning of the article,
99 Ranch Market did exactly this, and successfully
transitioned from a ‘Chinese’ store to an ‘Asian’
store, and more recently to an ‘ethnic-American’
S. Chen et al.
store. And, as they did so, they shifted to using dual
language (English and Chinese) in their marketing
communications to reach non-Asian and bicultural
consumers. In certain markets, 99 Ranch Market
would also incorporate a third language (e.g.,
Vietnamese) to better serve residents in those mar-
kets. The pan-Asian approach helped 99 Ranch
Market extend into marketplaces that have diverse
populations, such as Henderson, Nevada. Having
gained brand recognition and traction with a variety
of ethnic markets, it is now in an enviable position to
broaden its appeal slowly to an even more inclusive,
mainstream market.
4.2.2. Leverage relational ties with Asian-
American consumers
Marketers can also leverage Asian-American con-
sumers’ relational ties with non-Asian consumers.
With this approach, marketers can target their
products and brands to gain traction with the
Asian-American community and then slowly diffuse
to non-Asian Americans through word-of-mouth.
A testament to this strategy is sriracha sauce
produced by Huy Fong Foods. Sriracha is a spicy
sauce that has originations in Thai culture. In the
U.S., sriracha is synonymous with Huy Fong Food’s
trademark red rooster brand, which is found on its
sriracha sauce bottle. Sriracha started out in 1980 as
a staple ingredient found in Asian restaurants and
markets. It was used predominantly by Asian-
Americans. Non-Asian consumers gained exposure
through their Asian-American friends who took them
out to Asian restaurants or by visiting Asian restau-
rants of their own accord. Over time, sriracha dif-
fused outside of its Asian consumer base, and by the
mid-to-late 2000s, it was a sought after ingredient
used by cooks in haute cuisine restaurants and food
trucks. In other words, sriracha sauce gained a high
level of cultural capital as an authentic, ethnic
ingredient that could be integrated into many types
of non-Asian foods. Now, sriracha is considered a
mainstream product, and major U.S. corporations
such as Applebee’s, Jack in the Box, Frito Lays, and
Heinz offer products with sriracha flavor. Consistent
with Holt’s (2002) cultural branding model, the
mainstream diffusion of sriracha was augmented
primarily through intense word-of-mouth and grass-
roots campaigns, as opposed to national advertise-
ment campaigns.
4.2.3. Leverage new platforms, social media
Businesses can leverage new technological plat-
forms and social media to augment branding efforts.
Many Asian countries have a high internet penetra-
tion rate and mature smartphone market. For
example, South Korea has an internet penetration
A Korean, a Chinese, and an Indian walk into an American bar: Tapping the Asian-American goldmine 99
rate of 84%, which is one of the highest in the world.
As a result, Asian brands heavily incorporate tech-
nology or social media in their marketing efforts. For
instance, Xiaomi, Inc., a Chinese electronics com-
pany (and the world’s fifth largest smartphone mak-
er), makes extensive use of social media to receive
feedback for its products, communicate with con-
sumers, and spread electronic word-of-mouth. The
recent phenomenon of Pokémon Go also demon-
strates how technology affects the adoption of
products.
Pokémon Go is a location-based augmented-
reality application game. The application game is
based on the Pokémon media franchise, which in-
cludes trading cards, video games, print comics, and
animation. Following its release in the summer of
2016, Pokémon Go became immensely popular
among its users, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity,
or nationality. In addition to the success of the
application game itself, it also helped various busi-
nesses drive consumer traffic into their retail loca-
tions by allowing them to capitalize on the game’s
geo-based marketing system by becoming Poké-
Stops, where users can access items in the game.
The success of Pokémon Go exemplifies how tech-
nology can be used to reach consumers quickly and
effectively. Similarly, Asian brands can facilitate
their entry into the U.S. market by leveraging their
expertise in technology marketing. First of all, it will
be easy to reach out to Asian-American consumers
who are already avid technology adopters that use
social media as a means to communicate and con-
sume (Nielsen, 2015). However, it will also be easier
to reach the mainstream American consumers since
technology is less affected by cultural barriers and
more affected by technological savvy.
4.2.4. Total de-ethnicization
Using this approach, global companies take a leap
from the Asian-American consumers and go for the
mainstream market. This strategy may require dras-
tic de-ethnicization of products and brands to facil-
itate global market entry. This may include the
removal of cultural elements in products and brands
to mitigate low quality perceptions that are associ-
ated with the country of origin.
This is a strategy adopted by Lenovo, the Chinese
technology giant, which currently enjoys a 19.8%
market share, making it the largest personal com-
puter vendor in the world. Founded in 1984 in
Beijing, Lenovo was originally called Lianxiang,
which means ‘legend.’ The company’s brand mark
incorporated the Chinese characters for Lianxiang
along with its English translation, Legend, until the
early 21st century. In 2002, as a part of Legend’s
global expansion, Lianxiang/Legend de-ethnicized
its corporate identity by changing the firm’s identity
to Lenovo, a combination of Le- carried over from
Legend, and novo, which is French for ‘new.’ The
name change was an integral aspect of the com-
pany’s global expansion strategy. In 2004, Lenovo
acquired IBM’s hardware division, and their com-
puters now carry the globalized brand, which neu-
tralizes allusions to the company’s Chinese heritage.
The de-ethnicization strategy was so effective that
scholars question if Lenovo can still be considered a
Chinese entity (Vidal & Meschi, 2013).
4.3. Combining Strategies I and II
Strategies I and II need not be exclusive. Marketers
can combine both into a multi-stage strategy where
they first focus on a homogenous ethnic segment
(e.g., Chinese-Americans), and subsequently
extend their focus to reach other segments
(e.g., mainstream American consumers).
Royal Enfield, an Indian motorcycle company, has
employed the multi-stage strategy to great effect.
While extremely popular in India with almost an
iconic status, Royal Enfield’s foothold in the U.S.
market is still nominal. Currently, Royal Enfield
motorcycles appeal largely to Indian-Americans
who have nostalgic attachments toward the brand,
but the company is planning to expand into the
mainstream U.S. market by targeting niche seg-
ments (e.g., millennials) that would desire its lower
pricing (between $3,000—$7,000) and smaller sized
engines (between 250cc—750cc).
Alternately, a business that employs a house-of-
brands philosophy has the luxury to pick and choose
between Strategy I and II. As previously stated,
99 Ranch Market recently transitioned its flagship
stores toward a pan-Asian approach (Strategy II) and
appealed to mainstream consumers by opening re-
tail locations in culturally mixed neighborhoods. In
2006, 99 Ranch Market created an extension,
168 Market, a ‘fighter brand’ that is oriented around
everyday low prices. 168 Market has two stores in
California and two in Nevada, and uses an ethnic-
segment approach to target price-sensitive,
Chinese-American consumers (Strategy I). By alter-
nating between Strategies I and II with its two
extensions, 99 Ranch Market is able to diversify
its strategic portfolio and capture different seg-
ments of the market.
5. Conclusion
With this article, we have outlined how the new
globalization paradigm has enabled small brands to
expand successfully into international markets. In
100
doing so, we believe we have demonstrated that the
confluence of three key factors–—the growth of a
strong and particularly appealing ethnic group, the
changing landscape of branding, and the availability
of new technologies to reach consumers (as in social
media)–—has set the stage for the advent of smaller
Asian brands to make a mark in the U.S market.
While this article focuses on Asian brands and
their global market entry strategies into the U.S.
market, we are likely to see more smaller and
lesser-known global brands gaining prominence in
other non-U.S. markets as well. For instance, just
two countries (India and China) combined make up
more than one-third of the world’s population. Even
though the GDP per capita is relatively low, the size
of these populations still makes them formidable
markets, especially for mass-market products. The
rapidly expanding middle class in new emerging
markets, such as Nigeria, Indonesia, Brazil, and
Mexico, is also in search of relatively inexpensive,
yet good quality products that can satisfy its newly
acquired wants and need. As small global brands
continue to expand into these markets, we are likely
to witness an exciting shift in the branded market-
place currently dominated by Western brands.
References
Aaker, D. A. (2012). Building strong brands. New York: Simon &
Schuster.
Alden, D. L., Steenkamp, J. B. E., & Batra, R. (1999). Brand
positioning through advertising in Asia, North America, and
Europe: The role of global consumer culture. The Journal of
Marketing, 63(1), 75—87.
Anderson, C. (2008). Long tail, the revised and updated edition:
Why the future of business is selling less of more. New York:
Hyperion.
Asur, S., & Huberman, B. A. (2010). Predicting the future with
social media. In Web Intelligence and Intelligent Agent
Technology (WI-IAT), 2010 IEEE/WIC/ACM International Con-
ference (Vol. 1, pp. 492-499). Piscataway, NJ: IEEE
S. Chen et al.
Berger, J. (2013). Contagious: Why things catch on. New York:
Simon & Schuster Paperbacks.
Blackshaw, P., & Nazzaro, M. (2004). Consumer-generated media
(CGM) 101: Word-of-mouth in the age of the web-fortified
consumer. Retrieved July 21, 2016, from http://www.
nielsenbuzzmetrics.com/whitepapers/
Guzmán, F., & Paswan, A. K. (2009). Cultural brands from emerg-
ing markets: Brand image across host and home countries.
Journal of International Marketing, 17(3), 71—86.
Holt, D. B. (2002). Why do brands cause trouble? A dialectical
theory of consumer culture and branding. Journal of Consum-
er Research, 29(1), 70—90.
Iwabuchi, K. (2002). Recentering globalization: Popular culture
and Japanese transnationalism. Durham, NC: Duke University
Press.
Keller, K. L., & Lehmann, D. R. (2006). Brands and branding:
Research findings and future priorities. Marketing Science,
25(6), 740—759.
Kohli, C., Suri, R., & Kapoor, A. (2015). Will social media kill
branding? Business Horizons, 58(1), 35—44.
Kumar, N., & Steenkamp, J. B. E. (2013). Diaspora marketing.
Harvard Business Review, 91(10), 127—131.
Nejad, M. G., Sherrell, D. L., & Babakus, E. (2014). Influentials
and influence mechanisms in new product diffusion: An inte-
grative review. Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice,
22(2), 185—208.
Nielsen. (2012). State of the Asian-American consumer: Growing
market, growing impact. Retrieved October 15, 2015, from
http://www.nielsen.com/content/dam/corporate/us/en/
microsites/publicaffairs/StateoftheAsianAmericanConsumer
Report.pdf
Nielsen. (2015). Asian-Americans: Culturally connected and forg-
ing the future. Retrieved June 10, 2015, from http://www.
nielsen.com/content/dam/corporate/us/en/reports-
downloads/2015-reports/nielsen-asian-american-report-
june-2015.pdf
Peñaloza, L. (1994). Atravesando fronteras/border crossings: A
critical ethnographic exploration of the consumer accultura-
tion of Mexican immigrants. Journal of Consumer Research,
21(1), 32—54.
Ritzer, G. (2009). Globalization: A basic text. New York: Wiley-
Blackwell.
Vidal, P., & Meschi, P.-X. (2013). Lenovo: A Chinese dragon in a
global village (Case #W13085). London, Ontario, Canada: Ivey
Publishing.
Zolfagharian, M. A., & Sun, Q. (2010). Country of origin, ethno-
centrism, and bicultural consumers: The case of Mexican
Americans. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 27(4), 345—357.