Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine how Chinese consumer attitude mediates factors that influence their purchase intention toward low-displacement vehicles. Design/methodology/approach – This study utilizes online survey data in China, multiple regression and recursive regression models. Findings – Consumers’ environmental concern, perceived effectiveness belief and functional value positively affect their attitude toward such products. Consumer attitude positively affects purchase intention. Consumer attitude fully mediates the influence of environmental concern, and partly mediates the effect of perceived effectiveness belief, and functional value on purchase intention. Consumers’ awareness of government policy is not associated with attitude or purchase intention. Originality/value – This is a first empirical study to systematically examine Chinese consumer attitude's mediation effect on factors influencing their purchase intent toward low-displacement vehicles in China.

Guanxi, a social exchange mechanism built on mutual favors, is an integral part of Chinese culture and a necessary relationship management tool for businesses operating in the People's Republic of China (PRC). This paper uses the cognition-affect-conation trajectory to illustrate the subtle differences between Guanxi approach and the conventional relationship marketing approaches on customer loyalty and word-of-mouth intentions. This process is mediated by calculative trust and affective attitude toward the service provider, while operationalizing the in-group identification construct to gauge in-group membership. Findings from a field-survey with Chinese retail-banking customers (N=420) support most of the hypotheses. Besides extending relationship marketing literature by highlighting the need to incorporate unique aspects of different cultures (especially in the emerging markets), this paper also provides many useful managerial implications and directions for future research on phenomena similar to Guanxi (e.g., "blat" in Russia, "wa" in Japan and "inhwa" in Korea).

PurposeThis study aims to examine the association between a number of variables pertaining to marketing strategy and business performance of small construction firms in Tianjin, China.Design/methodology/approachThe paper consists of a qualitative pilot study and a quantitative main survey.FindingsLong‐term differentiation marketing strategy, research and development (R&D) as a percentage of sales, and years in business are found to be positively associated with a small firm's business performance. Current product focus, government policy, quality and availability of services, conducting regular market research, firm's registered capital and employee number, being a supplier to a few large firms, and having a few regular suppliers are not found to be significantly associated with business performance.Research limitations/implicationsThe study has possible location and industry‐specific limitations.Practical implicationsManagerially, the findings encourage small Chinese firms to adopt a long‐term differentiation strategy, focusing on R&D and new product development. Government should disseminate this knowledge and facilitate small firms in obtaining necessary external finances to support their R&D programs. Such measures are vital for small firms to adapt to the increasingly competitive business environment in China's post‐World Trade Organization era.Originality/valueBy systematically examining relationships between marketing strategy and performance of the small Chinese firms, this study adds knowledge to the field of small firm research in China.

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