With globalisation taking centre stage in the business world and multiculturalism affecting markets and societies, there is a need to understand the ways that customers respond to the changing marketplace from both international and multicultural perspectives. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Marketing Management.

Maria G. Piacentini is Senior Lecturer in Consumer Research and Marketing at Lancaster University Management School in the UK. Her research focuses on the consumption behaviour of vulnerable consumers, with specific interest in the coping strategies employed by consumers in difficult situations. She has published her work in a number of journals, including the Journal of Business Research, the Journal of Marketing Management, Advances in Consumer Research, Sociology of Health and Illness, the Journal of Consumer Behaviour, the International Journal of Non-Profit and Voluntary Sector Marketing, and the International Review of Retailing, Distribution and Consumer Research.

Charles C. Cui is Senior Lecturer in International Management and Marketing at the University of Manchester, Manchester Business School in the UK. His research focuses on international marketing and consumer behaviour, with a special interest in managerial and consumer behaviours in cross-cultural contexts. He has published his work in international journals such as Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, Industrial Marketing Management, International Marketing Review, Journal of Business Ethics, and R&D Management.

1. Introduction: Multicultural perspectives in customer behaviour Maria G. Piacentini and Charles C. Cui 2. Material man is not an island: Coping with cultural fracture Andrea Davies and James A Fitchett 3. A comparative examination of consumer decision styles in Austria Rudolf R. Sinkovics, Kannika 'Mink' Leelapanyalert and Mo Yamin 4. Do brand names in a foreign language lead to different brand perceptions? Laura Salciuviene, Pervez N. Ghauri, Ruth Salomea Streder and Claudio De Mattos 5. Consuming Bollywood: Young Sikhs social comparisons with heroes and heroines in Indian films Amandeep Takhar, Pauline Maclaran, Elizabeth Parsons and Anne Broderick 6. Exploring appropriation of global cultural rituals Julie Tinson and Peter Nuttall 7. The interrelationship between desired and undesired selves and consumption: The case of Greek female consumers' experiences Katerina Karanika and Margaret K. Hogg 8. Self-gift giving in China and the UK: Collectivist versus individualist orientations Caroline Tynan, M. Teresa Pereira Heath, Christine Ennew, Fangfang Wang and Luping Sun 9. Death and disposal: The universal, environmental dilemma Louise Canning and Isabelle Szmigin 10. Researching consumers in multicultural societies: Emerging methodological issues Stephanie Slater and Mirella Yani-de-Soriano