Boddewyn's book provides a rare insight into how advertising self-regulatory bodies really work--with or without outsiders. Many other studies have lauded self-regulation or dismissed it preemptorily, but this book focuses on its logic, limits, and ultimate contributions to the societal control of advertising. It shows how outsiders--where available and willing to participate--contribute to its functioning while the advertising industry remains in control of the standards applied by self-regulatory bodies. Practitioners, consumerists, and policy-makers should greatly benefit from reading this multinational comparison of a dozen countries with very different economic and legal environments.

"Sylvan M. Barnet, Jr., Chairman, Advisory Council, International Advertising Association"

It is generally recognized that the development and application of voluntary industry standards is a necessary complement to governmental regulation of advertising. With the expansion of advertising opportunities, however, the tasks of self-regulation have grown, along with doubts as to the industry's ability--or willingness--to enforce appropriate ethical guidelines. In attempt to resolve this situation, self-regulatory bodies increasingly invite the participation of non-industry members, especially where consumer protection is at issue. The first broadly based, comparative study of advertising self-regulation, this book explores the global implications of recent trends through detailed analyses of self-regulation in Europe, Asia, and the Western Hemisphere.

The number of advertisements is steadily increasing around the world as affluence grows and more economies shift to a market system. One way to ensure that these ads are truthful, accurate, and wholesome is to rely on industry self-regulation. Through it, peers set up standards of good advertising practice and enforce them as an essential complement to government regulation. With the global expansion of advertising, the tasks of self-regulation have grown, together with some doubts regarding the industry's willingness and ability to develop and enforce ethical guidelines. This unique global study of the subject explores the spread of this social-control institution through a discussion of its relative strengths and weaknessess, a reporting of several surveys conducted by the author, and thirty-eight country profiles prepared with the assistance of practitioners around the world.

The first chapter defines self-regulation, analyzes its pros and cons, relates it to government regulation, investigates its structures and processes, discusses the involvement of non-industry members in its functioning, evaluates its effectiveness, and considers its recent spread around the world in the light of new developments such as the completion of the European Common Market. A second section reports the key findings of surveys conducted by the author for the International Advertising Association in 1986 and 1988-89. The last part offers profiles of advertising self-regulation as practiced in thirty-eight countries--including such leading nations as Canada, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States. An appendix includes samples of key codes as well as various evaluations of the practice of advertising self-regulation around the world.

Each year, the Fellows of the Academy of International Business (AIB) spot and elect new talents to join them and expand research in international business. Only 21 Fellows were elected between 2008 and 2012. Ten of them have contributed chapters to this volume, the first of two that will feature unique insights from the AIB's best and brightest. Each chapter addresses the important questions facing researchers today and answers them in three distinct cultural, theoretical, and managerial contexts.

The AIB Fellows Group includes top researchers, educators, and administrators in the IB field. Most of its 60 members have contributed to this edited volume as authors, co-authors and reviewers, including such noteworthy scholars as John Dunning, Alan Rugman and Yair Aharoni, among many others.Its chapters examine aspects of the growth of the field, evaluate our present state of knowledge and outline future lines of research. They cover the growth of several functional areas (marketing, advertising, finance, etc.), review problems of methodological rigor in IB research, trace the history and evolution of IB studies and their likely future trajectories, raise ethical and moral issues about IB practices and evaluate the impact of major theories on IB studies. A couple of chapters cover the history of international business and of the AIB Fellows Group. Altogether, this book provides a benchmark of where IB knowledge stands today and will grow in coming years.