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A landscape analysis of investors in the global breast milk substitute industry to target for advocacy

Wood B, Robinson E, McCoy D, Baker P, Sacks G

Matern Child Nutr, 2025 Jan;21(1):e13721.
PMID: 39344750 DOI: 10.1111/mcn.13721

The International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes and subsequent resolutions (the Code) was adopted to address increases in mortality and morbidity resulting from the practices of the breast-milk substitute (BMS) industry. The lack of success in ensuring company compliance with the Code has prompted advocates to consider engaging with investors to shape the governance of BMS companies. To support these efforts, this paper aimed to identify prominent investors in the global BMS industry and explore their Code-related policies and practices. Using multiple methods and data sources, we developed a novel approach to identify and rank investors in the world's leading publicly listed BMS companies. We also examined the policies and voting behaviour of a sample of investors using publicly accessible materials from 2020 to 2022. We found that a small number of large investors, led by BlackRock and Vanguard, hold a substantial share in the global BMS industry. Of the top-10 ranked investors, only Norway's Government Pension Fund (NBIM) reported policy information relating specifically to BMS marketing. Most of these large investors also opposed the sample of public health-related shareholder proposals analysed. In addition, we identified several investors that have reported engaging with BMS companies on Code-related issues, including NBIM, Pictet, and UBS, along with several potential investor targets for future advocacy efforts, including some North American public pension funds. The inclusion of Code-related issues as part of broader policies, disclosures and regulations related to environmental, social and governance oriented investment warrants increased attention.

Matched MeSH terms: Marketing/methods
Fulltext Children's exposure to unhealthy food advertising on Philippine television: content analysis of marketing strategies and temporal patterns

Borazon EQ, Magracia MR, Ong GR, Gillott BK, Mackay S, Swinburn B, et al.

Glob Health Action, 2024 Dec 31;17(1):2427445.
PMID: 39570293 DOI: 10.1080/16549716.2024.2427445

BACKGROUND: This study conducted an exploratory content analysis of TV food advertisements on the top three most popular channels for Filipino children aged two to 17 during school and non-school days.
METHODS: Data were collected by manually recording of aired advertisements from 16 non-school days (July to September 2020) and 16 school days (January to April 2021). Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were used to assess children's rates of exposure to food advertisements (mean ± SD of advertisements aired per channel per hour), the healthiness of promoted foods (as permitted (healthier) or not permitted (unhealthy) according to nutrient profiling models from the World Health Organization), and persuasive techniques used in food advertisements, including promotional characters and premium offers.
RESULTS: The results show that the rates of exposure to food advertisements were higher during school days (14.6 ± 14.8) than on non-school days (11.9 ± 12.0) (p

Matched MeSH terms: Marketing/methods
Fulltext Enhancing business intelligence by means of suggestive reviews

Qazi A, Raj RG, Tahir M, Cambria E, Syed KB

ScientificWorldJournal, 2014;2014:879323.
PMID: 25054188 DOI: 10.1155/2014/879323

Appropriate identification and classification of online reviews to satisfy the needs of current and potential users pose a critical challenge for the business environment. This paper focuses on a specific kind of reviews: the suggestive type. Suggestions have a significant influence on both consumers' choices and designers' understanding and, hence, they are key for tasks such as brand positioning and social media marketing. The proposed approach consists of three main steps: (1) classify comparative and suggestive sentences; (2) categorize suggestive sentences into different types, either explicit or implicit locutions; (3) perform sentiment analysis on the classified reviews. A range of supervised machine learning approaches and feature sets are evaluated to tackle the problem of suggestive opinion mining. Experimental results for all three tasks are obtained on a dataset of mobile phone reviews and demonstrate that extending a bag-of-words representation with suggestive and comparative patterns is ideal for distinguishing suggestive sentences. In particular, it is observed that classifying suggestive sentences into implicit and explicit locutions works best when using a mixed sequential rule feature representation. Sentiment analysis achieves maximum performance when employing additional preprocessing in the form of negation handling and target masking, combined with sentiment lexicons.

Matched MeSH terms: Marketing/methods*
Fulltext The determinant factors for the adoption of CRM in the Palestinian SMEs: The moderating effect of firm size

Salah OH, Yusof ZM, Mohamed H

PLoS One, 2021;16(3):e0243355.
PMID: 33662987 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0243355

CRM adoption can provide innumerable benefits to the SMEs performance, including solving customer problems in a timely manner, enhancing customer satisfaction by appointing an expert to solve issues and queries, and the like. This study aims to examine the moderating effects of the firm size in the adoption of CRM in the Palestinian SMEs. A quantitative approach was used to investigate the relationships between the variables, which are compatibility, IT infrastructure, complexity, relative advantage, security, top management support, customer pressure, and competitive pressure. A questionnaire was designed to collect data from 420 SMEs in Palestine. A total of 331 respondents completed and returned the survey. The Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Model (PLS-SEM) approach was used to assess both the measurement and structural models. The Diffusion of Innovation Theory (DOI) and Technology, Organization, and Environment Framework (TOE) framework were employed to identify the determinant factors from the technological, organizational, and environmental perspectives. The findings and conclusions of this study provide show that the moderating effect of firm size has significant effect compatibility, top management support, customer pressure, and IT infrastructure factors.

Matched MeSH terms: Marketing/methods*
Fulltext The adoption of cryptocurrency as a disruptive force: Deep learning-based dual stage structural equation modelling and artificial neural network analysis

Abbasi GA, Tiew LY, Tang J, Goh YN, Thurasamy R

PLoS One, 2021;16(3):e0247582.
PMID: 33684120 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0247582

In recent years, the growth of cryptocurrency has undergone an enormous increase in cryptocurrency markets all around the world. Sadly, only insignificant heed has been paid to the unveiling of determinants of cryptocurrency adoption globally, particularly in emerging markets like Malaysia. The purpose of the study is to examine whether the application of deep learning-based dual-stage Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) & Artificial Neural Network (ANN) analysis enable better in-depth research results as compared to single-step PLS-SEM approach and to excavate factors which can predict behavioural intention to adopt cryptocurrency. The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 (UTAUT2) model were extended with the inclusion of trust and personnel innovativeness. The model was further validated by introducing a new path model compared to the original UTAUT2 model and the moderating role of personal innovativeness between performance expectancy and price value, with a sample of 314 respondents. Contrary to previous technology adoption studies that used PLS-SEM & ANN as single-stage analysis, this study further enhanced the analysis by applying a deep learning-based dual-stage PLS-SEM and ANN method. The application of deep learning-based dual-stage PLS-SEM & ANN analysis is a novel methodological approach, detecting both linear and non-linear associations among constructs. At the same time, it is regarded as a superior statistical approach as compared to traditional hybrid shallow SEM & ANN single-stage analysis. Also, sensitivity analysis provides normalised importance using multi-layer perceptron with the feed-forward-back-propagation algorithm. Furthermore, the deep learning-based dual-stage PLS-SEM & ANN revealed that trust proved to be the strongest predictor in driving user intention. The introduction of this new methodology and the theoretical contribution opens the vistas of the extant body of knowledge in technology-adoption related literature. This study also provides theoretical, practical and methodological contributions.

Matched MeSH terms: Marketing/methods*
Fulltext Industry sponsored youth smoking prevention programme in Malaysia: a case study in duplicity

Assunta M, Chapman S

Tob Control, 2004 Dec;13 Suppl 2:ii37-42.
PMID: 15564218

OBJECTIVE: To review tobacco company strategies of using youth smoking prevention programmes to counteract the Malaysian government's tobacco control legislation and efforts in conducting research on youth to market to them.
METHODS: Systematic keyword and opportunistic website searches of formerly private internal industry documents. Search terms included Malay, cmtm, jaycees, YAS, and direct marketing; 195 relevant documents were identified for this paper.
RESULTS: Industry internal documents reveal that youth anti-smoking programmes were launched to offset the government's tobacco control legislation. The programme was seen as a strategy to lobby key politicians and bureaucrats for support in preventing the passage of legislation. However, the industry continued to conduct research on youth, targeted them in marketing, and considered the teenage market vital for its survival. Promotional activities targeting youth were also carried out such as sports, notably football and motor racing, and entertainment events and cash prizes. Small, affordable packs of cigarettes were crucial to reach new smokers.
CONCLUSION: The tobacco industry in Malaysia engaged in duplicitous conduct in regard to youth. By buying into the youth smoking issue it sought to move higher on the moral playing field and strengthen its relationship with government, while at the same time continuing to market to youth. There is no evidence that industry youth smoking prevention programmes were effective in reducing smoking; however, they were effective in diluting the government's tobacco control legislation.

Matched MeSH terms: Marketing/methods
"The world's most hostile environment": how the tobacco industry circumvented Singapore's advertising ban

Assunta M, Chapman S

Tob Control, 2004 Dec;13 Suppl 2:ii51-7.
PMID: 15564221

To review how tobacco transnational companies conducted their business in the hostile environment of Singapore, attempting to counter some of the government's tobacco control measures; to compare the Malaysian and the Singaporean governments' stance on tobacco control and the direct bearing of this on the way the tobacco companies conduct their business.

Matched MeSH terms: Marketing/methods
Fulltext Cigarette purchasing behaviour in Thailand and Malaysia: comparative analysis of a semi-monopolistic and a free-market structure

Ross H, Driezen P, Sirirassamee B, Kin F

Glob Public Health, 2009;4(6):588-99.
PMID: 19548160 DOI: 10.1080/17441690903072204

A wide range of cigarette prices can undermine the impact of tobacco tax policy when smokers switch to cheaper cigarettes instead of quitting. In order to better understand this behaviour, we study socio-economic determinants of price/brand choices in two different markets: a semi-monopolistic market in Thailand and a competitive market in Malaysia. The hypothesis that the factors affecting the price/brand choice are different in these two markets is analysed by employing a 2005 survey among smokers. This survey provides a unique perspective on market characteristics usually described only in business reports by the tobacco industry. We found that smokers in Thailand have fewer opportunities to trade down to save money on cigarettes, but pay lower prices than smokers in Malaysia, despite Thailand's higher tax rate. The Malaysian market, on the other hand, offers many possibilities to shop around for cheaper cigarettes. Higher income and education increase the price paid per cigarette in both countries, but the impact of these factors is larger in Malaysia. This has implications for sensitivity to cigarette prices. Using tax policy alone should be a more effective tobacco control measure in Thailand as compared to Malaysia. The effectiveness of a tax increase in Malaysia can be improved by adding programmes focusing on smoking cessation among low-income/low-educated smokers.

Matched MeSH terms: Marketing/methods*
Fulltext Levels and correlates of awareness of tobacco promotional activities among adult smokers in Malaysia and Thailand: findings from the International Tobacco Control Southeast Asia (ITC-SEA) Survey

Yong HH, Borland R, Hammond D, Sirirassamee B, Ritthiphakdee B, Awang R, et al.

Tob Control, 2008 Feb;17(1):46-52.
PMID: 18218808 DOI: 10.1136/tc.2007.021964

To examine the impact of tobacco advertising policy on adult smokers' awareness of tobacco promotion in two developing countries--Malaysia and Thailand.

Matched MeSH terms: Marketing/methods