Discussion and conclusion

Our goal was to explore the regional differences in China's growing consumerism. The results show that regional differences do exist.

Health consciousness

It is very interesting that no significant regional differences in consumers' health consciousness were found. The arithmetic means of this variable for all four cities are smaller than 2.02, indicating that Chinese consumers in all four cities are reasonably health conscious. A possible explanation is that Chinese people are historically health conscious. For example, many health- enhancing practices such as Tai Chi and Chi Kong are still very popular in today's China. Tong (1998) observed that one of the attractions for visitors to China is the number of people doing exercises such as Tai Chi, Chi Kung, social dances, or Kung Fu in public places in the mornings. As China makes the transition from a subsistence society to a Xiao Kang (comfortable) society, increasing attention is being given to personal health (Tong, 1998). Chinese consumers are embracing a more casual and health conscious lifestyle (Geng et al 1996).

Environmental consciousness

The findings reveal that consumers in Guangzhou are less environmentally conscious than their counterparts in the other three cities. But there was no difference in environmental consciousness among the other three. Guangzhou is known to be a more market-oriented city than the other three, which are mainly tourist cities. Over-emphasis on economic growth through commercialization may have somewhat dampened consumers' environmental concerns in Guangzhou. According to CNN's Asia Now (1999), the World Bank listed Guangzhou, capital of the fastest growing province , Guang-dong, and seven other Chinese cities among the ten most polluted cities in the world. Consumers in Guangzhou may have been too preoccupied with making money to pay attention to environmental issues. Beijing's bid for the 2000 Olympic Games and current successful bid for the 2008 Olympic Games may have contributed towards the increasing environmental awareness of its residents. Hangzhou is renowned for its natural beauty and is one of China's tourist cities while Xian is not a tourist city but is less industrialised than coastal cities such as Guangzhou. Nevertheless, respondents from the four cities had a relatively high environmental consciousness as the arithmetic means are below 2.15. This finding also lends further support to other studies that found Chinese consumers were more environmentally conscious than their western counterparts (Tai and Tam 1997; Chan 2000). However, what they do may not reflect what they say. Therefore, this finding should be treated with great caution.

Confidence in business ethics

Results show that consumers in Guangzhou and Beijing have less confidence in business ethics than those from Hangzhou and Xian. It is possible that with the increasing economic and commercial activities in Guangzhou, the number of illicit business practices is increasing. For example, in the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, a model for China's economic reforms , one can buy cheaper Prada bags, pirated DVDs and even Louis Vuitton bags which are made in Guangdong (Perry 2001). Furthermore, as the political, economic and cultural centre , Beijing is exposed to a greater number of media reports of illegal and ethical practices throughout China than either Hangzhou or Xian.

Managerial implications

This study reveals no significant difference in consumers' health consciousness across all four cities and finds that consumers are fairly health conscious. MNCs should therefore develop non-differentiated marketing strategies for China's growing health and health related product market. As China prospers, people will live longer and be better taken care of. The traditional values of filial piety and respect for seniority will ensure that more resources are provided for health improvements and facilities for the aged. Therefore, there will be a substantial increase of consumption on health foods and health gadgets (Tong 1998) and more health and health related products will be needed throughout China. Companies are advised to enter all four regional markets simultaneously .

For the green products market and 'green' consumers, MNCs should adopt a differentiated marketing strategy in China as the respondents in Guangzhou were found to be less environmentally conscious than their counterparts from other cities. Greater efforts may have to be made for Guangzhou. However, as it is understood that it is not so easy to be 'green' after all, firms should calculate carefully the costs and potential gains from being 'green'. For tourist cities such as Hangzhou and Xian, 'green' products may be more appealing to the local consumers. MNCs can put more emphasis on 'green' aspects of their products in these regional markets. Nevertheless, since all respondents demonstrated a positive environmental consciousness and consumers are also becoming more inclined to purchase eco-friendly products than before (Chan 2000), 'green' products will inevitably become more and more popular in China. MNCs should take advantage of being the first to produce and market products with an emphasis on 'green' features.

Respondents in Guangzhou were found to be less confident in business ethics than Hangzhou and Xian while Beijing consumers have even less confidence than in Xian. Therefore, MNCs should devote greater efforts in promoting consumers' confidence in their business operations in Guangzhou and Beijing. By promoting a positive corporate image throughout China, especially in cities such as Beijing, China's political, cultural and economic centre, MNCs can achieve a profound and far-reaching impact. Recent incidents of bad public relations by Toshiba notebooks and the Mitsubishi Jeep (Pajero) have seriously damaged both companies' images in China. Chinese consumers are now suing Toshiba for not compensating Chinese buyers (Smith 2000) while the government has banned the import of Pajero (Young 2001). MNCs, if they do not control their product quality properly, may find their development strategies for the China market severely handicapped.

Limitations and future research directions

One of the limitations of the study is that the data were only collected from four cities. Other equally representative cities were not included in the survey because of budget constraints. For instance, if different ethnic minorities had been surveyed, then the findings could have been more informative, possibly in terms of revealing more diversified consumerism resulting from regional differences in culture and ethnicity . Another limitation is that the reliability of the health consciousness scale is slightly lower than the threshold suggested by Nunnally (1978), even though the content validity seems reasonably high. Finally, the scope of the study is limited to the understanding of three key dimensions only of the growing consumerism in China.

Many more dimensions can be identified for future research. As Chinese consumers are maturing fast and the younger generation is becoming increasingly receptive to Western products, ideas and lifestyles, it is necessary to identify new emerging dimensions of consumerism. Furthermore, with China's entry into the WTO, Chinese markets will become more accessible to MNCs. Future studies could cover much wider geographical areas, particularly other parts of the Western China with more diversified ethnic cultures and lifestyles. Finally, as this study limited its scope to urban consumers, future studies could also look at the growing consumerism in rural areas and a comparison could be drawn between rural areas and urban cities. Although China is in the process of rapid industrialization, about 70 per cent of its population still lives in the countryside. Although no difference was found in consumers' health consciousness in the four cities, samples from the countryside in different regions might reveal a different picture.