Corporate reputation is one of the most important assets for a firm. Literature has widely investigated on how corporate reputation affects competitive advantages and marketing strategies, thus improving customer loyalty and brand’s image. Specifically, scholars have focused on reputational loss event’s linkage with both financial performance and cushion effect on stock price fall during economic crises. Corporate reputation can be divided into three interrelated elements: managerial, financial, and product reputation. Main critical drivers that characterize corporate reputation are, firstly, the quality of product, management, and employees; then, organizational attractiveness, social responsibility and financial performance. Reputation loss may have different nature, resulting both from critical events that deeply affect customers’ perception, and from organizational drivers that are not significantly considered by customers although important for corporate social responsibility. To our best knowledge, while much effort has been given to positive effects of reputation, scarce attention has been given to the typology of reputational loss event impacting on firm’s financial situation. Thanks to multiple case studies in global fashion industry, the authors assess market reactivity after corporate loss of reputation. The focus is on critical drivers that may damage a brand’s image, consequently causing a financial loss. In addition to this, the paper highlights the nature of main reputational risks that mostly impact on stakeholders’ perception of firm’s reputation in fashion industry.

Fashion brands are influenced by multiple identities. Even though, for example, the brand name might still be associated with one or more creative founders (Gucci, Prada, Chanel, Hermès, Adidas, Joop) the brand image, and moreover the overall brand reputation are influenced by many different identities. For instance, a specific product identity (e.g., Gucci’s Bamboo Bag), the identity of the city or country of origin (Florence, Italy), the identities of well-known key customers as brand ambassadors (Sophia Loren, Vanessa Redgrave, Lady Diana, Naomi Watts etc.). Of course, also fashion brands who are not directly associated with the name of creative founders are composed of the effects of several identities. In the case of e.g. Nike especially successful athletes (Steve Prefontaine, Michael Jordan etc.), specific sports and sport events, and product lines tailor-made for them did help to build a strong brand reputation. All in all, it seems to be expedient to understand fashion brands as more of less complex systems composed of several identities. To deal in more detail with such “brand systems” is becoming particularly important against the background of several strategic challenges – e.g., when fashion brands are growing older and the creative founders lose their specific gravitational power, when in the process of internationalization new countries gain more and more importance who’s citizens might not have a strong access to the existing brand reputation drivers, or simply when in the context of the growing global competition the fashion brand needs to be “refreshed”. Against the background of cultural differences, or even - as within countries - lifestyle differences between different groups of customers, it can also be quite possibly that very different reputation drivers account for the success of a brand. Thus, it is necessary to identify, in different contexts, the relevant reputation drivers, and to analyze which interplay of those drivers might be particularly promising. Is it the creative founder, the corporate heritage, the country and/or city of origin, a special designer, a specific corporate culture, an outstanding product design, attractive key customers etc.? Which combination of such identity factors leads to what kind of success (e.g., brand loyalty, brand trust, price premium)? Will, for instance, heritage especially lead to brand trust, whereas an outstanding product design and specifically attractive key customers create the readiness for a higher price premium? And, is it necessary to create sub-brands to especially highlight specific identities in the process of building a brand system (e.g., the sub-branding of a Michael Jordan product line in the case of Nike)? Or is sufficient to only communicate an alignment with the brand (e.g., ads showing Naomi Watts wearing a Gucci Bamboo Handbag)? In other words, which kind of brand system, and which kind of brand communications has to be designed to attract specific target groups and to sustain competitive advantages? The present contribution aims to present a conceptual framework for analyzing “brand systems” in the fashion industry. Concomitantly, an approach of measuring such brand systems will be presented. Furthermore, a concept for analyzing the impact of several sub-identities on the development of the overall brand reputation and brand success against the background of existing contingencies will be outlined. With the introduction and discussion of such a conceptual framework it especially is intended to initiate the launching of an international research project which attempts to find an answer basically to the following question: Which via an integrated branding and brand systems communication carefully crafted composition of sub-identities might be how successful under what kind of situational conditions?

Corporate philanthropic activities, such as charitable donations, have become one of the main business practices worldwide. However, academicians have paid relatively scant attention to verifying the effectiveness of corporate philanthropy (CP) in terms of a firm’s performance. Therefore, this study aims to reveal the influence of CP on consumer loyalty that leads to a firm’s ultimate financial success. In addition, this study aims to investigate mechanisms through which CP influences consumer loyalty, as yet largely unexplored field. Results reveal that CP has an impact on consumer loyalty that is sequentially mediated by gratitude, trust, and finally commitment. This research contributes to expanding the scope of CP research verifying the effectiveness of CP on consumer loyalty.

This research was conducted in order to examine the influence of corporate reputation in terms of as an employer towards both brand reputation and customer purchase decisions represented by brand perception, purchase frequency and category of items purchased. In this study, customers’ perception of the brand was also explored to identify the core blocks that form customers’ perception of the brand. The results indicate that corporate reputation did not have a strong influence on brand reputation, as customers viewed them as separate entities. Customers tended to form their brand perception based on the product features as opposed to the corporate reputation. In terms of purchase decision, the results showed that they were made and driven based on the customers’ brand perception with category of items purchased reflecting aspects of the brand perception. The study demonstrates that customers’ awareness of the corporate reputation does not affect purchase behavior, while brand perception is hardly impacted by the awareness of corporate reputation based on a survey focusing on a renowned domestic fashion-clothing retailer conducted among Japanese shoppers. Reputation is formed from a synthesis of the perception, opinions and attitudes of an organization’s stakeholders including employees, customers and community (Post and Griffin, 1997). It basically is a perceptual representation of a company’s past actions and future prospects that describe the firm’s appeal to all of its key constituents (Fombrun, 1966). Corporate reputations and brands are important assets in enabling organizations to exploit opportunities and mitigate threats (Argenti and Druckenmiller, 2004). A favourable reputation correlates with superior overall returns (Robert and Dowling, 1997; Vergin and Qoronfleh, 1998) as it encourages investments from shareholders, attracts good staff and retains customers (Markham, 1972). While corporate reputation is a stakeholder’s perception and evaluation of the organization over an extended period of time, corporate brands involve the organization’s efforts and initiatives in the form of corporate expression. Literature states that corporate brand comprises of two aspects: first corporate expression, which covers all mechanisms employed by the organization to express its identity and second, stakeholder images that are formed from interaction and experience with the brand (Abratt and Kleyn, 2011). Consumers judge brands based on trust that is developed from the way consumers view brand reputation, brand competence and brand constituent (Lau and Lee, 1999). The intricate relationship between reputation and brands leads to the heart of the study whether both are positively correlated, where the more positive the reputation, the stronger the brand is. In the fashion industry, labels play an important role hence among other aspects this study covers an interesting point where it looks at a fashion brand that has a fairly bad reputation and examines the extent of which the reputation is able to influence the brand perception as well as the customers’ purchase decisions.

The notion of brand mimicry is not a new one. Drawing its roots from Darwin’s theory of evolution, Bate (1862, 502) described mimicry as a visible “resemblance in external appearance, shapes and colours between members of widely distinct families”. Further development of the theory led it to the concept of natural selection and the survival of the fittest. In order to survive, many organisms in nature employ mimicry (Vane-Wright, 1976). This strategy is similarly reflected in marketing (Kapfarer, 1995; Shenkar, 2010; 2012) and has been deemed as a form of “imitative innovation” (Levitt, 1966). Based on the accounts of the rampant copying in the industry, there is evidence that there are observed parallels between the types of mimicry identified in the discipline of biological and natural sciences and mimicry in marketing. However, there is still very little that is known within this area at present. In addition, based on the review of the key classification studies within the discipline of biological and natural sciences (Vane-wright, 1976; 1980; Pasteur, 1982), Vavilovian mimicry was identified. Vavilovian mimicry was found to convey a close resemblance to mimicry in marketing. Therefore, the development of a scale serves as a foundation to conceptualize the theory of mimicry further into the luxury-branding context within marketing. Mimicryis defined as the visible “resemblance in external appearance, shapes and colours between members of widely distinct families” (Bates, 1865, 502). There are three key roles in the system of mimicry, which are namely the model, the mimic and the signal receiver (dupe/operator) (Pasteur, 1982; Vane-Wright, 1976). The mimic, is the imitating organism that can be any species of organism produces a mimetic signal; the model, is the entity that is being imitated; and the signal receiver or operator (Vane-Wright, 1976), or sometimes termed as the dupe is the organism that is duped to believe similarities between the mimic and the model. Vavilovian mimicry in nature Vavilovian mimicry is classified as a form of crop mimicry (Pasteur, 1982; Barrett, 1983) that involves weeds, such as rye (Secale) that mimicked the first crops of man (dupe) through their evolution in the wheat (model) fields (Williamson, 1982). Subjected to the methods of man to gather and separate weed from wheat, rye have developed seeds and seed dispersal mechanisms that mimicked those of wheat (Williamson, 1982). Through such means, rye has forcefully made its way into being accepted by man and to compete with wheat in the fields. Based on Vavilov’s (1951) explanation, he calls the cereals (e.g. rye, domestic oats, rye, etc.) that originated from mimetic weeds as secondary crops. This form of mimicry is the result of unintentional selection by human beings due to the close similarities between the mimic and the model (Barrett, 1983). Therefore the mimic can evade eradication as a result (Vane-Wright, 1976). Vavilovian mimicry in marketing There are a number of parallels found within marketing that can serve to explain Vavilovian mimicry. One of the brands that employed the Vavilovian mimicry strategy lies within the beverage sector and is none other than Nudie Juice. Nudie Juice (mimic) started in 2002 by employing similar strategies to that of Innocent Juice (model) from the UK (Diagram 2). Nudie Juice has drawn many similarities from Innocent Juice such as the brand character (a small child like character), the packaging, and the concept of offering “premium fruit juice”. While many critics and consumers have suggested high level of similarities between the two brands (Ho, 2005), the founder Tim Pethick argued that they are not the same. It was suggested he initially drew inspiration from Innocent Juice but has evolved the brand from being similar to “something different” (Ho, 2005). After more than a decade in the Australian market, the Nudie brand has evolved from juice to beyond just another juice brand to differentiate from Innocent Juice. Therefore, based on the above examples, Vavilovian brand mimicry is when the mimic deceives or possibly confuses the signal receiver through symbolic and functional similarities, but as a result evades prosecution. Subsequently, it evolves, innovates and establishes itself away from the model brand over time and becomes an independent brand. They are often moderately similar mimics or so called imitative innovations. Method and Results Two studies were designed to develop the Vavilovian mimicry scale. All the studies were based on an experimental approach and were conducted in a classroom style setting using a homogenous sample aged between 18 to 35. Study One The purpose of Study One was to explore the concept of Vavilovian mimicry. In line with the scale development outlined by DeVellis (2003), it is important that existing theory should be reviewed and consulted prior to developing the scale. This study will closely follow the procedures set out by DeVellis (2003), Churchill (1979) and Li, Edwards and Lee (2002) using three methods to generate potential scale items which are 1) a thorough literature review, 2) thesaurus searches, and 3) expert surveys. Through the three techniques, an initial pool of 55 items was identified. The pool of items that was initially generated for Vavilovian mimicry scale was tested using a series of stimuli of real life brands befitting the concept of Vavilovian mimicry within the luxury branding industry (e.g. Lacoste vs. Crocodile, Rolls Royce vs, Geely). The product stimuli were pre-tested on a group of judges to ensure that the concept of Vavilovian mimicry is accurately measured. The stimuli were kept constant in the number of pairs of brands, and the duration to the stimuli that the subjects are exposed was all controlled for in the experiments. The first set of scales developed for Vavilovian mimicry was administered to a sample size of 195 respondents. Students were used as it has been indicated in past studies that students are appropriate subjects for scale development as they serve as surrogate consumers (Yavas, 1994). The data is checked for missing values and responses that are either incomplete or inappropriately completed are removed. Hence, only 177 useable responses were retained. Results of EFA As the study intended to develop scales to measure Vavilovian mimicry, the initial pool of items were cleaned to reveal five factors that seem to qualify as potential items for use. Items with double or triple loadings and that show factor loadings below .3 were eliminated. The items in the other unexpected factors were examined and items that were found to have little relevance to the study were removed. From the 55 items that were factor analyzed, 23 items remained within that is used to measure Vavilovian mimicry (α = .947; KMO and Bartlett’s test =.000; .808). From the factor analysis, the inconsistent items were also removed based on the co-efficient alphas (Nunnally, 1978). The initial Cronbach’s alphas for the factors were above .7, suggesting that the initial scales are still considerably long. As such, the next stage will be to optimize the scale length and to purify the data. Study Two This stage was performed to examine the dimensions of the scales in Study One, and to further purify the items. Churchill (1979) suggested that the scale purification step is to examine the dimensionality of the items. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) has been used to reduce scales by identifying the items that needs to be trimmed from the scale, which assists by confirming the scale in its final form (Netemeyer, Bearden & Sharma, 2003) using AMOS 19. A new survey instrument is produced consisting of the 23-item Vavilovian mimicry items, as well as the demographics collected in Study One. Respondents were exposed to only stimulus (pair of brands) that is tested to show Vavilovian mimicry and asked to respond to a self-administered survey. The respondents are students who fall between 18 to 35 years of age. Useable responses for this study was 206. Results of CFA Prior to completing the measurement model, the congeneric model for each of the factors within the Vavilovian mimicry scale is tested to ensure model fit before testing it as a measurement model. CFA further refined the scales resulting in three dimensions, which are namely symbolic characteristics, physical characteristics and beneficial characteristics. Symbolic (Chi-Square =9.390, Degrees of Freedom = 8, Probability level = .310, RMSEA = .029, RMR = .033, AGFI = .956, CFI = .998) and physical characteristics (Chi-Square =12.571, Degrees of Freedom = 11, Probability level = .322, RMSEA = .026, RMR = .029, AGFI = .954, CFI = .998) dimensions resulted in seven items each and beneficial characteristics (Chi-Square =3.203, Degrees of Freedom = 2, Probability level = .202, RMSEA = .054, RMR = .018, AGFI = .954, CFI = .997) resulted in five items. According Raubenheimer (2004), multi-dimensional scales should have a minimum of three items to load significantly on each factor in order to be successfully identified. Based on the congeneric models for the three dimensions of Vavilovian mimicry, it is shown by the results to achieve acceptable measures (Hu and Bentler, 1999). These three factors are then being used in the measurement model to ensure that the three dimensions of the scale are of acceptable measures. In the next step of the measurement procedure, the three-factor structure was tested using CFA (Kelloway, 1998). Based on the measurement model (Figure 1), model identification was achieved with the 15 items and the model fit statistics are found to be of acceptable range and can be used for further analysis (Hu and Bentler, 1999) Chi-Square =104.183, Degrees of Freedom = 83, Probability level = .058, RMSEA = .035, RMR = .063, AGFI = .914, CFI = .989).These 15 items have indicated a good model fit within three dimensions. The scale items were validated using predictive, nomological, convergent and discriminant validity tests. The paper is one of the first (at the time of the study) to develop a scale to measure Vavilovian mimicry. The final 15 items for the scale fills an important gap in the literature as it conceptualizes and measures a specific type of mimicry that is abundant in the marketplace. At present, studies have yet to extend the established theory of mimicry from the discipline of biology and natural sciences. In addition, the scale allows the model brand managers, mimic brand managers and policy makers to better identify the type of mimicry that are in question. In addition, rather than only addressing mimicry from the luxury brand owners’ perspective, the Vavilovian mimicry scale allows mimic brand managers to understand if Vavilovian mimicry is an effective innovation strategy to deploy. Typically, policy makers have often struggled in copyright laws and identifying different types of infringement in the marketplace, especially when understanding consumer confusion in relation to brand “copycats”. This Vavilovian mimicry scale can be used to measure and identify mimics more effectively and therefore to have better strategies in either educating consumers or to formulate policies and strategies. This study provides insights into means to address competition from mimic brands especially in countries such as China. However, at present the scale is currently still under development and requires further validation and generalization. Future studies will need to measure construct, criterion, discriminant and convergent validity. Furthermore, the scale warrants generalizability across specific product luxury product categories such as cars, jewellery, clothing and so on. In addition, the scale will need to be tested in relation to other constructs such as brand familiarity, consumer perceptions and evaluations in order to understand the true extend and influence of brand mimicry. Lastly, this study attempts to bridge the gap in the literature and pave the foundation to better understanding of brand mimicry.

Luxury consumption is intrinsically related to unusual expectations from the consumers, among which some are equally shared around the globe. For instance, Europeans, Americans and Asians claim that luxury products should be flawless and their producers (i.e. the luxury brands) should have some history and heritage (Wiedmann et al., 2007). What they put behind these two last notions can fluctuate, but they are systematically stressed out in studies, be they academic or applied, qualitative or quantitative. Therefore, it sounds fundamental for the luxury Maisons to communicate on their heritage and history (Wiedmann et al., 2012). While until the end of the XXth century brands could rely upon different message content and copy to do so, due to localized options of communication, the Internet has implied to complete revision of their approach. The Maisons’ websites, even if available in different languages, are unique platforms to showcase the brand’s history, ambience and offering to a worldwide audience. They should be able to reach consumers, both cognitively and emotionally, recreate the store atmosphere, while simultaneously stimulating some desire to discover new collections. They stand for an open-window on a boundary-free world, be it from the geographical or from the time point of view. However, as pointed out by academics and professionals from the very beginning, the road is paved with risks, especially in terms of brand image management (Geerts & Veg-Sala, 2012). This comes from the apparent non-compatibility between luxury and the online environment. However, such discrepancies have led to a complete redefinition of the luxury concept, with its new semiotics economy (Maman & Kourdoughli, 2014). Part of it is ‘heritage and history’, with little surprise. We can therefore raise the issue of a lack of academic research regarding how such Maisons communicate about their history (even if short) and heritage on their website, be it an institutional or a transactional one. The only studies we have found deal with the automotive sector (Wiedmann et al., 2011) or watch one (Baum, 2011), the second one being a Master’s thesis. It is the objective of the present study to fill in this gap, and to uncover the various ‘signs’ used by luxury brands to communicate their heritage and heritage to their worldwide audience. Besides, we wanted to understand whether different semiotic systems were used by French vs. Italian luxury brands, and whether other variables such as the place of origin or the ‘age’ of the Maison would lead to different signs. To reach this goal, we used a two-pronged approach. First we gathered data from 56 websites of fashion luxury brands, using an inductive approach of content analysis (Kim & Kuljis, 2007). A coding grid was thus built while data was collected, with a back and forth coding process. We also built upon the Gestalt principles to ‘judge’ whether the websites were more focused on 1) current fashion trends, 2) the brand itself or its designer(s), 3) the products offered, or 4) the past of the brand. A first researcher built the grid and filled it in, while a second one directly used the grid for coding. The two coding outcomes were confronted and discrepancies discussed until agreement was reached. Then, major trends and clusters were identified from the data, leading us to understand the various sign-systems used by the Maisons, using Peircian semiotics. We end-up our study with theoretical conclusions regarding the online communication of luxury fashion brands, and with practical recommendations for luxury brand managers.

INTRODUCTION The term luxury usually defines not a category of products but a conceptual and symbolic set of dimensions. These dimensions comprise values that are strongly related to cultural elements and the wider socio-economic context (Vickers & Renand, 2003). Vickers and Renand (2003) recognised luxury goods as symbols of personal and social identity. Luxury is often used as a social marker, as a social stratification tool to reinforce a hierarchy (Okonkwo, 2010, Kapferer & Bastien, 2009). Due to the subjective nature of the luxury concepts and the complexity to define it, perceptions of luxury brands are not consistent across market segments and geographic locations (Phau & Prendergast, 2000), since they depend largely on each consumer's perception of indulgence. A common denominator between consumers in both Western and Eastern cultures is that the purchase of luxury brands serves to portray individuality and/or social standing (Nueno & Quelch, 1998; Vigneron & Johnson, 2004). Consumption of luxury brands is largely determined by social function attitudes (i.e. self-expression attitude and self-presentation attitude) as consumers express their individuality (e.g., need for uniqueness) and exhibits their social standing (e.g., self monitoring) through luxury brands (Wilcox et al., 2009). It is of growing importance for researchers and managers to understand how consumers' perceptions of value, influences buying criteria and behaviour (Tynan et al., 2010; Wiedmann, Hennigs, & Siebels, 2007). The perception of value by consumers is given a higher importance (Tynan et al., 2010) however the measurement of luxury value is not agreed amongst scholars and practitioners. Vigneron and Johnson (2004) proposed a structure of the luxury concept and presented the “brand luxury index” framework. Wiedmann et al. (2007) offered a conceptual model of luxury value perceptions highlighting four dimensions, namely: social, personal, functional, and financial values. Tynan et al. (2010) have adapted the earlier work by Smith and Colgate (2007) on generic value framework and suggested a conceptual model based on the following concepts: utilitarian, symbolic/ expressive, experiential/hedonic, relational, and cost/ sacrifice value. With the emergence of new concepts and levels of luxury, the measurement of value becomes even harder. According to Unity Marketing (2006) “…‘old luxury’ was about the attributes, qualities and features of the product and much of its appeal was derived from status and prestige. The new luxury consumer defines the category from their point of view. Today’s new luxury consumers focus on the experience of luxury embodied in the goods and services they buy, not in the ownership itself.” Robins and Ricca (2012) propose an alternative perspective on the established ‘new’ vs. ‘old’ luxury dichotomy. According to the authors, the more brands define themselves as belonging to the world of luxury, the more the concept becomes meaningless as luxury becomes ‘massified’. They introduce the concept of Meta-Luxury as a new form of luxury that escapes the cliché of luxury and establishes the “luxury beyond luxury”. In these complex scenarios, luxury brands are on a constant quest to remain relevant and maintain a sustainable competitive advantage. According to Beverland (2004) marketers now need to use “a complex combination of dedication to product quality, a strong set of values, tacit understanding of marketing, a focus on detail, and strategic emergence” in order to effectively manage luxury brands. With the recent focus on co-creation of value, luxury brand management has evolved to include dialogue and complex interactions between the brand owner, employee, customers and other social groups and communities (Tynan et al. 2010) making success factors harder to track. Purpose This paper aims to conceptualize a measurement tool that could be used in the evaluation and classification of a luxury brand’s performance and to assess how these dimensions evolve as the brand moves from mature towards more emerging luxury markets. This paper seeks to make a contribution, by providing a systematic review of the definitions of a luxury brand provided by various authors. It seeks to establish patterns and inconsistencies and to summarise them in a performance measurement matrix (the LPM framework) which can be used to identify growth strategies and to support future managerial developments. Design/methodology/approach The methodological approach followed in this paper was to systematically review the academic literature on luxury brands and to reduce the numerous factors cited as components and identifiers of luxury brands to a more manageable number of macro-themes. Through the analysis of the dimensions identified (with a further distinction between ‘new’ and ‘old’ luxury brands), the researchers intended to clarify the key elements of success that impact on brands competitiveness, leading to the definition of the items in the scale. In order to validate the elements, a survey was implemented to identify the most crucial indicators by building on the results of the systematic review. The aim of the survey was to clarify detailed criteria for each of the dimensions in order to construct an effective measurement scale. The scale was tested on four luxury brands selected amongst those perceived as ‘old’ / traditional luxury and ‘new’/emergent luxury. Findings Amongst academics and practitioners there is no common agreement or clear parameters that delineate what luxury is or the strategies such brands employ. This leads to confusion in the definition of the elements that constitute a luxury brand as well as in the brand management process. This paper proposes an alternative measurement scale to the Brand Luxury Index Scale developed by Vigneron and Johnson by focusing on a strategic overview of the performance of luxury brands in the UK market. It attempts to evaluate the performances of key luxury players by using a value-curve approach (Kim and Mauborgne, 2005) as a measurement tool. The value curve is a both a diagnostic and an action tool which captures the current state of play in the market space. The different constituents of the proposed Luxury Performance Matrix (LPM) should be considered when measuring the performance of a luxury brand and its capacity for value creation. The visual representation of the LPM model, allows marketers and brand managers to easily evaluate what aspects and strategic directions should be prioritized. It also allows to capture the brand’s performance across the key competitive factors of the industry and to determine which factors need to be raised above competition as way to increase competitiveness in the marketplace. The Luxury Performance Matrix proposed in this paper represents a major contribution to the measurement and evaluation of the competitive performances of established and ‘new’ luxury brands, in mature and emerging markets. Originality/value The proposed matrix will allow luxury brand managers to assess the current presence in the marketplace and develop more in-depth understanding of the brand’s performance. The findings provide valuable strategic insights for luxury brands operating across emerging and established product/market contexts.

This study demonstrates how consumers’ implicit self-theory orientations (Entity vs. Incremental) relate to their perceptions of luxury brand appeals (Functional vs. Non-functional). Specifically, our experiments show that the entity theorists are likely to value the hedonic appeal of luxury brands, whereas incremental theorists value their functional appeal. The study provides useful insights for managers for designing advertising messages and their positioning strategies for luxury brands.

Consumers and sources are embedded in cultural contexts that influence how those sources are read. We examine how consumers stigmatized for being fat collectively read advertisements for luxury fashion brands featuring plus-sized sources. We unveil individual and cultural resources stigmatized consumers rely on to collectively develop readings of advertising sources.

Sex appeal advertising has been widely adopted in luxury fashion marketing and yet little attention has been paid to the impact of sex appeal on perceived luxury values. Using a 2(low/high degree of sex appeal) x 2(male/female ad endorser) x 2(male/female ad viewer) factorial design, this study finds that the use of a high degree of sex appeal in an advertisement significantly improves young consumers’ perceptions of the appearance, quality, uniqueness, and conspicuousness value of a luxury fashion brand. The impact of sex appeal on the self-identity, hedonic, materialistic or prestige value perceptions appear to be insignificant. Gender interacts with the degree of sex appeal on the appearance and quality value only. Implications for luxury brand marketers and advertisers are discussed.

We propose that how people consider their own economic resources whether to be abundant or to beconstrained determines the quality judgment of an art. Respondents' with perceiving their own resources constrained evaluated the art relatively more attractive when the producer was an attractive (v. unattractive) person. However, When respondents' perceive their own resources to be abundant, no effect of the artist's attractiveness was found.

With the development of industry, environmental deterioration has become a global problem. Not only national policies on environmental issues should be strengthen but also environmental consciousness of corporate and consumers should be changed. In particular, corporate should strive to develop and improve green products for sustainable development. Green advertising is one of an efficient marketing tools to sell the green product. The important role of green advertising is to awaken necessity of green product and to imprint green brand image consumer`s mind. Green advertising influencing consumer attitude plays a useful role of green purchase behavior. This study explores dynamic relationships among personal uses of green advertising, attitude toward product, and purchase behavior for green products. The purpose of research is how personal uses of green advertising effects on attitude toward green products and green purchase behavior. Consumers are exposed to a large number of advertisings so that it is important to investigate how much they trust green advertising and what aspect of green advertising affects green purchase behavior. This study tries to contribute useful insights to practitioners who need a more effective communication strategy of green advertising.

Dongdaemun Fashion Town, a representative clothing wholesale and retail market in South Korea, is a traditional market that was formed in the 19th century in the late Chosun Dynasty. Since then, the market system has strengthened and, as of now, Dongdaemun Fashion Town can produce various products in batch production and is characterized by a quick market response (Jung, Choo, & Chung, 2007). Furthermore, all fashion-related functions are available, making Dongdaemun Fashion Town an industrial cluster where all related businesses and services are locally concentrated (Ko, Choo, Lee, Song, & Whang, 2013). These characteristics of Dongdaemun Fashion Town relieve market trade cost and build a unique production system. It is positioned as a central clothing wholesale and retail district with the function of a national wholesale market. This Dongdaemun Fashion Town system creates services that customers demand through cooperation, partnership, or outsourcing between various suppliers and various resources (Nam, Kim, Yim, Lee, & Jo, 2009). Thus, Dongdaemun Fashion Town is a system space composed of subordinate markets with unique taste functions; here, a systematic network between the suppliers is significant. It produces value co-creation through collaboration with suppliers. However, few previous studies have investigated co-value created through co-production or co-innovation from Dongdaemun Fashion Town. Also, the shift from product-centered thinking to the customer-centered thinking implies the need for an accompanying shift to the customer-based strategy. It also refers the necessity of strategy to improve customer equity (Rust, Lemon, & Zeithaml, 2004). Therefore, further study is needed on co-creation research to make cyclical growth of traditional market and customer equity. The structure of this study is as follows. First, the characteristics of the Dongdaemun Fashion Town’s co-production, co-innovation, and value co-creation are investigated and each of the subordinate aspects is investigated. Second, the influence of co-production, co-innovation, and value co-creation on customer equity driver is analyzed. Third, the moderating effects on the types of suppliers’ (wholesale/retail) influence relationship are analyzed. In total, 300 samples by wholesalers and retailers were collected for the final analysis. Data analysis was performed used SPSS 21.0 for exploratory factor analyses, reliability analysis, and descriptive statistics. Based on the results, AMOS 18.0 was used for confirmatory factor analysis and multiple group analysis. The results of this study provide an insight into the influence of Dongdaemun Fashion Town’s co-production, co-innovation, and value co-creation on customer equity by wholesalers and retailers. The study concludes with outlining future directions of research that can be used in the development of marketing strategies.

Customer equity can estimate customer lifetime value for the company (Rust et al, 2004). The firm can make proper marketing strategy with customer equity. Customer equity can both satisfy consumers and make a profit for the company (Lemon et al., 2001).So we built a model to connect service quality and customer equity to study how to prove the competitive power of traditional market. In this paper we used customer satisfaction and brand attitude as mediating variables since Store brands have become an important contributor to retail differentiation and basis for building store loyalty (Dodd and Lindley, 2003) and in retail market customer equity varies with customer satisfaction( Pappu and Quester 2006). Considering that Chinese economic growth rate was slowing down, traditional market is being a priority for Chinese Government to relieve severe export pressure and employment pressure. In this research we would like to study the relationships among service quality, customer satisfaction and brand attitude and how they influence customer equity in traditional markets. Through this study we also find out how to competitive power of traditional market through managing CLV and proving service quality

There are amount of researches study about corporate competition sustainability, find the way to survive in the competition. But sustainable development has been launched for many years. Sustainable marketing aims to balance among economic, environmental, and social goals. Marketing methods of one company should be innovated with fast development. Marketing practitioners and researchers should follow the idea to sustainable marketing base on the hot issue of sustainable issue. Because sustainable marketing can increase firms’ profit and improve the environment such as nature environment and society. Customer equity is the sum of customer lifetime value, comes from value creation based on profits, costs, cash flow, customers, and customer relationships. Customer equity has been defined as value of future profits that might be acquired from customers, excluding corporate costs (Berger & Nasr, 1998), as profits created when companies allocate resources appropriately to acquire and retain customers (Blattberg & Deighton, 1996), and as the sum of all customers’ discounted lifetime value (Lemon et al., 2001). In this research studied the relationship between sustainable marketing and customer equity. Customer equity has been the key for companies’ sustainable competitive advantage. The company can make proper marketing strategy with customer equity which can both satisfy consumers and make a profit for the company (Lemon et al., 2001). Also test customer attitude to sustainable marketing in different culture. Based on the results this study gave both academy and practice implications.

This study aims to examine the effects of services marketing mix elements on customer equity through the customer experience in order to determine an optimal marketing mix strategy in the service industry. This paper utilizes confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM) to analyze and confirm the proposed conceptual model. This study finds that the process, people, and physical evidence of the “7Ps” of the service marketing mix impart a positive and significant effect on the customer experience in the post-office setting. This result would help practitioners to create a service marketing strategy to differentiate their service from competitors in order to retain existing customers and attract new ones. It was also found that the customer experience is positively linked to customer equity. From the customer equity perspective, this study provides theoretical support that the customer experience, as one of the service operations management measurements, can be employed to measure service performance, which is also closely related to customer equity.

With the diffusion of smart-phones and mobile equipment, as well as the emergence of consumption patterns like showrooming and reverse showrooming, not only online shopping, but also offline stores are becoming important. For this reason, a multichannel which simultaneously runs both offline and online channels is getting the spotlight. A multichannel means a series of activities related to selling goods and services to consumers via more than one channel (Levy & Weitz, 2011). To adapt to this change of the retail environment, the Dongdaemun market, the source of Korean mass fashion, is introducing a multichannel to manage online and offline channels together. ‘Style Nanda’, based on Dongdaemun, is a representative branding case. Having starting with an online shopping mall, ‘Style Nanda’ is now running offline stores and is planning to enter overseas markets. Another example is that of Roompacker which has grown up from an offline store in the Dongdaemun Doota Shopping Mall launched in 2005 and is now emerging as the online and offline powerful actor in the market. As mentioned above, Dongdaemun fashion market-based brands are competitive when they have a multichannel to simultaneously run offline channels, online, and mobile channels. The existing Dongdaemun fashion market-related research has been limited to the analysis of Dongdaemun market’s structural characteristics or the consumer perception of the shopping conditions (Hong & Lee, 2007; Choi & Choo, 2005). Also, most multi-channel studies have focused on the consumer perceptions depending on the channel characteristics; therefore, the studies that measured consumer responses depending on the brand characteristics are very scarce. With the change in the retail environment and the increase in the necessity of revitalizing Dongdaemun commercial districts, a study on the multi-channel properties of the Dongdaemun brands would provide many useful implications. In this context, this research aims to analyze the characteristics of the Dongdaemun market, which is offline-optimized, as well as the utilities and attributes of multichannel shopping services of Dongdaemun fashion brands. Our second aim is to provide implications for marketing. In particular, this research is focused on the effects of these attributes on value equity, relationship equity, and brand equity which are customer equity drivers of Dongdaemun fashion brand consumers. Furthermore, this research explores the effects of customer equity drivers on customer satisfaction and purchase intention. A total of 200 samples were collected to examine the effects on customer equity drivers of Dongdaemun multichannel attributions by consumers in Dongdaemun Fashion Market. The collected data were then analyzed statistically (exploratory factor analysis, reliability analysis, and descriptive statistics) with SPSS 21.0. Furthermore, AMOS 18.0 was used for confirmatory factor analysis and multiple group analysis. The results of this research will serve as a foundation for a distribution channel research to measure the characteristics of Dongdaemun and customer equity regarding a multichannel. They will also be practically helpful in establishing a strategy to introduce a multichannel of offline-centered brands.

This study examines consumer reaction to different luxury advertising information (promotion-focus vs. prevention-focus). Studies examine the relationship between consumers’ face concern and individual regulatory focus, and explore the relationship between face concern and luxury advertising type with a 2 (face concerns) × 2 (advertising information) experiment design.