This paper attempts to develop a new more representative typology exclusively for luxury brand personalities addressing the conceptual and methodological limitations of previous works. Existing brand personality measures (e.g. Aaker, 1997; Geuens, Weijters, & Wulf, 2009; Sweeney & Brandon, 2006) are grounded on human personality taxonomies, thereby rendering their ability to accurately capture the essence of luxury brand personality doubtful. They also inherit some of the conceptual and methodological issues from Aaker’s (1997) work, for which it has been recently criticised. This evidence points towards the need for a new measurement tool for luxury brands developed from scratch. Recognising the need to provide solid foundations of the luxury brand personality traits, the present paper uses lexical approach similar to the way it was used in the human personality scale development research (Cattell, 1943; Goldberg, 1982; John, Angleitner, & Ostendorf, 1988). The main reason for using natural language as a source of luxury brand personality attributes is based on the key assumption behind the lexical approach that most important individual differences will be encrypted into the language in the course of time (John et al., 1988). Embracing this assumption, we believe that the use of luxury brand personality descriptors in the natural language will determine their importance. The first step involved doing online text mining to learn how consumers describe various luxury brands, thereby generating a pool of items. Also, in-depth interviews were undertaken with frequent luxury buyers using Kelly’s repertory grid technique to facilitate construct elicitation. Next, the list of characteristics was screened against Norman’s (1967) comprehensive list of personality traits to ensure that only personality traits were retained in the pool. Finally, a new framework was developed by means of assigning items into different dimensions based on semantic similarities of traits and was juxtaposed with existing brand personality measures. Luxury brand personality appears to comprise twelve salient personality dimensions that cannot be directly matched with existing personality measures. The new typology reveals some unique traits and dimensions that could improve the construct’s content validity and facilitate marketers’ branding decisions. Comparisons with other frameworks support the view that luxury brand personalities are different in consumers’ common parlance and require a separate measure. Some concerns related to the consistency and also content and construct validity are highlighted in this work and call for further examination.

In an increasingly dynamic business environment, innovation output occupies a central position among all organizational outputs, not only because it is a primary way in which firms compete and grow, but also because it profoundly influences social and economic evolution (Eisenhardt & Tabrizi, 1995; Sorensen & Stuart, 2000). Understanding the factors that determine an organization’s ability to produce new ideas and continually innovate thus is a fundamental issue in strategic management and marketing fields. Among all sort of determinants, collaboration with buyers to create value through innovation has attracted particular attention from scholars (von Hippel, 1988; Thomke & von Hippel, 2002; Sawhney, Verona, & Prandelli, 2005). This study examined the role of Internet-based collaboration in the buyer-supplier relationship in promoting product innovation of supplying firms. Drawing on the juxtaposition of the governance literature and social exchange theory, we proposed that Internet-based collaboration positively affects product innovation performance of supplying firms, but too much dependence on it impedes product innovation. That is, Internet-based collaboration has an inverted U-shaped relationship with product innovation performance of supplying firms. It further posited that in-person interaction between buying and supplying firms strengthens the positive effect of Internet-based collaboration on product innovation, such that when the degree of in-person interaction is high, Internet-based collaboration is associated with better innovation performance. These propositions were tested using data from a large survey conducted by a survey data on buyer-supplier relationships in China. The results show that Internet-based collaboration has a stronger positive relationship with innovation performance and this positive effect declines after the degree of Internet-based collaboration goes beyond a threshold. Moreover, the first-order effect of Internet-based collaboration is stronger when the degree of in-person interaction is high than when it is low. The optimal level of Internet-based collaboration in low degree of in-person interaction is moderate, whereas when in-person interaction is more frequently used in connecting with buying firms the optimal level rises. These results provide strong supports for the predictions of hypotheses.

While the necessity of closing the marketing capabilities gap is an important issue, little is known about the mechanisms that enable firms create and refine marketing capabilities to market new products. Although it is suggested that market knowledge enables firms to create and refine marketing capabilities, little is known about why some firms are better at generating market knowledge or the extent market knowledge development impacts marketing capabilities. We advance the literature by showing that the development of market knowledge through internal processes is not sole or main foundation, external ties are also required to facilitate closing the marketing capabilities gap. Building on the literature on organizational ambidexterity, relational governance, and positional advantages, we examine the extent that external ties facilitate the effect of the firm’s market knowledge development processes (MKD) on exploratory and exploitative marketing capabilities. We use the positional advantage principle (Day & Wensley, 1988) to uncover the path that exploratory and exploitative marketing capabilities drive new product success through. Data from a sample of 169 industrial firms using a multi-informant design shows that the interplay between MKD and external ties provide the foundation to build exploratory and exploitative marketing capabilities to successfully market new products. Given the differences in the nature (e.g., goal convergence, longevity) and knowledge embedded in business and political ties, we draw attention to the different impacts that business and political ties have in helping to build exploratory and exploitative marketing capabilities. Our findings reveal that business ties promote the positive effect of MKD on exploitative marketing, indicating that business ties promote a firm’s capacity to improve its existing marketing routines. Political ties, however, enhance the positive effect of MKD on exploratory marketing, indicating that political ties provide support required to create new marketing initiatives (e.g., new distribution channel). Further, we show that distinct positional advantages, differentiation and cost efficiency, help explain how exploratory and exploitative marketing capabilities may be more or less effective in driving new product success. Our results suggest that while both new product differentiation and cost efficiency are significant drivers of NPP, their antecedents are different. Hence, achieving fit between the preferred positional advantage(s) and the type of marketing capabilities represents a critical determinant of new product success.

This paper describes how customer asset management can influence the profit and loss and the balance-sheet drivers of shareholder value. The authors argue that economic profit should be used as a measure of shareholder value creation because the former acknowledges both operating and financial expenses and allows analysis of individual customer relationships. The developed framework suggests that the drivers of shareholder value can be divided into four main categories: revenue, cost, asset utilization, and risk. The paper identifies 13 distinct roles for customer asset management that influence the four shareholder value drivers. The empirical research consists of three longitudinal B2B case studies describing customer asset management aimed at improving shareholder value creation. The findings of the empirical research suggest that B2B firms are able to acknowledge all suggested four shareholder value drivers. Findings also suggest that firms should differentiate their customer management concepts in order to move customer asset management beyond traditional acquisition–retention optimization.

The need for a co-alignment between internal and external marketing has largely been discussed in the literature. In an attempt to increase the conceptual and empirical body of knowledge, the present study follows a systematic presentation of balanced market orientation. After a brief literature review, it tackles research gaps building on theoretical hypotheses. An empirical examination based on 217 questionnaires, addressed to hotel managers, illuminates the role of culture in this context. Results unveil a significant positive relationship between internal marketing, market orientation and firm performance, irrespective of the underlying culture. Opting for a balanced market orientation, hotel managers gain particular insight into its principal axes and their interrelationships in practice.

This study analyzes the use of the personality metaphor in the official tourism websites developed by South American countries. The Big-Five human personality dimensions are used as a proxy to explore the intended personality projected by the countries. A multistage methodology using a combination of content analysis and correspondence analysis was used. Results reveal the existence of four main clusters based on the use of different personality traits to communicate the peculiarities of each country. However, an overall view of the results indicates that South American countries are not using in a substantial way the personality metaphor to create a strong positioning for the international tourists, and therefore the use of this new marketing tool is in its nascent stages.

Purpose This study, for the first time attempts to investigate the determinants of the Korean foodservice franchising employing various theories. In addition this study attempts to consider distinguishable foodservice characteristics such as the segment of foodservice and the market demand. This study expects to contribute to the theoretical underpinnings of the foodservice franchising by incorporating distinguishable foodservice characteristics to franchising theories. Method The sample for this study came from uniform franchise offering circular based on Korea Fair Trade Commission. There were 1,598 food service franchisors in uniform franchise offering circular 2009-2011 listing. However, 596 were excluded because of data irregularities remaining 1,002 available for sample. Based on the literature review, we choose seven determinants. The seven determinants were measured as follows. Firm age was measured as two proxy variables. One was measured as the years of franchising business. The other was measured as the years of business. Firm size was measured as total sales. Capital scarcity was measured as the ratio of total debt to total asset. Start-up costs were measured as initial investment. Monitoring costs were measured as the number of major cities franchised units operates. Royalty was measured as sales of a franchised unit. Finally, brand name was measured as advertising expenditures. Results The first proposition (firm age is related to the use of franchising) was supported by the signaling theory and the transaction costs theory instead of the resource scarcity theory. The age (measured as the years of franchising business) had a statistically significant positive relationship with the use of franchising. The second proposition (firm age is related to the use of franchising) was supported by the logic of the resource scarcity. The age (measured as the years of business) had a statistically significant negative relationship with the use of franchising. The third proposition (firm size is related to the use of franchising) was supported by the signaling theory instead of the resource scarcity theory. The firm size had a statistically significant positive relationship with the use of franchising. The fourth proposition (capital scarcity is related to the use of franchising) was not supported by the resource scarcity theory. The capital scarcity had not a statistically significant positive relationship with the use of franchising. The fifth proposition (start-up costs is related to the use of franchising) was not supported. The start-up costs had not a statistically significant either positive or negative relationship with the use of franchising. The sixth proposition (monitoring costs is related to the use of franchising) was supported by the agency theory. The monitoring costs had a statistically significant positive relationship with the use of franchising.. The seventh proposition (royalty is related to the use of franchising) was not supported by the agency theory. The royalty had not a statistically significant positive relationship with the use of franchising. The eighth proposition (brand name is related to the use of franchising) was not supported by the agency theory. Brand name had not a statistically significant negative relationship with the use of franchising. Conclusions Five propositions were found to be statistically significant from eight propositions. The four determinants such as firm age, firm size, monitoring costs, and brand name can affect the use of franchising for the foodservice industry in South Korea. Relating the significant propositions to the diverse theories, there was no one theory that dominated all propositions. The signaling theory was more appropriate for both firm age (the years of franchising business) and firm size while the transaction costs theory was more appropriate for age (the years of franchising business) as well. In addition, the resource scarcity theory was more appropriate for firm age (the years of business). Finally, the agency theory was appropriate for monitoring costs although this theory needed to be ameliorated for brand name.

Smart Tourism is regarded as a new paradigm in the tourism industry. The purpose of this article is to present the first bibliometric study of Smart Tourism to help understanding the means of smart tourism by applying a co-word analysis. Co-word analysis is a content analysis technique which uses a pattern of co-occurrence of pair of items such as words, nouns or phrases in a corpus of texts to identify the relationships between ideas and the main themes within the subject areas. Smart tourism has been an issue in tourism industry these days. Some scholars are trying to define the ‘smart tourism’ as a different meaning from the ‘mobile tourism’ that is still commonly used. Practically, the term ‘smart’ is getting popular in tourism industry, since the advent of smartphones. Though the term ‘smart’ has not been defined clearly, it is still used even in academia. To examine the intellectual structureof Smart Tourism, this study used keywords in articles from the academic database in KCI (Korea Citation Index) from 2010 to February, 2014. This study used both quantitative and qualitative measures. Quantitative data are used to put very related concepts together, while qualitative indicators are used to measure the impact of the detected themes. In addition, the study presented bibliometric maps to show the networks between the main concepts treated by the Smart Tourism domains. The maps provide insights into the structure of the Smart Tourism with visualizing the division of the field into several subfields. For a method of the study, the main 10 keywords-‘smartphone’, ‘SNS’, ‘ubiquitous’, ‘service quality’, ‘LBS’, ‘AR’,…and so on.- related to Smart Tourism extracted from policy and trend reports of governmental offices(i.e. Mistry of Culture, Sport and Tourism), company of government(i.e. Korea Tourism Organization), and research institutes(Samsung Economic Research Institute, Korea Culture & Tourism Institute). Using 10 main keywords, we collected 185 articles related to the smart tourism filed.Then within 185 articles, there are 1,347author keywords extracted.After thenormalization of 1,347 keywords, 366 author keywords were selected for data analysis.A co-occurrence matrix and an affinity matrix were generated based on Pearson’s correlation coefficients to create a clustering of the words using hierarchical clustering analysis. To visualize these intellectual structures, this study carried out a network analysis with NodeXL to which a data algorithm in R was applied. These findings appear to indicate the potential usefulness of bibliometric studies in uncovering the different research fields’ intellectual structure and evolution. This evolution providesan opportunity to anticipate interesting developments in Smart Tourism field with respect to key topics of the field as well as predicting which topics are less likely to assume a central role in Tourism IT inthe near future.The study benefits researchers and practitionersby offering guidelines to the process of selecting research topics and of formulating policy regarding smart tourism.

Although many studies were conducted to understand the relationship between Export Marketing Strategies (EMS) and Export Marketing Performance (EMP) (Cavusgil & Zou 1994; Zou & Stan 1998) the majority involved medium-large size companies and took place on developed countries (Cunha, Rocha & Moraes, 2012). The role of managers on influencing marketing strategies (considering marketing mix decision about adaption or standardization) was not comprehensively analyzed. In order to fulfill some gaps Cunha (2012) developed a research to understand the empirical link on Micro and Small Enterprises (MSE) from emerging countries, but the role of entrepreneurs was not completely understood. In order to clarify this link, the reference model used was redesigned to explore Entrepreneurial Marketing (EM) and its influence on EMS and EMP. The relevance of MSE on emerging markets, especially in Brazil, is frequently explored considering number of existing companies and job generation in local market (according to SEBRAE & DIEESE (2013) MSE represent 99% of all Brazilian companies – 6.3 million firms, 52% of formal jobs and 40% of total wage paid in previous year). Together they represented 25% of GDP. Concerning internationalization and export activities, nineteen thousand companies generated US255 billion at foreign markets. More than 61% of them were MSE, but its sales participated with only 1% of this total (SEBRAE 2012). The EM construct has its foundations on studies developed by Hills and Hultman (2011) who tried to bring a consensus to definition, based on the mainstream concerns regarding this subject. They highlighted two complementary competences: planning (Filion 2000; Dornelas 2008; Nassif, Andreassi & Simões 2011); and intuition (Mitchell, Friga & Mitchell 2005; La Pira 2011; Nassif, Andreassi & Simões 2011). Both affect EMS and EMP differently. Our research was conduct with 173 MSE in order to examine the influence of entrepreneurial marketing on export marketing strategies and also the influence of EM and EMS on export performance. The results indicate that both entrepreneurs’ competences have a significant impact (Hair et al. 2009) on export marketing performance as anticipated in our hypothesis. Firstly, planning competence has a direct and positive effect on EMP because of a strategic variable related to perceived success of its international venture, and also because of an economic indicator related to exportation growing rate; it can be explained by the fact that a well and careful planning, allied to an high entrepreneurs’ commitment level may result on more success. The evidences are explained by strong training and support to intermediaries (distribution channel), that will help them better understanding and commercializing products - and through product strategy and packaging adaptation to the new market. Secondly, we also identified an unexpected effect caused by intuition – despite significance the influence was negative. Considering that we measured variables and perception in a three-year period, decisions based on intuition tend to be less result-oriented and carefully taken and results evaluation doesn’t have strong comparison bases. We observed an important effect of EM on export marketing strategy. (1) Product adaptation is strong and positively influenced by manager’s international competence (Douglas & Craig 1989; Cavusgil, Zou & Naidu1993). The entrepreneurs understand market rules, try to enhance competitiveness, respect local barriers and adapt offers diminishing risks. Investments reflect need or concern of matching market needs - i.e. label translation to local language. (2) Communication adaptation is positively influenced by entrepreneurs’ competence (high on planning and low on intuition), despite limited budget. (3) Price competitiveness is strong and positively influenced by entrepreneur planner. This expected effect corroborated the study of Cunha (2012), which identified the importance of adaptation of this marketing mix element to MSE, and also the relationship with pricing strategy as followers internationally (Solberg, Stöttinger & Yaprak 2006; Cunha & Moraes, 2011). (4) Considering distribution there is no influence of planner on support to intermediary. On the other hand, it is strong and negatively affected by intuitive entrepreneurs (our findings lead us to a conclusion that a lack of planning might jeopardize process of distribution adaptation). Our literature review showed that relationship and support to intermediaries is a key-success factor (Rosson & Ford 1982; Christensen, Rocha & Gertner 1987; Solberg, Stöttinger & Yaprak 2006). The negative result drove us to the importance of a well established relationship among exporters and intermediaries, as identified on the impact of export marketing performance by support to intermediaries –we expected to identify it on our research, but it seems that, if a company wants to succeed abroad it is mandatory to carefully manage this marketing element - one reason for our conclusions is supported by the Theory of Networks (Johanson & Vahlne 1990; Andersson, Forsgren & Holm 2002). All in all, our assumptions about the existent influence of entrepreneurial marketing on export marketing strategy and export marketing performance was supported in our study developed with MSE from emerging markets. We also observed the positive effect of EMS on EMP that fulfills our research objectives.

The Brazilian luxury market has been rising since 2006, between 2010 and 2011 the growth rate was 33%. The stabilization of the currency, opening to imports and improving the population's purchasing power has given impetus to the growing demand for luxury brands that has grown steadily over the past 10 years with a rate of 10% per year. This growth is important indicator of the future of this market still represents only 0.7% of the demand for luxury items. (Brazil, 2010) Major luxury brands belonging to multinational corporations have already opened their own stores in Brazil. Some Brazilian luxury brands like H. Stern (jewelry) have operations in another countries. Other luxury companies are Fasano (hotel and food service), Osklen (fashion), Francesca Romana (jewelry) and Carmen Steffens (fashion). The company Trousseau focuses on homeware and differentiates the uniqueness of their products, enhancing the quality of fabrics and finishes. It has 21 stores and is present in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Brasilia and Salvador, and the virtual store (www.trousseau.com.br). The chocolate company Chocolat du Jour exists since 1987 underscores the high quality raw material and care in the preparation (http://www.chocolatdujour.com.br/) The “Les Lis Blanc” is a very expressive brand in this market, which has started with women wear and currently is a corporate group with the brands “Noir” (male wear), “Les Lis Blanc Beauté”, “John John” (casual wear), “Bobo” (fashion). Until the 1990s, some traditional luxury brands were operating in Brazil with a limited number of product lines and only through representatives. The decision to change the mode of operation in Brazil coincided with some factors of the national and global context. Locally, there was the opening of importation and stabilization of the economy, which until then had high inflation rates: between 1990 and 1994 the average rate of inflation was 764% a year (http://www.brasil.gov.br/sobre/ economic / financial market / inflation). In addition, there was an increase in the purchasing power of the population. In the external environment, the low rates of growth in the European market and the terrorist attacks that have diminished the flow of tourists in Europe and negatively affected the market at the beginning of the XXI century. The first flagship stores of international luxury brands in Brazil came to the city of São Paulo in the neighborhood of Jardins. The first street to get luxury brands was the Oscar Freire road (in São Paulo) and surroundings where these stores were concentrated in the first time. Even today, this region has a large number of stores of luxury brands. However, there was a migration of them to the shopping malls or malls - businesses closed as high street stores are considered less safe for the majority of the population. Nowadays the concentration of new luxury stores is in malls of the main capitals. In the state of São Paulo there is the “Shopping Iguatemi”, “Cidade Jardim”, “JK Iguatemi”. In Rio de Janeiro luxury points of sale are at “Fashion Mall”, “Shopping Leblon”, “Village Mall”. In Brasília (the capital) most important ones are “Iguatemi” and “Magrella”. The first Mall in Brazil was opened in 1966: "Iguatemi" in São Paulo. It was soon seen as the natural successor of the specialized street and the first to receive international luxury brands. It is part of a large business group called Jereissati, which one area of activity is called Premium malls, facing socioeconomic classes A and B. In 2012 the group released another shopping mall called JK Iguatemi (related to its location on Juscelino Kubitschek Avenue) although it calls itself Premium several luxury brands are present: Chanel, Bottega Veneta, Burberry, Carolina Herrera, Christian Louboutin, Chanel, Goyard, Longchamp, Miu Mil, Prada, Rimowa, Tod's, Tory Burch. Also in Sao Paulo in May 2008 another mall was opened “Shopping Cidade Jardim”, positioned as an upscale mall it is part of the venture group JHSF. The origin of the company is in construction sector and has other shopping centers in Brazil, but not using luxury concepts. The interior and exterior architecture can be seen in the design presenting natural lighting and gardens. The stores mix combines brands Louis Vuitton, Valentino, Red Valentino, Cartier, La Martina, Canali, Prada, Gucci the biggest of Latin America, Tag Heuer, Dior and Miu Miu, Fendi, Tod's and Repetto. These malls play an important role in the luxury market in Brazil. They are poles of attraction for international brands by offering an atmosphere consistent with their image and also pulling a large flow of consumers looking for a safer environment, greater convenience and glamour for their shopping. Before the emergence of these poles of luxury, the distribution of luxury goods in Brazil relied mostly on multi-brand stores, amongst which was the pioneer Daslu. Currently been supplanted by other projects of the same type as the Magrella Brasilia and NKStore. NK store is a clothing store that also has multi own brands (Talienk, Nk and Nkfitness) located in the Jardins neighborhood of São Paulo. Founded in 1997 by Natalie Klein daughter of a great Brazilian business, the shop features international brands: Stella Mccartney, Marc Jacobs, Marc By Marc Jacobs, Lanvin, Balmain, Givenchy, Issa, Alaïa, Catherine Malandrino, Malandrino, Blumarine, Celine, Pucci , Phillip Lim, Alexander Wang, Isabel Marant, Maison Michael, Aurélie Bidermann, Fiona Paxton and Moncler. Lim, Alexander Wang, Isabel Marant, Maison Michael, Aurélie Bidermann, Fiona Paxton e Moncler. There is one Brazilian Association of Luxury (ABRAEL), recently created. The aim is to gather participants operating in Brazil and to support the development of activities related luxury. (http://www.abrael.org.br/abrael.php). Audi, A | X Armani Exchange, Breitling, Cartier, Chanel, Estee Lauder, Gucci, Hugo Boss, Salvatore Ferragamo, Tiffany & Co. and Swarovski are associated and also Brazilian brands are present in the premium segments of fashion, homeware and services. Not all luxury brands are part of the Brazilian Association. Challenges Luxury companies established in Brazil have many challenges. The major challenge is to deal with the fluctuation of the exchange rate, the dollar trade is strongly linked to the situation in the Eurozone. (Cenarios FGV, 2013). Euros and Dollars can be freely purchased in exchange offices, banks or from individuals, the price depends on the market. Upper classes use to travel and make price and product comparisons, aware of product characteristics and prices levels outside the country these consumers need to fell advantages when purchasing in Brazil. Another challenge to be faced is the inefficiency of the infrastructure. The transport of cargo is mainly done by road transport. With dimension of 8,515,767.049 km ² (IBGE, Nov/2012) Brazil has only 96,353 km of paved roads (Portal Brazil, 2013). Ocean Ports are one bottleneck in international trade and the delivery of imported goods is undermined. Imported products must present legal wording on the packaging as the registration number of the legal entity (one number per company), and depending on their nature should get a registered number with the Ministry of Health or Agriculture. The complex taxation system is based on triggering events, such as the physical entry of a product in Brazil. There are taxes that belong to the federal government, others to the State or County. The Free-on-bord price (FOB) of the product might increase between 30 and 150% depending on the category and, moreover, the taxes overlap each other in what is called cascading effect. On average, there is a charge of 20% above FOB prices called Import Tax (II), 12% on the movement of goods and services (ICMS), 7% Tax industrialization of products, and other fees with lower tax rates, called by the acronyms COFINS PIS, PASEP. Besides the heavy tax structure and insufficient infrastructure, businessmen from luxury companies in Brazil complain about the difficulty in hiring skilled employees, especially to work in retail outlets. There is a lack of sellers with good training and general culture. Brazilian brands have an extra disadvantage comparing to foreign brands because Brazilian consumers tend to put more value on imported brands. This is rooted in the colonialist period, immigration and the prohibition of imports during the dictatorship. Luxury business in Brazil should continue to grow in coming years. The Brazilian consumer would increase his knowledge about luxury brands concepts and become more demanding and comparative in their consumption choices. Luxury retailing is expanding from the original points of sale which might affect the luxury perception of some brands.

Brazilian Government faced international crises by implementing fiscal stimulus to raise internal consumption while sustained a high interest rate with flexible exchange rate system and low capital flow control. The mix of economic policies has increased the internal expenditure level, lowered income differences and has sustained inflation controls. The composition of internal expenditure has changed and external firms captured the higher demand. Therefore, an imbalance in transactions account is an increasing macroeconomic problem. This paper analyses the relation between recent shifts in macroeconomic policies in Brazil, the growing importation of final goods and a different insertion and external sharing of Brazilian exportation. Fiscal policies, instead of increasing sales and firms revenues, has increased imbalances in transaction account and has feed the discussion about Dutch Disease and Deindustrialization in Brazil. We can define deindustrialization as a lower share in industrial jobs in the total employment in the country (Rowthorn & Ramaswany 1999). The broad concept is a decrease in the industrial value added share to gross domestic product in addition to a lower industrial employment share (Tregenna 2009). In the first part, we discuss three different interpretations of causes of deindustrialization. Follows an analysis of consumption in Brazil and transaction account data. For some economists Brazil faces a historical and structural trend to currency valuation, related to commodities exports. These phenomena must be corrected through export taxation in order to sustain product diversification and national firms in manufacturing sector (Bresser-Pereira 2011). Others consider that the mix of economic policies combined with low capital controls and pre-salt announcement, led to deindustrialization and devaluated currency. In addition, we can find in the literature that deindustrialization is a recent phenomenon closely linked to 2008 crisis (Bacha 2013). Finally, some economists think that deindustrialization is a natural phenomenon and as economy growth, we can observe a pattern where service sector grows more than manufacture sector. This is related to the income increases and family demand (services has higher income elasticity of demand than manufacture goods). In the second part of this paper, we show how a wage-led strategy to growth has increased imports and decrease exports instead of increasing national firms’ sales and revenues. Recent data shows an imbalance in external accounts and a huge change in imports and exports composition. In the third part, we show the consumption contribution to growth, aggregate demand since 2008, the increase in importation and the consumption pattern for durable, no durable goods. We also analyze the growing indebtedness of households and shifts in income sharing. Finally, a shift in composition of exports and imports ends the third part showing a different insertion of Brazilian economy. The conclusion shows that firms in national territory fails in benefiting from increases in demand and in competing for exports. We raise questions about when one country should adopt fiscal stimulus to fight against crises and poverty. When fiscal policy is combined with monetary contraction and currency appreciation, the results are that firms cannot benefit from a growing demand and we call that Access Theory: exchange rate is strongly related to consumption level for national goods.

In this paper we explore the relationships between brand-centered human resource management (HRM) and brand citizenship behavior. The roles of person-brand fit and brand commitment are discussed, and seven hypotheses presented. Using multilevel analysis, we test whether these concepts mediate the relationship between brand-centered HRM and brand citizenship behavior.

Generation Y is becoming important to marketers. Since this consumer is disloyal, more value has to be offered to him. This value can be generated through “coolness” of a brand. By means of a mixed-method approach the German Generation Y consumer is characterized and his perception of cool brands elaborated.

This study aims to investigate the role of product involvement on the relationship between price deals and brand equity in the context of brand knowledge and brand associations. This study extends the previous literature on brand equity by focusing on how a consumer perceives brand in high and low levels of product involvement. Eight hundred and twenty-six sets of questionnaires were completed and usable. The findings support the idea that the level of product involvement has a significant effect and moderates the relationship between price deals and brand equity in the mind of a consumer.

Country image is a construct with far-reaching commercial implications (Kotler and Gertner, 2002). It is often held up as an antecedent condition of attitude formation towards products (Verlegh and Steenkamp, 1999; Laroche et al., 2005; Zeugner-Roth and Diamantopolous, 2009), as a determinant of visiting intentions for tourist destinations (Nadeau et al., 2008; Martínez and Alvarez, 2010) or even as a source of political power (van Ham, 2001; Nye, 2004; Wang, 2008). However, the way in which country image is approached in the literatures dealing with it various venues of relevance almost exclusively threat the construct as a source of some exerted effect and rarely venture into the issue of how country image is formed and how it various venues of its commercial relevance interact. Some exceptions to this general rule can be found in White (2012) who explored how product image exerts a formative effect on country image, a country-of-origin effect in the inverse. Also, Nadeau et al. (2008) observed that country image as it pertains to destination image as well as to exports intersect in an interesting way and that the two areas of commercial relevance indeed are not completely separate. In the present study we postulate that the meaning attributed to a particular country’s image is the result of an oscillation of meaning between that attributed to objects (such as for instance products, destinations or people) associated to the country and the country image itself. I.e. a product perceived as being associated to a country would derive its meaning from the country image but also exert a feedback of meaning towards the country image. Any association is not only a determinant of meaning towards one of the objects in an association dyad (cf. Keller, 1993) but this meaning also, through association, transfer in the inverse direction as well. This suggests that any venue of meaning attribution to a country could potentially exert an effect on any situation in which the country in turn exerts a formative influence. For example, a product image of a product associated to a country could potentially exert an influence on the countries attractiveness as a tourist destination through a mediated influence through country image. In order to put this mechanism to the test 500 respondents from the USA (311 female, x age 46.5, respondents of Korean origin excluded) were recruited through an online panel and subjected to a psychometric test-series featuring items pertaining to the image of South Korea, the image of South Korean products and various factors pertaining to the respondent’s attitude towards South Korea as a tourist destination. The resulting data was subjected to statistical analysis using a covariance-based structural equation model approach. The results of the data analysis suggest that attitudes and notions directed to products from South Korea exert a statistically significant effect on the image of the country as a whole. This image in turn exerts an effect on the whether consumers express interest in visiting the country in their capacity as potential tourists. These results are in support of White (2012) in that they demonstrate that attitudes towards products from a particular country contribute to the attitude towards a country as a whole. The results also support Nadeau et al. (2008) in their finding that country image as it pertains to inferring the degree of quality of exports and the attractiveness of a place as a tourist destination should not be compartmentalized, but rather treated as a facets of the same construct. In the present study the case of South Korea was used with a particular goal in mind. The rather unusual historical particularities of the transition of South Koreas economy makes it highly interesting as an example for several reasons. Not only did South Koreas transition take place in a highly compressed timeframe, but it also took a route which runs counter to the notion that tourism often serves as the starting point of economic transition (Dieke, 2003; Dritsakis, 2004; Oh, 2005; Mishra et al., 2006; Kaplan and Celik, 2008) as the rise of South Korea can be said to have been driven by industrial development and exports, prior to the country becoming a popular tourist destination. The particularities of this path to a greater degree of economic development arguably shed new light on the issue of how country image can form and how it pertains to highly variable commercial contexts and how the effect the country image construct exert transect across these various venues of commercial activity.

In the U.S., the Super Bowl attracts more viewers and media attention for its advertising than any other single event for the year (Tomkovick et al., 2011). Previous research focuses on factors of the effectiveness of Super Bowl ads. A majority of these studies explores their impact on short-term effectiveness measures such as recall, buzz, or, most commonly, ad likeability (e.g., Cheong and Kim, 2012; Li, 2010; Nail, 2007; Newell et al., 2001; Tomkovick et al., 2001). However, prior research on whether Super Bowl ads have a positive impact on stock prices has not provided consistent results. Thus, more attention should be paid to the marketing productivity and measures of return, including customer equity (e.g., Rust et al., 2004). Drawing on the brand value chain (Keller and Lehmann, 2003), we hypothesize that customer equity mediates the relationship between Super Bowl ads and firm value. Using event study methodology, we analyze a sample of 62 ads for which data is available on both measures that represent customer equity and stock price from the Super Bowls from 2008 to 2012. We find that Super Bowl ads can be worth the large investment, but only if they enhance consumers' brand favorability ratings. The reverse also holds in that a negative impact on stock return is expected when a Super Bowl ad reduces brand favorability.

3D printing technology, also called the third manufacturing revolution, dramatically changes and revolutionizes the original frame, shifting production processes, supply chains, and the global economic order (Yeh, 2014). The World Economic Forum (2013) selected 3D printing as one of '10 promising technologies'. U.S. President Barack Obama, states in the State of the Union address in 2013: "I will bring a revolution of new manufacturing business on the support of technology of 3D printing". Furthermore, G2 (Group of 2: US and China), China expressed their commitment to invest in the 3D printing technology to restructure the manufacturing industry (Garrett, 2014). By considering its immense economic and creative potential, it is important to understand the effects of 3D printing on the fashion industry. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is (1) to examine the application of 3D printing in fashion industry and (2) to analyze the way it changes the fashion industry. In this study, information from various sources was used, such as governmental market reports, academic literature, newspaper articles, and related other materials. Through analyzing the change of the fashion industry, this research found that technical characteristics of 3D printing were more suitable for customized items that produced in small quantity rather than for the mass market. In addition, 3D printing will change the ‘global operating environment’ for policy makers as well as with regards to business and labor conditions. Governments have to consider the possible risks and problems of 3D printing, ranging from design copyright, security concerns about printing of weapons, and other destructive issues This study indicates how 3D printing technology changes the structure of the apparel industry and the preparation of future changes. The findings will help to understand the effects of 3D printing on the fashion industry and provide a guideline to policy makers to develop a governmental policy. These implications will be useful to both the government and apparel companies. Future research of 3D printing should include quantitative research concerning the attitude and acceptance of fashion consumers on 3D printing technology.

Now the frame for the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in any industry is shifting to Creating Shared Value(CSV). The tremendous profits made in the fashion industry create the temptation to engage in illegal or unethical behavior. When producers, manufacturers, models or consumers are being exploited or treated unfairly, fashion industry has a legal and ethical responsibility to change the situation. Based on issues stated below, therefore, there is an urging need for the CSV in fashion industry. 1) First, eco-friendly issue for the fashion industry matters. The materials, transportation and production that are involved in the fashion industry all have an impact on the environment. Many synthetic materials are derived from petroleum, while many more natural materials are grown on land that could be used for food production. 2) Marketing for fashion seduces people into buying things that they don't need, rather than merely informing them of a product's availability. Advertising and fashion both encourage people to consume as much as possible. New fashions are widely advertised as better than whatever came before. 3) Protection of the fashion design covers the most frequent and important issue now. The main appeal of many fashionable accessories is the brand name. A Gucci bag can be sold for many times more than an identical bag made by a competitor. Forgers take advantage of this fact by creating cheap knock-offs and illegally adding the names of famous and expensive fashion houses. 4) Networking in the fashion industry is another focal point. To survive in a competitive field, fashion firms have to deploy their strategic networking policy in order to sustain long-term relationships with their suppliers, which means the increase of transaction-specific investments on both sides, increase of the years of relationships with suppliers, and reduction of supplier base.

The first commercial computer game “Pong” was introduced by Atari Corporation in 1973. Now just over three decades, computer games have become one of the most pervasive, profitable, and influential forms of entertainment. In 2013, The Entertainment Software Association reported that the annual sales in the U.S. alone have reached 20.77 billion in 2012, with the average household owning at least one dedicated gaming platform (ESA, 2013). Furthermore, computer games are no longer merely a form of entertainment for young children and male teenagers, as the average age of the most frequent game purchaser is 30 years old and about half of these purchasers are women (ESA, 2013). In addition, there is strong evidence to suggest that contemporary computer games are driving cultural and societal advancements that serve and benefit gamers and non-gamers alike. For instance, computer games have been increasingly used to educate children and adult students (Annetta, 2010; Squire, 2005) and promote civic engagement (Bers, 2010). Moreover, studies report that consumers foster social gatherings and communities around particular games (Williamson and Facer, 2004), develop virtual world economies (Lehdovirta, 2010), engage with computer games as a form of professional sports (Seo, 2013), and find new ways to express their extended self (Belk, 2013). These few observations suggest that the consumption of computer games is becoming increasingly multifaceted and complex, offering consumers new avenues to traverse their real and online experiences. The topic of computer games has been increasingly gaining attention from the marketing and consumer research scholarship. While some early studies addressed the effectiveness of product and brand placement in computer games (Molesworth, 2006), more recent studies focused on understanding the elements of consumer behaviour emerging in digital virtual terrain (Dengeri-Knott and Molesworth, 2010; Lehdovirta, 2010) and the role of storytelling and competitive play in computer game experiences (Buchanan-Oliver and Seo, 2012; Seo, 2013). Given this emerging research interest in marketing and consumer behaviour literature, we call for future research to make significant contribution to our knowledge in this area.

The online game market has rapidly increased worldwide, especially in China. In 2012, the world game market equaled 111.7 billion. Many game companies compete by launching new online games in various genres. In 2010, Activision Blizzard reported that the World of Warcraft (WOW) is the world’s most popular online game. Chinese gamers constitute more than half of WOW’s 10 million users. Korea is the second largest gaming market. Thus many foreign game companies target Korea and China, in competition with domestic game companies. The purposes are 1) to understand the role of country of origin and /or brand image in game consumer behavior, 2) to find out the difference of game evaluation between game users in China and Korea, and 3) to draw strategic implication game marketers. Consumers expect products from advanced countries to provide superior performance, so they often look to country of origin in evaluating products. Recently, consumers have looked to brand image as another key element in product evaluation. In this research, we study whether gamers evaluate games on the basis of country of origin and/or brand image. In this paper, we add to the gaming research and suggest that the online game market has three dimensions. First, online games are products. Second, online games are service. Last, online games are entertainment. Data collection resulted in 355 usable responses from online game (LOL) users in Korea(166) and China(189). We conduct factor analysis and reliability analysis to check reliability and validity. Country of Origin is the key element for product evaluation of utilitarian goods but it doesn’t have significant effect on product evaluation of hedonic products which mainly provide sensual pleasure, fantasy, and fun to customers such as luxury goods or online game (Dhar & Wertenbroch, 2000).