Left unexplored is how a celebrity’s country-of-origin and fame contribute to brand internationalization. A 2x2x2 conjoint among 126 subjects finds that endorsements made by local celebrities generally enjoy a home advantage, but this COO-effect is moderated. Foreign celebrities from countries with reputed entertainment industries are at least equally strong endorsers.

This research was conducted in order to examine the socio-economic conditions and the problems of marketing of the PUGUR Hand embroidery of the Toda tribal women in the Nilgiris Hills towards marketing their embroider woven on garments, that being a famous unique work represented as a heritage art and has received the award of GI status (Geographical Indication) by the Government, on the Queen of the Hills, (Nilgiri Hills) Tamilnadu, South India. The results indicate that sample respondents being tribal women who live inside the forest area on the top elevation of the Nilgiri hills are illiterate and also suffer due to the family conditions. In India tribal area economic opportunities for women are scarce while hardships are plentiful and Indian women often see little hope for themselves or their children to improve their future. Since 70% of the affected people are women, it is women that have found a way to lift themselves and their families out of poverty. They were driven to make a decision of survival. I ndia is a nation where its women are both glorified as well as suppressed. The majority of women in the lower strata have to depend on a male member for financial support. Due to the practice of liquor addiction, smoking, drugs etc., women and families suffer. This is one of the main reasons for poverty in India and why children have been deprived of education and other basic necessities of life. If women could become financially self-sufficient, then families would get at least the basic benefits of food, clothes, medical attention, and nourishment, above all, children could go to school. This study focuses on the marketing problems faced by the Toda tribal women to support their family as men do not help them in their art work completely. A sample of 150 Toda tribal women embroiders was selected to study their marketing problems faced in every day to day of their life. For the purpose of the study the researcher has used convenience sampling, and Friedman test were done to find out their rankings of the various variables taken for the study.

This study presents an innovative "Matching Algorithm" to match self presentation to consumer preferences in internet dating sites using data mining and machine learning techniques. The study is designed from 2 parts: The first part examines the correlation between the presentation characteristics of man and women in social networks vs. the response rate using several hypotheses. Results show that there is a strong correlation between the way man and woman presents themselves in social networks (such as "FACEBOOK") especially in the range of ages 18-55 (average age is 25.91). In addition, there is a strong positive correlation between the desire of man and woman to develop a romantic relationship between them trough social networks. As such, the more the user desires to achieve a "Real" relationship that may lead to a serious long term relationship, the more he/she uses the social network as an application to achieve their objectives. In the second part the author used data mining and machine learning techniques (Decision trees and Genetic Algorithms) to predict which personal attributes may influence the response rate of the other side's (In this paper only Decision trees – J48 algorithm results will be shown). Results show that some attributes (characteristics) related to personal presentation and education background are critical to achieve a positive response from the other side.

The concept of nutrition in the Asian context is culturally and socially fluid. While food marketing has become more Westernized in many parts of Asia, marketers are still grappling with effective strategies to promote and communicate nutritionally laden products and F & B services within the varied and multifaceted Asian food context. Governments in many countries are making efforts to educate local consumers with indigenous nutrition guidelines and information. This ever-changing scenario offers a number of pressing questions such as: a) What are the latest consumer research findings at the interface between nutrition and consumption? b) How literate are Asian consumers when it comes to nutrition claims and information? c) How is nutrition manifested in the marketing communication of various food products in Asian retail outlets? In this session we invite three panelists with expertise in Asian consumer behavior and health/nutrition/food marketing to provide both local and global perspectives to the issues at hand and recommend potential strategies for marketers and policy makers in Asia.

This study employs a trading dataset from a top investment bank in Taiwan to examine whether and how mutual fund advertising influences fund consumers’ redemption behavior, and whether the effect of advertising differs between small- and large-amount fund consumers. The evidence of this study shows that, on average, fund consumers redeem more non-advertised funds as their returns increase, while fund advertising slows their redemptions. The results from quantile regression show that fund advertising plays an important role in affecting redemption-performance sensitivity of large-amount and medium-amount investors. After taking advertising into account, large-amount and medium-amount investors reduce their fund redemptions. The results suggest that advertising, as a transmission of information, varies with investors’ wealth levels and that these differences in advertising matter to investors’ redemptions. This study contributes to understanding the role of advertising in fund consumers’ realized behavior and is useful for fund companies because they can more efficiently allocate limited resources such as advertising to support the growth of fund assets under management.

Introduction Recent research in management and marketing has focused on the concept of value cocreation, and numerous attempts have been made by scholars to clarify the essence and process of value cocreation according to the service-dominant logic (Vargo & Lusch 2006). The value cocreation perspective is substantially different from the traditional value creation perspective in the following two respects. First, while in the value creation perspective the seller or firm is the initiator of value creation and value proposition, the value cocreation perspective considers both the buyer or consumer and the seller or firm to be value-creating actors (Vargo & Lusch 2006). Second, the value cocreation perspective focuses on the fact that value is cocreated through interaction between the seller and buyer, or company and consumer (Vargo & Lusch 2006). The purpose of this paper is to (1) analyze the case of ‘COOKPAD’, the top recipe site in Japan, as a platform for value cocreation, (2) consider the relationship between firms and consumers in the value cocreation process, and (3) draw some theoretical insights on value cocreation, open innovation, and service innovation. While tremendous progress has been made in these research fields, little is known about the ‘platform’ of value cocreation. This paper will focus specifically on the function of ‘platform’ in value cocreation. Case analysis of COOKPAD COOKPAD has following three theoretical features. First, COOKPAD is a service provider, which is thought to be more likely to cocreate value with consumers than goods manufacturing companies (Grönroos 2011). Second, it is an online service provider that operates in an environment where a higher number of consumers are likely to become involved in the value cocreation process. And thirdly, it is a leading-edge case that could provide new theoretical knowledge to the existing theories on value cocreation, open innovation, and service innovation. Overview COOKPAD Inc. was founded in 1997 by an entrepreneur Akimitsu Sano, and the Internet site called ‘COOKPAD’ became the most popular recipe site in Japan in a very short period. In accordance with the corporate mission of ‘making everyday cooking fun,’ it allows users to upload and search through original, user-created recipes. In July 2013, COOKPAD had more than 1.5 million registered recipes, a total of 20 million users, and over 1 million paid subscription users. Currently, it is being used by almost 80-90% of all Japanese women in their 20-30s (COOKPAD 2014). Combined with its mobile and smartphone services which can be used on the go and in stores, COOKPAD plays an influential role in the shopping decisions that consumers make in their everyday lives. Business Model COOKPAD has two revenue-generating businesses. One is a ‘premium service’ business aimed at consumers, and the second business is advertising aimed at food manufacturers (Uesaka 2009). COOKPAD users can search through a large database of recipes using search options such as ingredients, menu, and keywords. Free users can view the recipes, but for them the functionality of the service is more limited. ‘Premium service’ members (a paid service costing ¥294 per month) have access to value-added services such as ‘MY kitchen’ and ‘MY folder’. ‘MY kitchen’ allows a member to upload a recipe with a self-made photo of the food, check the traffic to the recipe, and browse the feedback to the recipe from other paying members. Paying members can also save their favorite recipes in ‘MY folder’, can register their favorite recipe-posting members, and search for new recipes posted by these members. The company’s advertising business offers corporate clients the option to display clickable ads and also runs recipe contests. Its advertising clients include food and beverage manufacturers, and the service aims at enhancing the awareness of client products and services and at enhancing consumer knowledge on how to use these products. More specifically, COOKPAD provides food companies with a virtual space or ‘platform’ to hold recipe contests and to promote their products by inviting users to create recipes for these products. COOKPAD’s cocreated value The value cocreation process of COOKPAD has two aspects. The first is in the relationship with consumers. Consumers upload their vaunted recipes to COOKPAD, and derive great satisfaction from providing other consumers with value by having these other consumers browse and use these recipes. A series of customer experiences (searching for recipes, cooking, uploading recipe) on COOKPAD results in customer satisfaction. The important point here is that consumers are actors who cocreate value in a multilateral and interactional fashion through browsing and uploading of each other’s recipes, while usual cookbooks produced by professionals create value in a unilateral fashion. Therefore, COOKPAD is an interactive platform that promotes value cocreation among consumers. The second aspect is in the relationship with food manufacturers. Usually, food manufacturers try to take in customers’ needs through group interviews and/or consumer surveys to develop more appealing products or services. However, although customer needs may be incorporated in the product development process, it is arguably the food manufacturer that creates value in the form of food products. Also, it is usually the manufacturers who propose recipes using their ingredients to consumers on their websites, and, in this case, they use the website as a one-way communication channel for their products. In contrast, COOKPAD plays not only the role of a platform where food manufacturers place Internet advertisements, but they can also ask consumers for ideas on how to use the ingredients in the form of ‘recipe contests’. In the case of COOKPAD the value-creating actors are not the food manufacturers that strategically promote the usage of their ingredients, but instead it is the consumers —usually considered value receivers in the goods-dominant logic— who perform this role. The value cocreation on COOKPAD is based on the fact that it is a platform connecting two markets. Platform is defined as the tool and/or system that functions as a communication infrastructure promoting cooperation among multiple types of actors (Kokuryo & Platform Design Lab 2011). Applying this definition to COOKPAD, the multiple types of actors are the many consumers and food manufacturers using the COOKPAD website, the interactive cocreation among these actors embodies the cooperation aspect, and the COOKPAD website is the platform that provides the communication infrastructure that enables the cocreation process. COOKPAD in fact consists of two platforms: a platform of consumers and a platform of food manufacturers. This type of platform has been called a two-sided platform where products and services are brought together by groups of users in two-sided networks (Eisenmann, Parker, & Van Alstyne 2006). In a two-sided platform two unique effects appear, namely same-side network effects and cross-sided network effects. Same-side network effects “are created when drawing users to one side helps attract even more users to that side” (Eisenmann, Parker, & Van Alstyne 2006, p.96). On COOKPAD’s platform, a large number of consumers upload various recipes, and more consumers who are attracted to the variety of recipes start to use them. The cross-side network effects are generated “if the platform provider can attract enough subsidy-side users, money-side users will pay handsomely to reach them” (Eisenmann, Parker, & Van Alstyne 2006, p.96). Indeed, in the case of COOKPAD, the large number of subsidy-side consumers attracts money-side food manufacturers to the platform who are willing to pay the advertisement rates to reach those consumers. Theoretical insights from the case Based on the COOKPAD business model, we would like to propose some theoretical insights to existing research in value cocreation, open innovation, and service innovation. First, the situation in which consumers actively engage in value cocreation and generate product innovation has been understood as ‘user innovation’. The users engaging in innovation are called ‘lead users’. Lead users are defined as those who have advanced knowledge related to a specific field, participate in product development and the service provision process, and cocreate value with firms (von Hippel 1988). This means that in this case the value cocreation is limited to lead users who are able to generate user innovation. The important point here is that users who cocreate value on COOKPAD are not lead users with advanced cooking knowledge, but amateurs in cooking, which is different from the premise of user innovation theory. COOKPAD functions as a platform that accumulates numerous knowledge resources on cooking by connecting these ordinary consumers and food manufacturers. Therefore, COOKPAD can be positioned as a value cocreation platform integrating consumers’ resources. Secondly, this feature of COOKPAD provides an important implication for research on open innovation. Open innovation is defined as the use of purposive inflows and outflows of knowledge to accelerate internal innovation, and to expand the markets for external use of innovation, respectively (Chesbrough 2006). The value cocreation platform of COOKPAD is the very infrastructure that invokes open innovation. And this aspect represents a strategy that is completely opposite to the strategy of developing a solid customer base by enclosing good customers and gaining higher profit, as typified by CRM (costumer relationship management). COOKPAD develops a relationship for cocreating values with a large indefinite number of consumers and reaps profit from paying members who are highly loyal to it. And thirdly, in association with the value creation network, the network has been considered in the concepts of value constellation (Norman & Ramírez 1993) and value network (Lusch, Vargo, & Tanniru 2010), and both of these concepts focus on the network of value-creating actors and the relationship in which the actors create one value. However, the COOKPAD platform goes beyond these concepts in the sense that recipes as cocreated values are generated emergently through consumers’ positive commitment to value cocreation. COOKPAD invoking open innovation includes a possibility of emergent value cocreation. Emergence is defined as a phenomenon in which unpredictable value added can be generated through interaction among multiple actors (Kokukyo & Platform Design Lab 2011, p.260). Both COOKPAD and consumers are not able to predict in advance what kind of value-added recipes will be uploaded, and food manufacturers cannot foresee what kind of recipes will be submitted in recipe contests. Recipes as cocreated value cannot be determined in advance, and thereby, COOKPAD is also a platform with a post-emergent process, which means a process in which the value that customers experience is not determined in advance by both firms and consumers, and the real value only becomes apparent for the first time during the use process (Ono et al. 2014). Conclusion As we analyzed above, COOKPAD has unique features in three ways. Firstly, it is a platform in which all values are generated by a cocreation process between consumers and firms. Secondly, the innovation on COOKPAD has a character of open innovation by numerous amateur consumers. Thirdly, the innovation cannot be fully determined in advance by COOKPAD, food manufacturers, and consumers. We believe we will be able to contribute to research on value cocreation, open innovation, and service innovation by further exploring the case of COOKPAD.

In an online environment, hedonic value such as flow is manifested when consumers continuously engage in playing online games even if it incurs extra cost: financial, physical, and psychological. Consumers also have a loyalty to their games, and they enjoy playing them. They often purchase repeatedly games they are involved in. The framework of existing online game models does not fully explain flow and telepresence to loyalty and the purchase intention of game decision-making behavior. For this reason, we examined the relationships among telepresence to flow, flow to loyalty, and loyalty to purchase intentions. Study 1, which is a behavioral analysis by SEM (Structural Equation Modeling), examines how “flow and telepresence” influence loyalty and purchase intention in an online game behavior. The introduction of hedonic perspectives as flow and telepresence produced an important extension of the online game model. The conceivable factors which may explain this type of consumer behavior are the hedonic or experiential aspect of consumer behavior. We have three hypotheses. All hypotheses are supported at 0.1% significance level. Study 1 focused on the relationships of the constructs of the online game. We also measured the state of flow while game users are playing online games by EEG (Electroencephalogram). In a neural analysis, we found that the state of flow and neural correlates exist. By this, the flow variable reflects the real mental “state of flow.” Study2, which is a neural analysis, examines flow construct in the FPS game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 by using Electroencephalogram (EEG). How much flow do the subjects experience while playing this online game? The purpose of this research is to select the epochs of EEG data when the subjects reported flow, correlate those with flow variables, and compare the EEG activity. The final goal is to select the flow variables which showed the highest correlation to AEP (Auditory Evoked Potential) Suppression value. We analyzed 8 AEPs to correlate flow. We found out that Alpha_RF is casually decided with the mean of flow which has six variables. Mean of Flow correlated to Alpha_RF -.419 significantly (5%). As subjects feel Flow, Alpha_RF is suppressed. This study focuses on the subjective flow experience and AEP suppression. We found out that the state of flow and neural correlates exist. By our analysis, the flow variable reflects the real mental “state of flow.” Therefore, when game companies develop their games, they should take into account how much flow people feel while they are playing the games. In addition, the state of flow should be used not only in developing and designing games but also in sports, entertainment, etc.

In the last years a lot of research focused on functional food (FF) whose first definition was set in Japan, in the 1980s, for “food products fortified with special constituents that possess advantageous physiological effects” (Siro et al., 2008). The main research interest was on the reasons and motives of FF consumption (Annunziata, 2013; Bhaskaran & Hardley, 2002; Bonanno, 2012; Siro et al., 2008; Verbeke, 2005; Verbeke et al., 2009), and the price and affordability resulted among the main criteria at the basis of the consumers’ decisions. Notwithstanding the increasing importance of the FF market and of the price within the basket of FF products attributes, surprisingly, no studies has so far analyzed the capacity of consumers to correctly recall FF prices. The objective of this research is to examine the determinants of shoppers’ in-store price recall for functional yoghurt and fermented milk products (FY). The determinants are grouped as follows: - Products’ characteristics: Price promotion, Brand, Claim type - Shoppers’ socio-economic characteristics: Gender, Age, Level of education, Perceived Family income - Shoppers’ purchasing behavior: Functional yoghurt purchase frequency, Yoghurt category purchase frequency, Share-of-requirement, Reason of consumption Research interviews were carried out inside three large supermarket buildings in an average size Italian city. Shoppers were selected among the ones who chose a FY. Face-to-face questioning at the point of sale after the selection or purchase if something from the corresponding product category was bought is a widely adopted and tested method (Dickson & Sawyer, 1990; Evanschitzky et al., 2004; Le Boutillier et al., 1994; Monroe & Lee, 1999; Olavarrieta et al., 2012; Vanhuele & Dreze, 2002) and ensures shoppers’ interest, knowledge, familiarity with the products under investigation. The research applies the Dickson ad Sawyer’s (1990) methodology which was integrated with a filter question so to select only the already functional yoghurt customers, that is excluding first-purchase functional yoghurt shopper, which could create a bias due to the more intense purchasing and selection process that a first-purchase determines. The survey covered 207 shoppers, with a high representation of females (80.2%), with all ages equally represented, with good level of education (61% with Senior High School Diploma and above), and half employed and half unemployed. Price recall accuracy dependent variable was calculated adopting two indicators, commonly adopted in research on price accuracy and knowledge: the percentage absolute deviation or price recall accuracy indicator (PAD) and the price knowledge score (PKS). 24.6% of shoppers responded correctly, 38.2% responded within a 5% error from the correct price, and 20.3% declare not to know the correct price and did not attempt any answer. The research tests 11 hypotheses through a logistic regressions on a binary dependent variable measuring price recall by correct responses regarding a price (including incorrect responses ± 1% - 25.6%), or not correct responses (74.4%). Antecedent variables were included in the equation as independent variables. The model demonstrates a high prediction accuracy (74.4%), and the overall fit statistic (p-value for the Chi-square test=0.000) indicates a good level of fit between the hypothesized model and the data. Results show that shoppers’ price recall is more likely to be good when FY is on promotion, if there is high purchase frequency, if the FY is bought mainly for ‘hedonistic’ motivation, if the FY claim is the reduction of risks of disease. As far as socio-demographic information are concerned, results show that men (vs. women), younger shoppers (vs. older), high educated people (vs. low educated), and shoppers with perceived adequate family income (vs. inadequate income) have a higher propensity to a correct price recall. The present research expands knowledge on price recall determinants and on functional food purchasing experience. As other studies on price knowledge, this research suggests that shoppers do not follow rational criteria in assigning their resources and that the information available are variably processed and intertwined with personal motives of consumption. Functional food purchasing experience does not differ from the conventional food, as far as yoghurt is concerned. Similarly to conventional food, promotion and higher purchase frequency increases price recall accuracy. Limitations of the present research are that only one functional food, even though the category with the highest turnover worldwide, was investigated. Moreover, even though the sample includes a number of shoppers similar to past studies, the sample is only partially representative of the Italian consumers. Finally, a better balance in the sample between male and female shoppers would bolster the basis for the results. To conclude, these findings provide important insights for managers who make pricing strategies for a product with worldwide growing sales, but whose main selling obstacle is the high market price.

Following the postwar trend toward wearing kimono, Japanese kimono shops and department stores became reluctant to carry the newer prêt-à-porter kimono because of their low margins. As a result, the diffusion of kimono was obstructed. Therefore, kimono manufacturers should open their own retail shops as soon as possible.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of self-brand connections (SBCs) on brand attachment. The author proposes two types of SBCs: those that are created through marketing systems (brand-based self-brand connections, [BBSBC]) and those that are created by the individual (consumer-based self-brand connections, [CBSBC]). To investigate the influence of these SBCs on brand attachment, this study analyses survey data through the use of structural equation modelling. The results show that both BBSBC and CBSBC have positive effects on brand attachment but that the influence of CBSBC is stronger. Furthermore, in the context of durable consumer goods, CBSBC have a stronger effect on brand attachment when fast-moving consumer goods and services are compared. For fast-moving goods, BBSBC and CBSBC affect brand attachment at the same level.

The luxury market has expanded out of its traditional niche of elite and hit the middle-class consumer; this is part of the brand extension strategies. The goal of the research is to examine whether consumers perceive different degrees of "luxuriousness" among luxury brands using different brand name extension strategies. Kowalczyk (2010) proposed that a downward vertical extension is related to the dilution of the mother luxury brand. Corroborating this idea Kim, Lavacke and Smith (2001) indicate that the introduction of any vertical brand extension, whether up or down, has a negative impact on consumer evaluation of the parent brand. The results of Hennigs et al (2013) are not clear about the effects of downward extension. This exploratory study presents a quantitative approach; a survey was conducted with consumers who had purchased one luxury goods in the last 12 months (judgement sample). The hypothesis are: H1- The consumer perceives different levels of prestige among luxury brands; H2 – consumers evaluate differently a brand using different brand name strategies in brand extension. Results reveal that consumers perceived different degrees of prestige among brands (F = 19.260, sig.000). The results showed that the Chanel is the brand with a higher degree of prestige with an average of 8.01, the second luxurious brand was the Giorgio Armani (7.40), followed by Emporio Armani (6.28), Diesel (6.13), Armani Jeans (5.77), Calvin Klein (5.43) and finally the less prestigious degree was the Armani Exchange (5.22).Although these are data cannot be extrapolated to the whole population there is evidence that Brazilian consumers evaluate luxury brands inside a range of perceived luxuriousness. Further studies should use a conclusive method to verify the impact of brand extension on the degree of perceived luxury. Chanel (mean = 8.0111, Sd = 2.60393) and Giorgio Armani (mean = 7.4028, Sd= 2.59494) brand are identified as possessing the highest degree of luxury. So this exploratory study can raise the hypothesis to be tested in the future that the strategy of the name being used does not impact on the degree of perceived luxury brand mother. The trademark dilution may occur in the group of lowest degree of luxury (such as Armani Jeans, Armani Exchange.

Contact employees constitute an integral part of the consistent delivery of the firm’s brand promise on customers. Although internal brand management research stresses the importance of brand-supporting behaviours on behalf of contact employees during customer interface (Punjaisri et al., 2008), few attempts have been made to identify cognitive or affective routes through which organizations can enhance employees’ internalization of the firm’s brand values and eventually leverage their brand performance, (King and Grace, 2010). This study integrates the fit theory and the equity theory in order to address how the adoption of internal market orientation (IMO) can enhance employee brand performance within an interpersonal service setting through two different routes; by increasing their fit with different aspects of their environment and by enhancing their brand knowledge and brand identification levels. In this context, we examine whether IMO adoption promotes employee-organization fit (E-O fit), employee-supervisor fit (E-S fit) and employee-job fit (E-J fit), brand knowledge and brand identification and assess the joint impact of these variables on brand performance. This study extends present knowledge by illustrating the importance of IMO for several types of employees’ fit with their environment and by offering two different routes, a cognitive and an affective one, through which IMO adoption can promote brand performance. Third, the impact of several types of employees’ fit with their environment on brand performance is explored. To test the conceptual framework of our study we draw evidence from an interpersonal services context and particularly high-elaborate services, acknowledging that employees’ brand performance represents a significant part of customers’ evaluations of the brand within this context. This study delivers a holistic approach of brand performance within an interpersonal service context and clearly suggests two distinct but interrelated mechanisms through which contact employee brand performance can be leveraged. Our results further reveal two complementary routes through which service firms can also improve employees’ delivery of brand-consistent messages. Fostering employees’ fit with their working environment is a prerequisite before top management employs an internal branding strategy so as to reinforce contact staff to act in a brand-consistent way. Enhancing employees’ emotional attachment with the brand will promote their brand performance. Likewise, when acquiring knowledge about the brand and internalising the brand image before customer interactions, employees are expected to boost their brand performance. Although adopting an IMO has no direct influence on brand performance, IMO could strengthen the relationships the employees have with the brand and help them embrace the brand and internalize brand values; two key prerequisites for rendering contact employees as brand ambassadors.

Sales of luxury goods have increased drastically in the Asian marketplace over the past decade and therefore imply high potential for further future developments. While Japan has been an important market to luxury brands for a longer period of time, especially China and South Korea have gained in importance due to high sales volumes and increased desire to purchase luxury goods. Especially due to the economic crisis in Europe, luxury brands have to focus on the potential of these emrging Asian countries. In order to adapt and improve the marketing communication strategies successfully to the respective countries, an intensive analysis of the local luxury market, local competitors and the performance of leading luxury brands have to be examined. This is especially crucial to luxury brands since consumers are highly sensitive to the brand image and identitty which is why marketing strategies and brand positioning have to be considered carefully. The purpose of this study is 1) to examine the current luxury market in Japan, China and South Korea according to major fashion industries; 2) to analyze the critical success factors and marketing strategies of leading and aspiring local and global fashion luxury brands in the respective country 3) to give meaningful implications for existing and aspiring luxury brands. For that, after giving an overview of the luxury market in the respective country, case studies on leading and aspiring luxury brands in the major fashion cities (Shanghai, Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo) will be conducted to examine critical success factors. By that, we will give an overview on the market entry and marketing strategy, such as social media, the usage of IT, and general ads as well as retail trends and communication channels. The findings indicate the current trends of luxury fashion brands in China, South Kore and Japan. Through this data review, case studies and suggestions, both academia and industry will gain important insights of the current tendencies of brands and consumers. Global marketers will understand the Asian luxury market better; local brands may find implications of how to enter other Asian markets and aspiring brands can learn about the critical success factors in the market.

Colombia is an emerging country that has institutional stability and perspectives of fast economic growth. Indeed, despite decades of internal conflict and drug related security challenges, Colombia maintains relatively strong democratic institutions characterized by peaceful, transparent elections and the protection of civil liberties (CIA World Factbook, 2014). Today, Colombia is Latin America’s fourth largest economy. Most importantly, the country is witnessing the benefits of governmental and economic stability, as evidenced by its commodity markets, strong macroeconomic policies, and improved security and infrastructure conditions. The bottom line is that Colombia has been witnessing strong economic performance since the early 2000s (OECD, 2013), and now its citizens are reaping the benefit of being new middle-class and upper-class members. A remarkable characteristic of emerging countries is the increase in the size and the economic power of their middle-class population (Bridsal, 2010). The middle-class is an ambiguous social classification, which reflects the ability of a group of citizens within a country to lead a comfortable life. These comforts include, stable housing, access to quality healthcare, educational opportunities, job security, and discretionary income that can be spent on vacation and other leisure pursuits (Kharas, 2010; p.7). As country’s become increasingly wealthier in term of gross national output, the country’s middle-class typically witnesses corresponding increases in income levels and more available cash to use for marketplace consumption. Indeed, in terms of Colombia, its middle-class represents approximately 26% of total consumption (Ferreiro et al., 2013; Bridsal, 2010; p.11). Perhaps, one of the common characteristics across all global middle-class populations is their unique affinity for mall shopping compared to the lower-class and upper-class populations (Jafferlot & van den Veer, 2008; Conroy, 1998). That is, middle- class consumers show strong preferences for visiting and patronizing modern department stores and shopping malls (Mathur, 2010). Indeed, shopping malls are important for newly minted middle-class populations because it signals to them they have reached a higher status and possess disposable income for engaging in shopping, luxury consumption, and entertainment activities (Banerjee & Duflo, 2008). Given Colombia’s economic growth and its newly created middle-class population, understanding consumption patterns among this group is well-warranted, especially given Colombia’s emerging nation status. Thus, the goal of this presentation is to introduce the global community to the growing and affluent Colombian middle-class consumers. We achieve this goal by exploring the types of mall shoppers that currently exist in Colombia and by exploring how consumption patterns differ between and among different demographic consumer segments. Interestingly, one of the primary findings that emerge from this research is that the Colombian middle-class consumer exhibits essentially the same consumption pattern as any other consumer in an industrialized nation. That is, the typical middle-class consumer is a female housewife who enjoys shopping as a leisure activity. In the following section, we discuss a brief review of the literature and then discuss our research methodology and findings. We conclude this extended abstract with a discussion of managerial and theoretical implications and research limitations.

Customer loyalty programs have been widely adopted for customer relationship management all over the world. The proliferation of loyalty programs causes program competition which weakens the effectiveness of loyalty programs at the end of customers. In general, existed research suggests that the increasing competition among rival programs in a single industry may cancel out the expected roles of loyalty programs (Mägi, 2003). For example, program competition is a substantial threat to customer lifetime value and share of wallet (Leenheer, van Heerde, Bijmolt, & Smidts, 2007; Meyer-Waarden, 2007). Liu and Yang (2009) find the sales impact of a single loyalty program diminishes as program competition increases. Their study also shows this negative effect is weaker in a highly expandable product category. Although previous studies have examined the suppressive effect of program competition on financial outcomes of loyalty programs, little research has explored its role on attitudinal customer loyalty formation process. This study aims to explore the differential roles of program competition on two formation processes of customer loyalty. It intends to contribute to the loyalty programs literature in two aspects. First, this study examines two routines of customer loyalty formation in the context of loyalty programs. That is, a company can leverage program offerings to build customer loyalty through increased customer satisfaction or strengthened customer identification with the company. Second, this study examines the moderating roles of program competition on those two loyalty-generating routines. Specifically, it finds customer identification is more important for building customer loyalty at the presence of program loyalty.

Emerging markets represent a significant part of the world economy and tend to expand their share, but they are still not well examined. Specifically, one of the BRIC economies, Russia seems to be avoided in the overall marketing strategy academic discussion. According to Sheth (2011, p. 7) market orientation and relationship marketing are marketing strategies that have become mainstream for empirical research in marketing. But existing research shows that these marketing strategies have hardly been investigated in–depth in Russian context for the last twenty years. The purpose of this paper is to test Contemporary Marketing Practices model in Russian market. Classification scheme of marketing practices is based on “Contemporary marketing practices – CMP” methodology: TM (Transactional marketing, DM (Database marketing), IM (Interactive marketing), NM (Network marketing) and RM (Relationship marketing) (Coviello et al, 2002). Thus, main research question is to reveal what types of marketing practices (transactional, data based, interactive, relational or network) are more often used by Russian companies. Paper is based on empirical data (quantitative study of 329 Russian companies). Cluster analysis was conducted to show that types of marketing practices are common for Russian market: transactional, relational or interactive.

Based on qualitative interviews with mobile market research experts, a comprehensive framework for assessing the methodological potential of data collections via smartphones is developed. The findings serve as a basis for the development of new approaches to collect data via smartphones.