The research is conducted to study how myth tourism story marketing can affect global tourist visiting intention. The exploratory result shows that people intention to visit a myth tourism destination is driven by the curiosity after hearing or reading the story. In several travellers’ forum, people tend to discuss about a place’s story such as in Bali. Meanwhile, interview with a local myth tourism community shows that there are several types of people who want to visit the places such as an adventure seeker, travellers who find it exciting to explore, and also the one who is curious with things related to myth. Therefore, this research aim to focus on West Java myth tourism story marketing as West Java is well- known as its mythical tourism sites spread across the province. As myth is inseparable from cultural symbol, this study also put cultural and psychographic factors into account and expect to see to what extent those factors influence the tourist visiting intention to West Java myth tourism sites. Lifestyle is one of the most common psychographic attributes. Gonzales and Bello (2002) also emphasized that lifestyle is a push-factor for tourists in choosing a destination as tourists seek the experience which can be related to their lifestyle. Loureiro (2014) pointed out that a myth story might not correspond to the actual facts but the originality is provided by the story-teller. In order for the tourist to choose a destination, hence good story-telling that would deliver the value is required. This statement conformed to Park and Njite (2010) who considered story as a form of marketing communication strategy. Furthermore, the story marketing which resonance with the customer values could lead to a purchasing behaviour. (Thomas, 2012). In relation to story marketing, the respondents are asked to select the destination they intent to visit before and after provided with the myth behind those destinations. This research is then analysed using multivariate analysis method, conjoint analysis and multiple linear regression to see which factors influence the tourist visiting intention the most. By understanding important factors influencing tourist visiting intention, it is expected that West Java myth tourism information sites may improve their ability to attract both foreign and domestic tourists through its myth story marketing.

The passenger airline industry is worth $623 billion, transporting around 3,530 million passengers a year (IATA, 2015). Although useful, most prior research focuses only on specific situations and on a minority of passengers, and takes a producercentric view which conceptualizes consumers as the target of airline activities (Reisinger and Movondo, 2005, Wangenheim and Bayón, 2007, Folkes et al., 1987, Bejou and Palmer, 1998). Instead, we focus on a characteristic of airline travel that affects all airline consumers: confinement. Airline consumers are often confronted with restrictions in terms of space and activity which can lead to discomfort, frustration, dissatisfaction, and reduced well-being. The objectives of this study are therefore to: 1) Define the concept of consumer confinement, 2) Develop a model showing how the problems faced in confined contexts, solution strategies used to deal with these, moderators and outcomes are related, 3) Show how confined airline experiences can be managed more effectively to improve consumer and company outcomes. In understanding how companies and consumers play a role in avoiding and reducing these, we investigate how consumers become problem solvers and deal with confinement using a thematic analysis of blogs and forums. Our study shows that long-haul travellers face a wide range of problems and have developed inventive, personalized solution strategies to address these. We also develop a conceptual model which identifies the problems faced by consumers such as boredom and not looking good; moderators such as propensity to plan and claustrophobia; potential confinement solution strategies consumers and companies can action, such as talking with other passengers and watching movies; and how these may affect company and consumer outcomes such consumer emotions, satisfaction and loyalty. The paper contributes to theory development in marketing by conceptualizing confinement, which has received very limited attention in prior work (see Chen, Gerstner, and Yinghui, 2009 for an exception). Second, we build on prior work on negative service experiences, such as the effect of overbooking service capacity (Wangenheim and Bayón, 2007) and service failure (Folkes, Koletsky, and Graham, 1987) that took a more producer-centric view, conceptualizing consumers as the recipient of the company’s activities. We extend and go beyond this work by showing that consumers are actually active co-solvers of their consumption experience problems (Prahalad and Ramaswamy, 2004). Third, our conceptual model provides theoretical relationships between confinement and company as well as consumer outcomes such as satisfaction, emotions and loyalty to show how effective strategies are used to help consumers reduce the problems caused by confined situations. Fourthwe contribute to an understanding of the boundary conditions of when strategies work by showing that in particular, individual differences such as fear of flying could have an effect on the effectiveness of strategies. Fifth, we complement the travel medicine and the general travel literature which has researched travel risk and anxiety (Reisinger and Movondo, 2005) and physical health problems resulting from flying phobias (McIntosh et al., 1998), with a focus on the more common problems and strategies used by the large majority of long-haul flyers to occupy time and improve emotional well-being. We conclude with suggestions for further research.

Emotion has been discussed as a key element in the purchase decision process across several products and services by several researchers (Bagozzi, Gopinath, & Nyer, 1999; Kang, Jin, & Gavin, 2010; Lee & Park, 2013). Although a variety of products and services have been utilized to address the relationship between emotions and the purchase decision process, books, especially an online-book purchase environment, have been neglected in existing research of the relationship between emotions and the purchase decision process. Thus, the purposes of this study are 1) to investigate how book covers influence consumers’ purchase decisions in an online setting, 2) to examine the influence of two different criteria of book covers (the color of the book cover and the picture or photo on it) on consumers’ emotions of delight, and 3) to explore the cross-cultural differences (i.e., Japan vs. France) in the online book purchase decision process. Emotion is referred to “an affective, subjective, experimental, temporary, multidimensional phenomenon and a source of motivation caused by exogenous factors to the individual that interact with the process of treatment of the collected information for the purpose of experience of consumption” (Graillot, 1998, p. 12). In marketing, emotion is considered to be the beginning of the choice made by consumers (Derbaix & Pham, 1989), and many researchers have tried to find dimensions of emotion which better explain the consumer’s purchase decision process, such as circumstances (e.g., hope, relief, and joy), external cues (e.g., like, dislike, and anger), or self-created cues (e.g., regret, shame, and guilt) (Roseman, Antoniou, & Jose, 1996). In order to fill in gaps from previous research, in this study we present the following research hypotheses: H1: There will be a positive relationship between the color of the book cover and the consumer’s emotion of delight when purchasing a book from an online bookstore. H2: There will be a positive relationship between the picture or photo on the book cover and the consumer’s emotion of delight when purchasing a book from an online bookstore.H3: There will be a positive relationship between the consumer’s emotion of delight and a book’s perceived usefulness when purchasing a book from an online bookstore. H4: There will be a positive relationship between a book’s perceived usefulness and the purchase of the book. H5: The impact of the book cover on the purchase decision process will vary by country. Japan and France were chosen as the countries for the study as they are significantly similar in terms of the size of the book market on the global stage (Oricon, 2015), however the two countries are very dissimilar in terms of culture. In addition, there is no existing research that compares consumers in these two countries in an online book purchase setting. A total of 398 usable date sets were collected in Japan (n = 191) and France (n = 207) using a questionnaire survey. Two sets of questionnaires were developed in Japanese and French for the respondents and the respondents were randomly chosen for this study. All measurement items of each construct (i.e., the importance of the color of the book cover, the importance of the picture on the book cover, the emotions of delight, the perceived usefulness of the book, and the book purchase) were adopted from previous studies and measured using a 5-point Likert scale. To test the proposed research framework, in this study we developed a structural equation modeling method. Multigroup confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to test construct validity, which showed satisfactory evidence of convergent and discriminant validity. Based on Table 1, there is no significant relationship between the color of the book cover and the emotion of delight, therefore Hypothesis 1 was rejected. On the other hand, Hypotheses 2 (the relationship between the picture on the cover and the emotion of delight), Hypotheses 3 (the relationship between the emotion of delight and a book’s perceived usefulness), and Hypotheses 4 (the relationship between a book’s perceived usefulness and the book purchase) were found to be statistically significant. Finally, Hypothesis 5, indicating that the impact of the book cover on the purchase decision process varies across countries, was supported. In other words, the χ² difference test between the two countries revealed that an unconstrained model indicated a significantly better model fit than a fully constrained model (Δχ²(7) = 117.58, p < .001), indicating the evidence of differences in the path relationships between the two countries (Laukkanen et al., 2013). Since Hypothesis 5 was indicated to be significant, a further analysis of each path from Hypothesis 1 to Hypothesis 4 was conducted. This revealed that only the relationship between a book’s perceived usefulness and the book purchase was significantly different by country (Δχ²(1) = 3.91, p < .05). The study provides meaningful academic implications. This study examines the influence of the book cover on consumers’ emotions, which lead to the actual purchase of the book in an online setting and accurately explains the role of consumers’ emotions in the relationship. Furthermore, this study proved that the relationship between the book’s perceived usefulness and the purchase of the book was different by country. Given this, marketers should develop tailored marketing strategies for the two countries. For French consumers, practitioners should focus more on the usefulness of the book itself, such as the meaning of the book to readers, the impact of the book on readers, the potential for improving reader’s knowledge andhappiness, etc. In other words, marketers should emphasize and promote the concept of the usefulness of the book itself rather than the design components, such as the color of the book cover. Additionally, consumers’ emotions of delight have a significant role on the online book purchase decision, therefore promoting and arousing consumers’ positive emotions, for example, with music, easy transactions, easy access, etc., may be critical while shopping for books online.

Due to the continuous development of international retailers in the Chinese market, and the merger and reorganization among Chinese retailers in recent years, the degree of concentration of the Chinese retail industry has been increasing, and the scale of retailers has been expanding. It is suggested by the report China Powers of Retailing 2014 that an increasing number of large-scale retail groups have been formed in the Chinese retail industry. In large and medium-sized cities in China, such large-scale supermarkets as Wal-Mart, Carrefour and RT-Mart have controlled most market shares of food and daily necessities. And large-scale household appliance chains, such as Gome and Suning, have controlled most market shares of home appliance. Due to the advantage of scale and brand of large-scale retailers, these retailers have gradually occupied a leading role in the supply chain, and formed buyer monopoly power and countervailing power. Intuitively speaking, retailers can acquire obvious advantages in procurement activities, no matter it is the buyer monopoly power or countervailing power that is being utilized. And the advantages are beneficial to the improvement of retailers’ procurement performance. However, it is pointed out by a number of scholars’ research that buyer power’s influence on retail enterprises’ performance is quite complicated. Whether buyer power can improve economic efficiency depends on the quality of retailer-supplier relationship. The quality of the relationships between retailers and suppliers exerts direct influence on the stability, durability and equity of the trade. In the long term, the reinforcement of buyer power will probably exert adverse influence on the suppliers and retailers. By imposing influence on suppliers with buyer power, retailers will cause twisted competition and prifit shrinkage to suppliers in the upstream market. As a result, the quantity of suppliers will be decreased, which will be disadvantageous to the selection of retailers and affect retailers’ utilization of their negotiating advantage. In the meanwhile, by imposing special prices and discounts, collecting extra charges and signing exclusive agreement with suppliers, retailers will lead to suppliers’ impaired benefit. It will further affect the quality of the retailer-supplierrelationship and ultimately exert adverse influence on both parties’ long-term earnings. In the existing research, few scholars have thoroughly discussed the influence of retailers’ buyer power on the quality of retailer-supplier relationship and retail enterprises’ procurement performance. In addition, different conclusions exist in the analysis of the relationships among the three factors, or between two of them. In order to empirically test the influence of retailers’ buyer power on the quality of retailer-supplier relationship and retail enterprises’ procurement performance, we established the theoretical model of this study in figure 1. The research will help us to cognize the influence of retailers’ buyer power more reasonably, and guide retailers better utilize buyer power, an attempt is made to explore the following questions in this research: 1. Does direct positive influence exist between large-scale retailers’ buyer power and retailers’ procurement performance? 2. Are there any differences in the influence of different types of retailers’ buyer power on retailers’ procurement performance? 3. What influence will large-scale retailers’ buyer power exert on the quality of retailer-supplier relationship? 4. When the quality of retailer-supplier relationship is brought in as a mediating variable, what influence will large-scale retailers’ buyer power exert on retailers’ procurement performance? From the perspective of the relationships among channel members, large-scale retailers in the Chinese market, such as Wal-Mart, Carrefour, RT-Mart, OUYA Supermarket and Vanguard, as well as suppliers of their products are taken as the object of the research. Methods like interview, pre-survey and official survery with questionnaire are adopted to verify different hypotheses in the research. During the indepth interview, twelve respondents are invited respectively to the interview. Seven of them are in charge of large-scale retailers’ procurement, and five of them are salespersons of manufacturers, who supply products to retailers. It can be seen from the result of the interview that the twelve respondents hold different opinions towards the relationships among large-scale retailers’ buyer power, the quality of retailer-supplier relationship and retailers’ procurement performance. In terms of the influence of large-scale retailers’ buyer power on retailers’ procurement performance, some believe that there’s positive influence, some believe there’s negative influence, and some believe the influence should be respectively analyzed according to the degree of buyer power. In terms of the influence of large-scale retailers’ buyer power on the quality of retailer-supplier relationship, some believe large-scale retailers’ buyer power exerts positive influence on the quality of retailer-supplier relationship, some believe it exerts negative influence, and some believe the influence depends on specific circumstances. During the pre-survey with questionnaire, scales of retailers’ buyer power, the quality of retailer-supplier relationship and retailers’ procurement performance are developed on the basis of theoretical overview and interview research. Specifically speaking, the scale of retailers’ buyer power is constituted of two level-1 dimensions (buyer’s monopoly power and countervailing power) and seven level-2 dimensions; the scalerelationship and ultimately exert adverse influence on both parties’ long-term earnings. In the existing research, few scholars have thoroughly discussed the influence of retailers’ buyer power on the quality of retailer-supplier relationship and retail enterprises’ procurement performance. In addition, different conclusions exist in the analysis of the relationships among the three factors, or between two of them. In order to empirically test the influence of retailers’ buyer power on the quality of retailer-supplier relationship and retail enterprises’ procurement performance, we established the theoretical model of this study in figure 1. The research will help us to cognize the influence of retailers’ buyer power more reasonably, and guide retailers better utilize buyer power, an attempt is made to explore the following questions in this research: 1. Does direct positive influence exist between large-scale retailers’ buyer power and retailers’ procurement performance? 2. Are there any differences in the influence of different types of retailers’ buyer power on retailers’ procurement performance? 3. What influence will large-scale retailers’ buyer power exert on the quality of retailer-supplier relationship? 4. When the quality of retailer-supplier relationship is brought in as a mediating variable, what influence will large-scale retailers’ buyer power exert on retailers’ procurement performance? From the perspective of the relationships among channel members, large-scale retailers in the Chinese market, such as Wal-Mart, Carrefour, RT-Mart, OUYA Supermarket and Vanguard, as well as suppliers of their products are taken as the object of the research. Methods like interview, pre-survey and official survery with questionnaire are adopted to verify different hypotheses in the research. During the indepth interview, twelve respondents are invited respectively to the interview. Seven of them are in charge of large-scale retailers’ procurement, and five of them are salespersons of manufacturers, who supply products to retailers. It can be seen from the result of the interview that the twelve respondents hold different opinions towards the relationships among large-scale retailers’ buyer power, the quality of retailer-supplier relationship and retailers’ procurement performance. In terms of the influence of large-scale retailers’ buyer power on retailers’ procurement performance, some believe that there’s positive influence, some believe there’s negative influence, and some believe the influence should be respectively analyzed according to the degree of buyer power. In terms of the influence of large-scale retailers’ buyer power on the quality of retailer-supplier relationship, some believe large-scale retailers’ buyer power exerts positive influence on the quality of retailer-supplier relationship, some believe it exerts negative influence, and some believe the influence depends on specific circumstances. During the pre-survey with questionnaire, scales of retailers’ buyer power, the quality of retailer-supplier relationship and retailers’ procurement performance are developed on the basis of theoretical overview and interview research. Specifically speaking, the scale of retailers’ buyer power is constituted of two level-1 dimensions (buyer’s monopoly power and countervailing power) and seven level-2 dimensions; the scaleof the quality of retailer-supplier relationship is constituted of three level-1 dimensions (cooperation, adaption and relationship atmosphere); the scale of retailers’ procurement performance is constituted of three level-1 dimensions (cost performance, time performance and quality performance of procurement). The questionnaire pre-survey is specific to retailers’ procurement staff and suppliers’ sales personnel respectively. A total of valid 179 questionnaires are collected, among which, 86 are from retailers’ procurement staff and 93 are from suppliers’ sales personnel. Based on the survey data, SPSS and AMOS software are utilized in the analysis of items, reliability and validity of the different scales. Finally, the factor structure of the scale regarding retailers’ buyer power is adjusted, and the scale regarding retailers’ buyer monolopy power is re-designed specially. During the official survey with questionnaire, questionnaires are handed out to retailers’ procurement staff and suppliers’ sales personnel respectively. A total of 340 valid questionnaires are collected, among which, 178 are from retailers’ procurement staff and 162 are from suppliers’ sales personnel. The samples, which are quite representative, are evenly distributed. Based on the survey data, SPSS and AMOS software are utilized to further analyze the reliability and validity of the different appraisal scales. Finally, the various hypotheses in the research are tested by causual steps of regression analysis with SPSS. After relatively complicated and elaborate statistical analysis, most of the hypotheses are supported, some are partially supported, and only one is not supported. One of the mediating effect analysis results is show in table 1 and figure 2. Based on direct regression analysis, we can get some important results: First of all, the hypothesis that retailers’ buyer power will overally exert positive influence on retailer enterprises’ procurement performance is supported, but the hypothesis that retailers’ buyer monopoly power and countervailing power will exert positive influence on retailer enterprises’ procurement performance is partially supported. Secondly, the hypothesis that retailers’ buyer power will overally exert negative influence on the quality of retailer-supplier relationship is not supported, and the hypothesis that retailers’ buyer monopoly power will exert negative influence on the quality of retailer-supplier relationship and the dimension is partially supported, and the hypothesis that retailers’ buyer countervailing power will exert positive influence on the quality of retailer-supplier relationship and the dimension is supported. Thirdly, the hypothesis that the quality of retailer-supplier relationship, as well as the dimensions (cooperation and relationship atmosphere) will overally exert positive influence on retailer enterprises’ procurement performance is supported, and the hypothesis that the dimension---the adaptation of the quality of retailer-supplier relationship will exert positive influence on retail enterprises’ procurement performance is only partially supported. Based on causual steps of regression analysis for the mediating effect, we can also get some important results: First of all, the relationship quality plays a complete intermediary role between the retailer’s buyer power and the procurement performance. Secondly, the relationship quality plays a complete intermediary role between the r retailers’ buyer monopoly power and the procurement performance. Thirdly, the relationship quality plays a complete intermediary role between the r retailers’ buyer countervailing power and the procurement performance.Some inspirations are achieved from the research. First of all, basically speaking, the direct influence of retailers’ buyer power on retail enterprises’ procurement performance is significantly positive. Secondly, the influence of retailers’ buyer power on the quality of retailer-supplier relationship is relatively complicated. Thirdly, basically speaking, the influence of the quality of retailer-supplier relationship on retail enterprises’ procurement performance is significantly positive. Fourthly, after the quality of retailer-supplier relationship is brought in as a mediating variable, the influence of retailers’ buyer power on retail enterprises’ procurement performance depends on the specific condition of the retailer-supplier relationship.

The thesis of this study is that, “Health and Wellness”should be prioritized to enhance the store loyalty in Japanese Supermarkets. In order to prioritize, one must understand where the“Health and Wellness”is in the study of Supermarket marketing. As of current situation in Japan, facing two major critical issues, Aging society in advanced culture, and the 3.11 natural disaster linking with the nuclear issues, following hypothesis is made,“Health and Wellness”plays the sensitive and strong role in“Quality”Factor, which reflects store loyalty directly along with the other three; Service, Assortment, and Price of the Quantitative research to Yaoko supermarket customers (see Figure 1). In conclusion, the research question of this study is that, would“Health and Wellness”eventually become an independent 5th key factors constructed store loyalty in the future? The existing study in this study is summarized into two directions;“CSV, Marketing 3.0, and Co-Created Value”and“Store Loyalty”. First, CSV reported by Porter & Kramer (2011) aims to be compatible, both in social and economic values. On the other note, CSR aims to only create a social value. And Marketing 3.0 reported by Kotler, Kartajaya, & Setiawan (2010) is Value-driven marketing similar to CSV. The key concept is focused on the importance of Cooperate Mission, Vision, Value and Co-Creation with consumers and regional community. Precisely, the Marketing 3.0 is related with the concept of Co-Created value (Prahalad & Ramaswamy, 2000; Vargo & Lusch, 2004). In summary, such question may rise; why does a company focus to the idea of CSV, Marketing3.0 nowadays? It is obvious to state, a company suffers from the pressure created by commodity phenomenon of goods and services. Therefore, in order to face such pressure, a company aims to upgrade from the functional value to the ideated value or social value. And this is the basic idea of Marketing 3.0. Next, consumers are very sensitive to social goods and values when they purchase the goods and services more than ever before. Therefore, a company faces to build up not only the economic value but also the social value; which is the basic idea of CSV. In short, both a company and consumers are focused now to the concept of the sustainability as “Health and Wellness” in Japan, where the basic qualities are already covered and are way below the considerable point. With this, essentially, the sustainability is the CSV and Marketing 3.0. Secondly, the research framework of Store loyalty in this study is based on the existing study of Baker, Parasuraman, Grewel, & Voss (2002). And based on Baker’s Store Loyalty Model, this study reflects quantitative research result to Yaoko supermarket customers. The result is that, Store Loyalty to supermarkets of“Co-Created Value” type in Japan is constituted to both “service” (e.g., Emotional satisfaction from shopping, Comforts created by the store atmosphere, and Proposal ability by the employees) and “Quality” for “fresh”foods (e.g., Freshness, Safety). This existing study indicates that, the retailing needs “Customer Perspective” and “Co-Created Value Perspective” in order to earn the store loyalty image within the category of “Service” and “Quality”. The Research Question of this study as mentioned in prior is , would“Health and Wellness”eventually become an independent 5th key factor constructing store loyalty in near future? As a first step, hypothesis of this study is that,“Health and Wellness”reflects directly to the major factor in “Quality” of the 4 factors (e.g., Service, Quality, Assortment, and Price) reflecting the strength of store loyalty. This study adopted three methods; Result of quantitative research to Yaoko supermarket customers in the store (August 8,9,10, and 17, 2014), the others are in-depth interviews (December 28, 2015, Feburary 13, and March 29, 2016), and Group interviews (Feburary 27, 2016) towards numerous customers in different societal groups (e.g., Young family, Post family, and Seniors) at the Yaoko store (see Figure 1). Additionally, quantitative study using POS and Yaoko customer panel will be conducted in this spring of 2016. Therefore, I will be able to further report the detailed result by GMC2016. Also, I am in part of ongoing study of the Health Marketing about Supermarket in Japan collaborating with the Healthcare Workshop in the Distribution Economics Institute of Japan in 2016. With this, I will add on the collaborating study effort in GMC2016. Due to the space limitation, this submission paper only suggests the summary of empirical study. In this study, the interview for Yaoko Top management (August 4 and 11, 2015) was done in with Yaoko Co Head Quarters in Saitama prefecture, which is the most famous “Co-Created Value” supermarkets in Japan. Yaoko conducted the experiment of“Health and Wellness”in Asakaoka, which is their new store in Saitama prefecture completed in Nov. 2015. Yaoko aims to differentiate not only MD, but also Social Value from the competitors. Yaoko Top management and“Health and Wellness”leader has stated that, we would like to be known as the “Yaoko”. Just like now, “Wholefoods Market ” is known by their supermarket name. Such brand strength shows that the cooperate brand surpassed the type of operation as Supermarkets. One format is“Health and Wellness MD”. This format is linked with CSV, Marketing 3.0. They stated that, there are three key points of success (i.e., Internal marketing for employees, Health and Wellness Management for stakeholders, and Health and Wellness MD for customers). These tactics are asked to maintain the balance. From this, I believe that, Yaoko has a strength in balance by“Kotenkeiei ” based Chain Operation, Customers Perspective, and Co-Created Value. Therefore, they will establish this format step by step. As follows, with reference to my Yaoko quantitative research result. The result is, Store Loyalty to Supermarkets of “Co-Created Value” type in Japan is constituted by both “Service” and “Quality” reflecting “fresh”foods. On the other hand, In-depth interviews from the customers and Group interviews toYaoko supermarket customers indicated that, the consumers does not see “Health and Wellness” image in Yaoko Asakaoka Store. However, they ask “Freshness, Safety, and Quality including quality in tastes” in Fresh foods (e.g., Vegitables, Fruits, Fishes and Meats) for Supermarkets when they hear “Health and Wellness”. Also, they stick to purchasing vegetables, fruits and fish that are in its season. Quantitative research , In-depth interviews, and Group interviews results to Yaoko supermarket customers are linked to the consciousness of the consumers in “Health and Wellness”. However it is quite difficult for the retailers to change the consciousness of the consumers when dealing with the image of “Health and Wellness”. Because the retailers use on Assortment and Price is MD-based. Therefore, the retailer is not used to meal-solution and experienced value event that are key to appeal “Health and Wellness”. It is essential to understand the importance of relationships with regional communities. As of now, with such understanding, Yaoko is collaborating with Asaka City in order to enhance the result, which is precisely the “Co-Created Value”with the consumers and administration in regional community. In summary, Yaoko’s CSV and Marketing 3.0 action must be sustained for some years at least. Reason being that, there is of a complexity in establishing the store image and positioning of“Health and Wellness”for their well-aware conscious customers. This marketing strategy based on CSV, Marketing 3.0, and Co-Created Value is most advanced, original, and unique in Japanese retailing. The result will be linked with the avoidance of commodity phenomenon in the near future. This study indicates that,“Health and Wellness”should be prioritized to enhance the store loyalty in Japanese Supermarkets. This approach is differentiated from the cooperate brand image and positioning for the competitors. Currently speaking with the social situations,“Health and Wellness”reflects directly to the major factor “Quality”, which is one of the 4 factors of Store Loyalty by the result of quantitative research, In-depth interviews, and Group interviews to Yaoko supermarket customers.“Health and Wellness”to become an independent 5th key factor to construct store loyalty is still in the midst of progress. The reason is that the consciousness for“Health and Wellness”varies by the customer’s life-stage, gender, and/or that the consumer has kids or not in Japan. The highly conscious customers for“Health and Wellness”may become an independent 5th key factor to construct store loyalty because of such extremely strong value reflect compared to the others. Yet, most Japanese customers believe that“Health and Wellness” is the major factor of “Quality”, which is one of the 4 factors (e.g., Service, Quality, Assortment, and Price) of Store Loyalty according to the result of these research. This study is still on-going and currently, the store experiment is appealing the value of “Health and Wellness”to Yaoko supermarket customers. Therefore, the additional result of quantitative study shall be included and reflected, as it will be completed in prior to the GMC2016. These findings of quantitative and qualitative study will be useful towards the Health Marketing. Essentially, this is the new theoretical development and contribution as how to construct the store loyalty using the Health Marketing. Also, this study indicates the other perspective. It is very difficult for the retailers-side to notice the importance of “Health and Wellness”, and for the customers to keep the balance in“Health and Wellness”, which includes the basics such as, to eat the healthy food, to play a moderate exercise and to have a good sleep.Finally, the retailer may propose the“Health and Wellness”value in Store through Co-Created Value with the consumers in regional community. In such case, the proposal of“Health and Wellness”should be combined with Assortment , Service, Experienced Value Events. Yaoko’s“Health and Wellness”challenge is very unique and original compared to competitors. Most of the retailers are basing the focus only towards Assortment in Healthy foods. Nowadays, Retailing Innovation of Supermarkets in Japan has evolved from MD to appeal the value of “Health and Wellness”. This is called “the innovation with the leap”, as to reflecting on CSV and Marketing 3.0.

Market orientation has been extensively studied in the last 30 years. Previous studies have mainly focused on manufacturing and in the retail industry market orientation remains rather unexplored. There are only a few studies on market orientation in retailing (e.g. Elg, 2003; Kajalo & Lindblom, 2015; Liu & Davies, 1997). According to Elg (2003) market orientation in retailing differs from manufacturing in several aspects. Most importantly, in retailing individual stores have important roles to implement market orientation. They interact with customers and satisfy customer’s needs in the service encounter. Even if retailer can generate and share market knowledge in organization, the effect of market orientation on performance is weak when store organization does not adopt market oriented behaviour (Liu & Davies, 1997). Therefore, it is important for retailer to control market orientation of a retail store. Most retailers operate as retail chains to increase the scale of business. Retail chain is a multi-unit firm that manages many stores as profit units (Chang & Harrington, 2002). Retail chain includes buying and selling divisions, which specialize in different tasks. Buying division has specialized role and responsibility to search and negotiate with the suppliers, make the merchandising plan, monitor the process of merchandising, and revise the merchandising plan. In a similar manner, selling division has specialized role and responsibility to implement merchandising plan, promote retail services to customers, and manage the stores to differentiate from competitors. Buying division makes standardized merchandising plan for stores to increase scale advantage in buying, inventory management, store delivery, and advertising. Retail chains centralize the decisions of merchandising to buying divisions and formalize the process of merchandising in chain organization. On the other hand, retail chains become market - oriented organization to increase the scale advantage because this advantage depends on the effectiveness of merchandising plan. From the perspective of market orientation, the three behavioral aspects of market orientation – generation, dissemination, and response are performed by buying division and selling division of the retail chain. Buying division needs the market information generated by retail stores as selling division. Buying division makes the merchandising plan under environmental uncertainty. Buying division decreases this uncertainty to analyze the market information from stores. Market information includes not only existing market needs but also potential market needs. Buying division finds potential market needs into the market information and makes an innovative merchandising plan.In the merchandising process, selling division implements market orientation in stores. After the buying division makes merchandising plans to differentiate from competitors, the selling division implements these plans on stores. For example, store manager monitors the process of implementation and revises the action according to merchandising plans. When store managers find problems, they report these problems to the buying division and request to refine merchandising plans. In this way, the buying division takes the planning part of market orientation and the selling division takes the implementation part of market orientation. To control market orientation in chain organization, retail chain coordinate buying division and selling division by organizational structure - centralization and formalization (Lechner & Kreutzer, 2010). Organizational structure has effect on market orientation. First, formalization has opposite effect on market orientation (Jaworski & Kohli, 1993). According to Ouchi (1978) formalization reduces the ambiguity of goals and makes clear the criteria of performance evaluation in organization among organizational members. When formalization motivates organizational member to be market oriented, formalization facilitates market intelligence generation and sharing of market intelligence with organizational members. On the other hand, formalization limits the behavior of organizational members (von Krog, 1998). López et al. (2006) suggest that the rules and procedures set by formalization give the pattern to organizational communication. As results, formalization reduces the chances for organization members to communicate market intelligence and interact with each other because organizational member put priority on formalized communication channel. Second, centralization has negative effect on market orientation. According to Pelham and Wilson (1996) decentralization increases organizational commitment to satisfy customer needs and motivates market orientation. Souitaris (2001) and Ouchi (2006) assert that centralization reduces the degree of information sharing among organizational members. Therefore, centralization has negative effect on market orientation. Organizational structure has indirect effect on innovation orientation of store thought market orientation. There are two streams about the relationship between market orientation and innovation orientation (Grinstein 2008). One stream suggests that market orientation is negatively related to innovation. Another stream suggests that market orientation is positive related to innovation. In this study, we argue according to recent research that market orientation is likely to enhance. To test the conceptual model that incorporates these concepts (Figure 1), a survey was conducted among Japanese retailers. The sample (N=191) consists of store managers (71), vice-store managers (22), and floor managers (98) of a Japanese retail chain. The scales used in the study were adapted from previous research (Table 1). Concerning common method bias, we conducted Harman’s one-factor test and applied confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) testing of a model with all of the items loading on a common method factor. Comparing this model with a measurement model containing seven latent variables revealed a significant deterioration in chi-square (χ2 = 378.446; p < .01). This finding suggests that common method bias is not a serious threat in the study. This data was analyzed by following a two-step structural equation modeling approach. First, a CFA was carried out to assess the reliability and validity of theconstruct measures included in the study. In order to evaluate the reliability of the latent variables, composite reliability for all latent variables was calculated. We assess scale reliability using average variance extracted (AVE) and composite reliability (CR). The CR of each scale exceeds 0.80. The AVE of each scale exceeds 0.50. Discriminant validity was evaluated by Fornell and Larcker (1981). We found that the square root of the average variance extracted is greater than all of the corresponding correlations. These findings indicate that reliability and validity of the construct measures was adequate. Second, a structural equation model analysis was done to test the hypothesis. As seen in Figure 2 the SEM model exhibits good overall fit of the model. The results of the model provide several interesting contributions. First, the study shows that centralization has a statistically significant negative impact on formalization in retail chain. Second, the study demonstrates how centralization and formalization are linked to innovation orientation through three dimensions of market orientation. Third, the study demonstrates to retail managers the importance of organizational design and how good market orientation can benefit retailers in their increasingly innovation orientation. For retail chain, centralization and formalization of decision making about merchandising are important for gaining scale advantage. But centralization has negative effect on market orientation. Retail chain has trade – off between scale advantage and market orientation in practice. Overall, our framework demonstrates the effects of organizational structure on market orientation and innovation orientation in retail chain. Thus, our framework shows the direct and indirect impacts that organizational structure has on innovation orientation.

Due to the widening social gap, creation of social acceptability has become a key factor of success in luxury brand-building for automotive companies. We develop and apply an acceptability scale in the context of luxury cars. The empirical results confirm strong influences of brand associations, socio-demographic characteristics and materialistic preferences.

The main purpose of this paper is to investigate how a luxury brand may be affected by the variables associated to a new market entry as the Chinese and how those new market variables are integrated in the process of rebranding in the new geographical context. In doing so, the paper will review the existing literature in the field and following three derived propositions through a qualitative approach, it will analyse the successful brand strategy of three Italian luxury brands. The luxury brands considered in our investigation are three international ones with a specific consolidated brand heritage and with a multisectorial positioning. The methodological approach chosen in the analysis is the case-study method (Yin, 1984) with the specific purpose of focusing on a particular phenomenon instead of generalising (Schramm, 1971). Following the case-study methodology, this paper will explore and analyse the specific luxury brand building and rebranding process adopted by three Italian luxury brands to enter the new market and specifically through the digitalisation of the brand. The abstract will report a summary of one case as a reference sample. The empirical research will evidence the positive impact of digitalisation for successful luxury branding and rebranding in entry market strategy and justify its adoption in the exclusive luxury sector by the socio-cultural context-related factors of the new market. It will provide specific orientations and recommendations as well as best practices for luxury corporations on the specificities of branding and digitalisation of luxury in China. The research will show a successful model path for luxury branding when entering the Chinese market and the key impact of the “luxury digitalisation” strategy - usually associated to high accessibility - with respect to a traditional “luxury retailing” strategy - associated to the exclusivity of the luxury sector. Introduction The increasing interest in luxury brands in the fast growing economies of Asia, with particular attention towards China, has supported the growth of the luxury market in the last years. China, the global second largest economy, with the global largest consumer market, has reached a role of an undisguisable strategic leader in the luxury market. Far from theexponential double digit growth rates characterizing China’s growth in the past decades - as high as 14.2% in 2007 – at the moment it is entering a different phase of growth. A recent trend is tending to see China as the source of a multiplicity of diversified aspects impacting the global luxury market scenario – despite the fact that luxury industry market situation is not simply China related. The ongoing Chinese growth in the last decade has been associated with a decrease in European and US markets. In addition to this, further issues have negatively affected the market grow more related to Chinese market specificity. Chinese exponential luxury market growth has negatively influenced the exclusivity aura associated to luxury goods and consequently disrupting non-Chinese luxury customers and Chinese top spenders luxury brands orientation. In relation to the economic crisis in consolidated markets, international luxury brands have focused their interest towards fast growing economies. As a result, global brands have focused their attention on attracting fast growing economies with a specific growth in affluent consumers interested in foreign brands and in an augmentation in global consumption (Le Monkhouse et al., 2012). As a consequence, China has attracted much attention by significantly contributing to balance the sales decline in consolidated economies that in 2013 accounted for 28% of the €212 billion global luxury consumption (Schiliro, 2013). In the new luxury oriented Chinese context, local shoppers have started to become brand aware of what they were in the past and with a specific focus on luxury fashion brands (Bruce & Kratz, 2007). However, it would be too limited to simply consider that the volumes of the market and focus on luxury brands is resulting only from consumer intentions to purchase luxury brands. A multiplicity of factors and in particular context related factors affecting shoppers luxury brand perception and luxury goods purchasing experience must be considered and as a consequence those context related factors that may affect the branding process itself. China's culture is different from Western cultures (Henriksen, 2009), and thus, Chinese luxury consumption may not follow the trends of the Western world. The Chinese perceive luxury brand value in terms of China's unique cultural background and as a consequence of the Chinese economic development, the Chinese luxury lifestyle is gradually evolving and beginning to show its own distinct characteristics. Although prior research related to luxury examines different cultures and markets such as the US, Indian, European, the Chinese luxury context and its impact on luxury brand when entering this market have not been examined sufficiently. Literature review Luxury Brands, Rebranding and the Chinese Context Literature teaches us that “luxury” is used to denote the main category of highly prestigious brands (Vigneron & Johnson, 2004). In the same way, luxury brands are related to wealth, exclusivity and power and are related to the fulfilment of nonessential desires (Brun et al., 2008 and Dubois and Gilles, 1994). “Luxury brands” comprises highly quality, expensive and nonessential goods and services that are symbols of rarity, exclusivity, prestige, and authenticity in for their consumers and they can provide highlevels of symbolic and emotional value (Tynan, McKechnie, & Chhuon, 2009). Vigneron and Johnson (2004) and later Wiedman et al. (2007) defined the concept of luxury as the physical and psychological values provided by prestige of luxury brands and consequently highlighting the symbolic and conceptual dimension associated to luxury. However, it was evidenced how the dimension is strongly associated to the cultural values and to the social environment by considering luxury goods representatives of individual and social identity (Vickers & Renand, 2003). These elements of exclusivity, prestige, rarity as well as individual and social identity are the key values distinguishing luxury from nonluxury brands (Tynan et al., 2009). In the same perspective, Kapferer (1997, p. 334) highlighted the importance of those luxury brand values in evidencing that brand memory and brand values should not be abandoned when the brand is revised suggesting that rebranding is an incremental process in contrast to a radical change. The Digitalisation of Luxury Brands and the Chinese Market In the western countries, the elder people mainly compose luxury customers, while luxury consumers become younger (about under 40 years old) in China. The increasing number of middle-level class has been the main force of online luxury consuming. The consumption concept of younger customers are huge different from that of traditional customers. Solomon (2009) expressed that customers’ behavior is a dynamic concept because they are influenced by the outer factors and inner elements (Solomon, 2009). A survey from McKinsey & Company indicates that there are almost 90% of Chinese Internet users living in tier1, tier2 and tier 3 cities have enrolled in a social-media site and Chinese people can be regarded as the world’s most active social-media population, around 91% of respondents telling they visited a social-media site in the previous six months, followed by 70% in South Korea, 67% in the United States and 30% in Japan (Chiu, Lin, & Silverman, 2012). The Chinese social and cultural context is increasingly becoming “digitally savvy” and Chinese citizens are more likely to gain information from Internet when they would make shopping decisions. First Proposition Indirect orientation for the first proposition comes from Vickers and Renard (2003) conceptual development that evidences that the conceptual dimension of luxury is strongly influenced by cultural elements and by the social context. Consequently it derives that the digitalisation of luxury as a part of the social and cultural variables of contemporary Chinese consumers’ market will be conceptualised in the rebranding process for luxury brands when entering the Chinese market. Second Proposition Specific support for our second proposition comes from Kapferer (1997) theory highlighting that successful luxury rebranding has to keep least certain core brand elements to have a proper transition from the existing luxury brand to the revised luxury brand in the new Chinese market. The digitalisation process for rebranding will evidence the core elements kept as a part of the brand heritage and identity.In the re-branding process new market segments may be touched or even new markets (Kapferer, 1997). Successful luxury rebranding may require meeting the needs of new market segments. As a consequence, in our third proposition it is assumed that new attributes to the brand may be required to satisfy the new market and in particular the Chinese digitally savvy” segment. These principles of rebranding applied to our Chinese luxury context refers to the existing literature relating to re-create the brand vision to entry the new Chinese market. Research questions and methodology This research aims to analyse the impact of cultural and social variables of a new market, the Chinese one, in the redefinition of a luxury brand and in particular: - the evolution towards a new digital orientation as a response to the needs of the new customer segments - the specific socio-cultural characteristics of the new Chinese market customer segments In order to provide specific responses from the field, the empirical research methodology is based on the case analysis method (Yin, 1984). The luxury brands cases considered in the research have been kept anonymous in order to keep the confidentiality of the data collected and consequently referred as A, B and C. It has been based on interviews carried out in China and in Europe with the management of the luxury brand, with a sample of its customer segments and also on the published data of the corporation. The Case of an Italian Luxury Brand in China The A case: Rebranding through Digitalisation for Successful Entry in the Chinese Market Out of the three cases, A is an Italian global luxury brand with an established brand image and heritage internationally. Its positioning as authentic luxury brand worldwide specifically focus its image on exclusivity, originality and innovative design. China, which was entered lately with respect to the other geographical markets in their global strategy, has now become clearly the main focus. Its entry strategy has been oriented towards a progressive reinforcement of relations between brand and market, in particular in relation to the digitalisation of the market and its consumption mode. The brand started opening the main flagship store in the Mainland China capital Beijing and following with the fashion centre Shanghai at the beginning of 2006. After a few years of gradual expansion and monitoring of the market evolution, the brand can nowadays count on a consolidated flagship store network adding value to the brand awareness. Counting on the younger Chinese luxury market segments, the brand had a remarkable immediate growth in the market as a result of its brand core values and image as well as of its own digitalisation of the brand development strategy. The growth and consolidated positioning allowed the brand to start a brand expansion strategy by introducing the cosmetics line in department stores after clothing and apparel and perfumes. Conclusion A luxury brand focused on a specific rebranding as entry strategy for the Chinese market through the integration between the socio-cultural variables associated to the local context and the core components of the brand. A transferred the brand to the Chinesemarket by maintaining its own young style and image, specifically suitable for the young Chinese luxury market. In the initial phase of the Chinese market entry, A focused on reinforcing the brand image and awareness in the local socio-cultural context by developing their retail and distribution in particular by having key premium locations, fundamental to communicate the brand identity and core values. However, the retailing network was not perceived as sufficient to create “a social buzz” in the Chinese young socio-cultural context that is specifically influenced by digital media in this geographical environment. The analysis of the brand and its entry strategy in China have clearly shown that they entry and kept expanding in China from first to third tier cities and to different targeted segments by developing an intelligent digitalisation of the brand. Starting from developing a Chinese version of the brand name, A brand modified its brand name as a main strategy to giving meaning to the brand in the Chinese socio-cultural context, as well as emphasizing the heritage of the brand and creating a strong position in the mind of the Chinese consumer and creating a strong advantage in the digital search positioning. Furthermore, in analysing the market socio-cultural digital trends and the decreasing reach of conventional media and the increasing one of the digital ones, A decided to focalise on a diversified use of digital media in their entry strategy - through online video advertising and the growing digital out of home as well as local search engine as Baidu or local social networks, BAIDU Sina.com Wechat Youku and in particular online influencers and BBS, Bullet Board Systems – by clearly choosing to rebrand through the digitalisation of their luxury brand in compliance with the socio-cultural variables and trends of the market. The sample case will be reported and the model path for branding and rebranding in the Chinese context will be presented.

There has been a global growth of luxury business start-ups, which has accelerated especially since the late 1990s along with the upswing of the global luxury market. Start-ups in the high-end cultural and creative industries reflect the various new types of luxury from green or sustainable luxury and slow luxury to value luxury, and from digital and high-tech luxury to experience luxury. However, there exist only a few studies about luxury brand-building, the related area of luxury marketing success factors (Fionda and Moore, 2008) and the new research domain of luxury entrepreneurship (Fonrouge and Lipovetsky, 2013). Therefore, the objective of this paper is to identify critical success factors of luxury brand-building. In the high-end and generally in the lifestyle segment, the generation of a business model must go hand in hand with brand-building. Even more, setting-up a luxury or lifestyle business is hardly possible without emphasizing on brand-building. Consequently, we suggest combing business model generation with brand-building as this is naturally an interrelated process, especially in the high-end and creative industries. Based on the Business Model Canvass by Osterwalder and Pigneur (2014), we develop the Brand-Building Canvas and then use it as a framework to analyze the success factors of luxury brand-building. As success criteria of luxury marketing depend on a brand’s stage of development, we employ the concept of brand lifecycles to differentiate success factors. Due to its explanatory power for real-life organisational phenomena, our study relies on Grounded Theory, combined with a multiple case study methodology according to Fionda and Moore (2008). We analyzed ten luxury start-ups in different development stages and from various luxury industry segments and countries. The empirical database was obtained from multiple sources including also documentary material such as company presentations, brochures, homepages, and media articles. Moreover, expert interviews were conducted with representatives of the luxury start-ups and other relevant industry experts. Based on a content-analysis of the empirical database, we outline an overview of success factors of luxury brand-building, organized by brand lifecycle stages and the categories of the Brand-Building Canvas.

The study of luxury is a rapidly rising star in the firmament of business, management, the arts, media and communication studies. In the discipline of marketing alone, it informs research into corporate strategy (e.g. Mazancourt & Schwartz, 2012; Hennigs, Weidmann, Behrens & Klarmann, 2015), production and consumption in the context of national, regional, local cultures (e.g. Zhan & He, 2012; Schultz & Jain, 2015) and, of course, global brands (Mazzalovo, 2012), just to name a few. Of particular interest to this author is the theoretical challenges and opportunities of an entirely new frontier for the study of luxury and consumption: namely, how do we theorize luxury and luxury consumption in an age of space travel, habitation and tourism? Travel to Mars is fast becoming a reality and space tourism is already rapidly growing as a leisure pursuit for wealthy elites. The trajectory of space travel, and human habitation, in space is, however, evolving in ways that are still not widely reported or communicated to the public. Yet, it is almost certainly the case that the mass consumption of space travel (and future habitats on other planets) will become a reality in the foreseeable future. The anthropocentric vision that has driven the human species to flourish on Earth will also allow us to populate other planets. Guiding this paper are two primary – and hitherto foundational – premises: first, all existing work on luxury and luxury consumption by marketing scholars has taken our continued existence on planet Earth for granted. That is, luxury as we know it (and however one it is defined) occurs within spatial and temporal dimensions that are, broadly speaking, Newtonian (despite the remarkable advances in quantum theory and mechanics), linear, bounded and life-sustaining by virtue of stable sources of energy, water and fuel (at least in the world’s advanced economies). This premise alone accounts for, and explains, for example, much of the current literature on ‘luxury consumption in China’ or ‘India’ or ‘Turkey’ or any other specific locale. My contention is that this premise can no longer be taken for granted in a post-ecological age; second, I wish to develop one or more novel dimensions to the conventional, albeit provocative, literature that argues (rightly, in my view) that consumption of any kind must be central to “theorizations of space and place” (Goodman, Goodman & Redclift, 2010). At the same time, technology companies such as Tesla and Space X are effecting radical transformations in our view of what is possible for human consumption over the next five to twenty years. What is the role and likely transformations in the concept and practice of luxury in this scenario? This is the key question that faces marketing scholars in the next decade and this paper is the first attempt to interrogate the issue.Several scenarios present themselves and should be taken seriously until we devise other frameworks that can satisfactorily tackle the question I have posed. For instance, the ‘bandwagon effect’ (Kastanakis & Balabanis, 2012) helps explain how mass luxury consumption might take off after the first wave of early adopters of space technology and space-led living have indicated their preferences and as private as well as public enterprises innovate to capture the public imagination with regards to the consumption of luxury items in space (Thomas, 2007). Alternatively, we could explore further the implications and modifications in behavioural theories of luxury consumption (Yeoman, 2010) to understand how the antecedents and consequences of popular modes of adoption, use and future purchases might be modified in the Space Age. Last, but certainly not least, one can focus the theoretical lens on transformational consumer research along the lines (and limits) of the consumption of place and space (Goodman, Goodman and Redclift, 2016). This avenue, in my view, affords some intriguing advantages over alternative approaches. As Clarke, Doel and Hoisaux (2003, 80) note, ‘consumption tends to reconfigure space and place, often disrupting, undermining and displacing consumption activities that were once thought of as being related to specific places’. Thus, while we may be reluctant to discard the notion that consumption is essentially geographical, we now need to reconsider what and where those geographies are and what they will mean for us as a species in the next several decades. How will relational networks of consumption work? How can we understand the bodily enactments of consumption and the environmental and metabolic conditions that are a prerequisite for practices of luxury? The corporate implications are numerous and profound as well: the global green/sustainability movements have undoubtedly changed market forces and behavior – can they play another, even more valuable role in the next consumer revolution?

The purpose of this research is to disentangle the complex causal patterns of factors for explaining venture capital activity. Based on data from 62 countries, this study analyzes net and combinatory effects of three major sets of antecedent conditions of venture capital activity. Findings inform managers and policy makers.

Consumers who play a key role in the Marketing 3.0 era tend to prefer socially responsible firms to profit-seeking firms. Hence, when creating a vision statement or setting a goal, firms make an effort to project an image of someone who cares for human and societal values. When managing relationships with consumers, many firms actively engage in various societal marketing activities and try to elicit positive responses from consumers. An example of such an activity is cause-related marketing (CRM), “the process of formulating and implementing marketing activities that are characterized by an offer from the firm to contribute a specified amount to a designated cause when customers engage in revenue-providing exchanges that satisfy organizational and individual objectives” (as cited in Varadarajan & Menon, 1988, p. 60). CRM positively influences consumers’ attitudes and purchase behavior (Olsen, Pracejus, Brown, 2003; Pracejus & Olsen, 2004; Henderson & Arora, 2010), and has become a strategic tool for increasing firm value and improving financial performance in the long term (Dean, 2004). As a result, investment in CRM in the U.S. is rapidly increasing, with annual average growth of more than 12%. In Korea, CRM came into the spotlight after the mid-1990s. In China, a successful implementation by Nongfu Spring in 2006 attracted more interest and more investment in CRM. As firms worldwide increasingly employ CRM, researchers have become more interested in CRM as well. Most studies focused on finding factors that affect the effectiveness of CRM. However, most studies were conducted in the West, so the strategies or guidelines they offer are not directly applicable in other cultural contexts. A successful implementation of any marketing tool, including CRM, requires understanding its cultural context. Understanding culture is essential for effective marketing, for entering and growing in foreign markets (Steenkamp, 2001; Mueller, 2004). In this paper, we study the effect of CRM, taking into account cultural factors. We focus on Korea and China. We chose these two countries because they are both part of the larger Asian market, yet have different cultural characteristics. Our study thus extends prior research that was mainly conducted in the West. We examined Chinese consumer responses to CRM. CRM is not a common concept in China, but Chinese consumers demand that both national and foreign companies offer socially responsible products and services. Despite the recent slowdown, China is still a market with a big potential, attractive to multinational corporations. Hence, our study carries practical significance. This comparative study may be especially useful to Korean firms, as they show the highest rate of entering the Chinese market. We tackle several issues in this paper. First, we examined the responses of both Korean and Chinese consumers to CRM from a comparative perspective. Second, we analyzed the moderating effect of product type on consumer response to CRM. Product type has been treated—with contradictory results—as an important variable in previous research (Strahilevits & Myers, 1998; Burnett & Lunsford, 1994; Winterich & Barone, 2011). Our study provides more insight into those results, and suggests what the practical implications are for firms in the Korean and/or the Chinese market. Third, we explored the response of Chinese consumers to CRM by regional groups. The Chinese economic reform of the early 1990s allowed for many different lifestyles to emerge in China (Wei, 1997). There are regional differences also in economic, social, and cultural aspects, consumer characteristics, or consumer behavior (Schmitt, 1997; Cui & Liu, 2000; Sun & Wu, 2004). Rather than treating China as one single market, segmenting markets becomes a prerequisite for effective marketing in China. Building on results and insights from previous research and taking account of differential consumer responses, we found that there are regional differences in how Chinese consumers react to CRM.

This study assessed the degree of marketplace inclusion inherent in the distribution of grocery stores in the Detroit Metropolitan Area; to account for spatial effects such as spatial heterogeneity, phenomena rarely considered in prior marketing literature, geographically weighted regression and geographic information systems were employed.

With the ecological environment deteriorating and rapid growth of world population, sustainable issue becomes a hot issue all over the world. All the state, industry and consumer levels pay more attention to the sustainable filed. Even Kotler (2011) in his study mentioned that the need for sustainable issue means new challenges to the scholars and practitioners. This research aim to the sustainable consumption filed in China. Based on the previous studies, sustainable consumption can be summarized including clothing, food, housing and travelling is an important way to cope with the deteriorating ecological environment and the rapid growth of world population. The Chinese government attaches great importance to sustainable consumption, at the same time the government has issued many sustainable policies to promote the development of sustainable consumption concept. Environmental policies consists of three kinds of instruments (regulation instrument, economic instrument, and information instrument), but which instrument is more effective to promote people’s sustainable consumption attitude and behavior, and whether these effects will be changed or not in different context, previous studies have no clear answer. Based on the literature view, this study organized and established the concept research model. Following the logic of policy-attitude-behavior, the researchers examined the relationship among environmental policy instruments, sustainable consumption attitude and sustainable consumption behavior. Meanwhile, due to long-term orientation was an important variable to explain attitude and behavior, based on time orientation theory, this research also tested the moderating role of long-term orientation between environmental policy instruments and sustainable consumption attitude. Data were collected from Chinese residents in the medium size city, after excluding 67 invalid questionnaires, 325 questionnaires were used to analysis. Through exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis, this study confirmed that the scales of main variables had good reliability and validity. Researchers adopted SPSS19.0 to conduct multiple regression analysis. Results showed that regulation instrument and economic instrument had significant effects on sustainable consumption attitude, but the effect of information instrument was not significant. Long-term orientation played the positive moderating role between economic instrument and sustainable consumption attitude; consumers’ sustainable consumption attitude was correlated with sustainable consumption behavior, and was as a mediator between regulation instrument, economic instrument and sustainable consumption behavior. Finally, based on the research results we give some suggestions and contributions to both academy and practice. The conclusions of this study can contribute to the enrichment of environment policy theory，time orientation theory and sustainable consumption，and can provide a certain theoretical guidance and reference for the issue of government on how to promote the development of sustainable consumption. We also point out the limitations of this study and some suggestions for further researches.

In today’s digital world the role of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) communication has been recognized as an invaluable tool in the integrated marketing communications and promotion activities of a wide range of products and services. In particular eWOM has been identified as a critical component of tourism and entertainment marketing such as that used to promote theme park amusement services. This paper examines the effects of social media (SM) relationship variables (Social identity, information, interaction, structure) have on eWOM communication, with mediators of social networks (Perceived usefulness - PU, perceived ease of use - PEOU and actual use -AU) acting as transmitters of those effects. Although previous studies have strongly supported the importance of social identity and personal interaction in enhancing eWOM communication through social networks, they have not been tested as a specific model that is relevant to the theme park industry. This research therefore incorporates those three mediators to enhance the explanatory value of a proposed model. The findings confirm the mediating role of technology acceptance model (TAM) factors, i.e. PU, PEOU and AU, for predicting theme park visitors’ use of eWOM. It is shown that all four exogenous SM relationship variables exert a positive indirect effect on eWOM communication by operating through PU and AU, but not PEOU. Practically, the study features the role of a set of factors that support theme park visitors’ tendency to communicate their experiences to their online network and describes a model which could offer theme park and amusement venue operators a competitive edge over other direct competitors as well as other forms of entertainment.

Customers often rely on peers’ opinions and experiences when forming expectations and evaluating a service provider. New media channels such as consumer review platforms and social networking sites help customers obtain firsthand information from other customers to evaluate a service. Prior research confirms the effects of positive electronic word of mouth (eWOM) on recipients, yet less is known about how companies should respond to negative eWOM. The authors conducted a series of experimental studies in the context of new media online channels (i.e., consumer review sites and social media brand pages) to investigate the effects of various company response strategies on consumers’ perceptions. The results have two implications for service firms: First, adequate response strategies to negative eWOM compensate for the negative effects that occur when Internet users attribute responsibility to the firm. Second, the findings indicate that firms need both adequate response strategies and an engaged community to restore their perceived trustworthiness in consumers’ eyes.

Research Background Electronic word-of-mouth (e-WOM) is becoming an important marketing tools in social media era. Consumes are accustomed to sharing information with others in social networking sites (SNSs), such as, Facebook, Twitter, etc. e-WOM is defined as “any positive or negative statement made by potential, actual, or former customers about a product or company, which is made available to a multitude of people and institutions via the Internet” (Hennig-Thurau, Gwinner, Walsh, & Gremler, 2004, p. 39). As referred by Cheung and Thadani (2012), e-WOM adoption is one of the most important response variables in e-WOM research. The information adoption model is widely used in prior studies and showed that e-WOM credibility and information usefulness have a direct positive effect on e-WOM adoption (Cheung, Luo, Sia, & Chen, 2009; Liu & Zhang, 2010). e-WOM credibility is related to the communicator’s expertise and trustworthiness, information usefulness is related to the contents-related characteristics (such as positive or negative view and volume, etc.). Moreover, receiver’s prior knowledge and involvement to the product/service are proved to have a moderate effect on the e-WOM adoption (Doh & Hwang, 2009; Park & Kim, 2009). Existing e-WOM adoption researches are overly depend on information adoption model and only focusing on the communicator and contents role but neglect the receiver’s role. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between receiver’s attachment styles and e-WOM adoption response. We assumed that receiver’s psychology characteristics will have an important effect on their e-WOM adoption in SNSs, it is the precondition for consider the communicator and content. Thus, attachment theory is used in this study to examine what kind of individuals will adopt the e-WOM information in SNSs. Relevant Theory Attachment theory is used in this study. Attachment theory attempts to explain the affectionate bonds formed between infants and their primary caregivers (Bowlby, 1969) and transfers to other interpersonal relationships later in life (Ainswworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, 1978). The early relationship between infants and caregivers can help a child develop an internal working model, which can guide the child’s thoughts, behaviors, and affect other relationships (Weimer, Kerns, & Oldenburg, 2004). These relationships not only include romantic relationships and friendships (Bowlby, 1969) but also include the attachment to possessions, brands, sports teams, and business partners (Grinstein & Nisan, 2009; Kleine, Kleine III, & Allen, 1995). Attachment styles can be formed from two dimensions: attachment avoidance and attachment anxiety (Brennan, Clark, & Shaver, 1998). The avoidance dimension refers to the degree that an individual’s view of others is positive or negative, whereas the anxiety dimension refers to the degree that an individual’s view of self is positive or negative. Avoidance dimension is related to the degree that individuals have a need for self-reliance, fear depending on others, distrust partners, and tend to keep emotional and cognitive distance away from partners (Brennan et al., 1998; Collins & Read, 1990).

With the rapid development of digital technologies and the Internet, the boundaries between countries are shrinking and markets are becoming global (Oh et al., 2016). Simultaneously, cross-border online shopping is another trend that has spread across the world, and global e-commerce has now become a reality (Johnson et al., 2003; Moore, 2015). However, in prior studies related to eWOM, the national culture has received little attention among the numerous factors that could adjust the effect of eWOM (Christodoulides et al., 2012). In addition, in the real world, although individuals are frequently exposed to combined eWOM messages containing both positive and negative information about the same product, most previous studies on eWOM have focused on the one-sided eWOM valence. There are not many empirical studies on the influence of the two-sided eWOM valence on consumers’ persuasions. Thus, Study I examines the attitude effect of the two-sided eWOM valence from a cross-cultural perspective, particularly on the basis of the differences in thinking styles between the Easterners and Westerners. For this, we use a 2[Valence: positive/negative, negative/positive] x 2[Culture: East (South Korea), West (United States)] factorial design. To classify the culture, the thinking style was measured as a within-group variable. As a result, the interaction effect between valence and culture (nation) was significant. Specifically, in the East (South Korea), no significant difference existed in the changes in brand attitude depending on the two-sided eWOM valence, whereas brand attitude changes from a negative/positive presentation order in the West (United States) were significantly larger than the positive/negative presentation order. Study II demonstrates the mediated moderation effect of perceived cognition congruency in a cross-cultural setting for explaining the underlying mechanism. Drawing on the cognitive fit theory, we present a two-sided eWOM-consumers’ perceived cognition congruency proposition: the two-sided eWOM valence that matches the information processing order consumers habitually have would facilitate the favorable comprehension (reflected by perceived cognition congruency) and assessment (reflected by changes in brand attitude) of the reviews. As a result, the two-sided eWOM valence indirectly affects brand attitude changes by mediating perceived cognition congruency. This valence directly affects the brand attitude changes in the Westerner (United States) group, which has an analytical thinking style. However, the direct and indirect effects of two-sided eWOM valence on brand attitude changes are not significant in the Easterner (South Korea) group, which has a holistic thinking style. This examination might explain why differences in the changes in brand attitude between the Easterners and Westerners were revealed through the twosided eWOM valence, thus providing in-depth insights into consumer responses for the valence. This study expands the diversity of studies conducted on the characteristics of the two-sided eWOM. Furthermore, it is expected to provide a strategic direction and practical implications for two-sided eWOM-driven information management by organizations.

Since the arrival of omni-channel retailing, which promotes seamless experience for consumers and zero effort commerce, channel integration has been a big issue in both the domestic and the international retail industry. Some researchers have identified problems that can occur in the process of channel integration, such as cannibalization and channel conflict (Coelho & Easingwood, 2003). However, many studies on channel integration report its positive impact on a firm’s revenue growth through improved trust (Schramm-Klein & Morschett, 2006), higher consumer conversion rates (Neslin et al., 2006), and greater cross-selling opportunities (Berry et al., 2010). Regarding the issue of effectively establishing channel integration in order to bring positive synergy to a company, the present study intends to identify a solution within a company’s internal factors. This study aims to provide a strategic perspective on channel integration formation of domestic fashion retailers by identifying some of the key organizational components that drive a firm’s channel integration in this omni-channel era, when the boundaries between online and offline markets are disappearing. This study predicts that organizational structure and strategic orientation are the key components of a fashion retailer’s channel integration implementation in an omni-channel environment. As shown in previous studies, channel integration has a positive impact on a firm’s performance through active and innovative transformation of the organization’s hardware and software (Cao & Li, 2015; Yan, Wang, & Zhou, 2010). In particular, this study introduces channel (extension) strategies (number of different types of channels in both online and offline markets) into channel integration as one of the crucial variables, in addition to the two existing variables. The data were collected through a survey targeting mid-level executives or above, within a business unit of Korea’s fashion companies with over $10 million revenue. Through this selection, a total of 120 samples were used in the final analysis. Hierarchical regression modeling was used to prove the study’s hypothesis. The revenue size of a parent company and SBU was used as a control variable in the level 1 model; channel strategies in the level 2 model; organizational structure in the level 3 model, and organization strategic orientation in the level 4 model, which was used as an independent variable. Integrated back-end system and integrated human resource management, which are the highest levels of channel integration (Cao & Li, 2015; Oh, Teo, & Sambamurthy, 2012), have been used as dependent variables. The main findings of this study are as follows: In a back-end system integration model, organization strategic orientation was identified as the highest level when the organizational structure becomes more centralized, whereas the system integration level is the highest when the model is competitor-oriented and innovation-oriented. In the human resource management integration model, the human resource management integration level is at its highest when the organizational structure becomes formalized and specialized, and organization strategic behavior becomes more competitor-oriented and innovation-oriented.

Introduction Shorter innovation cycles, the huge cost of R&D and dearth of resources compel firms to search for new innovation sources (Gassmann and Enkel 2004). Current research argues that firms need to open up their solid boundaries and seek valuable knowledge from external partners so that firms can extend the innovation function beyond their four walls (Chesbrough 2003). In this context past research has identified universities, or higher education institutions (HEIs) as an important source of innovation (e.g., Lambert 2003). Indeed, universities undertake a “third mission” in addition to their core mission of research and teaching, by focusing on “technology transfer” that engages in the process of the commercialization of science (Etzkowitz et al. 2000). Thus, firms can take huge advantages through the collaboration with universities. While relationships between firms have the risk of opportunism embedded in them, support provided by universities are hard to imitate by competitors due to the novelty and uniqueness in the ideas they provide their partner firms. Despite this important role that universities play, no systematic theoretical treatment has been attempted in academia. Ironically, university and industry links have been studied much less frequently and have been valued lesser than other sources (e.g., suppliers and customers) in terms of knowledge transfer for firm innovation (Hughes 2011). Extant research examines collaborations between universities and firms using simple descriptive analysis (e.g., Laursen and Salter 2004) and illustrates the relationship with anecdotal evidence (e.g., Cosh and Hughes 2010). Thus, extant literature provides little-to-no empirical evidence regarding firm performance, such as a firm’s innovation outcomes, when the firms are supported by universities. Our broad-based investigation makes several key contributions. First, our study is the first to demonstrate empirically what types of HEIs’ activities enhance a firm’s innovation outcomes. Because the two different types of HEI activities have different features, it helps us get a more precise understanding of which specific type of HEI-supported activity influences which firm innovation outcome. Second, our research finds that a firm’s absorptive capacity influences the relationship between HEI-supported activities and a firm’s innovation outcomes. This finding helps to identify how firm capability to absorb outside knowledge influences the relationship of HEIs’ involvement on a firm’s innovation outcomes. Conceptual Framework The most frequent form of a firm’s interaction with universities is people-based activities (Hughes 2011). Universities transfer knowledge through people-related activities such as conferences, special lectures, education programs, and social networks supporting firm innovation. Such people-based activities can influence firm innovation performance. People-based activities involve the activities conducting by firms to increase their business competitiveness. Since a firm’s employees are key to discovering new products and processes, special training programs provided by universities will help supplementing knowledge towards specific firm innovation outcomes. Additionally, other people-related activities such as placing university staff on a firm’s board of directors can also encourage exchange of knowledge and information resulting in cutting-edge new product and process innovation. Tether and Tajar (2008) found that firms that have participated in professional meetings or conferences held by HEIs have a better chance of surpassing their current innovation performance. A firm can improve its innovation performance by making human assets supported by its partners. As partners work together, this helps increasing work efficiency by improving communication, knowledge sharing, and their relative capacity to absorb knowledge for innovation. Research suggests that universities may have lower barriers to engagement with firms by removing bureaucracy, lowering transaction costs and speeding up reaction times (Mateos-Garcia and Sapsed 2011). Therefore, universities have an important role in transferring new knowledge through people-based activities, resulting in new products and processes for the firm. Thus, we hypothesize as follows: Hypothesis 1A (H1A). A firm’s people-based activities with HEIs are positively related to the introduction of new products in the firm. Hypothesis 1B (H1B). A firm’s people-based activities with HEIs are positively related to the introduction of new processes in the firm. Universities have a distinct role in affecting a firm’s innovation performance through problem-solving activities. Firms that acquire knowledge from universities improve their competitive position that helps firm acquire a competitive advantage over other firms that do not collaborate with universities (Gassmann and Enkel 2004). Universities provide problem-solving activities such as joint research, contract research, consulting services, informal advice and provision of access to specialized instrumentation, equipment or materials and of product prototyping. For example, in 2009, US firms sponsored more than $4 billion worth of university research (Kurman 2011), as a result of which U.S. universities own nearly one-quarter of new U.S. patents in the fields of nanotechnology and biotechnology. Thus, firms that collaborate with universities can achieve cutting-edge product and process innovation (Kurman 2011). Hosting workshops and performing joint research with universities are core problem-solving activities. For example, IBM, one of the most successful and established enterprises in the IT market, hosted 350 workshops per year and has had 50-100 ongoing research projects with universities, helping IBM to successfully launch new products into the market (Gassmann and Enkel 2004). Further, firms can also integrate partners (i.e., HEIs) to combine their different competencies to enrich their own innovation process (Gassmann and Enkel 2004). Based on the above, we hypothesize as follows:Hypothesis 2A (H2A). A firm’s problem-solving activities with HEIs are positively related to the introduction of new products. Hypothesis 2B (H2B). A firm’s problem-solving activities with HEIs are positively related to the introduction of new processes. Shorter time-to-market strategies, increasing R&D costs and a dearth of resources cause firms to search for new innovation strategies. This phenomenon is reinforced by a rapid churn in technology and customer demands. In this competitive environment, HEIs’ involvement is increasingly important for a firm’s innovation success because integrating external sources of knowledge from HEIs can result in major advantages for firms (Rappert et al. 1999). Further, people-based and problem-solving activities supported by HEIs do not replace a firm’s internal innovation activities and, as a result, the firm undertakes a great deal of its own innovation activities. Also, scholars argue that collaboration with other partners does not always provide better innovation performance because of the lack of a firm’s capability to processing valuable knowledge from the outside partners (Cohen and Levinthal 1990). This indicates that the mere acquisition and exploitation of knowledge from universities do not guarantee successful firm innovation outcomes. To create successful firm innovation, the firm should possess absorptive capacity, which is the learning capability to processing knowledge acquired from the HEIs into their internal work. Thus, firms can be expected to invest in their absorptive capacity in this situation (Tether and Tajar 2008). Further, Keller (1996) argues that successful R&D spillover (i.e., absorptive capacity) effects are dependent on the activities of human capital (i.e., people-based activities). Also, Cohen and Levinthal (1990) argue that firms can increase their absorptive capacity directly, as when they send personnel for advance technical training (i.e., people-based activities). Further, Kim (1998) argues that absorptive capacity is the major factor in developing problem-solving skills that allow a firm to create new knowledge that influences firm innovation performance. As such, absorptive capacity stresses the internal capability to acquire and assimilate outside knowledge into a firm while HEIs’ involvement is a resource that is created by external source enhancing a firm’s innovation outcomes. Therefore, identifying the role of absorptive capacity is a useful tool to explain the relationship of HEIs’ people-based activities and problem-solving activities on firm innovation performance. However, Nooteboom and colleagues (2007, pp. 1031) argue that “while there may be increasing returns in absorptive capacity, improving the general ability to understand and appreciate novelty value in collaboration, there are decreasing returns to knowledge in finding further novelty: the more one knows the further away one has to look for novelty.” This indicates that too much absorptive capacity in a firm negatively affects the impact of people-based activities on a firm’s innovation performance. While people attending conferences or lectures supported by universities may acquire novel knowledge that can influence a firm’s innovation performance, their activities may have negative impact on a firm’s innovation outcomes when a firm has greater absorptive capacity, due to diminishing impact of a firm’s absorptive capacity to create novel idea. Extant research suggests that the greater a firm’s absorptive capacity, the lesser the firm can find further novelty (Noteboom et al. 2007), which suggests that absorptive capacity makes firm innovation activities less efficient. Based on the above discussion, we hypothesize as follows:Hypothesis 3A (H3A). People-based activities with HEIs positively related to the introduction of new products and/or processes will become weaker at a higher level of absorptive capacity. Hypothesis 3B (H3B). People-based activities with HEIs positively related to new product radicalness will become weaker at a higher level of absorptive capacity. Hypothesis 4A (H4A). Problem-solving activities with HEIs positively related to the introduction of new products and/or processes will become stronger at a higher level of absorptive capacity. Hypothesis 4B (H4B). Problem-solving activities with HEIs positively related to new product radicalness will become stronger at a higher level of absorptive capacity. Methods We test the hypotheses presented across two studies. The purpose of Study 1 is to validate our prediction about how HEI activities affect firm innovation performance (H1A to H2B). Study 2 expands this initial research frame by validating the moderating effects of a firm’s absorptive capacity on firm innovation outcomes (H3A to H4B). Implications There is an argument to transfer knowledge from HEIs to firms due to the cultural differences between them (Lambert 2003). Nevertheless, universities are playing an increasingly strategic role in stimulating innovation in firms though the transfer of technology (Hughes 2011). Scholars have largely disregarded the more specific activities performed by HEIs such as people-based and problem-solving activities. Little attention has been paid to how people-based and problem-solving activities affect firm innovation performance. Further, firm innovation outcomes can be affected differently by some specific HEI activities because each activity supported by HEIs plays a different role in impacting certain types of firm innovation outcomes. Based on our results, problem-solving activities are related to new product innovation while people-based activities are related to new process innovation. Additionally, absorptive capacity had a negative moderating effect with people based activities and a positive moderating effect with problem solving activities on a firm’s innovation outcomes. This is important to theoretical and practical implications because a firm is able to know which activities are required to improve their new product or process innovation. This leads a firm to save huge costs to achieve successful innovation.