Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming customer service. This paper aims to paint a state-of-the-art of AI and its impact in customer service organizations by conducting a literature review as well as exploring current AI solutions used by practitioners. We will also identify gaps in the research that need to be addressed to better understand the impact of AI in customer service

Current forces of change such as the digital transformation, the increasing importance of service and experiential luxury, new customer groups with diverse cultural backgrounds and spending habits or rising expectations with regards to transparency and sustainability, force brands to rethink the way they do business. In some cases, this means quickly building up new capabilities, which often exist outside a company’s own organizational structure and cannot easily be developed or integrated. Luxury ecosystems are considered one way of dealing with the challenges of an ever more dynamic, fast-changing and multi- faceted environment. In luxury ecosystems, capabilities are built in collaboration with partners from the same or different industries that share a common vision. However, the ecosystem approach, especially when actively communicated to the outside world and made part of the brand’s DNA, partially stands in contrast to the more traditional notion of exclusivity and the luxury brand as a bounded, proprietary system shrouded in mystery. Based on a qualitative approach, including multiple case studies and interviews, this study examines the opportunities of an ecosystem mindset for Swiss luxury companies, explores different forms and identifies the success factors and limits of the concept.

This research seeks to unveil how YouTube influencers and digital interaction can contribute to the process of customer-brand relationship and engagement. Based on in-depth interviews of female Youtubers devoted to the lifestyle categories, we aim to comprehend the engagement factors that influencers should rely on to promote engagement between their followers and the brands they advocate.

The aim of this work is to investigate the ability of a new functionalized graphene oxide 3-amino-5-phenylpyrazole (F-GO) in the adsorption and removal of Hg2+ from aqueous solution. Both untreated graphene oxide (GO) and F-GO were characterized using FT-IR, EDX, FE-SEM, XRD and TGA analysis. The effects of three operational variables (pH, adsorbent dose and initial metal ion concentrations) on Hg2+ adsorption capacity of F-GO were investigated by central composite design. This technique aims to find a simple way to optimize the adsorption process and to analyze the interaction between the significant parameters. A quadratic model suggested for the analysis of variance found that the adsorption of metal ions heavily depend upon pH of the solution. The adsorption mechanism has been determined by pseudo-first-order kinetic models and the adsorption behavior was modeled by Freundlich isotherm. Results demonstrated that the adsorption capacities of F-GO for removal of Hg2+ were generally higher than those of GO, which is attributed to a decrease in the agglomeration of graphene layers due to the presence of amino-functional moieties with their bulky phenyl groups. Thermodynamic data indicated that the functionalization significantly affects the thermostability of the GO precursor materials. The desorption study demonstrated favorable regenerability of the F-GO adsorbent, even after three adsorption–desorption cycles.