In the business market, prices are typically subject to negotiation between exchange partners and buyers’ perceptions of the relationships with suppliers have a central role for supplier success and for establishing profitable prices (Hinterhuber & Liozu, 2015). Suppliers that seek to achieve price levels above the average market prices of offerings need to convince buyers of a favorable price/quality ratio (Töytäri, Rajala, & Alejandro, 2015). To date, however, research on absolute prices paid by buyers to suppliers, relative prices paid as compared to the average price level in a product category, or exchange partners’ perceptions of prices charged in business relationships remains limited. Extant work on buyer-supplier relationships has most commonly focused on costs rather than prices as economic outcomes of interest (e.g., Cannon & Homburg, 2001; Kalwani & Narayandas, 1995). The purpose of this research is to deepen the understanding of buyers’ price assessments in business relationships. Specifically, this research seeks to further illuminate how relationship inputs provided by suppliers influence buyers’ assessments of the price level charged and their satisfaction with the price/quality ratio provided by the suppliers. The relationship inputs examined include buyers’ perceptions of supplier relationship-specific investments, long-term orientation, and relationship planning. In addition, this research considers two relationship parameters, that is, buyers’ commitment to the supplier and dependence from the supplier. Based on a sample of executives of different buyer firms, this research examines net effects and combinatory effects of the relationship factors on buyers’ evaluations of economic outlay. While the study of net effects offers insights into the effects of single antecedents on the outcomes across a sample of cases, the analysis of combinatory effects delineates (configurations of) antecedents sufficient for bringing about the outcomes of interest (e.g., Leischnig, Henneberg, & Thornton, 2016). Knowledge of these effects helps assess what relationship inputs and what combinations thereof may act as potential remedies for buyers’ price-related resentment in business The findings of this research show alternative configurations of relationship inputs and relationship characteristics sufficient for the two outcomes of interest. In addition, this research shows that individual relationship inputs and characteristics can have opposite effects on the outcomes, depending on how they combine with other antecedent conditions. Moreover, the results of this research reveal that specific antecedent factors differ in terms of causal coreness for the two outcomes of interest. In summary, these findings add to the net effect analysis and provide a more detailed and nuanced understanding of how relationship attributes impact buyers’ price assessments in business relationships.

Magic words are words used to encourage consumers to buy a product in that consumers who previously did not want to buy were finally made to buy the product. This study is limited to the case of Gedong Gincu mangos in West Java, Indonesia . This type of mango is unique and has a high selling price; however, its promotion has not been conducted extensively. The promotion has been limited to exhibitions facilitated by West Java provincial government, Department of Agriculture and Department of Trade and Industry. The promotions conducted by supermarkets have not shown any optimum results because the costs spent on the promotion are not balanced with the profit they earn. So far, the supermarket promotion only includes the word discount (buy one get one free) or sold cheaply. Such words are perceived to be less encouraging for consumers. Promotion for agricultural products, especially mangos is very unique because such products are perishable, voluminous, and bulky. Being seasonal in nature, prices of agricultural products are fluctuating, which are different from industrial products which are uniform, durable, and can be stored and have fixed prices

Negative publicity is widespread in the current marketplace, and may be of different forms ranging from sourcing garment products from sweatshops to recent Volkswagen emission crisis. Negative publicity may cause weak customer satisfaction, drop in sales, increased vulnerability to competitors’ marketing mix actions, and spill over effects on other brands (Pullig, Netemeyer, & Biswas, 2006; Van Heerde, Helsen, & Dekimpe, 2007). Existing research has focused on different response strategies for dealing with such crises. For example, Coombs (1995) listed five alternative strategies available to handle such a crisis situation: denial, distance, ingratiation, mortification, and suffering. Xi and Peng (2009) examined the effectiveness of affective, functional and informational repair strategies in restoring consumer trust after a negative publicity. However, no prior research thus far explored the role of cause related marketing in dealing with a negative publicity.

This paper aims to explain how storytelling becomes interlinked with social media and the conceptual consequences this development implies. In recent years the interest in storytelling has increased within the marketing discipline. Parallel to this development, the traditional media landscape has been subjected to change as a result of digitization and particularly the expansion of social media. Even though the social nature of these media and its associated electronic word of mouth seem to be well aligned with storytelling, extant literature exhibits few attempts to review the storytelling concept in relation to social media. Based on such a review, the contribution of this paper is condensed into six theoretical propositions that point out how storytelling is expected to become increasingly common and dynamic in social media. Therefore, storytelling is suggested to represent a managerial challenge with regard to professional organizations’ marketing approaches but simultaneously allow for increased customer intimacy for those actors who develop successful ways of attracting the interest and engagement of social media users.

Introduction As many as 44 million people cannot read a newspaper or fill out a job application and another 50 million more cannot read or comprehend above the eighth grade level in the U.S. (Kirsch, Jungeblut, Jenkins, & Kolstad 1993). While basic literacy rates may increase, the percent of adults who have sufficient literacy skills to function adequately in that society may decrease. But a more serious problem that the US is experiencing is the increasing number of people who are aliterate. The aliteracy phenomenon is “increasing numbers of capable readers who are regularly choosing not to read”(Mikulecky, 1978, p.3). Aliteracy is on the rise internationally (Merga, 2014). Less than 66% of Hong Kong’s citizens (Anon., 2011) and less than 50% of Italians (Istat, 2010) reported reading a book in 2010. Aliterate consumer can read. However, while aliterate consumers are capable readers, they may display similar reading outcomes (i.e. poor comprehension) to illiterate or low-literate consumers (i.e., consumers who are not capable readers). We explore underlying reading processes of aliterate consumers from a level of processing perspective (Craik & Lockhart, 1972; Greenwald & Leavitt, 1984). Conceptual Background and Hypotheses Level of processing ranges from shallow to deep. Shallow processing consists of attending to phonetic and orthographic components. Deeper processing involves using semantic processing (Craik & Lockhart, 1972). Greater depth of processing thus entails a higher degree of cognitive involvement for the purpose of comprehension. Deeper processing at the semantic task level results in longer processing time and better memory performance (Gardiner, 1974). Conversely, when readers engage in shallow processing, memory performance is reduced (Treisman, 1964, 1969). For instance, in an advertising context, Saegert (1979) finds that deeper processing of ads resulted in greater recall and recognition. As detailed, literature on reading suggests that aliterate processors do not process written texts at a deep level, preferring instead to skim and scan (Duchei & Mealy 1993). In the domain of consumer behavior in general, and product warnings in particular, consumer aliteracy suggests a shallow level of processing of written marketing materials that will be observable from both a process and an outcome standpoint. In terms of process, aliterate consumers lower level of processing will be manifest in less time spent processing product warnings. As an outcome, comprehension of written product warnings should decrease as consumer aliteracy increases and time spent processing decreases. These baseline differences between more- and less- aliterate consumers is formalized as Hypotheses 1-3. H1. Consumers with higher consumer aliteracy levels will spend less time processing written product warnings. H2. Consumers with higher consumer aliteracy levels will have lower comprehension of written product warnings. H3. Time spent processing written product warnings will mediate the relationship between consumer aliteracy and comprehension of product warnings. Method Sample and Procedure One hundred sixty-one students from a large Southeastern university participated in an online survey. The sample was 51 % female and 57% white/Caucasian. Participants were asked to review an ad for fabric softener and then asked to respond to ten comprehension questions regarding the product warning that was prominent in the ad. Respondents were also asked to evaluate the extent to which they agreed (i.e., seven-point scale) with each of the five-items of the aliteracy scale (Jae & Ferguson 2010). Finally, participants were asked to complete a reading ability scale (Reading Level Indicator, 2000) and demographic information. Stimuli Two versions of ads for a fictitious laundry softener product called “Visatia”were used as the experimental stimuli. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the ad conditions. Both ads featured a picture of a product package a statement about the product’s performance (e.g., you can have a fresh feeling every day with Visatia), and product warning information. The ads differed only in the amount and complexity of information provided regarding product performance. A longer and more difficult version of the product claims and a shorter and less complex version of the product claims were used to ensure that differences between more- and less-aliterate consumers did not arise only for ads of a certain length or complexity. Measures Ten comprehension questions were designed to test how well participants understood the product-warning statements in the ads. Each question offered four answer choices. To measure overall comprehension, each question was scored 1 for the correct answer and 0 for the incorrect answer. The five-item aliteracy scale (Jae & Ferguson, 2010) was measured with seven- point Likert scales (strongly disagree/strongly agree). Participants a reading ability test comprised of twenty vocabulary and twenty sentence completion questions (Reading level indicator, 2000). Participants’time spent in reviewing the ads containing the product warnings was measured electronically. Results The average participant spent 30.29 seconds reviewing the stimuli (e.g., product warning), earned 7 out of 10 on product warning comprehension, and achieved 35 out of 40 on the reading ability index. The Consumer Aliteracy Scale demonstrated high reliability (Cronbach’s alpha = .822). Data were collapsed across ad length/complexity conditions after failing to observe differences in processing across the two ads (p > .1). Path analysis was used to test Hypotheses 1-3. Path analysis allowed us to test multiple relationships consecutively and to test for mediating relationships (Iacobucci, Saldanha, & Deng, 2007). The model was estimated with direct and indirect paths included. The fit statistics were acceptable (i.e., χ2= 10.65, df = 13, p = 0.64, CFI = 1.00, RMSEA = 0.00, SRMR = 0.03) (Hu & Bentler, 1999). To test Hypotheses 1-3, including the mediating effect of time on the aliteracy—product warning comprehension relationship, we estimated the direct effects of aliteracy on product warning comprehension, as well as, the indirect effects of aliteracy on time and of time on product warning comprehension simultaneously. Hypothesis two is supported as aliteracy has a direct, negative effect on product warning comprehension (γ21=-0.245, p <.01). The indirect path of aliteracy to time and time to product warning were also significant. Specifically, Hypothesis three is supported in that consumers who reported higher levels of aliteracy spent less time viewing the product warnings (γ11=-0.191, p <.05), and consumers who spent less time viewing the product warnings scored lower on product warning comprehension (β21= 0.294, p <.01). With significant indirect paths, a significant direct path, and a significant Sobel z (i.e., z =2.013, p <.05), we conclude that time spent viewing product warning partially mediates the relationship between aliteracy and product warning comprehension. The Hypothesis three is supported. Correlation analysis indicates that aliteracy level is not correlated with reading ability level (i.e., r = -.03, p =.70). This suggests evidence that aliteracy is not a function of reading ability. Discussion While aliteracy may be a growing phenomenon, the extant research on the topic is limited. From the viewpoint of consumers, aliteracy could lead to unwise product selection, dangerous misuse of products, product dissatisfaction, and wasted time and money. Aliteracy, by definition, is not an ability issue rather motivation issue. Even though capable readers, aliterate consumers reading comprehension is significantly below non-aliterate consumers, a similar outcome pattern observed for low-literate consumers relative to high-literate consumers (Jae & DelVecchio 2004). Due to their lack of reading habit, aliterate consumers do not take full advantage of available information in the marketplace. The current study demonstrates that aliterate consumers display significantly different reading outcomes relative to non-aliterate consumers; differences that are not driven by reading ability. Aliterate consumers spend less time reading and, in turn, achieve a lower level of comprehension of written product warnings relative to non-aliterate consumers. Thus, the study reveals that aliterate consumers may mirror the reading outcomes of low-literate consumers in reading product warnings who demonstrate poor comprehension relative to literate consumers.

Within marketing and consumer research, scholars have explored cross-cultural issues, and found that most of the studies are sociologically based and assume intra-cultural homogeneity in mentality and logic among people (Fatehi, Kedia & Priestly, 2015). Research has also explored how acculturation in circumstances of hyperfiliation influences cross-cultural consumption (Bradford & Sherry, 2014). The issue of particular importance within this study is the situation of cultural mixing that takes place when migrants and refugees grow their families away from their home country, and how individual and family identity values are renegotiated given ethnic ties that bind the older generation, and the non-ethnic ties in the host country and amongst the future generations. These ethnic and non-ethnic ties influence the acculturation process (Capellini & Yen, 2013) and re-acculturation process. Given increasing migration across many countries, it becomes important to understand the transcultural experiences of both refugees and migrants, as they mix with the host country’s cultural practices. We take the view that transculturality is an illustration of “the complex relationships between and within cultures today: it emphasises not isolation but intermingling, not separation but disjunctive interactions, not homogenization but heterogenization” (Jung, 2010, p.19). The intermingling of multiple cultures, inevitably has implications on consumption decisions, particularly in cases where many children have been born in the diaspora. Whilst previous studies have explored acculturation as a static and linear process (Chrikov, 2009), our study takes the view that cultural identity formation and it’s resulting cultural orientations are an ongoing, fluid, hybrid and iterative project. Therefore, the objectives of this study are to: (1) explore how cultural identity processes are negotiated by third generation UK born British Sikhs. Here, we focus on 3rd generation British Sikhs with the intention of understanding how hybrid identities emerge, and how these impact on consumption decisions; (2) explore the acculturation and re-acculturation patterns of 3rd generation British Sikhs. It is our contention that the online environment offers opportunities to explore identity projects for those born in the diaspora.

This essay presents an anthropological approach to embodied skills in brand rituals. In an ethnographic account of an everyday domestic practice of men’s shaving, this essay argues that men who apply skill to ritualized shaving practices evoke particular sensorial dimensions that elicit certain memories and ideals that situate time and place differently for them. Rather than evaluate ritual semiotically for its signs and symbols, this study “brings into being” (Ingold 2013) skilled human activity with branded material in ritual as it explores sensory awareness and environmental-temporal consumer perceptions of time and place. As such, this essay examines the less obvious and less frequently addressed issue of time and place as they occur in embodied practices of everyday consumption. The human body is suggested as a particular consumption site for applying skillful embodiment and a new conception of ritual.

In this paper, we review the influence of crisis response strategies in social media on attitude recovery in relation to customer brand commitment. We extend the situational crisis communication theory and the social-mediated crisis communication model to include the role of audience characteristics (i.e., customer brand commitment). The effects of crisis response strategies (i.e., defensive, accommodative) and electronic word of mouth antecedents are discussed because source factors, message factors, and audience factors lead to attitude recovery. We also introduce a framework of the impacts of brand crisis response strategies on customer attitude recovery after exposure to negative word of mouth and response strategies in social media.

E-commerce has become an irreplaceable sales channel for businesses of any size all around the globe. It is a major source of revenue and sales through this channel continue to gain momentum with an annual growth rate of 20%3). The ubiquity, flexibility, and convenience associated with e-commerce has undoubtedly changed the consumption patterns. However, consumers’ preferences and considerations when making purchasing decisions are not static either. In a global competition, businesses have to adopt quickly to respond emerging trends in retail. An important and persistent trend in this regard is ethical consumption, a development which has been widely researched in an offline context. The present experiment demonstrated that online shop-related ethical labeling positively influences consumers’ willingness to pay and purchase intention across a broad range of products. While any type of ethical labeling showed a positive effect in these regards as compared to no ethical labeling, there was no pronounced difference between the various types of labels used. Accordingly, we assume that consumers make inferences from a specific ethical label about the higher–level ethical “trait”.

Business model of direct selling is the dynamic and complex multi-level structure. Interpersonal face-to-face communication is the key value creation aspect of direct selling business model. Nowadays more and more sellers employ virtual communication channels instead of face-to-face, thus hindering a traditional relational element. The study explores whether usage of Internet technologies for communication with customers brings benefits or extinguish the direct selling industry. The research is based on the quantitative analysis of all-country paper based survey from 5694 respondents. The statistical analysis of total sample revealed that usage of Internet in general does not give advantages for distributors. However, usage of person-to-person internet communication tool, such as e-mail, allows achieving better performance as measured by earnings per hour worked. Surprising is the fact that the most successful young distributors (at the age under 35 years) do not use internet for communication with customers at all. For distributors over 35 years old neither internet nor e-mail usages have got impact on performance. In rural areas users of internet communication tools show lower performance results. In big cities usage of e-mail provides significantly higher performance, but general usage of internet does not. Consequently, the effects from usage of internet technologies for communication with customers are achieved in case of person-to-person communication. Moreover the most productive sellers give priority to the live communication.

Our objective is to explore the nature, the risks and the advantages of emerging countries’ companies branding approaches and to identify factors associated with the successful transfer of information from these brands to the consumer. The research is a conceptual one which proposes an analytical modelisation of brand equity issues in emerging countries’ companies.A comparative analysis of the four strategic branding concepts for emerging countries’ companies when expanding abroad is performed. The four strategic branding intents can be classified according to the motives and benefits as well as the predominant styles of expansion displayed by emerging countries’ companies when internationalizing.

This interpretive and longitudinal study investigates how a group of Chinese students consume global brands of American origins, in China and in the UK. More specifically, this research examines how meanings attached to global food brands travel abroad with consumers and investigates the relationship between brand consistency and brand meanings across national boundaries. Findings from a thematic analysis of longitudinal data collected through focus group interviews over a nine-month period, reveal that some brand meanings are context and culture specific (contextual meanings) while others meanings travel with consumers across borders (core meanings). Theoretically, this study shows how global brands provide a platform of structural meanings, ideas and practices that are global and globalising in themselves, allowing a degree of fluidity and adaptation in relation to the local context of consumption.

Through the theoretical lens of self-concept and by conducting 27 in-depth interviews, the study shows that social media provides an arena for the development, negotiation and maintenance of home and host identity self-schemas, as well reducing negative emotional effects. However due to simultaneous online surveillance from multiple agents, maintaining disparate expectations is found to result in social anxiety and the practice of self-regulation.

The increasing competition in recent years made more and more firms regard strategic alliance as an important alternative and solution to respond to fierce competition. As a kind of system arrangement among firms, the concept of strategic alliance was first proposed by Hopland and Nigel in the early 1980s, who defined strategic alliance as the collaboration mode in which two or more firms, aiming at joint-owned both market and resources, formed the kind of cooperation to enhance advantages, share risk or cost, and also mutual flow of production factors via different kinds of contracts or agreement. However, even before this definition, many firms have already begun their alliance strategies practices. As a cooperative form, strategic alliance, no matter its specific types, becomes one key choice for firms to acquire, maintain and enhance their market shares and positions. Shrader (2001) found that collaboration to foreign firms become key methods for newly-founded firms and small firms to enter foreign markets, which can bring these firms with suitable knowledge and market information, making these firms expand even faster with lower costs and market risks. The enhancing pace of globalization and internationalization triggered firms’ attentions to external markets, Archibugi and Iammarino (2002) found that fierce changes in internal market forced firms to expand their market and product scopes, making more and more firms realize product and R&D internationalization by searching, choosing and collaborating with foreign firms. Dong and Glaister (2006) found Chinese firms cared more about market positions, international expansion and technology exchanges, while foreign firms tended to enter to Chinese market and learn how to operate in China via strategic alliances. Although, many scholars brought out managerial practices of firms’ strategic alliances, and had already formed theoretical foundations, researches related to market orientation, especially how alliance firms establish and realize their strategic goals and performance goals under market motivation is still lack of studies. In reality, the mechanism how firms’ alliance intention transformed into their strategic or performance goals is still in the black box. Taken alliance firms as research objectives, this paper tends to explore how firms constructed strategic alliance due to market-orientation realize their strategic or performance goals via choice of patent strategies. We introduced patent strategies to establish the matching model, to analyze how firms market orientation influence choices of patent strategies, and their mutual effects on firms innovative performance, in hope to provide to the future studies and managerial practice how firms can choose the reasonable and effective alliance partners according to their own strategic and performance goals. Based on differentiation of market access and market extension motivation, we pointed out that, in order to realize the transformation from alliance motivation to innovation performance, alliance firms had to choose and determine among a set of practical and operational plans. Patent strategies, as a kind of operational plan, were conducive to transformation from alliance motivation to innovation performance. With the framework of market motivation, patent strategy and firms innovative performance, we put forward the hypotheses on how market motivation affect firms’ choices of patent strategies, and also the joint effects of market motivation and patent strategies on firm innovative performance. We selected alliance firms in IT industry as samples, with data from Cooperative Agreements and Technology Indicators Database, USPTO and R&D Scoreboard released by Department for Business, Innovation & Skills of UK, we empirically tested effects of market motivation on choices of patent strategies, and also effects of market motivation and patent strategies on firms innovative performance. Results showed that: different market positions led to differentiated motivations and patent strategies in their strategic alliances, firms with relatively weak market positions tend to pursue strategic profile of patent defensive and leveraging strategies under market access motivation, while firms with strong positions would like to implement patent proprietary and leveraging strategies in market extension motivation. The implementation of patent defensive and leveraging strategies under market access motivation enhanced innovation efficiency of the firms with weak market positions. Since these firms focused more on market positions and opportunities, their market capitalization tended to improve, but the motivation and utilization of patent strategies had no effect on patent output. Similar to these firms, the ones with stronger market position were inclined to strengthen their market opportunities and improve their market capitalization. Results indicated that because of their stronger market positions, these firms showed lower awareness of innovation efficiency and their emphasis on patent output was not high either, which then led to the fact that both market extension motivation and patent strategies used had no effects on firms innovative performance measured by innovation efficiency or patent output.

This study examines consumers’ online activities according to the categories of goods and services, applying foraging theory, and explore online information structure perceived by consumers, determining the degree of information overload. Consumers are confronted by nearly unlimited amounts of information when they gather information to make purchase decisions in an online environment. Few studies have focused on the behavioral pattern of information acquisition to reduce information overload. The available studies are limited by particular conditions under a normative perspective (e.g., cognitive limitation with item specific information only and overemphasis on the quantity dimension of information structure). An improvement may be a holistic approach that allows freedom of information acquisition, and includes an ecological perspective, which emphasizes an interaction between minds and immediate environments (Todd & Gigerenzer, 2007). In other words, to provide a better explanation of information overload phenomenon, the research includes quantity information as well as quality and environmental information in the information structure. This has been overlooked in an information overload paradigm (for example, the question of whether more or less information is better) (Scheibehenne, Greifeneder, & Todd, 2010). Moreover, Xia and Monroe (2005) argued that the majority of research about information acquisition has overemphasized information searching while overlooking information browsing, although both activities occur concurrently during processes of information acquisition. The foraging theory (Stephen and Kreb, 1986), which originated from behavioral ecology, can help explain a continuum of browsing and searching behavior through utilizing the patch framework (Kim & Hantula, 2016). The patch framework provides a different perspective for information structure in terms of the amount of data as a combination of within-patch (searching) and between-patch (browsing), thereby covering the issue of the browse-search continuum to explain issues of amount for information overload. (e.g., Detlor, Sproule, & Gupta, 2003). The current study applied foraging theory into the online behavior of information acquisition and explored the information structure that consumers establish and consider in their process of information foraging across categories of goods and services (i.e., durables, nondurables, and services). This theoretical integration would proffer some clues for information structure to reduce information overloads through browsing and searching information online. The investigations consist of ordinary activities and purchase-related activities online, frequently purchased items and consideration to make purchase decisions, strategic information foraging patterns, and perceived decisional difficulty.

Brand extensions are a critical strategy for the introduction of new products, which are often prone to failure. The use of an established brand can help promote acceptance of the new product by reducing perceived risk, enhancing efficiencies in terms of distribution and promotion, and reducing overall costs associated with launching the new product. Previous research regarding brand extensions has shown that various factors influence success of brand extensions (e.g., marketing support and retailer acceptance). One of the most important factors driving brand extension success is the fit between a parent brand and its extension. A new marketing construct, emotional attachment to a brand, has recently been introduced to the brand extension literature. However, the role of consumers’ brand attachment, in terms of reactions to a brand extension has largely been ignored by researchers. The lack of research on brand extensions and brand attachment is somewhat surprising, given the considerable body of research findings that show consumers who are emotionally tied to a brand respond differently to that brand due to increased attachment. Building on this body of work, we propose that consumers who are emotionally attached to a brand will be less impacted by the degree of fit between the parent brand and its extension. In this research, we show that emotional attachment with a brand is an important factor underlying consumers’ responses to a brand extension. In particular, we explore the moderating role of brand attachment on consumers’ responses to extensions that vary in terms of fit with the parent brand. We also explore the process underlying observed effects. These issues are examined with an experiment regarding extensions for a real-world brand. Further, mediated moderation analyses indicate that the moderating effect of brand attachment is mediated by brand image fit, but not by product category fit. Implications of our findings for managers and researchers are also are provided.

Introduction The concept of forgiveness has been in the centre of research within the psychology domain for a number of years (e.g., Burnette, McCullough, Van Tongeren, & Davis, 2012; Fehr, Gelfand, & Nag, 2010; Mauger, Perry, Freeman, & Grove, 1992). It is surprising, however, that despite the relevance of forgiveness in marketing, the concept has failed to attract much attention and research in this area remains scarce. Few studies have looked into the importance of forgiveness in the context of marketing transgressions (Aaker, Fournier, & Brasel, 2004; Chung & Beverland, 2006; Mattila, 2001; Tax, Brown, & Chandrashekaran, 1998) and have largely focused on the services sector (e.g., Gudlaugsson & Eysteinsson, 2013; Zourrig, Chebat, & Toffoli, 2009). This study takes a broader perspective and addresses forgiveness at the brand level. Looking into consumer brand forgiveness is critical in that consumers often tend to evaluate and build relationships at the brand level rather than the firm level (Fournier, 1998). This research adopts a multi-method, multi-stage approach to conceptualise and operationalise brand forgiveness. Literature Review Forgiveness in the psychology literature has been defined as ‘the willful giving up of resentment in the face of another’s (or others’) considerable injustice and responding with beneficence to the offender even though that offender has no right to the forgiver’s moral goodness’ (Baskin & Enright, 2004, p. 80). Most of the literature on interpersonal forgiveness supports a multi-dimensional structure, consisting of affective, cognitive and behavioural components (e.g., McCullough, Worthington Jr, & Rachal, 1997). Interestingly, forgiveness in psychology has been seen as a relationship-constructive mechanism, similar to accommodation (Rusbult, Verette, Whitney, Slovik, & Lipkus, 1991) and willingness to sacrifice (Van Lange et al., 1997). It can also be understood as a psychological factor that is associated with restored relational closeness following an interpersonal transgression, in that it leads to the inhibition of avoidant behaviors and the facilitation of conciliatory behaviors (McCullough et al., 1997), as well as cooperation (Komorita, Hilty, & Parks, 1991) following interpersonal offenses. Despite the fact that most of the literature examines forgiveness following a specific offense, the concept has also a dispositional character, which very few studies addressed (e.g., Berry, Worthington, Parrott, O’Connor, & Wade, 2001).Forgiveness in the marketing domain has mostly been investigated in the context of services failures (e.g., Tsarenko & Tojib, 2011; Zourrig et al., 2009). Most of the research in this area relates to the concept of consumer forgiveness, which is defined as ‘consumers’ willingness to give up retaliation, alienation, and other destructive behaviours, and to respond in constructive ways after an organisational violation of trust and the related recovery efforts’ (Xie & Peng, 2009, p. 578). This definition highlights the behavioural component of forgiveness and fails to capture the cognitive and emotional aspects encapsulated in the concept (McCullough et al., 1997). In addition, the focus on ‘organizational violation’ is highly problematic as consumers often tend to evaluate and build relationships at the brand level rather than the firm level (Fournier, 1994). Transgressions addressed in the existing literature include moderately fit brand extensions (Fedorikhin, Park, & Thomson, 2008), negative PR (Xie & Peng, 2009) and delayed product launches (Herm, 2013). When conceptualising consumer forgiveness, Chung and Beverland (2006) suggested that the process of forgiveness provides a foundation for relationship restoration, which ultimately results in rebuilding trust (Chung & Beverland, 2006; Schoorman, Mayer, & Davis, 2007). Methodology Consistent with Churchill’s paradigm (1979) for scale development, qualitative data was first collected using 16 in-depth interviews with British consumers to better understand the concept of brand forgiveness and to identify pertinent dimensions. The interviews lasted on average 40 minutes. Based on the literature and the interviews an initial pool of items tapping consumer brand forgiveness was created. A questionnaire was subsequently developed that included the aforementioned item pool as well as demographic and nomological network variables. Data was collected in the UK using an online consumer panel. 603 fully completed questionnaires were returned. In line with scaling procedures (Chrurchill 1979) we divided the sample into two sub-samples: calibration (n=302) and validation (n=301). Results and Discussion The qualitative data supported the three-dimensional structure of consumer-brand forgiveness, which is consistent with the conceptualisation of interpersonal forgiveness (McCullough et al., 1997). For example issues regarding disappointment for the brand’s wrongdoing, impact on evaluations as well as intentions to switch to another brand emerged from the interviews. In line with our findings and extant research in this area, we define consumer brand forgiveness as the consumer’s cognitive, affective and behavioural response to a brand’s (perceived) wrongdoing. The quantitative data was used to confirm the dimensionality of the construct and develop a scale that measures consumer brand forgiveness. CFA was performed on the calibration sample and through an iterative process an acceptable fit was obtained; χ2 (24)= 70.495; GFI= .95; CFI= .98, TLI= .97, RMSEA= .08. Internal consistency and composite reliabilities were also within acceptable levels; α= .79, CR= .83 (cognitive), α= .85, CR= .86 (affective) and α= .96, CR= .96 (behavioural).CFA was then performed on the validation sample and acceptable fit was once again obtained; χ2 (24)= 70.800; GFI= .95; CFI= .98, TLI= .96, RMSEA= .08. All internal consistency and composite reliabilities were above .70; α= .82, CR= .82 (cognitive), α= .82, CR= .82 (affective) and α= .94, CR= .94 (behavioural). Convergent and discriminant validities were established using Fornell and Larcker’s criteria (1981). Table 1 provides a summary of the CFA results. The next step involved criterion-related validity tests, where two variables were drawn from relevant literature from both the psychology and the marketing literature, including brand love and relationship satisfaction. Regression analysis shows that brand forgiveness results in brand love (β= .32, p< .01) as well as relationship satisfaction (β= .69, p< .01). This confirms existing literature that forgiveness can lead to positive emotions (Takaku, 2001) and satisfaction with the relationship (McCullough et al., 1998). Conclusion and Implications for Theory and Practice Despite extensive research on interpersonal forgiveness, there is very little scholarly enquiry into forgiveness in the marketing domain. This is an important area for marketers to understand since forgiveness is likely to result into stronger relationships whilst the lack of it is may have detrimental effects on customer retention and advocacy. This study contributes in this area by providing an enriched conceptualisation of consumer brand forgiveness in the context of a brand’s wrongdoing and by developing a psychometrically sound scale that measures the levels of consumers’ brand forgiveness. Following a multi-stage methodology, our results establish a three-dimensional structure of consumer brand forgiveness, encompassing cognitive, affective and behavioural elements. The study also provides some initial insights into the consequences of forgiveness. Positive outcomes, such as brand love and relationship satisfaction are important outcomes of brand forgiveness. Following from these results, some important managerial implications could be identified. For example, managers could benefit significantly from reinforcing forgiveness, as this could lead to stronger ties with the brand and increased levels of satisfaction. A brand’s wrongdoing that subsequently results in affective, cognitive and behavioural forgiveness on the part of the consumer will benefit the brand. Managers should therefore not only focus their recovery strategies on behavioural forgiveness but also target strategies to ensure affective and cognitive forgiveness. Managers who are successful in building strong relationships with their customers might be more able to promote consumer brand forgiveness and therefore enjoy the positive benefits of the process. Therefore, CRM programs could be very useful in strengthening the relationships with customers and therefore have a greater likelihood of forgiveness should a wrongdoing occurs.

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.

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.