The goal of this study is to get a better understanding of the relationship between online customer reviews (OCRs), product returns and sales after returns in online fashion. Furthermore, we generate deeper insights about the moderating role of mobile shopping usage, product involvement and brand equity in this context. We answer our research questions by empirically analyzing a unique data set from a European fashion e-commerce company. This study links a wide range of transaction data (2.5 billion page clicks, 46 thousand different products, 700 brands, 40 product categories, 72 million sold and 33 million returned items) with a large set of OCRs (0.9 million). Our results show that positive OCRs can lead to higher sales, lower returns, and better conversion rates. Considering higher search costs on mobile devices, we reveal a weaker impact of OCRs in the mobile than in the desktop sales channel. Furthermore, in line with involvement theory, we see a significant impact of product involvement in this context such as the influence of positive OCRs is stronger for high-involvement products than vice versa. Moreover, we find strong support for statements from brand signaling literature, that OCRs matter more for weak than for strong brands.

Sports Sponsorship is considered to provide a highly valuable communication environment for companies to leverage brand equity. However, effectiveness evaluations of sponsorship activities mainly focus on explicit self-reports or focus interviews. Such communication evaluations do not take into account research from psychology demonstrating that associations and judgments are often activated and strongly influenced by implicit (automatic) processes, with no (or only little) conscious awareness of such information processing. Against that background, the goal of the current work is to shed further light on the impact of in-game advertising as innovative sponsor-linked marketing tactic on the dual brand knowledge–incorporating both implicit and explicit information processing–as key success indicator of sport sponsorship.

This study aims at identifying a novel framework that further explains the relationship between brands and customers in the online context at different touchpoints (e.g. social media, website) of the customer journey. In pursuing this goal, authors expect online brand experience as the main trigger in determining specific customer brand engagement (CBE) behaviours.

Shopping is a sensory experience for consumers, who use cues, such as shelf organization and stock levels to infer the luxury and perceived scarcity of the given product or brand. Therefore, affecting consumer’s perceptions, evaluations and purchase intention. This research holds implications for brand, retail and merchandising managers.

This study will provide a new perspective on how customer experiences and their co-creation can be managed by studying the practices used to manage customer experience co-creation at festivals. Based on 22 interviews of Finnish festival organisers, a process model for customer experience management is proposed.

E-commerce is a global phenomenon that reshapes retailing and the appropriate multinational corporations. The goal of this study is to get a better understanding of the relationship between online customer reviews (OCRs), sales and sales after returns in the cross-national and cross-cultural context. We discuss our hypotheses by empirically analyzing a large and unique data set from a European fashion e-commerce company. This study links a wide range of transaction data (0.8 billion page clicks, 17 thousand different products, 499 brands, 50 product categories, 22 million sold and 11 million returned items) from six different countries (Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland) with a large set of OCRs (0.7 million). Our results show that positive OCRs can lead to higher sales and sales after returns with considerable cross-country differences. We argue that differences in culture provide a substantial explanation for these effects by using Hofstede's cultural framework.

Consumers process and evaluate products every day in an increasing number of diverse presentations of products and brands across shop environments. Although consumers may think to react to attributes of the products and the shop environments, there are many contextual factors that influence consumers’ responses. Both products presentation and shop environments differ in visual complexity and ease of processing. For example, products such as fragrances and eyeglasses considerably diverge depending on the visual presentation across multiple stores. Research on processing fluency (e.g., Reber et al., 2004; Winkelman et al., 2003) shows that the processing of any stimulus can be characterized by a variety of parameters that are nonspecific to its content. This stream of work suggests that any variable that facilitates fluent processing results in increased liking, and other positive evaluations. Recent work on context complexity (Orth and Crouch, 2014) suggests that people process a package more fluently when it is presented in a low rather than high complexity context. Further, research on contextual cues (Zhu and Meyers-Levy, 2009) shows that the extent of feature overlap between a context and a target object determines whether a person interprets the target related or not related to the contextual data. Accumulating research suggests that a deeper understanding of the way consumers process multiple contextual cues promises to shed light on our understanding of many areas of consumer research. Although visual appeal is itself multifaceted (Bloch, 1995), much of the current discussion with respect to visual cues does not consider the interaction of multiple shop environments. Given the importance of processing fluency and context effects, we examine the extent to which consumers positively elaborate cognitive processes in relation to product context complexity. Following research in psychology, fluency is the subjective experience of ease with which a person processes a stimulus (Reber et al. 2004). High fluency elicits a positive reaction. We predict that less complex contexts of the product will be easier to process and produce more favorable evaluations of the product. Further, research on contextual cues (Aggarwal and McGill, 2007; Meyers-Levy and Sternthal, 1993) shows that consumers better overlap contextual cues when cues are moderately congruent rather than low congruent. This suggests that consumers respond more favourably to moderate congruent shop environments. Studies Two studies tested our prediction that product context complexity across shop environments affects consumer’s processing fluency, liking, and product evaluation. In both studies, participants were provided with pictures of real products and shop environments. Images were manipulated to disguise brand names. Participants were recruited online through the platform Prolific Academic. Study 1 tested the hypothesized negative effect of product context complexity on processing fluency, and liking. The final section of the survey asked for personal information, including gender, age, and style of reasoning. These variables had no significant impact on the dependent variables of interest and were excluded from further analysis. In study 1, ninety participants (mean age = 34.20, 63 females) were randomly assigned to one of the two conditions (product context complexity: low vs. high). They viewed one randomly selected picture of cosmetics displayed on counter displays across two different stores. Cosmetics was chosen due to the large variance in products presentation across multiple retailers. In a pretest, 87 participants rated perceived complexity of the display to examine whether the display complexity differs across the two conditions. The manipulation was successful (Mlow = 2.32 vs. Mhigh = 3.68; F(1,85) =24.299, p < 0.001). Running one-way ANOVA with product context complexity as independent variable and processing fluency as dependent variable a significant main effect of the context complexity (M = 5.05 vs. M = 4.37; F (1,87) = 3.913, p < 0.05). To test our prediction that liking is mediated by processing fluency of product context complexity, a mediation analysis was conducted (PROCESS model 4: Hayes, 2014). Bootstrap estimation confirmed that processing fluency mediates the influence of product context complexity on liking (simple slope = 0.44, LLCI = 0.01, ULCI = 0.94). In study 2, our aim was to corroborate and extend study 1 findings by testing product context complexity in congruent and less congruent shop environments. One hundred seventy-seven participants (mean age = 35,31, 80 females) viewed one randomly selected combination of chocolate shop environments. As in study 1, we chose chocolate due to the large variance in products presentation across multiple retailers. Chocolate was displayed on tower displays (products context complexity: low vs. high), and matched with the overall in-store presentation of three chocolate shop environments (shop environment congruence: low vs. moderate vs. high). After processing the pictures, participants were asked to rate processing fluency, liking, and product evaluation. Similarly to Study 1, the final section of the survey asked for personal information, including gender, age, and shopping goal. Again, these variables had no significant impact on the dependent variables of interest and were excluded from further analysis. Two pretests confirmed that our manipulation of product context complexity (Mlow = 1.96 vs. Mhigh = 4.01, F(1,57) = 23.464, p < 0.001) and store processing fluency (Mlow = 3.50 vs. Mmoderate = 4.14 vs. Mhigh = 5.10, F(1,109) = 10.465, p < 0.005) were successful. Running a factorial ANOVA with processing fluency as dependent variable indicated a nonsignificant main effect of product context complexity. Shop environment congruence had a significant main effect (F(2,171) = 6.561, p < 0.005). Contrasts analysis revealed significant differences between the high congruence/context complexity condition and the low congruence/context complexity condition, and between the moderate congruence/context complexity condition and the low congruence/context complexity condition (all ps < 0.005). We then tested the prediction that processing fluency mediates the effects of shop environment congruence on liking and product evaluation through product context complexity as moderator. We used a moderated mediation analysis with the bootstrap PROCESS model 8: Hayes, 2014). There was a significant conditional indirect effect of shop environment congruence on liking though product context complexity in the high context complexity condition, b = -0.280, LLCI = -0.509, ULCI = -0.120. A similar estimation with product evaluation as the independent variable revealed that processing fluency mediated the relationship between significant shop environment congruence and product evaluation though product context complexity in the high context complexity condition, b = -0.375, LLCI = -0.631, ULCI = -0.153). Discussion Our findings demonstrated the influence of product context complexity on processing fluency and product evaluation. The results showed that less context complexity leads to an ease of processing. Study 1 confirmed the negative relationship between product context complexity and processing fluency. Further, study 1 demonstrates a mediation mechanism of processing fluency on liking. This result confirms prior work on processing fluency (Reber et al., 2004). Further. we extend previous work on visual complexity (Orth and Crouch 2014) by demonstrating that low congruence shop environments may influence consumer processing fluency. In study 2, we looked at how consumers respond to complex and less complex presentation of products in congruent and less congruent shop environments. Our results support research on contextual cues (Zhu and Meyers-Levy, 2009) by showing an interesting path of complex contextual cues. Complex contexts may affect consumer’s evaluation of products. This pattern is more pronounced in low congruent shop environments. Consumers may evaluate much less favorably visually complex contexts in low congruence shop environments than in congruent shop environment. Such behavior is due to the extent to which consumers overlap the shop environment and the target product. This research shed light on how consumers combine retail and product cues. By integrating research on processing fluency and contextual cues, our work allows a better crafting product design and retail strategies. Apart from the theoretical contributions, this research provides marketing manager with insights into how to develop easier to process shop environment for consumers. The results suggest that when products are presented with complex contexts, consumers respond less favorably to the visual appearance of their products. For retail managers, the results provide insight into why it might be especially difficult to process more complex settings of the products. The results suggest that to make a shop environment more favorable, managers have to find solutions to reallocate complex contextual cues of the products. This could be done through developing more congruent areas within the store. Given the growing importance of visual strategies in retailing, our research gives managers suitable solutions to allocate in-store resources.

The market for luxury is changing with new competitors to the market, more modest growth, and new types of customers (Kim and Ko 2012, Ko, Phau and Aiello 2016) as well as the ubiquity of digital marketing channels (Okonkwo 2009). Moreover, social media has transformed the logic of fashion marketing by providing new ways of engaging, interacting, and connecting with customers (Dhaoui 2014) as well as enabling consumers to participate in branding process (Burman 2010). As a consequence, also luxury brands need to develop experience-based marketing strategies that emphasise interactivity, connectivity and creativity (Atwal and Williams 2009). What is more, despite of growing importance of social media marketing in luxury industry, extant research on the topic still remains quite limited (Ko and Megehee 2012). While the previous studies have well documented the benefits of luxury marketing on social media (Kim and Ko 2012, Kim and Ko 2010, Brogi et al. 2013, Kontu and Vecchi 2014, Godey et al. 2016), and their implications on luxury brand management (Dhaoui 2014, Larraufie and Kourdoughli 2014), and even co-creative marketing practices (Choi, Ko and Kim 2016, Tynan, McKehnie, and Chuon 2010), no studies to this date have looked at co-creation from consumer-perspective. This article provides a novel perspective on luxury branding, by following the resource-based theory of consumer (Arnould, Price and Malshe 2006) to study the brand identity as co-created in social media. To do this, visual frame analysis (Goffman 1974, Luhtakallio 2013) is applied on consumer generated images downloaded from Instagram feed of brand exhibition staged by luxury brand Louis Vuitton. Based on the analysis, a typology of co-created brand identities is proposed. The findings indicate that in the branded exhibitions, consumers co-create brand identity by utilising resources available in the experiential brandscape by taking and posting these objectifications of brand on social media (Presi et al. 2016) and in so doing create symbolic/expressive, and experiential/hedonic value (Tynan et al. 2010). Theoretically, this article provides a novel perspective on luxury brand as co-created and in so doing, demonstrates the dynamics of firm-consumer co-creation. What is more, to extend the emerging stream of visual analysis of luxury (Kim et al. 2016, Freire 2014, Megehee and Spake 2012), an application of novel is demonstrated in the article. Managerially, this explorative study provides new insights on luxury marketing in social media by suggesting that branded experiences should be designed in a manner that engages the consumer to actively use the resources available to them. The financial implications of this shift are also significant as according to McKinsey study, three out of four luxury purchases are influenced by social media (Hope 2016)

Introduction “The success of a 21st century business will be defined as much by who it is as what it does.” (Keller and Richey 2016, p. 47) Traditionally, branding has been a staple interest among fashion marketing research, although this has been mostly looked from the perspective of business-to-consumer markets. However recently, in the general marketing literature, there has been a growing interest towards understanding also the business-to-business aspect of branding (see Seyedghorban, Matanda, and LaPlaca 2016 for bibliometric review). By and large, this perspective of branding is also significant in fashion business as industrial customers have a double role as consumers and fashion professionals, as their decision-making process leans on both rational judgement and intuition. Recently, increased product and service homogeneity and digitalisation have been factors that have led to the emergence of a growing body of literature in business-to-business branding (see Leek and Christodoulides 2011a for review). This shift can be observed during trade shows, which are losing their significance in terms of sales, and, in turn, becoming more important for building relationships with customers and partners (Sarmento, Farhangmehr, and Simoes 2015) as well as cultivating the brand image of exhibitors (Hansen 2004). In particular, in fashion, trade shows are an example of activities that are inarguably geared towards building brand value among buyers and other actors in the market. By and large, previous work in marketing during fashion trade shows has been limited to few studies on trade show experience (Rinallo, Borghini, and Golfetto 2010), knowledge processes (Cheng, Koivisto, and Mattila 2013), market making (Rinallo and Golfetto 2006), semiotics of communication (2003), and their influence on fashion consumers (Aiello et al. 2016). However, while the importance of branding in fashion industry has been widely recognised, there is no studies on branding in business-to-business context in fashion. This forms an interesting research gap to observe branding in the context of international fashion trade shows. In this vein, the purpose of this article is to provide a new perspective to trade shows. The key research questions we hope to respond are: How does corporate branding occur in fashion trade shows? and What are the characteristics of branding in trade shows? To answer these research questions, 18 fashion start-up companies that have attended trade shows have been interviewed. Previous studies have shown how B2B brands should communicate the value of their brands to a range of stakeholders if they are to leverage their full potential (e.g. Mudambi 2002, Baumgarth 2010, Ohnemus 2009). In this light, recognizing and understanding the significance of business-to-business branding in the fashion industry is important, as it enables brands to engender trust and develop both cognitive and affective ties with stakeholders (Lynch and de Chernatony, 2004). Business-to-business branding Brand is defined as “a name, sign, symbol or logo that identifies the goods and services of one seller and differentiates them from others” (Webster and Keller 2004: 389). Moreover, brand implies ”a cluster of functional and emotional benefits that extend a unique and welcomed promise (de Chernatony and McDonald, 2003)” of the offering. Traditionally, branding literature has overlooked the significance of branding in business to business markets (Saunders & Watt, 1979, Sinclair and Seward 1988) due to the belief that industrial buyers are unaffected by emotional values corresponding to brands (Leek and Christodoulides, 2011b). However, recently the influence of branding has also been acknowledged in the more formalised B2B decision making processes (Lynch & de Chernatony, 2004) where branding increases buyers’ confidence in and satisfaction with their purchase decision (Low and Blois, 2002) and reduces their level of perceived risk and uncertainty (Bengtsson and Servais, 2005). Webster and Keller (2004) suggest that in business-to-business, it is advisable to use corporate branding strategy. Corporate branding takes a holistic perspective to branding as its focus is on managing the reputation of the whole company over individual product lines in order to add value to its offering (Harris and de Chernatony, 2001). Moreover, house branding has been common practice in luxury fashion, where it has been used to build customer loyalty and boost corporate reputation (Chevalier and Mazzalovo 2008). As branding practice, corporate branding is applicable to business-to-business branding as it emphasises the role of employees in the branding process and maintaining the brand reputation over time (Harris and de Chernatony, 2001). In this view, brand management involves managing the gap between corporate identity and reputation (de Chernatony 1999) to provide firm with sustainable competitive advantage and increased customer loyalty (Hatch and Schultz 2003). First, corporate identity is “organization's presentation of itself to its various stakeholders and the means by which it distinguishes itself from all other organizations” (Markwick and Fill 1997: 397). In the business to business context, the dimensions of brand identity include employee and client focus, visual identity, brand personality, consistent communications and human resource initiatives (Coleman et al. 2011). Moreover, key areas of corporate branding include brand vision and culture, positioning, personality, relationships, and presentation (Harris and de Chernatony, 2001). Brand equity refers to “buyers’ willingness to pay a price premium for their favourite brand [and] to recommend that brand to peers and give special consideration to another product with the same name” (Bendixen, Bukasa and Abratt 2004). Moreover, this consists of brand awareness, brand performance, brand preference, and long-lasting relationships (Keller 1993). In particular, the importance of relationships is considered the cornerstone of the brand in the industrial marketing literature (Campbell et al. 2010) due to the interpersonal nature of the market (Bengtsson and Servais, 2005). Moreover, it has been shown that customer experience has a positive effect on the four dimensions of brand equity in business-to-business setting (Biedenbach and Marell 2010). Branding in trade shows Business to business branding is an important concept to understand the role of trade shows in marketing. Trade shows have been defined as “short-term events, typically less than a week in duration that take place on a regularly scheduled basis. Trade shows enable various members of a certain market or industry to meet face- to-face and share ideas, new product innovations, technical updates, industry information, connect with customers and prospects, as well as, in some cases, consummate sales.” (Bettis-Outland et al. 2012, p. 385). For many fashion start-ups these are excellent ways of developing relationships with customers and partners (Sarmento et al. 2015), as well as to enhance their brand image (Hansen 2004), and collaborate with a variety of stakeholders (Cheng et al. 2013). Traditionally, trade shows have been instrumental in consummating sales (Kerin and Cron, 1987), but recently the role has been mostly shifting towards building relationships as well as to build product awareness and image (Pitta, Weisgal, and Lynagh, 2006). This holds true as casual contact with current customers, manufacturers and buyers can easily be made at one location in a relatively short time (Han and Verma, 2014). Moreover, trade shows and meetings with sales representatives greatly affect the earlier parts decision making process of buyers (Blombäck and Axelsson, 2007). This suggests that trade shows could well fulfil the purpose of forming new relationships with the long-term goals of selling. What is more, another non-buying objective for attending trade shows is promoting corporate image (Kerin and Cron, 1987). The facet of corporate visual identity, as part of B2B brand identity, refers to symbolism, symbols or logo and even more to physical cues such as clothes employees wear and their premises (Coleman et al., 2011). Methodology and data As the study was explorative in nature, qualitative research method was chosen (Silverman, 2006). The data collection consisted of two phases; primary data were acquired through semi-structured interviews, complemented by observational data acquired by means of an ethnographic observation at major trade events (Geertz, 1973). 15 Finnish fashion trade show exhibitors and 3 professional buyers were interviewed for the study. All of the respondents from exhibiting companies were responsible for sales and marketing activities, and took part in the trade shows in person. Moreover, for observation, the team attended four major fashion trade shows during September 2012 and January 2013: Premier Classe Who’s Next and Capsule in Paris, Gallery int. Fashion Fair CPH in Copenhagen, and Capsule in New York. As the study is explorative by nature, data-driven approach of grounded theory (Strauss and Corbin 1990) was applied in the analysis of the interview data. Here, the data collected thorough interviews and observations is analysed by utilizing a systematic set of procedures to develop an inductively derived grounded theory about a phenomenon (ibid.). Findings – branding elements in fashion trade show The research investigates business-to-business branding occurring at fashion trade shows and its perceived benefits. To better understand this, findings will be presented in three sections: (1) Main elements of branding at trade shows; (2) characteristics of business-to-business branding in trade shows. (1) Main elements of branding at trade shows From the data, elements of trade show branding include people, brand presentation, and brand story. In the following, these are briefly illustrated. Brand story. Brand image is conveyed through the brand story that is the essence of the brand and it differentiates the brand from the competitors: “The clients are looking at what you do, listening to story, because the story is the key right now. If you don’t have a story, they will go for some other cheap stuff.” This story ties together all the elements of a brand. During the trade show, the story of the brand is conveyed to the attendees through a variety of tangible brand elements such as people, products, stand decorations, and marketing communications. People. The people have a crucial role as mannequins for the brand. The first impression of the stand, which is mostly about the people occupying it, determines if there will be any further interaction as well as sets the tone for it. For this reason, give out the right image: “We receive a lot of feedback that we look and feel like the brand. It’s very important that the sales people can channel the brand into this kind of environment” explains the head of a shoe brand. Moreover, their behaviour has a crucial role in communicating the brand essence and for this reason it is important to maintain the right type of energy at all times: “If you stay sitting and do like that (plants head into hands) in terms of branding is a killer. You won’t give the right image. If you are standing up especially on the heel, that will give out the right attitude.”. What is more, the presence of the designer is an important part in this communication, too, as is described by one buyer: “The presence of the designer matters. It brings depth and meaning into the presentation. And it also shows that they have their feet on the ground, that they are willing to work. hard. In fashion, there is all this hype and glamour, even though it's a trade among others. I give extra points if the designer is there.” Finally, it is important to have the right people on duty to enable the right type of interaction. For instance, to build relationships with all stakeholders including customers in the recurring events: “It’s a big reason that we meet the customers half yearly and it’s really fun seeing, really genuinely, it’s super nice seeing people because most of them are so nice people”. Indeed, this ludic element and experiencing things together enables deeper, and more trusting relation, which in turn facilitates further collaboration between parties. Brand presentation. At the stand, the buyers and other stakeholders get to experience the brand in its all splendour. It is very important to set up the stand in such manner that it lures in customers and provides an extraordinary experience. For instance, one of the exhibitors we interviewed went over the top with their display: “We’ve used a bus where we can make a showroom at the back. That’s been useful in Berlin alongside the trade shows, directing people from the trade show to the bus with bar and drinks as a kind of lounge and extra that we are remembered for.” Indeed, one interviewee even went as far as claiming that a generic product set up in a gorgeous stand would attract more customers than a perfect product on a dull stand. In this vein, a lot of attention is given to the stand as it needs to be aligned with the overall brand image: “Because our look it pretty rough and manly, we’ve used a lot of wood and metal on the racks when building the stand. Materials are chosen so that they ooze our brand and we never order basic stuff. Last time, we used wood on walls and built a bar with raw metal on the floor. The look has to match and communicate the brand.” Another important element are the products that are on display. From an exhibitor perspective, it is important to choose the right products that communicate the key attributes of a brand to the buyers. Moreover, even though the buyers are not buying for their own needs, it is important to have the possibility to feel the quality and fit at the spot. This is further explained by one of the interviewed buyers “It’s of course an advantage getting to try on the product and when you get to put the hat on, you get the wow effect of how well it fits. It’s easier to sell the product this way when someone gets to try it on compared to just buying it online.” (2) Characteristics of business-to-business branding in trade shows For new brands in particular, trade shows are important places to get noticed. As many of our interviewees note, trade shows are no longer places where orders are written. Instead, buyers go there to get inspired and to spot new brands: “As a new label, it is very recommended you go to trade shows because there is no way you can get, if no one knows about you, visibility or even the contacts.” In this vein, one of the key branding functions of trade shows is building awareness for the brand. Subsequently, to position the brand, showing up in the right company is important. The decision on which trade shows to attend is of paramount importance: “It is important for the brand that you consistently go to the same trade shows that position you correctly, that you are there with brands that are on the same level as you are or in the higher scale and you are not there with brands that should not be associated with your brand.” Finally, to convince the buyers and to build relationships with all stakeholders, continuity is important: “Big customers don’t ever order when they see you the first time, they want to see continuum at least 3 times so you’ve built your presence, then they look at you more seriously because you don’t seem like a one-season case who might just disappear.” This consistency means making long-term commitments to both the trade shows attended as well as the branding activities. Corporate branding in fashion tradeshows is parallel to Keller’s customer based brand equity model (1993), where branding follows a four step process. First, brand identity entails raising the salience of a brand among stakeholders and creating association with products. Being visible at trade shows attaches brand to a certain product category and creates awareness among stakeholders. Second, brand meaning involves linking a variety of tangible and intangible associations to the brand in the customer’s mind. This involves telling the story of a brand and providing the opportunity to touch and try the products. Third, brand response conveys brand judgments and brand feeling, of which the former is more relevant in an organizational context (Kuhn and Alpert 2004). Here, the interaction with people and products occurring during the trade show plays and important role as they enable the formation of emotional and rational judgements of a brand. Final step is about establishing an active and intense relationship between stakeholder and a brand. This particular aspect has the most significance in business-to-business context (Kuhn and Alpert 2004), which is also highly salient in the fashion world. Conclusions In fashion, branding is a prominent practice with regards to business to consumer markets. However, it is worth noting that branding is and has to be done also on business to business context as the buying decision is not purely rational but relies greatly on intuition and relationships. Here, a successful B2B brand is of great importance – and a great commitment as well as it involves a long-term planning and resilience to attend trade shows from season to season. This exploratory article has provided a first glimpse to the branding activities occurring at fashion trade shows. First and foremost, business to business branding in fashion involves the brand relationship between buyer and seller as well the brand story conveyed through the holistic brand experience at the trade show. Indeed, the resulting trust and loyalty between the brand and a stakeholder have implications for further buying behaviour as well as then the further marketing efforts towards the end-consumer. In this vein, trade shows provide a great opportunity to increase brand value through their positive influence on brand awareness, brand associations, perceived quality, and brand loyalty that are part of the brand equity construct (Aaker 1991) and can lead to increased trust and loyalty, which, in turn, help to moderate risk and decrease transaction cost (Ford 1980). Limitations of the study and further directions for research Although the study has been able to illustrate the branding activities occurring at fashion trade shows, there is still significant opportunity for improvement. The study is limited to only a handful of fashion start-ups and within a certain market. From this perspective, it would be interesting to study if branding also has similar significance for more established firms. Moreover, it would be interesting to study the performance outcomes of branding, how these efforts support the internationalisation, as well as the implications of business-to-business branding to business-to-consumer markets. Moreover, it would be interesting to compare the brand images between buyers and consumers in a given market. What are the things the consumers look at, and are the buyers different?

This paper aims to monitor brand image of two important fashion cities on social media (Instagram). Through a content analysis of pictures and texts authors attempt to identify the main associations that various actors have of London and Florence, both traditionally strictly related to the fashion system. As recent literature has argued for brands or products, even for places and cities (Gilboa et al. 2015), it is important to monitor the perceived city brand image resulting from the overall online experience (Choi et al. 2007), especially on social media. Indeed, it is demonstrated that word of mouth on social media is able to strongly affect users’ perceptions (Gretzel, Yuan, and Fosenmaier, 2000), thus contributing at the construction of the city brand image. This paper is one of the first one that applies content analysis on Instagram in city/place branding, where the core of communication is based on images. Therefore, differently from previous studies (Andéhn et al. 2014; De Moya and Jain, 2013), this work principally focuses on visual communication, as form of textual paralanguage communication (Luangrath, Peck, and Barger, 2016), for the construction of city image of London and Florence.

The current research aims to shed light on consumer-brand relationship, adopting the self-determination theory as theoretical lens for defining the antecedents and the consequences of the Brand Engagement in Self Concept (Sprott, Czellar, & Spangenberg, 2009). The originality of the study stems in the contest of analysis, that is the international cosplayer community, given the extreme engagement manifestation of the actors of the community in comics characters. Thus, the goal of this study is to test a model previously proposed by Razmus, Jaroszyńska, & Palęga (2017) in a community of high engagement manifestations, that is the cosplayer community (e.g. dress-up as their own favourite character). Moreover, authors would like to introduce a novel variable that is the brand-self congruity (Aaker, 1997; Sirgy, 1982), able to influence the relationship between personal aspirations (Kasser and Ryan, 1993; 1996), brand engagement in self-concept, brand advocacy (Kim et al. 2001) and brand loyalty (Oliver, 1999).

Known originally for climbing gear and outdoor clothing, Patagonia is now a leader in the area of sustainability practices. In this qualitative study, we examined the content of Patagonia’s blog “Stories We Wear” (SWW) that features customers’ stories about Patagonia apparel items worn and repaired to extend the product lifecycle. Patagonia encourages its customers to take part in a dialog of anti-consumption via the blog in which readers and authors of the posts can both engage with the brand and create their own sustainable identity. The overarching research question for the study was to determine the major reoccurring themes of the SWW blog posts. Five key themes identified in the blog posts were: (1) the emotional attachment to the apparel item; (2) outdoor adventure travel connecting to escapism; (3) the imagined future of the item; (4) valuing the item as an investment or the mark of a turning point in one’s life and identity; and (5) the act of repairing the item. The reasons SWW writers keep their Patagonia apparel items include quality and comfort, as well as the emotional attachment to both the apparel item and the brand. Carroll and Ahuvia’s (2006) concept of brand love is embedded in SWW stories. The repairs promote sustainability, a brand, and societal value. Customers did not discontinue purchase of new items; instead, they viewed purchases of Patagonia apparel as an investment. Through SWW, Patagonia encourages emotional attachment to its brand and promotes sustainability, while offering customers an opportunity to embrace a shared identity with the brand. The findings demonstrate that the SWW blog is a positive marketing strategy (Gopaldas, 2015) that promotes company, customer, and societal values of sustainability. The themes found in Patagonia’s SWW concept can be utilized by other companies seeking to enhance their sustainability practices and customer engagement with their products.

Luxury market is changing with new competitors to the market, more modest growth, and new types of customers (Kim and Ko 2012). To stay relevant, luxury houses need to develop experience-based marketing strategies that emphasise interactivity, connectivity and creativity (Atwal and Williams 2009). Subsequently, with the rise of digital marketing of luxury (Okonkwo 2009), consumers have been granted a more active role in the value co-creation of luxury brands. Indeed, adopting more inclusive and consumer-oriented marketing strategies has proven successful to iconic luxury brands such as Burberry (Phan, Thomas & Heine 2011), and Hermes (Robins 2016). Previously, value co-creation has been studied from consumer perspective following resource-based view (Arnould, Price and Malshe 2006) and practice theory (Schau, Muniz, and Arnould 2009). However, in the field of luxury marketing, research on co-creation has been limited to one case study of value co-creation processes (Tynan, McKechnie & Chhuon 2010). In addition, no previous research exists on the role of space and spectacular environment in value co-creation in luxury. This article extends these streams of researchby analysing 42 narratives (Polkinghorne 1995) from consumers that have attended two branded exhibitions of Louis Vuitton: SERIES3 held in London in the fall 2015 and Volez, Voguez, Voyagez in Paris in Spring 2016. In essence, luxury is about seduction; recreating a dream and providing meaningful, personal experiences for its consumers (Kapferer and Bastien 2009). Here, a branded exhibition provides a way to invite consumers to feel, see, and experience the brand in its full splendour. These encounters, in turn, transform the value-creation logic between the brand and the consumer from a one-way affair to a co-creational relation. This article demonstrates how exhibition context allows the consumer to participate in the value co-creation for Louis Vuitton, a prestigious luxury brand. Here, the brand provides a context and props for the consumer’s processes of value co-creation. This, in turn, then results into four types of value; utilitarian, experiential, relational, and symbolic. The contribution of this study is three-fold. First, this study extends the literature on value co-creation (Arnould et al. 2006) by demonstrating the role of space in the process of value co-creation. Second, our results extend previous research on luxury (Tynan et al. 2010) by illustrating the value co-creation from consumer perspective. From managerial perspective, the results show how brand exhibitions may act as platforms for content creation and enable rich self-expression with the brand.

This conceptual paper discusses the influence of brand knowledge through various components of personal luxury products’ towards the purchase intention. Rapid shifts in luxury consumers’ behaviours is one of the predominant drivers contributing to the growth of the modern luxury market. In response to this, luxury consumers’ characteristics and profiles need to be reexamined. In recent years, there has been a rapid increase in global luxury consumption with the rise in number of luxury consumers from 140 million to 350 million globally (Bain & Company, 2015). Such a phenomenal growth in the luxury market leads to a widely increased interests among researchers across all disciplines (Truong et al., 2008; 2009, Tynan et al., 2010; Kapferer & Valette-Florence, 2016). In particular, personal luxury goods market is forecast to continue to grow between 2-3 percent through 2020 (Bain & Company, 2016). Despite the fact that personal luxury goods is a major driver of the entire market, there is a limited research in this product category. Two factors of this fast-growing trend stimulate the need for additional research into consumers’ behaviours. First, there has been a shift in luxury consumers’ profile (Hanna, 2004; Fionda & Moore, 2009) and purchasing patterns (Bain & Company, 2015; 2016) where social influences (Dubois et al., 2001; Berthon et al., 2009; Cheah et al., 2015; Yang and Mattila, 2014; Kapferer & Valette-Florence, 2016) and people’s needs for materialism, appearances to enhance their ego and self-concept (Phau & Prendergast, 2000; Kapferer, 2006) are having greater impact on how consumers make their luxury purchase decisions. Second, it appears that the characteristics of the traditional luxury consumers as well as old marketing models from many decades ago need to be redefined (Bain & Company, 2015). Danziger (2005) indicates that the changes in luxury consumers’ purchase decision has created a dramatic shift in the purchase behaviour as a whole, making it difficult for luxury marketers to recognise the trend. To date, existing literature on luxury purchase intention focuses mainly from the cultural, economic, psychological perspectives (Leibenstein, 1950; Veblen, 1899; Bian & Forsythe, 2012; Liu et al., 2012; Wong & Ahuvia, 1998; Vigneron & Johnson, 2004; Shukla, 2012; Cheah et al., 2015) but remains limited on investigating luxury consumers’ behaviours through the integration of brand knowledge domain. Major works from marketing scholars on luxury value perceptions (Wiedmann et al., 2007 and 2009; Vigneron & Johnson, 2004; Shukla, 2012; Shukla & Purani, 2013; De Barnier et al., 2006; Hennigs et al., 2012 and 2013) suggest that they are important in explaining the whole picture of luxury consumption but insufficient in explaining purchase intentions (Shukla, 2012). Kapferer (2006) discusses that it is typical for consumers to identify which brand belongs to the luxury category, however, it could be more complex for the precise definition of luxury to be identified and understood. Therefore, this study seeks to incorporate the branding aspects into the investigation on the significance of brand knowledge towards the intention to purchase personal luxury products. Literature Review The concept of luxury is first explained by Veblen (1899) that the consumption of luxury goods is primarily considered by the affluent consumers with the desire to display their wealth to the relevant significant others. Even though the concept of luxury remains obscure, the clearer definition of luxury is given by Nueno & Quelch (1998) as the “ratio of functional utility to price is low while the ratio of intangible and situational utility to price is high” and that luxury products are beyond an ordinary expensive goods but “an ephemeral status symbol”. Shukla (2010) also defines luxury as the consumption that is not for just oneself but a socially-oriented type of consumption that fulfils the consumers’ own indulgence as well as to serve the “socially directed motives”. The aforementioned definitions of luxury show it is an “elusive concept” (Kapferer, 1998) with “fuzzy frontiers” (Kapferer, 2006). The luxury concept is describes as “incredibly fluid, and changes dramatically” over time and varied among different cultures (Yeoman and McMahon-Beattie 2006). As consumers become richer (Fionda & Moore, 2009) and are able to afford more luxury brands (Nueno & Quelch, 1998), luxury is no longer reserved for the rich but also includes the rising number of aspiring middle-class consumers (Shukla, 2012) who enjoy material comfort (Yeoman & McMahon-Beattie, 2006; Yeoman, 2011: Granot et al., 2013). This change makes the term luxury even more difficult to define (Shukla, 2010) and will continue as an ongoing debate among research scholars (Kapferer & Valette-Florence, 2016). Dubois & Paternault (1995) mention that “luxury items are bought for what they mean, beyond what they are”, this statement defines the nature of luxury brands where consumers often purchase luxury products not merely because of their outstanding quality but because of the name and the symbolic identity the brand provides. Kapferer (1998) recognises the importance in exploring the perception of luxury brands from the end-users themselves because they know best. This also adds to the ongoing complexity and difficulties in giving luxury a discreet definition (Kapferer, 1997 and 1998). The work of Grotts & Johnson (2013) investigates the status consumption of millennial consumers and indicates that it is highly possible that the consumers may not express any interest on the quality of the products but are placing greater emphasis on the ability of the handbags to be recognised and generate attention from their reference groups. With regard to marketing strategy, luxury marketers react to the rapid increase in demand to maintain their position of exclusivity by increasing the price every year in order to secure their clientele (Kapferer, 2015b). Louis Vuitton, Rolex, and Christian Dior increase the price of their products every year to sustain the dream value of the consumers (Kapferer, 2015a; 2015b). It is apparent that most luxury companies are managing the dilemma of maintaining the exclusivity of its products while increasing brand awareness as well as focusing on securing more market share and revenue (Kastanakis & Balabanis, 2012; Berthon et al., 2009). Despite the recognisable shifts in luxury consumption pattern, the sector will continue to grow with the majority of affluent consumers as discussed by Steve Kraus of Ipsos (King, 2015). The most recognisable shift in luxury marketing strategy is on the increasing number of luxury companies offering lower-price products in response to the rising level of demand for luxury consumption by the enthusiastic middle class consumers (Truong et al., 2008; Kastanakis & Balabanis, 2012). Luxury was once reserved for the “happy few” (Veblen, 1899) but this notion is no longer practical for today’s luxury environment where luxury products are “consumed by a larger aspirational segment” (Granot et al., 2013). Democratisation of luxury refers to when luxury brands create a lower-priced accessory items in order to appeal to the broader market, making luxury accessible to those “who could never afford to purchase the principal items in the line” (Nueno & Quelch, 1998) or the new luxury consumers who seeks recognition from luxury purchase. Han et al. (2010) discusses that different classes of consumers can now be distinguished by the brands of purses, watches, or shoes that they own. They let the brands speak for them, whether they prefer the loud Gucci logo or displaying the consumption of a “‘no logo’ strategy” by carrying a Bottega Veneta bag (Han et al., 2010). As Husic & Cicic (2009) state, an important question on today’s luxury consumption that if it is possible for everyone to obtain luxury items, are the brands still considered luxury? This is one of the important agendas concerning luxury consumption that prompts researchers to investigate this changing behaviours and perceptions of luxury consumers. It is also significance to note that the increase in global demand in luxury market is not necessarily positive but could be negative if the demand is not being managed efficiently (Hennigs et al., 2015). Despite frequent changes in luxury consumption patterns, Kapferer & Valette-Florence (2016) argues that it is vital to understand how consumers behave in order for the brands to create and maintain trust and reputation among its consumers. Danziger (2005) argues that the notion of “past behaviour predicts future behavior” may not be applicable to the luxury market. However, the foundation remains where the marketers need to understand the basics about the past and present behaviours in order to offer the products and services at the price that luxury consumers are willing to pay. It is partly due to the minimisation of the possible risks that might occur in purchasing luxury products as stated by Kapferer & Valette-Florence (2016) that “in luxury, no one wants to buy the wrong brand”. In light of these changes in the demand and strategies, a new framework of luxury purchase intention will be presented. This framework integrates brand knowledge in order to accommodate the traditional consumer, who appreciates the brand and its exclusivity, as well as the new buyer who wants recognition. This attempt in merging the two groups of luxury consumers together will highlights how traditional and new luxury consumers make their purchase decisions based on different components of luxury product characteristics as well as different value perception, or that is to say, based on a different levels of brand knowledge. Conceptual Framework Over several decades scholars attempted to agree on a single comprehensive definition for the term ‘luxury’ but have not yet reached that goal because the concept of luxury is highly individual and the market itself is heterogeneous (Hennigs et al., 2013). The definition of luxury, therefore, is very complex to define (Vigneron & Johnson, 1999; Dubois & Duquesne, 1993) due to its “subjective character” (De Barnier et al., 2012) with many diverse facets (Phau & Prendergast, 2000). This study provides a new perspective by looking at the factors that influence luxury purchase intention. Based on the original work of Keller (1993), it is important to understand the structure and content of brand knowledge because these dictate what comes into the consumer’s mind when they think about a brand and what they know about the brand (Keller, 2003). Consumer brand knowledge is defined as the “personal meaning about a brand stored in consumer memory, that is, all descriptive and evaluative brand-related information” (Keller, 2003). Strong, unique, and favorable brand associations must be created with consumers (Kotler & Keller, 2012 and 2016). In luxury consumption, different consumers seek different emotional and functional benefits from luxury brands (Kapferer, 1998), which makes it relevant and significant to investigate the level of influences of brand knowledge and value perceptions on the intention to purchase luxury products. The proposed conceptual framework for this study is presented in Figure 1 in the Appendix section. Managerial Implications This study provides both theoretical and managerial implications. On theoretical grounds, this study provides an enhanced model in investigating the influence of luxury brand knowledge towards luxury purchase intention considering luxury brand characteristics and luxury value perceptions. On managerial perspective, this study provides an update in the modern luxury consumers consumption pattern in terms of what specific characteristics of luxury products they would consider when they intend to purchase. At the same time, this study analyses the types of luxury value perceptions acknowledge by modern luxury consumers towards their purchase decision. In addition, the proposed conceptual framework will take into account the behaviours of traditional luxury consumers, who seems to have been lost due to the increased demand among the new luxury consumers. According to Keller et al. (2012), the marketers of the brand needs to acknowledge the insights to how brand knowledge exists in consumer memory. From the model, marketers can plan and execute efficient marketing and communication strategies for modern luxury consumers given their fast-changing preference in luxury consumption. Following the suggestion from Kapferer & Valette-Florence (2016) which indicates that “luxury is made by brands” and apart from selling luxurious products, the dream is what is attached to the brand logo and name. Therefore, by investigating the relationship between luxury products characteristics along with luxury value perceptions, this study aims to provide a refreshing analysis of today’s luxury consumers and what stimulates them to buy personal luxury products. Further Research A questionnaire will be developed by the integration of the established measurements and scales from the existing luxury consumption and branding literature. A draft of the questionnaire will be reviewed against the literature and the practical insights obtained from the sales associates and experts in the luxury industry for the suitability and clarity of the questions. The final draft of the questionnaire will be pre-test on a small number of respondents from the target audience. The target population for the study is among general luxury consumers. The data collected from the survey will be analysed using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) approach to model decision process and validate the proposed conceptual framework. Cluster analysis will be used to identify segments of consumers as recommended by Aaker et al. (2013). The anticipated research findings will expand on the degree of influences of the brand knowledge towards the willingness to purchase of personal luxury goods. It is also expected that the research findings will be useful in redefining the existing types of luxury consumers to represent today’s luxury consumers.

The New Product Development (NPD) in the textile industry is peculiar, as it follows constraints that are particular to the fashion business. A qualitative study comprising 45 interviews were conducted in a South American textile industry and results showcase that fashion forecast, pressure for newness, and cost reduction are relevant matters. Introduction The textile industry follows a particular cycle for New Product Development (NPD) as it answers the demand from the fashion industry. Fashion supply chain is fragmented, as the production process is fragmented with companies playing different roles in the production cycle. There are companies that uses the raw material to produce yarns that will be transformed into fabrics, which then it is transformed into clothes, through process that may be a single sewing to complex process that demands intermediate process such as industrial washes. These clothes are sold to consumers through various selling channels, such as stores, retailers, e-commerce, and even door-to-door. Usually one company plays only one of these roles in the supply chain, what makes the production plan to be fragmented amongst several different companies in the supply chain (Şen, 2008). After globalization, this supply chain became even more complex as each chain may be located in different parts of the world, due to production costs and optimization. This scenario results in a supply chain that demands several planning skills, that works, sometimes, with extensive production cycles. (Thomassey, 2014). But, as Christopher, Lowson, & Peck (2004) noted, the supply chain in the fashion business must be agile to respond to changes in demand from consumers, which often occurs, and it can be also very complex as clothing is a way for consumers to either differentiate or fit in society, and the rules to be in or out of society patterns changes fast (Cholachatpinyo, Fletcher, Padgett, & Crocker, 2002a, 2002b). Due to this complexity and richness of information, the production cycle in fashion business has been extensively studied in the literature (Alexander & Contreras, 2016; Aung & Sha, 2016; Oxborrow & Brindley, 2014) but authors often use a wide perspective to grasp an overview of the supply chain they are studying, using market data and information, or gathering general information from companies that are present in the fashion supply chain. Authors focused their analysis in the supply chain itself, and we could not find studies that focused on the perspective of the product development task in the challenging context of fashion business. There are some characteristics from the fashion business that differentiate New Product Development (NPD) from a classical Business to Business (B2B) scenario. In a brief description of the fashion business production system, we see that it starts with the production of raw materials that varies from natural fibers (e.g. cotton, silk, linen) or artificial fibers (e.g. polyester, nylon, elastane) that are then spinning into threads that may contain one or more different fibers. These threads are then transformed into fabrics through several different weaving techniques, and then it may go through some finishing treatments (e.g. dying, washing), and then it goes to garment manufacturing where garment makers produce clothes for their own brands or for third-parties brands. These clothes are then sold to consumers through various channels (e.g. retail stores, electronic stores). If we analyze this brief description we can see that fashion may influence in all parts of the production cycle, including the demand for raw materials: if denim products are in vogue, then there is a growing demand for cotton products, if sportswear is in vogue, then the demand improves for artificial fibers, and so on. One other thing that should be noted is that usually each part of the production cycle is performed by a different company: the most common scenario we see in the textile industry includes companies that produce only threads, and sell these threads to textile companies that produce fabrics to sell to garment makers that produces clothes to sell to brands to sell them to consumers. There are some companies that integrates two or more parts of the production cycles but they are the exception, not the rule. This fragmented production process combined with the fashion influence result in long production cycles: a designer’s idea may take from three to eighteen months to be available to consumers, depending on the production channels assessed by the designer. These characteristics showcase how NPD in the fashion business may be complex and therefore it should be investigated further in the literature, and this is the objective of this study. In order to do that, we researched the specific literature in NPD that is vastly discussed in literature as it is responsible for creating, managing and releasing products that are both appealing to customers and profitable to the company. (Brown & Eisenhardt, 1995). Understanding what makes an NP succeed in the market has been on the marketing agenda for a long time, including the fashion business (Alexander & Contreras, 2016; Clarke, 2012; Thompson & Haytko, 1997). One interesting point of view is to understand the predecessors of NP success in the market. Henard & Szymanski (2001) conducted a meta-analysis of 60 studies focused on the antecedents of NP success and proposed a list of 24 predictors of NP performance, which they grouped into four categories: (i) product characteristics, (ii) firm strategy characteristics, (iii) firm process characteristics and (iv) marketplace characteristics. We selected the most relevant predecessors discussed by Henard & Szymanski (2001) and Song & Xie (2000) to use as a basis for a script for interviews with NPD professionals. Methodology We conducted in-depth interviews with 45 professionals from different areas that participate in, or are impacted by, NPD process in a South American textile industry. From now on we will call this company “Southex”. These interviews offered a deep understanding of the perspective of NPD professionals, both insiders (professional that work in the NPD team) or outsiders (professional from departments that work as an internal supplier or client for the NPD team). Southex is one of the biggest textile producers in the world, with producing units in Latin America, commercial offices in Europe, Asia, and America. Sales are over U$ 1 bi/year, and the company employed more than 8,000 people in 2012, when this study was performed. Their main market is Latin America where fashion seasons are in opposition to the ones in the North part of the globe, home of the fashion trendsetters for global macro trends (Europe, USA, and Japan). This leads to a one-year postponement of fashion trends, so when something is released as a fashion trend for summer in Europe, it will be considered a trend for summer one year later in Latin America. Southex NPD team had 12 exclusively dedicated professionals as of 2012. Southex launches products in the market with the concept of collections, when the company releases a group of NPs in the market. Every year, the company releases two collections in the market. It usually takes up to six months for NPD team to complete and launch a new collection. Research into fashion trends, commercial needs and technological improvements available in the market are the main sources the company uses to develop NP. Prior to launching a product in the market, the NPD team needs to test its production process in order to guarantee that the product can be produced on a large scale at competitive costs. Every collection is launched as a sample of fabrics that will be produced 4-6 months in the future. If a collection is released in January, the products that Southex is launching will start to be produced in June. So their clients, mainly garment makers and fashion brands, need to coordinate their production chain to start receiving these fabrics after June. Considering the production cycle in these garment makers, it is estimated that the clothing produced with the fabric launched by Southex in January will be delivered to retail stores (and then available to the consumer) in November, almost one year after Southex has launched the fabric in the market. In order to gather a deep perspective of all matters related to NPD we interview 45 professionals, totaling over 1,600 hours of recorded interviews. 12 insiders, comprising 100% of the team available at that moment, and 33 outsiders from departments such as Marketing, Sales, and Technical Support. Their positions ranged from analysts to directors.. All interviews followed a predefined script of topics. Interviews were transcribed and sent to the corresponding professional for validation, during which they could ask for adjustments. 12 professionals asked for changes in the transcription and we used the changed and approved text, together with the 33 unchanged texts in this analysis. Results and Discussion All texts were then codified according to content, which involved identifying similar topics and applying codes to facilitate analysis of the interviews. Using the predecessors of NP success has facilitated our understanding of the matters related to NPD at Southex. By formatting the presentation of information gathered in the interviews with the predecessors we were able to see the main issues found in NPD. In total, there were 421 mentions codified. After analyzing the codification of the interviews, we can see that Cross function is the main topic addressed by respondents. This is due to the relationship that the flow of NPD activities in the company. As we can see, there were several issues related to the relationship of NP team with the outsiders and that communication amongst insiders and outsiders needs to be improved. There are some context-specific content that appeared as relevant in the analysis of these interviews: insiders are worried with the pressure they feel to forecast fashion preference for products. They say that fashion industry is constantly demanding new technologies, new products, and this has been creating a pressure to accelerate product development they think it is not healthy to the system. Also there is a general worry (insiders and outsiders) with the pressure for price reduction in basic products. Some products are considered basic and are included for several collections (interviewees mentioned that some products are included in more than 15 successive collections) and for these products instead of demanding for innovation, there is a demand for price reduction which leads outsiders to perform tests to substitute materials or changes in the production to reduce costs without prior knowledge from NPD team, which causes several problems in the organization. It is important to point out that even though we used only one company in this study, it was a complete and deep perspective, as we were able to collect high quality data with all 45 professionals that are directly or indirectly related to NPD in the company. Also, as Southex works as a thread and fabric producer, it showed us an insider perspective about the textile supply chain in the fashion business. Even though the exploratory study presented the reality of a firm in an extensive and very detailed way, it may not reflect the full complexity of other organizations in the market; thus, caution is advised if applied in a market that differs deeply from the scenario presented in this study. However, it is also important to remember that this is a qualitative approach where generalization is not expected, and the attention for details is important.

This research investigates the influence of age in luxury counterfeit consumption in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. More specifically, a pilot quantitative survey conducted in the United Arab Emirates demonstrates that GCC consumers’ age has a positive influence on counterfeit luxury consumption, which runs counter the general consensus observed in the counterfeiting literature. Based on 25 in-depth interviews, a follow-up qualitative study explores this unexpected result using the functional theory of attitudes. It shows that the experience of the region’s major socio-economic changes in the last 40 years may explain the shift on how consumers understand the value of things, and therefore the existence of a positive correlation between age and counterfeit consumption in the GCC countries. This article contributes to the field of luxury counterfeit research and expands theoretical understanding on consumer responses of different age groups to counterfeit consumption. Our analyses corroborate the relevance of the functional theories of attitudes in explaining both luxury and counterfeit consumptions. Social-adjustive function is dominant for young people, however, the attitudes, which serve the social-adjustive function, are less likely to drive counterfeit consumption. Further, the research refines the existing model, suggesting that the value-expressive function served by different attitudes was relevant on both age groups, but depending on the values which are expressed, it influences the counterfeit consumption. The findings are of significant interest for public policy makers, luxury brand managers fighting counterfeiting, and more generally to any managers dealing with GCC nationals.

In this work, p-type Bi−Sb−Te alloys powders are prepared using gas atomization, a mass production powder preparation method involving rapid solidification. To study the effect of the sintering temperature on the microstructure and thermoelectric properties, gas-atomized powders are consolidated at different temperatures (623, 703, and 743 K) using spark plasma sintering. The crystal structures of the gas-atomized powders and sintered bulks are identified using an X-ray diffraction technique. Texture analysis by electron backscatter diffraction reveals that the grains are randomly oriented in the entire matrix, and no preferred orientation in any unique direction is observed. The hardness values decrease with increasing sintering temperature owing to a decrease in grain size. The conductivity increases gradually with increasing sintering temperature, whereas the Seebeck coefficient decreases owing to increases in the carrier mobility with grain size. The lowest thermal conductivity is obtained for the bulk sintered at a low temperature (603 K), mainly because of its fine-grained microstructure. A peak ZT of 1.06 is achieved for the sample sintered at 703 K owing to its moderate electrical conductivity and sustainable thermal conductivity.

The paper applies CFD numerical simulation technology, selects the typical urban commercial block as the research object, uses PM I 0 which are from automobile exhausted gas as the source of pollution, simulates the spatial density di stribution of the inhalable pa11icle, verifies the accuracy based on the monitoring data and reveals the diffusion rule of atmospheric pollutants in the three dimensional block space. The results show that there is a close relationship between the diffusion effect of the contaminated gas and three dimensional landscape pattern in blocks. At different height levels such as I 0 meters, 30 meters and 50 meters, the decreasing trend of the density of the pollutants and the uniformity of the spatial distribution are quite obvious. The height of the buildings along the streets, the space combination and the shape of the buildings themselves determine the inner smoothness of the streets. In the urban planning, one must fully consider the effect of three dimensional pattern on air pollution in blocks. From the aspects of urban ventilation, open space, height of the horizon line and disheartened space of the bottom, three dimensional landscape pattern of urban blocks should be optimized, which can effectively improve the current situation of severe atmospheric pollution.

Effective estrus detection and artificial insemination (AI) are necessary for profitable management of dairy herd. In current study, 45 crossbred lactating cows have been selected with the complaint of unobserved oestrus for more than sixty days postpartum. All cows had functional corpus luteum as examined by transrectal ultrasonography. Cows were treated with PGF2α analogue and AI was performed with observed oestrus and then single dose of GnRH was administered. Similar synchronization protocol has been repeated after 14 days in cows that did not repose to first treatment. Remaining cows received additional PGF2α after 14 days of second treatment and timed AI was performed following GnRH administration. Among 45 cows, 28.89% showed estrus after first treatment and 78.79% responded to second hormonal intervention. A higher conception rate (88.89% vs 26.66 and 72.72%) was observed in cows after triple administration of PGF2α and timed AI. We noticed a significant differences in body condition score (BCS, 1～5 scale), postpartum period, and daily milk production between cows that either responded of non-responded following first and second hormonal treatment. In addition, there was a significant positive correlation between daily milk production and BCS, age and postpartum days, milk production and estrus/BCS, and milk production/BCS/estrus and conception rate. Depending upon the findings we conclude that hormonal intervention with PGF2α and GnRH enhances postpartum ovarian cyclicity and help decreasing the days open of dairy herd. Therefore, this finding might provide an excellent guideline for target breeding system for profitable dairy herd management.