The value of luxury brand is always latently charged with elements of sacredness. Fashion expresses symbolic meaning that allows customers’ experience to be sacralized in many ways. Hence, customers’ necessity to express their existence is also possible thanks to luxury brand which is defined as exclusive and image-driven. Building on Georg Simmel’s sociological theory of equalization and differentiation behavior in fashion and René Girard’s mimetic theory of sacred, this paper investigates the sacredness in perception of luxury brands. Different customers stereotypes can be defined resulting in what we conceptualize as the sacred experience framework. Specifically, the authors identify three dimensions of the framework, namely the active and passive attitude, the personal and social motivation, and the idolatrous and realist perspective. The framework can be used for strategic positioning of luxury brand. The focus is on risks and threats related to idolatrous positioning of luxury brand and opportunities related to realist positioning. Luxury brand sustainability is possible by fostering the symbolic myth that reflects customer sacred experience. The aim of this paper is a formulation of a general theory of luxury, which to our best knowledge has not been well defined yet. Such a new theory of luxury requires that customers’ needs and motivations theories show how existential desire should be fueled also by sacredness.

Vietnam is one of Asia’s fastest developing economies. A long coastline of nearly 3,500 km provides a comparative advantage for Vietnam in developing a seaport system. Despite accounting for only about 30% of Vietnam’s traffic volume, the Northern seaports have rapidly developed over the years. However, the location of the container terminals close to the common hinterland are a cause of fierce competition among container terminals. To outperform rivals and improve competitiveness, it is essential to identify the competitive positions of container terminals. This study analyzes the competitive positioning of container terminals in the northern region of Vietnam between 2005 and 2014 by applying the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) matrix in order to assist terminal operators and policy makers to generate strategic planning as well as to improve priorities for development. Otherwise, the period from 2005-2014 aims to clarify the static and dynamic positioning of container terminals. The results demonstrate that the Hai Phong terminal dominates the market, but the Nam Hai Dinh Vu and Dinh Vu terminals are considered as “star” performers. Quang Ninh, Doan Xa, and Transvina are losing their competitive positions in Northern Vietnam.