Factors influencing buying behavior of Lebanese consumers towards fashion brands during economic crisis: A qualitative study

The purpose of this article is to contribute to an understanding of the impact of the Lebanese economic crisis on fashion buying behavior. It uses a qualitative approach by conducting semi-structured interviews with 29 Lebanese consumers. The study reveals that consumer fashion purchases are motivated by emotional, social, and functional drivers. It also indicates that subjective norms, such as societal and cultural values dictate buying behaviors. The findings provide further insights into social media and highlight its influence on shaping trends and making fashion products desirable. The article concludes that Lebanese consumers exhibit impulsive buying behavior, and explains how fashion brands can remain relevant amidst a wrenching economic crisis.     

Service provider responses to anxious and angry customers: different challenges, different payoffs

Anxiety and anger, two frequently experienced emotions during service consumption, arise from different appraisals of the eliciting event, i.e., attribution to uncontrollable circumstances and low coping potential for anxiety versus attribution to providers and high coping potential for anger. These appraisal differences were hypothesized to impact the occurrence of supportive provider responses (higher for anxiety than for anger), and the value given to supportive responses by anxious versus angry customers (higher evaluation for anxiety than for anger). It was also hypothesized that, although evaluation of provider response would mediate the relationship between the intensity of both anger and anxiety and satisfaction with the service encounter as a whole, the power of this mediating effect would be stronger for anxiety than for anger. Hypotheses were confirmed in a survey of air travel passengers reporting episodes of anxiety and anger. Implications of these results for challenges and payoffs involved in the development of adaptive response strategies to anxious and angry customers are discussed.     

Consumer perceptions of refund depth and competitive scope in price-matching guarantees: effects on store patronage

The study investigates the effect of two characteristics of price-matching guarantees—the depth of refund offer and the scope of competitors eligible for price matching—on consumer perceptions of price-matching guarantee believability and value and consumer intentions to patronize the retailer. The results show that large refund offers built consumer patronage intentions by enhancing perceptions of the value of the price-matching guarantee, while simultaneously exerting a negative impact on patronage by reducing believability of the price-matching promise. The competitive scope also affected the patronage intentions by influencing the perceived value of the price-matching policy.     

A Four-Country Study of the Associations Between Bribery and Unethical Actions

The purpose of this research is to extend prior research testing the premise that small deviations from ethical behavior lead to even larger deviations from ethical behavior. This study examines the association between a person’s willingness to bribe a police officer to avoid being issued a speeding ticket with their views on inappropriate behavior of corporate executives. Our sample of 528 participants comes from Colombia (90), Ecuador (70), South Africa (131) and the United States (237). As part of our data gathering, we controlled for social desirability response bias in the responses of the students who participated in our study. Our data indicate significant differences between the views of the students from Colombia, Ecuador, and South Africa when compared to the views of the students from the United States. The analysis indicates that, for all four dilemmas, the most significant variable was the belief about how ethical it was to pay a bribe to avoid a traffic ticket. In addition, in three of our four dilemmas, Paulhus’ Impression Management Subscale, which measures social desirability response bias, was the second most significant variable. Finally, in three of the four dilemmas, the students from Colombia, Ecuador and South Africa thought the actions described in the dilemmas were less ethical than the students from the United States.

Brand Loyalty Versus Store Loyalty: Consumers’ Role in Determining Dependence Structure of Supplier–Retailer Dyads

Purpose: This article aims to integrate consumers into a channel dependence framework and explores the influence of consumers’ brand loyalty and store loyalty on the dependence structure within the supplier–retailer relationship. It also examines effects of the dependence structure on perceived conflict.

Methodology/approach: The authors test the proposed triadic relationship model among department store, supplier, and consumer by collecting matched data from both retailers and consumers in a Chinese retailing channel of sports and leisure apparel. Polynomial regression in conjunction with a response surface analysis (RSA) approach is used to test the hypotheses.

Findings: The results indicate that consumers’ brand loyalty positively affects retailer’s dependence on supplier, while consumers’ store loyalty positively affects supplier’s dependence on retailer. In addition, the retailer’s dependence is higher when consumers’ brand loyalty is higher than store loyalty; the supplier’s dependence is higher when consumers’ store loyalty is higher than brand loyalty; and the retailer’s dependence increases with the increase of both consumers’ brand and store loyalty when consumers’ brand and store loyalty are equal. Moreover, supplier’s dependence has a negative linear effect on retailer’s perceived conflict, whereas retailer’s dependence has an inverted U-shape effect on perceived conflict. A retailer would perceive more conflict when the retailer is relatively more dependent on the supplier; but the symmetrical interdependence has no significant effect on retailer perceived conflict.

Research implications: Researchers are encouraged to explore channel behaviors from a network perspective. Consumers, in particular, should be included in research frameworks related to channel dependence and behaviors. Suggestions for further research on the effects of dependence on the conflict are also proposed.

Originality/value/contribution: This study goes beyond the dyadic paradigm by integrating consumers into the framework of the channel dependence structure. It develops and tests a mechanism of consumers’ brand and store loyalty influencing dependence structure within a supplier–retailer dyad. It also enriches the literature of channel conflict by exploring the effects of retailer and supplier unilateral dependence on retailer perceived conflict with RSA methods.

Practical implications: The article provides several insightful implications for managers in understanding and managing interdependence structure in business-to-business marketing, especially in supplier–retailer relationships.     

跨境供应链技术性贸易壁垒应对机制探析

分析了中国面对技术性贸易壁垒现状及中国技术性贸易问题,提出了跨境供应链移除壁垒的几点政策建议。     

Does high supply chain integration enhance customer response speed?

The capability of customer response speed is commonly employed by firms that wish to strengthen their relationship with customers in order to maintain a high level of service in a hypercompetitive environment of rapidly changing technology. Improved customer response speed also helps manufacturers respond more rapidly to satisfy customer needs. However, does high level of supply chain integration with customers have positive impact on customer response speed? This study proposes a conceptual model to examine antecedents to better firm performance, with customer response speed as a mediator. The conceptual model was empirically tested using data collected from 809 manufacturing companies in the Greater China Region. The results show that the nature of the relationship between customer integration and customer response speed may vary substantially from one area to another. Also, customer response speed mediates between customer integration and firm performance in China and Taiwan.     

Long‐run Effect of the Global Financial Crisis on Singapore's Tourism and the Economy

This study employs recent Singaporean tourism survey data, the updated Singaporean input–output tables and a computable general equilibrium model to gauge the long‐run effects of the 2008 global financial crisis and selected policy responses. The simulation results suggest that the global financial crisis has had mild negative long‐run effects on the overall development of Singapore's economy, and that the GST deduction policy ought to offset this negative effect.     

供应链企业之间信任问题研究

本文认为,信任在供应链管理中具有十分重要的作用,它是供应链的关键组织原则,是供应链企业相互合作的前提和基础,是保证供应链正常运转的支柱,可以提高整个供应链快速响应客户的能力。影响供应链企业间信任的因素多种多样,既有宏观因素,也有微观因素(如满足客户需求能力、信息沟通与共享程度及利益公平和程序公平的程度等)。企业要维护和提升供应链企业之间的信任,必须增强自身的核心竞争力,提高信息沟通与共享能力,进行经常性的沟通、交流,设计有效契约,并建立信任机制。     

控制权转移的市场反应——基于私有收益视角

控制权转移可以引起公司股票价格以及股东财富的变化,国内外学者对此进行了大量研究,但鲜有结合控制权私有收益的分析。本文从私有收益视角出发,从事件期的累积超常收益、超常换手率、内幕交易指标、长期购买持有收益以及国有和民营买家超常收益的比较等方面进行了实证研究,结果表明:上市公司的控制权转移在很大程度上是新控股股东通过内幕交易获取私有收益的行为,并未真正为股东创造价值。