Estimating Consumer Preferences for Value-Added Fish Products in Oman

Abstract

The European meat industry is confronted with substantial changes of consumer preferences in relation to the type and quantity of meat in everyday diet. One of the main reasons behind these changes is the public impression that meat is a “dangerous” to consume food. This feeling is the result of recent food scares where meat played a central role and their effect on consumers' perceptions about meat safety. The research at hand explores the market potential of organic meat in Greece and emphasizes the perceptions about meat consumption held by organic consumers as opposed to those held by non-consumers of organic foods. It is expected that organic consumers will be more interested in a series of quality attributes of meat commonly found in its organic type, in comparison to non-consumers of organic food. However, the main finding of the survey is that consumer demands in relation to meat quality and safety are particularly high, irrespective of meat's production method. The research concludes that the particularly low consumption of organic meat in Greece should be partially attributed to its insufficient differentiation in consumers' minds.     

Consumer ethical beliefs and personality traits: An exploratory analysis

The present study examines the relationships between consumers' ethical beliefs and personality traits. Based on a survey of 295 undergraduate business students, the authors found that individuals with high needs for autonomy, innovation, and aggression, as well as individuals with a high propensity for taking risks tend to have “less ethical” beliefs concerning possible consumer actions. Individuals with a high need for social desirability and individuals with a strong problem solving coping style tend to have “more ethical” beliefs concerning possible consumer actions. The needs for achievement, affiliation, complexity and an emotion solving coping style were not significantly correlated with consumer ethical beliefs.     

The impact of branding on low‐income adolescents: A vicious cycle?

This study examines the impact of consumerism and consumer culture on low‐income British adolescents. Specifically, it investigates the effects of branding and advertising on the formation of selfconcept clarity (SCC) and consumer susceptibility to interpersonal influence (CSII). A comparative study was conducted between two groups, low‐ and high‐income teenagers, assessing SCC and CSII by means of quantitative scales. It was found that low‐income teenagers are less clear in their self‐concept and are more susceptible to interpersonal influence than their high‐income counterparts. A significant negative correlation between the two scales revealed that the less clear one's self‐concept is, the more susceptible one is to interpersonal influence. It is proposed that an inability to “keep up” with the latest fashion trends (due to restricted consumption opportunities) may result in a damaged self‐concept among low‐income teenagers, which leads to heightened susceptibility to consumption pressures and hence heightens the negative socio‐psychological impacts of living in poverty. The results of the study are reviewed in terms of branding, advertising, and consumer behavior and a proposed conceptual model of branding's impact on low‐income teenagers is presented as a “vicious cycle.” © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Tradition Versus Change: Evaluating the Currency of Some Traditional Chinese Values in Today's Business Environment

Abstract

In the last decade, the discussion about how marketing is changing has focused largely on practices in more affluent industrialized economies. Far less attention has been given to understanding the marketing strategies and practices of firms in emerging and transition economies. In this paper, we compare marketing of multinational firms versus local firms in Argentina. We identify the environmental characteristics of Argentina's emerging economy and, using survey data of 96 firms, we group firms into five clusters. We refer to two clusters as “traditional/local” as they use very basic marketing methods, with one serving business markets and the other consumer markets. The other three clusters we refer to as “progressive” as they represent state-of-the-art practices. The first two of these are foreign-owned and serve consumer and business markets, the third represents locally-owned service firms. The managerial implications are examined.     

The Consumer-Driven Economy at a Crossroads

Personal consumption expenditures accounted for some 70 percent of GDP prior to the Great Recession. The normal role of consumers in U.S. economic modeling was as recipient of all practical consumer goods and services production. Much of the increase in consumer spending was fueled by greater use of debt, through new forms of leverage such as low cost loans secured by home equity. During the recent recession, two forces combined for a perfect storm: the first was untested financial innovation (subprime mortgages) leveraging the second, an asset bubble (housing markets). In addition, revolving credit card borrowing peaked in mid-2008. This paper uses an innovative Retail Employment Index to help describe recent consumer behavior and presents a simple means of representing consumer retail spending within the constraints of the “new normal.”     

Further insights into perceived value and consumer loyalty: A “Green” perspective

“Green consumption” is an increasingly important topic in today's society. The effect of the ecological value provided by traditionally non‐green products, such as automobiles, on their consumer's post‐purchase behavior, such as brand or model loyalty, requires further clarification. The present study provides qualitative and quantitative insights from car users on how the ecological aspect of consumption integrates into the link between perceived value and consumer loyalty intentions (value–loyalty link). In general, car usage is accompanied by perceived functional, economic, emotional, and social value. Perceived ecological value is shown to have a significant impact on these four value dimensions. The relevance of “green to have quality,” “green to save money,” “green to feel good,” and “green to be seen” in relation to loyalty intention is discussed. Results of a structural equation model and multigroup analysis provide the opportunity to derive both theoretical and applied implications. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Comments on “time of consumption and the time of consumption: Consumer society and the ‘end’ of history”

The essay expounds upon the “problem” of time and its relation to history within the context of consumer culture. Beginning with the premise that consumer culture can be regarded as both the time of image consumption and the image of time consumption (from Debord 1983), the author goes on at length to discuss the concept of time in its three dimensions and then to relate briefly, the implications for the study of history. What follows is a short summary of the author's argument and then a reaction to it based on the idea of liberation.     

Consumer Brand Hate: Steam rolling whatever I see

This study aims to investigate negative consumer‐brand relationships by developing a “Brand Hate” concept. A hierarchical Brand Hate model is theoretically discussed in light of the psychology and consumer behavior literatures. In Study‐I the Brand Hate concept was tested with two different types of consumer brand haters, true haters, and regular haters. The study found that in the study's proposed multidimensional Brand Hate hierarchy true haters display “Boiling Brand Hate” while regular haters reveal “Seething Brand Hate.” Two additional studies were developed to examine the relationship between consumer personality traits and Brand Hate, exploring which types of consumers are more prone to feel hatred toward targeted brands. Study‐II's findings revealed a relationship between consumers who are high in personality traits of “conscientiousness” and those who Brand Hate. Study‐III's findings indicated that “self‐confident” and “competitive” consumers might also be more prone to feel hatred toward those brands that perform poorly and unethically.     

Creative cities in Europe

The European knowledge economy requires “creative cities”, competitive urban areas that are able to combine concentration, diversity, instability and a positive image. Examples of creative cities in history and recent “best practices” of such cities in Europe show that local governments cannot plan knowledge, creativity and innovation from scratch. How, then, can policymakers help in preparing Europe's cities for the requirements of the knowledge economy?     

Editorial

The relationship marketing paradigm is gaining increasing credence in consumer markets. Marketers need to get close to their customers to establish exchange relationships, and this “intimacy” is achieved using database technology and direct marketing communications. However, in implementing relationship marketing in this way, the potential exists for the use of technology to result in invasions of individual consumer privacy. The literature on relationship marketing and privacy are reviewed, and the findings of six exploratory focus group discussions, conducted in the UK, are presented. The study suggests that what some consumers define as “intrusion” is similar to what has been called “intimacy” by marketers. Nine propositions are presented which reflect the implications of current approaches to relationship marketing in consumer markets. In particular, the integral elements of meaningful relationships are absent or inhibited as a result of consumer concerns over intrusions of their privacy. Thus, marketers need to adapt their attitudes, behaviours, and processes in order to accommodate the participation of the consumer in the relationship. The implications for marketers are identified, and directions are offered for future research.     

International Executives,Identity Strategies and Mobility in France and China

The strategies of multinational firms increasingly rely in Asia Pacific Region on processes of socialising their employees, who are seeking to develop and reinforce a “global” company culture, without endangering the cultures of local subsidiaries. Specialists have coined the term “cross-cultural management”. A role of “company ambassador” is allocated to a new generation of international executives in Asia whose mission will be to play an effective role as interface between head office its the subsidiaries – and between the subsidiaries themselves – once they have been suitably “impregnated” with the company culture and the particular features of different markets.

The repeated experience of international mobility that executives live through means that the individual may well be living in conflict with previous identities. It is true to say that nobody stays long in an internationally mobile situation without running the risk of there being strong divergence between the domestic and residential worlds, the life of the community and the world of the company. This article has been written as a result of in-depth research into the way executives of a large French oil company built up their identities and as a result of a study examines intercultural learning based on French expatriates' experience in China. We consider how French expatriates experience China and what imaginary underlies their perception. Analysis of daily socialization and interaction processes shows intercultural competence develops along distinct immersion stages: immersion–adjustment, immersion–comprehension, and immersion–integration. Individually, adjustment and comprehension support intercultural practice. The ultimate immersion stage leads to enlightened pragmatism stemming from “nomadic intelligence”. Where a researcher in the social sciences or a business man might have expected to have found an homogenous international elite, international executives building an “international system”, the heterogeneous nature of the identity strategies of international executives give the lie to the myth of the large company as a space for the irreversible assimilation of its members. At an individual level, being an international executive is a unique way of living the experience abroad, or rather, several different ways of experiencing identity strategies linked to the manipulation of one's ethnicity in a context of significant geographical and functional mobility.     

Competition and Innovation in Luxembourg

This paper studies the empirical relation between market competition and innovation using Luxembourg’s Structural Business Statistics. The competitive pressure in Luxembourg’s markets is assessed by computing a profit elasticity measure, based on the idea of cost-efficiency. From this, the paper analyses the relation between competition and innovation performance by estimating an equation for the determinants of R&D expenditure. The results show that Luxembourg’s industries are characterised by low levels of competition intensity, especially in markets relevant to competition policy and regulation. The relation between competition and innovation is non-linear and depends crucially on the efficient use of inputs to production. The impact of the distribution of technological efficiency on innovation is assessed by measuring both average technology gap and technology spread. The innovation effort is increasing as industries are closer to the frontier, and decreasing in the technology spread.     

Antecedents and outcomes of digital influencer endorsement: An exploratory study

The advertising and marketing literature have established that celebrity endorsements constitute an effective way to enhance attitudes toward brands and increase purchase intents. However, there are no relevant studies on digital influencers. This study addresses the research gap by examining the effect of digital influencers' attractiveness and the effect of the congruence between a digital influencer and a brand on consumer attitudes and purchase intentions. By applying structural equation modeling to a sample of 307 followers of digital influencers, a model was tested and group analysis was performed for two categories (“entertainment & video games” and “fashion & beauty”). The results show that both brand attitudes and purchase intentions are influenced by the digital influencer's attractiveness (which includes both likeability and familiarity) and by the congruence between the digital influencer and the brand. This study makes several contributions to both theory and practice, which are highlighted in this paper.     

The Interrelationship Between Macroeconomic Variables and Stock Prices-The Case of China

ABSTRACT

Prior studies of industrialized countries have found that a definite relationship exists between the stock market returns and macroeconomic variables such as inflation and real output. This paper investigates the effects of changes in the consumer price index on industrial production and stock market returns for China. Six different types of Chinese shares are examined for the period 1994–1998. The results show a very significant positive relationship between inflation and real output. A positive and significant association is found between stock returns and real output in current periods. Inflation seems to have no impact on Chinese real stock returns. These relationships all hold for “B” shares, “H” shares and red chips. China's “A” share returns seem not to be impacted by either changes in domestic inflation or real industrial production.     

Effects of equal credit opportunity legislation in consumer finance lending

The objective of equal credit opportunity legislation (ECOL) is to eradicate discrimination against women and minority groups in the nation's consumer credit markets. Whether ECOL is successful and “benefits” such consumers is an empirical issues. Also, the “costs” of ECOL, if any, must be assayed. This article discusses these and related issues concerning the impact of ECOL. Against this background empirical findings from a nationwide consumer finance company are reviewed and implications for public policy are drawn.     

Victoria's Dirty Secrets

Abstract

“Donna Karan Bunny Butcher,” “Bloody Burberry”: Not-for-profit (NFP) campaigns regularly take brands hostage. These shock tactics are meant to bring publicity to targeted companies' practices that are deemed socially and environmentally irresponsible. The aim is to coerce such firms into complying with NFPs' demands, for fear of consumers' backlash. Surprisingly, there is scant evidence showing the impact of these messages on consumer behavior. This paper examines consumer response to messages targeting brands in the context of the luxury fashion industry. Two experiments, involving repeated measurement and between-subjects message manipulation (framing and target), were conducted. Results show that eco-involvement and product involvement are moderators of consumer response.     

Enhancing brand coolness through perceived luxury values: Insight from luxury fashion brands

Consumers of luxury brands have been described as seekers of products that can offer a signaling value to present to others but also a value for their self-concepts in an existentialist spirit potentially linked to being “cool or not.” Prior studies have conceptualized brand coolness and evaluated its impact on consumer responses to brands. However, few studies have contextualized the construct of brand coolness concerning luxury brand realism. We assessed the semiotic tension that luxury brand consumers feel between self-concept and self-presentation to others via a theoretical consideration of four antecedents of brand coolness: individual, social, financial, and functional luxury values; and one intentional outcome such as consumers' passionate desire to use luxury fashion brands. Our findings indicated that luxury values positively influence brand coolness, and brand coolness positively influences passionate desire. We further confirmed that brand coolness plays a complementary mediating role between luxury values and passionate desire. A final contribution is to invite brand managers to consider how luxury values and brand coolness might be used proactively to drive consumers' passionate desires in the relationships with luxury fashion brands.     

The institutional dimension of business ethics: An agenda for reflection research and action

The current discussion of business ethics is nothing new. In fact it has been a topic of common interest to both researchers and top managers since the mid fifties; the focus adjusting to issues and problems of the times. The authors of the article list four themes they believe to be of relevance for future discussion. First, ethics as an instrument of business behavior is entering a new dimension due to negative side effects of economic activities, which are even observed on a global scale and where it is doubtful that governments can adequately manage this complex environment. From this view, ethics becomes a decisive component of efficiency and requires a new way of thinking on the development of the market system and on a new delineation of responsibilities between government and markets. Second, in the process of transformation of the East-European states it seems to be all the more important to emphasize the ethical characteristics which are part of the concept of competition — the gains to the consumer due to the plurality of search and discovery procedures, the capability to correct and absorb wrong decisions, and the specific distributional ethics. Third, business ethics as an element of the firm's “guiding vision” has to be incorporated into its corporate culture, which will foster an institutional ethic of the firm — the joint effect of individual ethics within the history of the firm coupled with time and experience. Fourth, conflicting business philosophies must be judged with reference to the process of communication of business ethics. Summing up business ethics has a micro and macro component and is related to the individual firm as well as to the structure of the economic and social order. Ethics will, however, have a limited effect if it is not accompanied by the change in goals, structures and processes.     

The network of relationships between the economic environment and the entrepreneurial culture in small firms

In this article we maintain that the cultural evolution processes of small firms are strongly influenced by the type of relationships that they establish with the economic environment.In the first part of the article, the main points of the discussion are set forth. Here, the theoretical debate is presented and the existing relations between the entrepreneurial culture and the interaction of firms with their economic environment is analyzed. In the second part of the article, the methodologies adopted for the statistical analysis are explained, and the results of the empirical analysis are presented. Finally, in the third part the implications for practitioners, industrial policies, and future directions in research are discussed.The importance of openness to change in the entrepreneurial culture is a basic assumption in this study. It is well known that in small and medium firms, entrepreneurs often demonstrate “a resistance to change” that limits the firm's competitiveness. In some observed territorial and industrial contexts this resistance to change is determined by a cultural entrepreneurial homogeneity. This homogeneity is a result of the similarity of the social, educational, and entrepreneurial experiences of the subjects observed. Indeed, the entrepreneurs studied had, for generations, received the same education, lived in the same area, and come from the same social setting. This entrepreneurial culture is typified by distrust of innovation and discontinuity, which leads these entrepreneurs to favor already proven solutions and initiate the behaviors of others, rather than take innovative actions. Principal component analysis has been used to identify the influences that various factors, within and external to the firm, have in the forming of an entrepreneurial culture and thus on the openness of entrepreneurs and firms to learning. In the sample, a trade-off emerged between tendencies to homologous behaviors and the spirit of initiative. Through cluster analysis we identified categories of entrepreneurs with a different propensity to innovation regarding established firm routines. “Learning entrepreneurs” belong mainly to industries that serve the final consumer while “bounded entrepreneurs” tend to specialize in commodities more often for export.The implications of our results might interest new entrepreneurs who can include this element when analyzing the viability of new ventures. Small, already operational firms, can evaluate opportunities arising from export processes or might adjust their position on the production filiére to be closer to the final market.This empirical analysis should be reapplied to firms in areas with different environmental characteristics or to production filiéres where the relationship between customer and supplier is different, as for example in high-tech-industries, so as to verify whether the intensity of the relations with the market differs according to external factors or the technological intensity of the industries examined.