Cultural foodways in Sweden: repeated focus group interviews with Somalian women

The aim of this study was to provide increased understanding of what ‘feeding the family’ means to Somalian women in Sweden. Focus group interviews were carried out with Somalian women, analysed by means of the Grounded theory method. The results show that factors both in the family and in the outside world influenced their food choice and traditions, both in their home country of Somalia and in their new country, Sweden, after migration. The categories generated in the analysis were brought together in a model showing the women ‘struggling for their own cultural identity’ and oscillating between ‘remaining Somalian’ and ‘becoming part of Swedish society’, food being an important instrument in maintaining the cultural identity of their families. Cultural identity in this respect is a matter of the wishes of the husband, followed by those of the women and children and, at the same time, the strong pressure of the Swedish host country. This indicates how important it is for professionals to be aware of the trust people have in their own cultural food and therefore also how necessary it is to give culturally adapted food advice through public health work, in this case to Somalian families.     

Management of sustainable fashion retail based on reuse– A struggle with multiple logics

ABSTRACT

In scholarly conversations, reuse is one of the common suggested strategies to render fashion retail sustainable. Previous research has stressed the complexity of fashion reuse and the importance of a well-organized system. The complexity stems from processes that involve many actors as well as products hard to evaluate. Consequently, it is challenging to organize reuse-based fashion retail, and studies are needed to further develop knowledge regarding how to manage such systems. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to highlight the complexity in the management of such an initiative, by identifying and explaining obstacles as well as implications. With institutional logics as a framework, three local logics (shopping mall, reuse, and work integration) are used to analyze the management of a reuse-based mall. Despite the mall’s success in getting sufficient donations and creating publicity, it has struggled to establish itself as viable reuse-based fashion retail. The findings illustrate the complexity created by the interplay of different logics and how the complexity influences both the daily and strategic management of the mall. Further, the outcome of this interplay depends largely on which rationality is enacted by involved actors. The study also extends literature on institutional logics, showing that differences in individual actors’ attention, knowledge, skills, coordination, and material conditions influence how logics are enacted and managed. We suggest that there are inherent managerial contradictions in the sustainable practices in fashion retail. Thus, in scholarly conversations, it is important to discuss what different divergent sustainability dimensions imply when seeking solutions for sustainable retail. In practice, there is a need to acknowledge and balance the presence of multiple logics, making it crucial to have competence in all logics. Also, managers of reuse-based fashion retail must consciously and continuously scrutinize their own strategies and actions to avoid an imbalance between the logics.     

If Seebohm Rowntree had studied Sweden - how poverty changed in the city of Göteborg from 1925 to 2003

This paper investigates the development of poverty in Sweden using micro data derived from tax files for the city of G?teborg for the years 1925, 1936, 1947 and 1958, as well as more recent (1983, 1994 and 2003) information. We define poverty as living in a household with a disposable income lower than a poverty line that represents a constant purchasing power all years, as well as poverty lines defined as 60% of contemporary median income. Clear reductions of poverty from 1925 to 1947, as well as from 1958 to 1983, are found. We argue that an important poverty-reducing mechanism during both periods was narrowing earnings disparities. Further, we claim that the poverty reduction from the end of the 1950s to the first half of the 1980s was the outcome of improved transfer systems as well as the establishment of pronounced characteristics of present-day Sweden: the dual earner system.     

Let the music play or not: The influence of background music on consumer behavior

This study concerns the effect that music has on consumer behavior in two different retail contexts during regular opening hours. Two studies were conducted in a field setting with consumers (N=550). Consumers were recruited to answer questions regarding behavioral measures, attitudes, and mood during days when background music was played. The conclusions from the two studies are that music affects consumer behavior, but also that the type of retail store and gender influences both the strength and direction of the effect.     

Customer satisfaction with service recovery

This commentary is about the article, “Satisfaction with Service Recovery: Perceived Justice and Emotional Responses” (Rio-Lanza, Vázquez-Casielles, and Diaz-Martin, this issue). Never before have so many services been bought, sold, and consumed as they are today. Competition today is fierce. More and more services include a technology component that may limit customer/employee contacts and make services more complex. Retaining customers, therefore, becomes a very relevant issue that makes Rio-Lanza et al.'s research important. Researchers in service management have studied service recovery considerably. This article describes some of the general trends in research about customer satisfaction in connection to service recovery as well as Rio-Lanza et al.'s contribution.     

Affective Computing in Marketing: Practical Implications and Research Opportunities Afforded by Emotionally Intelligent Machines

After years of using AI to perform cognitive tasks, marketing practitioners can now use it to perform tasks that require emotional intelligence. This advancement is made possible by the rise of affective computing, which develops AI and machines capable of detecting and responding to human emotions. From market research, to customer service, to product innovation, the practice of marketing will likely be transformed by the rise of affective computing, as preliminary evidence from the field suggests. In this Idea Corner, we discuss this transformation and identify the research opportunities that it offers.

     

Charitable donations by China’s private enterprises

The number of private enterprises in China has grown rapidly, and donations from them are an important source of philanthropy in China today. This paper investigates donations made by private enterprises in 2011 using a survey of data covering all 31 provincial-level units of China. The data show that philanthropy practised by Chinese private enterprises is widespread, but the amounts of donations are unequally distributed. Furthermore, donations are positively related to a company’s profit and in most cases also to the owner’s political participation as expressed in membership in the People’s Congress (PC) as well as the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) at different levels. Donating is also positively related to the presence of a branch of the Communist Party of China and a trade union within the firm. In contrast, there is little support for donations being related to the characteristics of the major owner of the business, such as their gender, age, previous employment experience, party membership or to the governance structure or location of the private firms.     

Purchasing professional services: A transaction cost view of the antecedents and consequences of purchasing formalization

Professional services represent an increasing share of expenditures in contemporary organizations. While these services are often of strategic importance, they are also perceived as being difficult to purchase and use, which creates challenges for the purchasing process. In order to address these challenges, organizations are increasingly engaging in systematic efforts to improve their ability to purchase professional services. These efforts focus on formalizing the purchasing process by introducing policies, guidelines, and other measures for the hiring of service suppliers. Based on a transaction cost economic framework, the current paper investigates the nature, antecedents and consequences of formalization initiatives in the purchasing of professional services. The results from a cross-sectional study of 76 large Swedish organizations show that the formalization of purchasing professional services takes two different forms: the formulation of policies and the establishment of preferred supplier agreements. The former is driven by company size, whereas the latter is driven by the frequency of purchase transactions. Only the establishment of policies, however, is found to be positively related to organizations' perceived ability to purchase professional services.