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Advises retailers that traditional strategies will not be adequate to cope with trends such as unprecedented customer diversity, market polarization and dominant mega‐retailers. Explains what capabilities will retailers need to remain relevant to demanding customers. Suggests how retail executives should begin preparing to embrace fundamental change and become truly customer‐centric.

Using scenario techniques to examine retailing in 2010, the authors explore a “world of extremes”. In it retailers will face a consumer marketplace defined by unprecedented social diversity, competitive intensity and market complexity.

As the marketplace polarizes across a variety of dimensions, corporate thinking needs to shift from “bell curves” – where firms try to serve a generic mass market but do not meet anyone's needs particularly well – to “well curves” – where companies drive growth by applying distinct business models in each part of their business to deliver the greatest value to explicitly defined groups of customers. In 2010, retailers will succeed to the extent that they abandon the undifferentiated middle and focus their organizations on serving the extremes of the demand curve, even if they play both sides.

This is one scenario from a set of possible futures for retailing in 2010.

By learning how the world of extremes scenario is being shaped by long‐running social and industry trends which, when added together, will bring about fundamental changes in the retail market, business can anticipate what steps they must take now to prepare for survival and success in 2010. These include: Craft an exceedingly focused, distinctive brand proposition; Drive customer‐valued innovation through deeper insight; Optimize core activities through systematic intelligence; Realign the organization to operationalize customer centricity.

Based on research at the IBM Institute for Business Value and work with clients worldwide, IBM Consulting identified five key “mega‐trends” that are redrawing the rules of competition for retailers: Customer value drivers fragment; Customers become more guarded; Information exposes all; Mega‐retailers break the boundaries; Partnering becomes pervasive.

Background: Artificial intelligence (AI) is a booming sector that has profoundly influenced every walk of life, and the education sector is no exception. In education, AI has helped to develop novel teaching and learning solutions that are currently being tested in various contexts. Businesses and governments across the globe have been pouring money into a wide array of implementations, and dozens of EdTech start-ups are being funded to capitalise on this technological force. The penetration of AI in classroom teaching is also a profound matter of discussion. These have garnered massive amounts of student big data and have a significant impact on the life of both students and educators alike.

Purpose: The prime focus of this chapter is to extensively review and analyse the vast literature available on the utilities of AI in health care, learning, and development. The specific objective of thematic exploration of the literature is to explicate the principal facets and recent advances in the development and employment of AI in the latter. This chapter also aims to explore how the EdTech and healthcare–education sectors would witness a paradigm shift with the advent and incorporation of AI.

Design/Methodology/Approach: To provide context and evidence, relevant publications were identified on ScienceDirect, PubMed, and Google Scholar using keywords like AI, education, learning, health care, and development. In addition, the latest articles were also thoroughly reviewed to underscore recent advances in the same field.

Results: The implementation of AI in the learning, development, and healthcare sector is rising steeply, with a projected expansion of about 50% by 2022. These algorithms and user interfaces economically facilitate efficient delivery of the latter.

Conclusions: The EdTech and healthcare sector has great potential for a spectrum of AI-based interventions, providing access to learning opportunities and personalised experiences. These interventions are often economic in the long run compared to conventional modalities. However, several ethical and regulatory concerns should be addressed before the complete adoption of AI in these sectors.

Originality/Value: The value in exploring this topic is to present a view on the potential of employing AI in health care, medical education, and learning and development. It also intends to open a discussion of its potential benefits and a remedy to its shortcomings.

This study aims to add to the gift giving literature by examining how the wealth of a recipient impacts giver spending. The authors tested the hypotheses that givers spend more on wealthy (vs unwealthy) recipients, partially because givers anticipate a greater difference in gift-liking across expensive and cheap gifts when the recipient is wealthy, and partially because givers are more motivated to signal that they are of high financial status when the recipient is wealthy. The authors also tested whether givers’ tendency to spend more on wealthy (vs unwealthy) recipients attenuates when the recipient is someone with whom the giver has a negative (vs positive) relationship.

Eight experimental studies tested the hypotheses. These studies had participants act as givers, consider giving a gift to either a wealthy or unwealthy recipient and indicate how much money they would spend on the gift. Some studies included additional measures to test potential mediators, while another included an additional manipulation to test a potential boundary condition.

Gift givers spend more on gifts for wealthy (vs unwealthy) recipients, for two main reasons. On the one hand, givers are influenced by an other-oriented motive – they wish for their gift to be well-liked by the recipient and anticipate a greater difference in recipient gift-liking across expensive and cheap gifts when the recipient is wealthy. On the other hand, givers are influenced by a self-oriented motive – they wish to signal to the recipient that they are of high financial status, but this desire is stronger when the recipient is wealthy. Critically, givers are relatively unlikely to spend more on wealthy (vs unwealthy) recipients when they have a negative (vs positive) relationship with the recipient.

The authors studied how the wealth of the gift recipient influences givers’ gift expenditure, but they did not examine the recipient’s perspective. Future research could address this by exploring whether recipients’ gift preferences vary based on their wealth.

Gift purchases account for a significant portion of worldwide consumer spending, making gift giving an important topic for consumers and marketers alike. The present research sheds light on a factor that has a notable impact on how much consumers spend on a gift when faced with a gift giving decision.

This manuscript contributes to the gift giving literature by exploring an important aspect that influences consumer gift expenditure (the wealth of the recipient), demonstrating a novel gift giving phenomenon [that givers spend more when giving to relatively wealthy (vs unwealthy) recipients], and shedding new light on the psychology of consumers in gift giving contexts (namely, how givers’ perceptions of recipient gift-liking, their desire to send signals of high financial status and their relationship with the recipient can influence their gifting decisions).

Julian Barling received his PhD in 1979 from the University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa) and is currently associate dean with responsibility for the graduate and research programs. Julian is the author/editor of several books, including Employment, Stress and Family Functioning (1990, Wiley) and The Psychology of Workplace Safety (1999, APA). He is senior editor of the Handbook of Work Stress (2005, Sage) and the Handbook of Organizational Behavior (2008, Sage), and he is the author of well over 150 research articles and book chapters. Julian was formerly the editor of the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology. In 2002, Julian received the National Post's “Leaders in Business Education” award and Queen's University's Award for Excellence in Graduate Student Supervision in 2008. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, SIOP, APS, and the European Academy of Occupational Health Psychology. He is currently involved in research on leadership, work stress, and workplace aggression.

This study aims to investigate the effect of color temperature on consumption. Color is one of the most powerful elements of sensory marketing. However, how warm and cool colors drive consumer indulgence and interact with other visual cues is minimally understood.

This research conducts six experiments to investigate the effect of eight warm and cool colors and the effect of warm/cool color’s interaction with reflectance on indulgent consumption/use in various retail environments.

Studies 1a and 1b support the contrasting effects of warm vs cool colors on consumers’ indulgent consumption. Studies 2a and 2b establish the serial mediating role of arousal and self-reward focus in the color-indulgence relationship. Study 3a demonstrates the interactive effect of warm (vs cool) colors and glossy (vs matte) reflectance on consumer indulgence, and Study 3b confirms how glossy (vs matte) reflectance moderates the serial mediating effect of arousal and self-reward focus in the color-indulgence relationship.

This research contributes to the growing stream of research on the visual aspect of sensory marketing, especially color, and advances the theoretical knowledge of how color could be used effectively to influence consumer indulgence.

This research provides actionable managerial implications on the effective use of warm and cool colors and glossy and matte reflectance to influence consumer indulgence.

This research advances the theoretical and empirical knowledge of color’s interaction with other visual sensory cues and the underlying psychological processes shaping consumer indulgence.

Purpose – In this chapter, I present a systematic discussion of the relationship between social work (SW) and library and information science (LIS) and explore how SW can contribute to the education of LIS practitioners so that they become more than information facilitators and grow professionally to be true agents of change.

Design/Methodology/Approach – Using engagement with immigrant communities as a case in point and building on the empirical comparative study of public librarians in the Greater Toronto Area and New York City, I outline the current gaps and deficiencies of LIS curricula that can be rectified through blended education. I also integrate the potential contributions of SW into LIS through the case study of an immigrant member of a library community.

Findings – Building on the case study, I introduce a four-tiered model that can be applied to a wide array of courses in LIS programs and conclude with suggestions for taking steps toward blending SW perspectives into the LIS curriculum.

Originality/Value – I position the potential fusion of SW and LIS as “professional blendedness,” which serves as a catalyst for change, and also examine the concept of the blended professional as a change agent. I introduce the rationale for adopting theoretical, practical, and pedagogical approaches from SW in the field of LIS and focus on four specific contributions that can most benefit LIS:

• the person-in-environment approach;

• the strengths perspective and empowerment;

• the interrelated notions of cultural competence, diversity, and intersectionality; and

• the theory-mindedness approach (including theory and practice models).

the person-in-environment approach;

the strengths perspective and empowerment;

the interrelated notions of cultural competence, diversity, and intersectionality; and

the theory-mindedness approach (including theory and practice models).

This study aims to provide insights into glocalisation of international channels of distribution. The study also seeks to identify the key principles and patterns of glocalisation in general.

The authors utilise the single case study approach to study glocalisation in international channels of distribution by conducting in‐depth interviews with the firm's senior executives.

Results reveal that the firm employs glocal channels of distribution strategies. The study specifically identifies two types of glocalisation: inter‐decision and intra‐decision, and it is found that the firm follows a combination of both. The findings also suggest that the decision on how to glocalise channel strategies is based upon the firm's global practices as well as several local conditions specific to individual markets.

The study concludes that there is no uniform formula to pursue glocalisation. Firms may choose to pursue inter‐decision or intra‐decision glocalisation, or a combination of both. However, the decision should be based on a careful assessment of the firm's global philosophy, the channel decision involved, and ground realities in each market.

The study shows how glocalisation can be applied to international channel strategies. The study fills the gap in prior literature by throwing light on the lesser understood “global dimension” of a glocal strategy. The study may be the first to identify different types of glocal strategies and thus offers relevant insights into the concept of glocalisation. The study also adds to the limited knowledge on practicable application of glocalisation among both academics and practitioners.

Examines the determinants of International Joint Venture marketing performance in Thailand. Uses the results from a survey of 1047 Thai‐foreign IJVs in Thailand from firms that were mainly engaged in agriculture, metal working, electrical and chemical industries. Applies exploratory factor analysis and discriminant analysis to identify these critical determinants as market characteristics, conflict, commitment, marketing orientation and organisational control.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a selected bibliography of recent resources on library instruction and information literacy.

The paper introduces and annotates periodical articles, monographs, and audiovisual material examining library instruction and information literacy.

The findings provide information about each source, discusses the characteristics of current scholarship, and describes sources that contain unique scholarly contributions and quality reproductions.

The information may be used by librarians and interested parties as a quick reference to literature on library instruction and information literacy.