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This study aims to identify the most important attributes that the consumer uses in the process of choosing wine, which can then be used by wine‐producing companies in marketing strategies.

The methodology consisted of a survey of 421 wine consumers using the best‐worst scaling methodology. Various consumer segmentations were made by gender, income and age groups.

The two main attributes that condition consumers in choosing wine are previous tasting and region of origin. The latter attribute is valued mainly by women and in general by consumers over 34 years old who have a net monthly family income above €1,500. The previously tasted attribute, which on many occasions is associated with the price attribute, is valued basically by men and particularly by younger consumers and those with lower incomes.

It must be pointed out that in the short term the basic strategy of wine‐producing enterprises from any given region of origin is to compete on price. However, in the long term increasing their prestige is all that remains to compete actively with the various regions of origin.

This paper contributes to a greater knowledge of Spanish consumer habits by analysing the most important wine attributes in the process of purchasing wine.

This article aims to analyse various wine differentiation strategies (price, origin, type and production system) to counteract the commercial success of new wine producers compared to traditional ones.

The methodology consisted of a survey of 400 Castilla‐La Mancha wine consumers during the month of March 2004, whose preferences were determined through several multivariate techniques.

Three consumer segments were identified: the first shops for wine mainly by price, the second, by origin and the third, by a combination of price and type of wine. In this sense, except for the first segment, where competition by a cheaper wine from other places could endanger the local market, possible strategies would be to continue emphasising origin in a traditional approach and to search for a new wine differentiation based on organic production. Both strategies, which can be carried out jointly, would require government backing in addition to support from the business sector.

This paper contributes to a greater knowledge of Spanish consumer habits by analysing the degree of influence that various factors have on attitudes towards the purchasing of wine.

The paper aims to measure the degree of influence that attributes such as price, origin, type and production system have on Spanish consumers when purchasing cheese, while also analysing various cheese differentiation strategies.

The methodology consisted in a survey of 420 Madrid (Spain) cheese consumers during the month of December 2006, whose preferences were determined through several multivariate techniques.

The first result derived from this paper is the negative influence of the organic production system attribute on the cheese consumer preference structure. Therefore, this attribute becomes an inadequate differentiation strategy for cheese, while origin is the most adequate differentiation. In this sense, three consumer segments are identified: the first, shops for cheese mainly by type, the second, by a combination of origin, type and price and the third, by an origin of cheese. In this sense, except for the first segment, where competition by a type of cheese from other places could endanger the local market, possible strategies would be to continue emphasizing origin in a traditional approach.

The paper highlights organic differentiation in products already differentiated and accepted by the consumer does not always contribute additional utility to the consumer. It does not matter whether this differentiation and acceptance comes from origin and/or traditional production, as is the case of Manchego cheese.

This study aims to identify how Spanish consumers’ extrinsic preferences for food have evolved by examining the extant literature on food preferences in Spain, focusing on food-related attributes and food-related values.

This study is based on a synthetic review of the extant academic literature on Spanish consumer preferences for food-related attributes and food-related values from the mid-20th to the 21st century. This study uses key economic and social milestones that are most likely to influence food value chain actors to show how consumer preferences have evolved over the study period.

Spanish consumer food attribute preferences expanded as the food sector of the nation continued to grow, and value preferences showed a similar pattern from the mid-20th to the 21st century. The drivers of these preferences were trust, lifestyle, education (campaigns), sociodemographic factors and purchasing power.

Evaluating the extant literature’s contribution to consumer preferences for food-related attributes and values is important because it can aid in understanding the hierarchy and variety of consumers’ food preferences as well as the factors that drive these preferences. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to explore how Spanish consumer preferences evolved between the mid-20th and 21st centuries.

Analyzing the main determinants that lead a traveler to make a cultural trip is an important issue to understand where the cultural tourism market is going, and where the decision-makers should intervene. This study helps develop a profile of cultural tourism participants, and underscore the changes in this market niche. This information is crucial for the successful marketing and development of cultural tourism in the future.

The authors estimate a binary probabilistic (logit) model to determine the probability of a tourist to travel for cultural reasons, as a function of the traveler's socio-economic characteristic (e.g. age, gender, income or level of studies), of the trip-related characteristics (e.g. distance traveled to destination or mode of transport) and of the characteristics of the province of destination (e.g. weather conditions or existence of cultural sites at destination).

This study’s estimates reveal that middle-aged individuals, with a higher level of studies and with a medium level of income show a higher propensity to travel for cultural reasons. The latter finding evidences that cultural tourism has evolved from a niche market reserved for an elite clientele to a much wider range of people. Additionally, cultural travelers tend to travel statistically much longer distances. They are less prone to visit crowded destinations, prefer visiting destinations with important cultural sites, and are less sensitive to weather conditions. Finally, the authors discover a complementary effect of culture tourism and other activities carried out during the trip such as visiting cities or theme parks; and a substitution effect with “beach-and-sun” tourism.

The information given in this study can be crucial for the successful marketing and development of cultural tourism in the future. A better understanding of the main determinants of being a cultural traveler implies a better and a more efficient implementation of managerial and political measures to attract a kind of tourism characterized by a high spending capacity.

Discovering the main determinants of being a cultural traveler is a topic scarcely treated in the literature. This study has the main originality to include characteristics of the destination (pull factors) to explain the individual's decision to take a cultural trip. Moreover, the authors work at a provincial (NUTS-3) level of analysis, which makes this study original in the field of cultural tourism.

Microbes that are able to grow on different surfaces can cause the deterioration of the underlying layers because of their metabolic activity. The purpose of this study is report the ability of fungi-bacteria consortium (FBC) in anaerobic media, and marine strain bacteria, to attach onto UNS 1008 carbon steel and zinc epoxy coats.

Impedance analysis, scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) were used to evaluate the adherence, biofilm formation and corrosion effect of FBC and marine bacteria onto UNS1008 carbon steel in anaerobic and aired conditions, respectively. In a similar way, the anticorrosive performance of hybrid coats on UNS 1008 carbon steel against marine bacteria.

In aerobic conditions, the outer layer shows a micro-crack appearance and several semi-sphere products that could be because of spore formation. In anaerobic conditions, evidence of iron sulfide surrounded by a mixture of sulfur-containing extracellular polymer substance was observed by SEM images and EDS analysis. The presence of hybrid coats (zinc epoxy with carbon nanotubes CNT content) affected the level of microbial adherence and the concentration of corrosion products (Fe₂O₃, Fe(OH)₂ and FeS); the cell attachment was lower when the steel surface was coated with Zn/CNTs.

This study opens a window for further evaluations of CNTs associated with metals as active materials to assess the corrosion on extreme corrosive environments, like in oil and gas industries the microorganisms play an important role either to increase or reduce the corrosion processes.

In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, technology is rewriting the way consumers shop as well as the retail operating models. In this context, investment in new technologies is a strategic imperative for retailers striving to remain relevant and profitable. Using Kahn's Retail Success Matrix as the conceptual framework, the aim of the study is to propose a classification of emerging technologies based on their potential for sustaining retailers' competitive strategies.

Following an initial qualitative study based on in-depth interviews and focus groups with 20 retail managers, the authors collected survey data from a sample of 168 retail and technology professionals. To achieve the research objectives, content, descriptive and multiple correspondence factor analyses were carried out.

The data analyses result on a map that plots the technological solutions that retail experts identify as enablers of four key competitive strategies: product superiority, enhanced customer experience, frictionless shopping experience and operational excellence.

This research work provides valuable insight into how retail companies can capitalise on technology to create or reinforce their competitive positioning. The framework acts as a guide for retail companies to assess their technology priorities.

This exploratory empirical study is the result of a collaboration between academic researchers and retail professionals. Thus, it addresses challenges experienced by key stakeholders. The encompassing classification enables a better understanding of the impact of technology on retailers' competitive positioning.

Off-premise restaurant service has a new addition – food delivery robots. This new technology and off-premise service, in general, has received little research attention, despite continued year-over-year sales growth for both carry-out and delivery. Therefore, this study aims to analyze off-premise service modes, including food delivery robots, for service quality gaps between consumer expectations and actual performance and among the various modes.

Performance of three off-premise restaurant service modes (robot-delivery, human-delivery and carry-out) were evaluated using a mixed-methods approach. Consumer expectations were ascertained about food- and service-related performance factors using a survey, and a field observation study was conducted to obtain actual performance data for these factors. Findings from both approaches were compared to identify gaps and differences.

For food-related performance, consumers reported lower expectations for food safety and food quality from robot- and human-delivered food; however, no differences were observed among the three modes in the field study. Consumers also expected lower service-related performance from robot-delivery for service efficiency and ease of use (than human-delivery and carry-out) and monetary value (than carry-out). Consumers deemed robots the most sustainable and human-delivery the most convenient compared to other modes – however, not all service-related expectations aligned with actual performances.

This study was the first to comparatively examine off-premise restaurant service. Identification of a missing link in service gap analysis was among the theoretical contributions of this study. Managerially, this study provides previously unavailable insights into opportunities for improvement for off-premise service and use of delivery robots.

Understanding belonging provides a better insight into the structural, political, cultural and gendered elements of entrepreneurship. This paper aims to focus on Mexican female entrepreneurs’ (MFE) experiences in managing material and affective aspects of entrepreneurial belonging during the start-up and transition phase to become an established business owner.

The narrative analysis is based on qualitative interview data with 11 MFE in Mexico.

The analysis reveals that MFEs’ sense of belonging evolves from self-oriented to more socially-oriented identity claims. In the former, the need to “fit in” and achieve material aspects of belonging is intertwined with gender and family responsibilities. In the latter, the need to “stand out” and achieve affective aspects of belonging is intertwined with validating entrepreneurial achievements by challenging gendered assumptions and helping others through the notion of “sisterhood.”

The paper extends the understanding of the relation of material and affective aspects of belonging as an “evolving” process from the nascent stage to the established stage of entrepreneurship. Within the evolving process of entrepreneurial belonging, a shift from material to affective aspects unveils a theoretical framework that relates belonging, gender and entrepreneurship in context. This process seems to regulate entrepreneur’s agency in what they interpret as acceptable while standing up against challenges and legitimizing belonging through the emergence of a “sisterhood.”

The purpose of this paper is to do the reliability and validity analysis of existing frameworks in lean services through questionnaire survey. Furthermore, it explores the applicability of these frameworks in Indian service sector.

A questionnaire survey was floated to 423 lean/quality practitioners in four service sectors in India. The questionnaire has two parts where first part was for collecting the demographic information of respondents and the second part assesses the importance of initiatives identified by various scholars/consultants under different frameworks of lean services. The assessment was done on five-point Likert scale.

The results indicate that majority of services have adopted lean/process improvement methodology for enhancing operational excellence/performance and customer satisfaction. The study finds that all frameworks display a high level of reliability. Only nine out of eighteen lean service frameworks have displayed unidimensionality with respect to the construct, Lean. No generalised framework for lean services is available. Some essential elements such as servicescapes and change management are not present in any framework. Most of the frameworks are sector specific; thus, there is requirement for a suitable lean service framework.

The data were collected only from four sectors in Indian service industry. Future researchers may test these frameworks for other service sectors and country.

This is the first paper empirically validating the lean service frameworks. The findings of the paper will be of value to lean service practitioners. It helps the quality professionals to recognise a suitable lean service framework to implement in their respective organisation.