Search results

The consumer behaviour literature is evolving towards the assumption that products are inherently experiential bundles, and after all, all businesses are operating within the experienced economy. Experiences are much more advantageous for the consumers because they advance happiness or enjoyment of life (instead of survival or maintenance). Experiential purchases lead to greater happiness levels compared to material purchases. Reliance on materialism and material purchases is shown to be the reason of low happiness levels in even the most affluent countries.

In this chapter, based on theoretical as well as empirical papers, I analyse experiences and the consumption of experiences in the Turkish context. The arguments are supported by up-to-date market analysis of related industries conducted by independent market research agencies. The first section looks at the rise of experientialism in retail industries, such as in the case of shopping malls. The following sections touch upon main experiential categories such as tourism, dining and sports. Finally, the social aspects of experiences are discussed in the context of third-place experiences, and some empirical findings are presented. The chapter concludes with some recommendations for practitioners, experience designers, service providers as well as researchers.

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting‐edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

The paper finds that over the last few years social networking has established itself as the latest in a line of internet trends. Given the extraordinary growth in popularity of such networks, it was only a matter of time before people woke up to the commercial possibilities offered. Internet users in many countries are catching the networking bug. In the UK, for instance, 20 percent of all online visitors admit to regularly logging on to pioneering sites like Facebook, MySpace and Bebo among others. Such developments have not gone unnoticed among advertisers. As a result, many remain enthralled by the prospect of promoting their brands to an audience that continues to increase in numbers at a healthy rate. For networking platforms, the battle has therefore commenced. And the aim is to attract leading brand advertisers by developing appropriate strategies that will allow marketers to target their consumers more effectively.

The paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.

Word‐of‐mouth (WOM) marketing has become a key focus for many organisations. However, little research has sought to identify the dimensionality of WOM. The present research project aims to describe the development of a 12‐item measure that can be used to assess WOM at an individual message level for positive and negative WOM and among givers and receivers of WOM.

The research includes four studies, a qualitative focus group phase and quantitative phases involving surveys of over 2,000 consumers representing givers and receivers of positive and negative WOM.

Three distinct dimensions emerged. Two (cognitive content and richness of content) reflect the composition of the message, while the third, termed strength of delivery, reflects the manner of delivery. The scale has strong psychometric properties and was found to be generalisable in the four contexts – sending positive/negative messages and receiving positive/negative messages.

The authors addressed consumers' WOM messages solely in a one‐to one‐context. The results cannot automatically be extended to a variety of other media, which requires future research. Further, the authors did not test the measure in a goods context.

The scale has a variety of potential applications and can serve as a framework for further empirical research in this important area.

While much previous research on WOM relates to the sending of positive WOM, this scale has applicability across four WOM contexts, positive and negative giving and positive and negative receiving.

The purpose of this paper is to address the issues of luxury gift giving and the giving of luxury wines as gifts from a conceptual perspective.

The article considers the OA (aesthetic and ontology) model as proposed by Berthon et al. that permits the integration of various conceptualisations of different authors in the area of luxury branding. The model offers a typology of luxury brands that draws on Heidegger's theory of arts and Whitehead's process philosophy. This means that one can differentiate luxury brands along two dimensions: aesthetics and ontology.

The paper contends that the four modes as set out in the AO model of Berthon et al. can be used as a typology of luxury wines, from both gift giving, and gift receiving, perspectives.

Luxury wine marketers can make use of the proposed typology to target wine gift givers effectively, by understanding where on the proposed matrix both the giver and the receiver are positioned. The four modes that emerge can be seen as different target markets, with different motivations and different behaviors with regard to luxury wines as gifts.

By applying the OA model to luxury wines and specifically to the giving and receiving of luxury wines, this paper offers wine marketers the insight to formulate different marketing mix strategies based on the different target markets that emerge from the proposed model.

This paper aims to address the emerging post-millennium trends in co-creational marketing, in the context of how these trends apply to the recorded and live sectors of the music industry. Consideration of marketing as a broadened concept to include societal processes has implications not only for the marketing concept itself, but also for the roles of the parties implicitly involved in the marketing process. Therefore, the standard and polarising marketing clichés of “firm and customer”, “buyer and seller”, and “producer and consumer” may be replaced with a more contemporary marketing approach in which value can be created and shared by either party.

Initially the paper provides a review of contemporary literature on co-creational aspects of marketing and a subsequent identification of typologies of co-creation practices. Conceptual frameworks pertaining to the relationships of these typologies are then proposed. An extensive review and analysis of journal articles, industry reports and news sources on music industry marketing was conducted. From this review and analysis, 30 examples of co-creational marketing were identified. The music industry was chosen as it constitutes a relevant and contemporary marketing context due to the existence of interactive technology and changing consumer preferences regarding their interaction with music intermediaries and against a context of digital piracy.

Five typologies of co-creational marketing were found to be relevant to the music industry. Key examples of co-creational marketing within the music industry are discussed and analysed in relation to the identified typologies and conceptual frameworks.

The relevancy of co-creational marketing practices to the music industry is investigated, followed by consideration of managerial implications and future research directions.

The theoretical prospect of value co-creation through active consumer contributions to the marketing process is not revolutionary or new, but the implications of such a potential shift in power or influence have developed into a contemporary challenge for marketers.

This article aims to assess the standard local recommended management of women with severe pre‐eclampsia and eclampsia in relation to recommendations in a national clinical guideline using a criterion‐based survey.

A total of 227 maternity units in the UK were asked to provide a copy of their guideline for the management of severe pre‐eclampsia and eclampsia. Responses were obtained from 107 units (47.1 per cent), 37 units were using regional guidelines and 72 guidelines were available for assessment. A total of ten audit criteria were agreed by committee, based on national recommendations. Guidelines were then audited to assess concurrence with these criteria.

The standard of guidelines was highly variable with only four guidelines (4.5 per cent) satisfying all ten key guideline points. The majority of guidelines had clear criteria for inclusion (87.5 per cent) but in almost a quarter of all guidelines no mention was made of informing consultant staff once these criteria were met.

The study shows that the standard of local guidelines for management of these potentially fatal conditions is highly variable. Confidential inquiry has repeatedly recommended the use of regional guidelines. Perhaps it is time for the development of a national guideline representing consensus agreement of an evidence‐based approach.

In the UK eclampsia and pre‐eclampsia continue to be a leading cause of maternal mortality and morbidity. This paper provides a valuable insight into the standard of guidelines used in the management of these conditions.

In 1971, Kilby likened research about the psychology of entrepreneurs to search for a “heffalump”, with no convincing descriptions resulting from the research. This paper surveys later research which compares entrepreneurs with other people, and concludes that more is now known about the psychology of entrepreneurs, but that entrepreneurs are not as different from other groups within the general population, managers included, as was once assumed.

Corporate finance, strategic financial management, financial innovation and financial engineering.

The case is suitable for graduate level management students.

In early April 2011, Mr Ramakrishnan, the CFO of Tata Power Ltd and members of his team were busy re-evaluating fundraising options for financing Tata Power's capital expenditure requirements, for refinancing of debt, for working capital related to current projects and for liquidity to support potential acquisition bids. The team had the task of evaluating different innovative funding options as the challenge was to strike a fine balance between maintaining the owners' equity without dilution of control and avoiding any adverse impact on credit rating that could increase the cost of capital; these constraints reduced flexibility for fund raising. Keeping in mind the global market scenario and estimating the investor appetite were factors critical to the structuring of a funding instrument.

The case will help students to be comfortable in thinking about evaluating markets, financial instruments and weigh rating considerations and regulatory constraints for taking capital structure decisions.

Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.