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The purpose of this chapter is to explore the interaction between access-based consumption (ABC) and consumer culture in the specific context of baby products, and connect the two streams of consumer research and design theory, by associating ABC with product service systems (PSS) which are seen as desirable as they offer a promise of sustainability.

Within an action research approach consisting of the establishment of a pilot service provision, we conducted ethnographies including in-depth interviews and focus groups.

The adoption of access-based provisions is constrained by low compatibility with consumer culture. Consumers are concerned with the provision’s ability to satisfy their needs, what this mode of consumption says about them, and the extent to which it associates them with communities of practice.

The limitations are the typical ones of action research, which is linked to a unique, researcher-generated context where the researcher is also a participant, and therefore are difficult to generalize.

The large-scale implementation of PSS underpinning ABC is problematic as it challenges consumers’ needs for self-expression and affiliation; however, we found that consumers in this specific context are responsive to the environmental efficiency of PSS.

Our research explores the intersection between consumer research and design, and consumers’ response to sustainable business models which underpin ABC.

Finding an efficient way for enhancing brand reputation by using social media among customers and business partners has long been the main purpose of every business. However, due to micro and macro changes in the business field, strategies to find a way to improve brand reputation with business partners and customers have altered from transaction marketing to newer approaches such as employing a social media platform. However, not all brands make use of social media to enhance their reputation. The present study uses Apple as an example of the one of the best known brands which does not benefit from social media platforms as to the degree expected.

A country image is a generic construct created by a wide range of factors as representative products, national characteristics, economic and political backgrounds, history and traditions. In times when environmental protection and performance have become two of the world’s most important priorities, such a general view of a particular country should include green dimensions as well. Literature review suggests a lack of literature on the coexistence of country image and green orientation. The goal of the chapter is to bridge the gap in the research literature about the green image of a country and to explore the level of awareness of its existence among tourists. Therefore, after secondary (desk) research, primary (field) research in two stages was conducted. Both qualitative and quantitative techniques were used in both stages. Firstly, group interviews were conducted among tourists in the capital of Croatia. Then, a survey was carried out with 250 tourists who shared their perception of the environmental practices in Croatia. The research results indicate that Croatia has a green image mostly because of its unspoiled nature and natural food assortment. However, the implementation of environmentally responsible activities is lacking, especially those related to waste and energy management, as well as fundamental knowledge and experience of Croatian citizens on how ecological awareness contributes to higher quality of life.

This chapter discusses whether marketing can ever be Islamic given the common view of marketing functions as unsustainable and sometimes unethical, for example, how marketing promotes materialism.

This chapter reviews extant literatures in Islamic marketing, with a particular emphasis on stakeholder orientation in marketing.

We argue that Islamic marketing is indeed compatible with the concepts of ethical and sustainable marketing encompassing social, environmental as well as economic perspectives and encourages ethical behaviour.

This chapter highlights that discussions on Islamic marketing should include sustainable marketing and emphasises the growing importance of stakeholder orientation in marketing.

This paper aims to examine O'Shaughnessy and O'Shaughnessy's response to accusations about marketing's detrimental impact on society.

A review of the empirical research on consumerism and materialism to date.

Indicates that consumerism is associated with reduced personal wellbeing and that the rise of consumerism parallels the rise of modern marketing to a remarkable extent, although in both cases the causal direction is unclear.

The paper proposes further research to help understand to what extent it is possible to work within the current market economy structures to reduce the incidence and harms of consumerism.

The main contribution of this paper is that it shows that the association between marketing practice and the harms of consumerism may be greater than it is generally believed to be by marketing academics.

This paper proposes a rejoinder to the O'Shaughnessy and O'Shaughnessy rejoinder to “Service dominant logic: a necessary step”, the commentary on their previous criticism of service‐dominant logic.

This paper is a critical analysis of O'Shaughnessy and O'Shaughnessy's comments.

The paper finds that O'Shaughnessy and O'Shaughnessy's comments are, according to their own admission, contrived, without regard to or familiarity with the body of work they criticise. The work they disparage includes not only its own but, by implication, that contributed by a large and growing number of scholars worldwide who find service‐dominant logic a useful, informed and informing orientation to the market and marketing.

Scholars are encouraged to continue to collaborate and contribute to the development and advancement of service‐dominant logic as an ongoing, open‐source endeavour.

This paper suggests that, whereas serious debate and dialogue about service‐dominant logic, including that which is critical, are encouraged and are essential to meaningful advancement, it is probably best to disregard the less useful criticism contained in O'Shaughnessy and O'Shaughnessy's rejoinder, and move on to more serious work.

The librarian and researcher have to be able to uncover specific articles in their areas of interest. This Bibliography is designed to help. Volume IV, like Volume III, contains features to help the reader to retrieve relevant literature from MCB University Press' considerable output. Each entry within has been indexed according to author(s) and the Fifth Edition of the SCIMP/SCAMP Thesaurus. The latter thus provides a full subject index to facilitate rapid retrieval. Each article or book is assigned its own unique number and this is used in both the subject and author index. This Volume indexes 29 journals indicating the depth, coverage and expansion of MCB's portfolio.