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Prior work underscores the important role of customer advocacy for brands. The purpose of this study is to explore the critical role customers can play as brand heroes. The authors developed and validated a measurement scale composed of properties that are derived from distinct brand hero motivational mechanisms.

The authors conducted one exploratory pilot, using semi-structured interviews, with industry and academic experts, and employed three main studies across varying brands and market settings.

This study explores and empirically demonstrates how the brand hero scale (BHS) is related to, yet distinct from, existing scales of opinion leaders, market mavens, attachment and customer advocacy. The six-item BHS demonstrates convergent, discriminant, nomological and predictive validity across several different brand contexts.

This research extends the extant body of work by identifying and defining brand heroes, developing and validating a parsimonious BHS, and demonstrating how its predictive validity extends both to a range of key advocacy and loyalty customer behaviors.

The study provides provocative insights for marketing researchers and brand managers and ascertains the important role heroes may play for brands in terms of strong customer advocacy and loyalty behaviors.

Building on the theory of meaning, this study shows that identifying and working with brand heroes is of great managerial importance and offers critical avenues for future research.

Describes the origins and development of the companies that merged to form Storehouse in 1985; and the overall performance of the group in the subsequent five years. Highlights the failure of entrepreneurial leadership under Selim Zilkha and then Terence Conran; and the problems of such different component companies forming one group. Each component company was so different that it ultimately proved to be impossible to develop an integrated strategy for the whole group. Presently, the only companies prospering are BhS and Mothercare; the two companies that initially had good control systems.

Examines the competition between three chain stores – Marks & Spencer, British Home Stores and Littlewoods – in a localised area of West central Scotland. Traces the growth of multiple groups, with chain stores accounting for 36% of retail sales in 1970 and 42% by 1978. Uses a survey of consumers entering each store to analyse: Whether consumers have distinct perceived image profiles of each store; Whether these profiles can be used as a basis for segmenting customers; Whether these profiles are consistent with the image that the store wishes to project through its marketing strategy. Studies the group marketing strategy of each company with relation to distribution, promotion, price and products. Concludes Marks & Spencer customers are highly demanding but extremely loyal, while no such levels of loyalty exist in Littlewoods and British Home Stores.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of radio frequency identification (RFID) deployment at an airport baggage‐handling system (BHS).

The impact of number of RFID readers at different power levels with varying conveyor (i.e. baggage‐handling conveyors) speeds on timely delivery of baggage is studied via simulation. The layout of the BHS at the Hong Kong International Airport and data pertinent to its RFID deployment in 2005 are used to build the simulation model. The RFID read logic is based on the equations defined as a function of the number of tags and the time the tags spend in the interrogation zone for each reader in order to capture possible read‐rate issues realistically.

The identification capability of the BHS studied in this paper is a result of its combined ability to identify tags via RFID technology on straight and circulating conveyors, as well as at the manual recovery station for unidentified bags on circulating conveyors. Overall, timely delivery of bags to gates, as a performance metric, increases as the identification capability is improved. The controllable factors that affect the identification capability are the conveyor speed, which determines the time a tag stays in the interrogation zone; the reader antenna power level, which determines the size of the interrogation zone; and the number of reader antennas in the system that increases the likelihood of not missing tags. This paper shows that “the higher the number of reader antennas and the higher the power level on them, the better” approach is not correct.

Unlike typical simulation studies related to RFID deployment where read‐rate issues are considered to be non‐existent, this paper captures read rate in a realistic manner in the simulation model by incorporating the effect of number of RFID tags in the interrogation zone and time that RFID tags spend in the interrogation zone due to baggage conveyor speed. Such a simulation approach can be used as a system design tool in order to investigate the impact of RFID‐specific parameters on system‐level performance.

Poses the question: does psychometric testing have a role within counselling? States that many advocate the true face of counselling as humanistic, which poses a problem for the use of psychometric tests. States that in a counsellor’s first meeting with a client, some form of assessment or evaluation takes place in order to inform the counsellor of the severity of the client’s problem. Briefly details various early tests, and continues by focusing on the Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS) and Rust Inventory of Schizotypal Cognitions (RISC). Describes both scales: applies their uses in clinical settings; outlines behavioural and psychodynamic uses of these tests; illustrates effectiveness through a number of case studies and vignettes. Concludes that it is up to the individual counsellors how they choose to conduct a counselling sessions, or whether they use such psychometric tests.

To bring together different takes on Marks & Spencer's turnaround since 2004, offering comments from CEO Stuart Rose and a comparison to the current fortunes of Philip Green's rival store Bhs.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments.

Though Stuart Rose may well claim that there are no hard feelings between him and Philip Green, there's a reasonable chance that Green may not find himself feeling quite so amicable. In 2004, Rose moved from Green's retailing group Arcadia to head up Marks & Spencer, knowing full well of Green's takeover plans. He resisted the approach and has spent the time since then successfully rebuilding trust in the longstanding M&S's brand. Meanwhile, Green's declaration of war on M&S has thus far got him nowhere fast. His rival store Bhs has failed to even approach the targets he set for the company, and as M&S has grown, Bhs has fumbled. Whether or not Rose and Green are friends in private, in business they remain rivals. So where might Green do well to notice his opponent's recent strategy?

Suggests a very simple approach to retail strategy and illustrates its potential success with a case study of M&S.

The paper illustrates how a longstanding but threatened brand resisted a hostile takeover and won back its fans by returning to simple and traditional business values. It offers direct comments from top staff at M&S and considers the position of M&S's rivals and analysts.

Here we have the opportunity to take a detailed look at the mechanics of distribution as A.C.S. Hawes, Director of BHS, describes the day‐to‐day organisation of their Atherstone Distribution Centre. He leads us through the decision to centralise their operations, their strategic plan, the organisation of the movement of goods, manning levels and the flow of goods through the centre. He discusses the pros and cons of this method and gives an appraisal: this paper, which had its first hearing at the Centre for Physical Distribution Management National Conference in 1978 is, considering its comprehensive scope, both balanced and concise.

This paper depicts barbershop singing as a masculine social form, and compares and contrasts the original masculine form with the ways the form is feminized. Two organizations, Sweet Adelines International (SAI) and The Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS) perform and promote barbershop singing. We document the devices used to feminize the form (naming, song selection, choreography, fashion, and organizational style), and argue that an interaction between form and content takes place in the women’s organization that genders the form in spite of its original masculine meanings. Theoretically significant is the description of how feminizing a masculine form reinforces the conservative ethos of, and hence senses of membership in, the barbershop form. Demonstrating that forms can accommodate even culturally distinctive content has implications for understanding the interaction between form and content.

This study aims to explore the patterns and transformational dynamics of the executive–interpreter network in the innovation processes of small- and medium-sized enterprises in hospitality.

Grounded in social network theory and adopting a case-based approach, this study features a multi-case design focusing on three Chinese boutique hotels. Data were collected through Web page and document reviews, participant observations and semistructured interviews.

Results capture how executive–interpreter network dynamics contribute to innovation in small- and medium-sized hotels. Key factors in social networks (e.g. size, scope and strength) shift throughout innovation. This study presents a design-driven approach as a means of innovation. Findings also delineate the network development conditions under which innovation dynamically occurs in boutique hotels.

Practical implications center on how network dynamics help small- and medium-sized hotels innovate more effectively. These insights can assist hotel operators and prospective market entrants in improving their hotels’ performance and competitiveness.

This study blends social network theory with a design-driven approach to explore innovation mechanisms in small- and medium-sized hotels. It offers empirical evidence for practitioners regarding design-driven innovation. Findings enrich the body of knowledge on both design-driven innovation theory and hospitality innovation.

This study aims to focus on the role of hashtags as a symbol of community membership and examine the effect of branded hashtag community identification (BHCI) on BH engagement. The authors further examine two paths to BHCI (i.e. identity- and bond-related antecedents) and the moderating role of self-brand connections (SBCs).

An online survey was conducted with consumers who had participated in BH campaigns (N = 405). Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling.

Identity-related (actual self-congruence) and bond-related (group similarity and group receptivity) antecedents positively influence BHCI and further BH engagement. The relative importance of identity- and bond-related antecedents on BHCI varies by consumers' SBCs.

This study provides a new approach to understand BH engagement by focusing on the social identity communication aspect of hashtags.