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This paper aims to investigate associations between firm resources and reliance on entrepreneurial marketing (EM) channels among agrofood ventures. It accounts for agropreneur gender and racial/ethnic status in the context of marketing channel portfolio composition. The authors examine the established assumption that resource limitations drive EM and whether socially disadvantaged status of agropreneurs is associated with marketing strategy beyond standard resourcing measures.

Using 2015 Local Foods Marketing Practices Survey data, the authors apply linear regression to investigate differences in the use of EM channels, accounting for resources, social status and other factors.

Limited-resource ventures rely more on consumer-oriented channels that require EM practices. Socially disadvantaged entrepreneurs favor these channels, even when accounting for resources. Notably, ventures headed by men of color rely more on the most customer-centric local foods marketing channel.

Future research should investigate how social and human capital influences the use of EM.

Entrepreneurial support policy and practice for agropreneurs should be cautious about the “double-burden” folk theorem of intersectional disadvantage and review how to best direct resources on EM to groups most likely to benefit.

This paper uses a unique, restricted, nation-wide, federal data set to examine relationships between resource endowments, social status and the composition of agrofood enterprises’ marketing channel portfolios. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is the first to include racial- and ethnic-minority status of agropreneurs and to account for intersectionality with gender.

This study aims to minimize the pressure drop across wavy microchannels using secondary branches without compromising its capacity to transfer the heat. The impact of secondary flows on the pressure drop and heat transfer capabilities at different Reynolds numbers are investigated numerically for different wavy microchannels. Finally, different channels are evaluated using performance evaluation criteria to determine their effectiveness.

To investigate the flow and heat transfer capabilities in wavy microchannels having secondary branches, a 3D conjugate heat transfer model based on finite volume method is used. In conventional wavy microchannel, secondary branches are introduced at crest and trough locations. For the numerical simulation, a single symmetrical channel is used to minimize computational time and resources and the flow within the channels remains single-phase and laminar.

The findings indicate that the suggested secondary channels notably improve heat transfer and decrease pressure drop within the channels. At lower flow rates, the secondary channels demonstrate superior performance in terms of heat transfer. However, the performance declines as the flow rate increased. With the same amplitude and wavelength, the introduction of secondary channels reduces the pressure drop compared with conventional wavy channels. Due to the presence of secondary channels, the flow splits from the main channel, and part of the core flow gets diverted into the secondary channel as the flow takes the path of minimum resistance. Due to this flow split, the core velocity is reduced. An increase in flow area helps in reducing pressure drop.

Many complex and intricate microchannels are proposed by the researchers to augment heat dissipation. There are challenges in the fabrication of microchannels, such as surface finish and achieving the required dimensions. However, due to the recent developments in metal additive manufacturing and microfabrication techniques, the complex shapes proposed in this paper are feasible to fabricate.

Wavy channels are widely used in heat transfer and micro-fluidics applications. The proposed wavy microchannels with secondary channels are different when compared to conventional wavy channels and can be used practically to solve thermal challenges. They help achieve a lower pressure drop in wavy microchannels without compromising heat transfer performance.

Allocation of the marketing budget has become increasingly challenging due to the diverse channel exposure to customers. This study aims to enhance global marketing knowledge by introducing an ensemble attribution model to optimize marketing budget allocation for online marketing channels. As empirical research, this study demonstrates the supremacy of the ensemble model over standalone models.

The transactional data set for car insurance from an Indian insurance aggregator is used in this empirical study. The data set contains information from more than three million platform visitors. A robust ensemble model is created by combining results from two probabilistic models, namely, the Markov chain model and the Shapley value. These results are compared and validated with heuristic models. Also, the performances of online marketing channels and attribution models are evaluated based on the devices used (i.e. desktop vs mobile).

Channel importance charts for desktop and mobile devices are analyzed to understand the top contributing online marketing channels. Customer relationship management-emailers and Google cost per click a paid advertising is identified as the top two marketing channels for desktop and mobile channels. The research reveals that ensemble model accuracy is better than the standalone model, that is, the Markov chain model and the Shapley value.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the current research is the first of its kind to introduce ensemble modeling for solving attribution problems in online marketing. A comparison with heuristic models using different devices (desktop and mobile) offers insights into the results with heuristic models.

This empirical study aims to examine luxury fashion retailers' localised multiple channel distribution strategies in China.

Through case studies of 15 participating retailers, qualitative data were collected from 33 semi-structured interviews.

Strong impacts of internationalisation strategies, distribution strategies and channel length towards multiple channel retailing are revealed. Multi-channel retailing is widely employed by firms who have entered China and further developed their businesses through local partnerships and adopted a selective distribution strategy via relatively longer channels. Omni-channel retailing is only suitable for the few retailers using an exclusive distribution strategy through direct marketing and wholly owned customer relationship management. As a dynamic transformation from multi- to omni-channel retailing, cross-channel retailing is adopted by those who are withdrawing from local partnerships and shifting to wholly owned expansions and operations in host markets.

The results are potentially challenged by relatively small sample size.

Practitioners are suggested to adapt multiple channel retailing to their international expansion strategies, distribution strategies and channel length in the host markets.

This paper contributes to the literature in both multiple channel retailing and international retailing by offering insights into the motives, development patterns and suitability of multiple channel retailing in the international retail marketing context.

Consumer behavior has evolved because of technological development. Nowadays, consumers carry out the different stages of the decision-making process by combining multiple devices which has been defined as multi, cross and omnichannel behavior. These behaviors have attracted the attention of academics and become a hot topic in literature. As a result, vast amounts of studies on the subject need to be revised and clarified. Thus, the aim of this chapter is to synthetize the primary academic literature that analyzes multi, cross and omnichannel behavior from the consumer point of view. To do that, first, the main concepts (multi, cross and omnichannel) and their differences are clarified. Second, the major findings of channel mix literature regarding the topics, channel scope and theories are exposed and described. Third, the opportunities and future lines of research are presented. This chapter contributes to the literature by clarifying the conceptualization of multi, cross and omnichannel behaviors; offering a complete picture of the main topics, channel approaches and theories addressed in channel mix literature; and presenting future research opportunities and open research questions in a channel mix context that could serve as a starting point to build further research.

In the channel-mix era, the customer journey involves combining channels during all the stages of the decision-making process, such that creating and maintaining relationships with consumers poses a challenge to retailers. This work aims to explore what role brands play in this issue by analyzing what impact the perceived benefits of brand channel-mix have on consumer self–brand connection (SBC) and what their effect is in enduring consumer–brand relationships (i.e. future channel-mix use and word of mouth [WOM]). This paper also explores the moderating role of product involvement in these relations.

The authors carried out a personal questionnaire with a sample of 288 consumers who were recruited after leaving one of the stores of a clothing brand that is a successful example of distribution channel management.

Insofar as consumers perceive channel-mix benefits, SBC will be higher and (or as a result) their future intentions with the brand will be more intense. In addition, the results show that product involvement moderates the relationship between SBC and channel-mix use intention and WOM.

This work contributes to channel-mix, relationship marketing, brand and product involvement literature by analyzing how customers may be retained in the channel-mix era through brand management and by considering product category involvement. This study merges brand and product variables to explore their impact on relationship marketing within channel-mix behaviors.

The paper attempts to discuss the optimal pricing decisions under the decentralized and centralized decision and analyze the influence of online reviews and in-sale service on dual-channel supply chain. Finally, the authors design a two-part tariff coordination mechanism.

To deal with this pricing conflict problems of dual-channel supply chain consisting of dominant manufacturer and a retailer, considering the fact that online reviews and in-sale service are important factors on consumers’ purchase decisions, the authors establish some basic models and exploit them to discuss the optimal pricing decisions under the decentralized and centralized decision and analyze the influence of online reviews and in-sale service on dual-channel supply chain. Finally, the authors design a profit-sharing coordination mechanism.

The results show that the optimal online direct selling price is positively correlated with product perceived quality obtained from online reviews and negatively correlated with the in-sale service. The traditional retail price is positively correlated with the in-sale service and weakly correlated with online reviews. For the manufacturer and retailer, whether decentralized decision or coordination contract, their profits increase with the increase of the in-sale service in a certain range and quality perceived from spontaneous online reviews. Online reviews and in-sale service are important factors on consumers’ purchase decisions. Positive in-sale services and online reviews can provide consumers with a better shopping experience, thereby promoting their enthusiasm for shopping and improving their quality of life. The two-part tariff coordination mechanism improves the profits of the manufacturer and the traditional retailer, respectively, through the transfer fee.

The proposed approach can well analyze the channel conflicts and pricing problems between retailers and manufacturers with respect to product offline price and online price. The analysis and results can inform decision-making for manufacturers and retailers.

The main purpose of this study is to fill the research gap on how B2B global service firms integrate dynamic capabilities within their omnichannel management to influence positive word of mouth (WOM), customer engagement (CE) and customer equity.

Drawing on the dynamic capability and WOM theories, a model has been developed that defines the subjects of the empirical test. The paper reports on data collected from 312 service-oriented global firms in Australia, through a cross-sectional survey. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling.

The findings suggest that content management (i.e. information consistency, source trustworthiness and endorsement) and concerns management (i.e. privacy, security and recovery) capabilities are the two significant antecedents of positive WOM within a B2B omnichannel setting in international marketing. The findings also confirm the key mediating role of CE between positive WOM and customer equity.

The findings extend dynamic capability theory in the context of international marketing by linking WOM, CE and customer equity. The findings add further theoretical rigor by establishing the nomological chain between positive WOM and customer equity, in which CE plays a key mediating role.

The consumers want to purchase the target products in the right place, whereas the manufacturers want to allocate their possible products to optimal distribution channels. The manufacturer must know how to handle itself in this business. The study aims to examine the B2B channel decision-making with different product qualities in a non-cooperative supply chain.

The authors develop a B2B Manufacturer-Stackelberg game as an analytical framework, combining asymmetric preference of purchase channels choice by the consumers, a continuous quality setting of the manufacturer and differential channel structure to study the manufacturer’s product strategy and channel optimisation. By horizontal comparisons across four channel structures, product variety can be classified into the differential quality-level zone through exogenous quality intervention, and the preference of manufacturers in each quality-level zone within the structures can be ranked.

Theoretically and practically, the hybrid-channel structure should be completely neglected when the direct channel dominates the retail channel. In contrast, dual-channel structures dominate single channels irrespective of the channel power, and channel preferences between high-quality and low-quality zones are stable, whereas the preference in medium-quality zone is unstable. In addition, the supply chain system cannot achieve global Pareto improvement without any additional coordination mechanism between the manufacturer and the retailer.

The extended results by numerical examples suggest that the bigger the area of the medium-quality zone, the more significant the product variety of the manufacturer.