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This research aims to investigate differences between cohorts and perceptions of luxury goods and services.

A survey asked participants to rate goods to determine their perceptions of luxury. Participants also provided information concerning elasticity and motivations for purchasing goods and services. A total of 347 participants in three age groups completed the questionnaire.

The study shows that there are significant differences between cohort groups in their perceptions of luxury goods and services, especially between the oldest and youngest cohorts. The elasticity measures showed that for all three cohorts, certain goods and services were inelastic and, therefore, were considered not to be luxury goods. The reasons why people buy goods they do not need varied between cohorts.

The results of the study may not be generalizable to other groups of consumers because it was a convenience sample.

The results of this study show that marketers need to tailor messages to individual cohort groups. Consumers' experiences at their “coming of age” do influence perceptions of luxury. There are different motivations for buying among the cohort groups. Identifying and leveraging these motivators in marketing communication will help to target these groups with appropriate messages. Marketers need to understand those motivations and develop communication campaigns that target those groups.

Little research has focused on the cohort perception of luxury. Although there is evidence to suggest there will be differences between age groups, this study seeks to investigate those differences to help marketers to tailor their messages more effectively.

The purpose of this paper is to unlock positions regarding the goods/services dichotomy in service marketing and to offer an argument that treats goods and services on an ontologically equal basis.

A close reading of influential texts that argue in favor of a service‐dominant logic (SDL) and new paradigms in service marketing.

Both the SDL proposal and calls for new service paradigms can be understood as ad hoc solutions that serve to reproduce and even strengthen the asymmetry between goods and services. A post‐paradigmatic analysis opens up new possibilities for service marketing research and practice.

By showing how goods and services can be positioned equally, hitherto invisible sites of value creation become potential subjects for analyses in service marketing.

Service marketing practices are situated so as to explain the value creating interactions between service providers and customers in a more transparent way than is usual.

An ontologically grounded critique of the ad hoc nature of contemporary service marketing theory.

This paper inquires into the tendency of German food retailers to market organic products as private‐label (PL) products.

After a review of the literature, results of a survey of retailers and processors, are presented.

Interviewed processors of the 62.7 per cent produce organic PL. Retailers sell organic PLs, because they care about “food safety”, “retail as a brand” and “health”, hoping to reach new customers. Requests for entry fees, investment grants and equipment allowances are less important for processors of organic PLs than for those not producing PLs. However, PL producers have to meet other conditions imposed by retailers and feel slight more dependent on few customers.

The results present the first survey of the competitive relation between organic manufacturers and retailers in Germany.

The purpose of this paper is to study the question of pre‐emptive merger decisions in a composite good framework where these goods have both competitive and complementary features.

The paper constructs a model of partial mergers when there are three firms and three goods in the production network, but consumers need only two goods to complete their consumption. This means, two of the firms produce two competing brands while the other firm produces any complementary product. Then under vertical merger cooperation takes place between two firms producing mutually compatible or complementary goods, whereas horizontal integration occurs when cooperating firms produce goods substitutes to each other.

In such a framework, partial mergers inflict strong negative externalities on the outside firms. The paper shows that loss of profits to the non‐integrated firm is higher under horizontal integration than that under vertical integration; hence pre‐emptive incentives for vertical merger are always larger. The paper clearly distinguishes between private incentives and pre‐emptive incentives for merger. If so desired, the vertically merged firm could foreclose the market of the outside firm and emerge as monopoly. Interestingly, foreclosing in our model is never optimal. The paper also provides a welfare analysis. While all‐firm merger maximizes social welfare, under vertical merger consumers are always better off. Industry profit also goes up if the goods are not so close substitutes.

This appears to be the first paper that discusses the question of pre‐emptive mergers in a framework of composite goods. Since, in the structure presented a horizontal merger always reduces welfare, one implication of the result is that the antitrust authority should not remain indifferent to the forms of merger actually taking place in a country.

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This report provides a framework to better understand how constraints faced by companies and their customers in emerging markets can be converted into competitive advantage and thereby into factors for growth.

Based on a literature review, a framework is developed to understand how companies can generate competitive advantage from constraints that affect companies, their customers or both. The framework is explained with case studies of Indian companies and multinational organizations (MNCs) operating in India.

A multitude of constraints affect companies operating in emerging markets such as India. India is an emerging market where MNCs would like to have a presence but are deterred by constraints. Some of these constraints affect companies, while others affect customers. Although many multinational organizations are struggling to meet their business goals in India, many local companies and some MNCs have successfully navigated the constraints and managed to grow by building these constraints into their business models. They gained competitive advantage by either differentiating their products and services or modifying their processes.

We provide a framework that will guide executives on how companies can generate competitive advantage through products and processes by working around constraints. We also provide guidelines on how to sustain these competitive advantages generated from constraint‐driven strategies. Failure to include these constraints into business models will adversely affect the growth plans of companies operating in India and other emerging markets.

The paper makes a unique contribution in articulating how competitive advantage can be generated from the very constraints that threaten the growth of business. This study also makes a distinction between constraints that can affect companies and those that affect customers of goods and services. This understanding will guide executives on where to focus their efforts while navigating constraints. Further, this paper shows how executives can consider a parallel stream of innovation for growth while operating in emerging markets.

Consumers within the UK have access to a wide variety of international foodstuffs and cuisines but there is also a growing interest in local food. This case study explores what is meant by local food, outlines some of the benefits claimed for, and the problems seen to be associated with, food that is produced and consumed locally and discusses some of the routes to market for local food.

This paper aims to consider the price premium that consumers state they are willing to pay for products with reused or recycled content. It also aims to address the effect of the impact of product category on consumers' willingness to pay premium prices.

Willingness to pay was studied for seven different product categories (n=49).

Perceived functional risk is an important determinant of the price that consumers are willing to pay for products that have recycled or reused content. It was also found that consumers will switch from a recycled product to a new product within a smaller range of price for products with high functional risk.

The study is exploratory, while it serves its purpose by raising initial questions and finding that this is a complex area that is worth studying. Additional work is clearly required to consider the wide range of potentially relevant variables and a sampling plan that ensures an understanding of the generalisability of findings across the population within a region and across regions.

A technique for understanding consumer willingness‐to‐pay (WTP) is provided and insights into differences are offered between products in terms of WTP for greener products. Practitioners can use this technique to determine the price range and indirectly the profitability of a version of their product based on recycled or reused content.

An understanding of WTP for products with recycled or reused content is developed. This is important as legislation in many countries aims at diverting disposed product from waste dumps to consumers.

Advances in technology and telecommunication have enabled libraries to provide access to information beyond their own bookstocks. Provides an introduction to the library environment indicating the various types of library and their relevance to managers and students of business. Goes on to provide guidance on using libraries, e.g. the services available, types of classification schemes used and the library catalogue.

The purpose of this paper is to determine attitudes towards the advertising of certain controversial products/services and reasons for being offensive across four different countries, Malaysia, New Zealand, Turkey and the UK.

This was achieved by analyzing the responses to a questionnaire that was distributed to a convenience sample of university students in the four countries. A total of 954 were sampled for this study. The results indicated that geography is not a major determinant of attitudes, and that religious and historical factors play a very important role.

Of the 17 products presented, 11 resulted in similar answers for New Zealand and the UK, and seven were similar for Malaysia and Turkey. However, it was apparent that the two countries mostly populated by Muslims had some differences as Malaysia has a multicultural society that must make some allowances for other ethnic groups. It also appears that racism and racist images are of concern to all those sampled.

The opening up of regional markets and the development of regional and global media, such as satellite television and the internet, will mean that marketers will try to take advantage of the associated benefits of a standardized approach to advertising and promotional activities. For those involved in international marketing, it is important that they are aware of possible differences and cultural sensitivities when entering a new market or undertaking a standardized mass‐media campaign across a region, whether it be Australasia or Europe.