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Competitive intelligence (CI) is a vital tool for any company to survive and remain competitive in today’s hypercompetitive and uncertain business environment. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the use of CI in liquor retailing in the USA.

An exploratory single longitudinal case study was performed through observation and semi-structured interviews plus examining documents from secondary sources in two phases. Content analysis was used for the data analysis.

Regardless of the small size of the company, the owner has an active attitude toward monitoring competition by using various sources of information and converting it into intelligence for making sound decisions for both short-term and long-term competitiveness. Also, the central role of the owner in the CI process has been verified.

This study responds to calls for more case studies in the field and is the first one to explore CI in the liquor retailing ecosystem by using a longitudinal case study. In general, studies of CI in retailing are limited. It has clear value to CI practices for retailers in the USA and in general.

This study aims to examine the influence of perceived city brand image on emotional attachment to the city. The study also compares the effects of perceived brand image of the city on the emotional attachment to the city across two groups: local residents and visitors.

A total of 207 usable questionnaires were collected from 107 residents of the city of Bratislava, Slovakia and 100 visitors to the city. Partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) method was used for data analysis.

This study establishes that perceived city brand image significantly influences emotional attachment to the city. The study concludes that affective city image has a greater impact on emotional attachment to the city among the residents than visitors. By contrast, the influence of cognitive city image on emotional attachment to the city does not vary across the two categories of residents and visitors to the city.

City tourism marketers should focus on improving city brand images to enhance tourists’ emotional attachment to the city to promote repeat visits among visitors.

This study contributes to improving understanding of the impact of perceived city brand image on emotional attachment to the city across the two groups, residents and visitors, using social exchange theory (SET). Furthermore, the findings come from a relatively under-researched Central and Eastern European (CEE) region.

This paper aims to use signalling theory to examine the concept of advertising credibility and its effects on brand credibility, brand image, corporate credibility and corporate image.

A qualitative approach was used. Ten interviews and four focus groups were conducted among participants drawn from the London area. The data was analysed using thematic analysis.

The findings suggest that advertising credibility is defined using terms like accurate, caring, competent, complete, convincing, ethical, honest, impressive, promising, reliable and warranted. The findings also suggest that advertising credibility has a positive effect on brand credibility, brand image, corporate credibility and corporate image. However, these effects are lower when the brand and corporation have different names than when they have similar names. The dissimilarity of names can also provide some benefit, especially when brands or firms are faced with a crisis. The findings also illustrate that the theoretical model used in this study is valid, and suggest that advertising credibility has positive effects on other constructs.

Advertising credibility has received little attention in the literature. There is also little attention on its effects on other credibility constructs. This study minimises these gaps by conducting qualitative research to explore the effects of advertising credibility on brand credibility, corporate credibility and corporate image.

Due to the emergent use of social media for marketing purposes, and the limited number of studies focusing on the use of social media by firms, the purpose of this paper is to explore the inclusion of social networks in the traditional marketing mix models.

A sample of 20 small and large Italian liquor producers was used, and their Facebook profiles were content analyzed.

The results provide evidence about the emerging shift from the use of social media for communication purposes through static advertising (characterized by pictures and slogans), to its use as an interactive channel that can influence consumers’ purchasing behaviour through multimedia tools (i.e. games and interactive applications able to solicit users’ interest), by emphasizing the extent to which a higher level of participation by a firm involves a higher level of consumer interaction. The findings also suggest that the firm’s participation should be considered as a new element of the traditional marketing mix model and as an additional tool for efficient market sizing and sensing.

The study offers findings on actual usage of Facebook as part of marketing mix strategies based on large and small enterprises operating in the food and beverage sector, where a dearth of studies is observed. The study enhances and advances the social media and marketing literatures.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the extent to which luxury brand retailers use new technologies as a tool for corporate marketing communication.

The authors used a multiple-case study approach consisting of five information-rich cases, with the similar characteristics of large firms selling luxury brands which are aware of the importance of innovation. In each company, the authors interviewed the key person in charge of marketing innovation strategies and collected data from annual reports, press releases and direct observation of all the new technology categories used.

The findings of this paper reveal that this sector is considerably aware of the benefits of using new media as a marketing communication tool, while the effective use of these new media is still limited.

This paper provides an empirical contribution to the emerging topic of innovation and technology management in retailing, with the emphasis being placed on the luxury sector through an in-depth investigation of the usage of new technologies by the firms studied.

This paper is the first one investigating thoroughly the luxury sector usage of new technologies to improve corporate marketing communication.

This study develops the idea of smart retailing, exemplified in innovative, technology-enriched retail services as part of service-oriented strategies. In particular, the purpose of this paper is to provide a new integrated framework to understand the emerging retail scenario based on the smart usage of technologies to improve retail service and develop innovation management strategies. This framework will provide a comprehensive understanding the basic forms of smart retailing as the current competitive scenario.

As a viewpoint, this paper employs an interdisciplinary approach, drawing upon the actual challenges in retailing, to propose a new perspective, the smart retailing one, to describe the new competitive scenario and formulates an emerging research agenda.

The present paper contributes to research on innovation and technology management for retailing by examining the key dimensions of smart retailing, which aims to enhancing retail service quality and retailers’ performance.

The paper clearly explains how current retailing is moving to a smart perspective, and how retail management should be adapted to successfully perform in the current service-dominant logic scenario, as consequence of the increasing consumer involvement in service co-production and the rapid growth of digital technologies.

The purpose of this paper is to engage in a comprehensive review of the research on information technology (IT)-mediated international market-entry alliances.

This paper provides a theory-informed conceptual framework of IT-enabled cross-border interfirm relationships and performance outcomes. It integrates perspectives of resource-based view (RBV) and transaction cost economics (TCE) to argue that the establishment of interfirm IT capabilities enhances the marketing performance of the foreign partner in the host location by improving interfirm relationship governance. Furthermore, IT-related risks and contextual restrictions are identified as important moderators.

Conceptualisations of IT capabilities, IT-enhanced interfirm governance, and IT-led marketing performance improvement are suggested. Drawing on RBV and TCE, IT resources, related human resources, and IT integration between partner firms in combination enhances the ability of firms to manage the relationship more effectively through shared control, interfirm coordination, cross-firm formalisation, and hybrid centralisation. These benefits then bring about better upstream and downstream marketing performance in the host location. Additionally, IT capabilities help to mitigate possible contextual limitations and risks.

The paper offers a number of theory- and literature-informed research propositions which can be empirically tested in future studies.

Top managers of firms currently in or planning to enter international alliances for market entry should carefully consider effective development of interfirm IT capabilities in terms of readiness of hardware and software, human resources, and organisational resources.

The paper provides an integrated framework and propositions which contribute to limited understanding and appreciation of IT value in international market-entry alliances.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how the macro-environment influences consumer scepticism towards cause-related marketing (CRM), especially in a turbulent economic setting.

An exploratory qualitative research study utilising open-ended, semi-structured Skype interviews with 26 respondents was conducted in a country experiencing economic crisis.

The findings demonstrate that respondents hold a strong scepticism towards CRM campaigns and they are more negative towards the CRM campaigns initiated by foreign enterprises as compared to the domestic ones. This can be attributed to ethnocentrism, or even antipathy or animosity towards foreign companies due to crisis. Furthermore, results reveal that the political and legal elements of the macro-environment have an impact on consumer scepticism towards CRM campaigns, while the impact of the economic crisis itself did not seem to be equally significant.

This work contributes to the existing literature of CRM as it is the first study that explores the impact of macro-environmental elements on consumer scepticism towards CRM within an economic turbulence setting.

Research into the introduction of innovative technologies directly at the storefront window is limited. The purpose of this paper is to model the behavioural attitudes and the subsequent benefits of, introducing innovative technologies to the storefront, while also considering the role of personal innovativeness in the decision process.

This study employed a sample of 341 consumers who approached this new kind of storefront in two well-known apparel stores in the centre of New York City. A self-administered questionnaire was used as a tool for data collection.

Findings empirically demonstrate that when consumers sense that there are innovative interactive technologies in the storefront windows, they are willing to enter the store, generate positive word-of-mouth communication (sharing the positive experience with friends).

This study is the first to investigate the combination of consumer innovativeness and storefront window on the behavioural attitude, supported with quantitative evidence.

This paper aims to investigate customers’ perceptions of the service quality facets of Airbnb accommodation using social exchange theory as a suitable conceptual framework to explain aspects of interactivity between guests and hosts.

A self-administered questionnaire consisting of 25 accommodation-specific service quality attributes, structured according to Akbaba’s (2006) measurement scale and based on the service quality hierarchical conceptualization described by Brady and Cronin (2001) and Cronin and Taylor (1992), was distributed to Airbnb international guests visiting Phuket, Thailand. The sample was chosen through a two-stage sampling process and the PLS-SEM technique was used for data analysis.

The results showed that convenience and assurance are critical contributors to the measurement of service quality in remote Airbnb lodgings. The findings further revealed that Airbnb guests are mainly interested in lodgings which have access to certain tourist sights, and in easily accessible information and efficient resolution of problems during their stay. The authors also found that guests greatly value the convenience and flexibility offered by Airbnb, and that they particularly appreciate the warm hospitality provided by the hosts. Finally, Airbnb guests have very low expectations of the amenities and services available at the lodgings.

Airbnb is one of the most well-known examples of hospitality in the sharing economy, and results cannot be generalized to similar accommodation providers in sharing economies. Despite the appropriateness of using the measurement tool provided by Akbaba (2006), it is only one option among others for measuring service quality.

The current study can assist hosts in gaining better knowledge of guests’ decision-making processes and in designing effective marketing strategies by focusing on guests’ requirements in terms of service quality. The effective use of competitive strengths and the prioritization of business resources would potentially enhance guests’ positive experiences at the accommodation and at the destination.

Limited numbers of studies have focused on the sharing economy and hospitality and in particular on Airbnb, and this is the first study with a focus on service quality issues in terms of Airbnb accommodation.