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The purpose of this study is to provide insight into customers’ psychological processes and behavioral responses after merger and acquisition (M&A) of an artisanal brand.

Study 1 adopts a qualitative approach to understand how craft-beer customers perceive M&A decisions. In Study 2, a two-conditioned (M&A types: local and local company M&A vs local and national company M&A) between-subjects design experiment was executed.

The findings of this study show M&A’s of artisanal brands cause identity stigmatization, resulting in customers’ identity dissonance and coping strategies. Which coping strategies a customer uses depends on their brand identity, product-category identity and M&A partner types.

This was an exploratory study that serves as a starting point for future research. Future research could investigate the model proposed in this study by testing the effects of potential moderators and mediators.

The findings of the study enable companies to better anticipate post-M&A customer behavior, thereby enabling them to enhance their brand positioning when a competitor is acquired by a large company.

The popularity of locally produced and craft hospitality products has attracted the attention of large companies that acquire artisanal brands. There is a paucity of research investigating post- M&A customer reactions of locally owned artisanal companies by large companies.

This study, based on craft beer brands, aims (1) to explain the importance of four brand authenticity dimensions (continuity, originality, reliability and naturalness) in consumers' perceptions of brand image; (2) to verify if the brand–consumer emotional relationship (brand love) is enhanced by the consumer's perceptions of the brand's image; (3) to verify if the consumer's perceptions of the brand's image increase brand satisfaction; and (4) to verify if brand satisfaction increases brand love.

Data were collected from consumers of different craft beer brands to evaluate the assumptions underlying the proposed conceptual model. In total, 175 questionnaire responses were used, and the model was estimated through structural equation modelling (SEM) with partial least squares (PLS).

The results confirmed that brand authenticity is a strong antecedent of the brand image of craft beers, and that brand image affects both consumer brand satisfaction and brand love. The effect of brand satisfaction on brand love has also been confirmed. Craft beer brands should aim to attract more fan-consumers, i.e. consumers who seek an emotional relationship that manifests itself in affection, beauty, well-being and long-term commitment. Fan-consumers give their hearts/love and recommend the brand.

The paper tries to fill two gaps in the literature. First, we make the initial empirical application of the Bruhn et al. (2012) scale and verify its adequacy in this context. Second, this is the first time that the model's design has been validated. The results allow us to confirm that authenticity is an antecedent of brand image, and its simultaneous impact on the consumer's brand love for, and satisfaction with, craft beer brands.

This paper investigates consumer perceptions of brand authenticity (BA), perceived value (PV) and brand trust (BT) into the context of craft beer market. The purpose of this paper is to examine the statistical associations between these constructs as well as the three antecedents of BA: individuality, consistency and continuity.

The survey, delivered in an online format, was completed by 749 respondents from the USA. These respondents were gained through a basic simple random sampling technique. After conducting data analysis techniques such as reliability, correlation and regression, all five research hypotheses were accepted.

All three antecedents of BA were found to have significant influence on the first-order construct. Also, BA was shown to have a substantial effect on both PV and BT. The relationship between brand individuality and BA was the most significant of the five, while the association between BA and PV was found to be the least significant.

Prior research on BA, the majority of which has involved a qualitative approach, has been severely limited. The authors’ work deepens the study of the effects of BA, or its various antecedents, on PV and BT, enhancing the research with an empirical, quantitative analysis. In addition to the shortage of investigation related to these factors, there has been a nearly complete absence of the application of these variables to the craft beer market.

This paper aims to uncover patterns of Mexican craft beer consumers and guide companies’ decisions in the creation of new products, marketing strategies, advertising and promotion to increase craft beer sales and contribute to faster growth.

This is a conjoint analysis with a selection of attributes for new or renewed products, marginal disposition to pay for particular characteristics through brand-specific choice-based design, and market simulation.

This paper clearly demonstrates consumers’ preferences and willingness to pay in Mexico, with a cutting-edge market research technique combining the prioritization of preferred craft beer characteristics, and the price consumers are willing to pay for such product characteristics.

The study's sample size of 501 responses is relatively small compared to the total number of craft beer consumers in Mexico. To enhance the validity and reliability of the findings, future studies should aim to obtain larger samples and compare their results with those of this study.

This study has important implications for craft beer producers, allowing them to develop targeted craft beers with appealing attributes for Mexican consumers, such as color, aroma intensity, alcohol degree intensity, bitterness, foam level and price.

This study's market forecasting simulation technique is based on assumptions of consumer behavior and market dynamics. Although relevant variables were considered, unanticipated external factors or market changes could impact the forecasts' accuracy. This will allow for a more comprehensive understanding of craft beer consumer preferences in different markets and enhance the reliability of forecasting techniques.

This paper informs craft beer producers by providing valuable knowledge on customers’ preferences and willingness to pay to enhance craft beer companies’ product development processes.

The revival of the modern craft beer industry has been attributed to people rediscovering their tastes for authentic and hand-crafted products from small, local and independent firms – notable in many sectors ranging from food and alcohol products to textile and furniture. While one of the grounding principles of the craft beer sector has been serving the local community, some brewers started to explore growth opportunities beyond their national borders. Some did so by pure excitement and prestige of sending their beers overseas; others sensed that their domestic markets were becoming flooded by other craft beer brands or ‘craft-washed’ beers from large beer companies. This chapter explores two sides of this going-international story – its promise and perils. The promise of international growth represents the fulfilment of the entrepreneurial mission, the opportunity to collaborate on a global level or the result of positive country reputation. While the perils of crossborder venturing are formed by country-level differences (rules, values and culture), the author brings to the fore that the socially constructed and fluid definition of craft beer forms unique constraints. The author particularly explores how the sector’s cultural boundaries and competition for authenticity with large beer companies act as liabilities during internationalisation. This chapter contributes to the extant literature on firm internationalisation by focussing on a unique dataset of internationalising craft breweries from four small open economies (Australia, New Zealand, Denmark and the Czech Republic). In that sense, it also provides valuable insights to practitioners and the general public.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute understanding tendencies of the Italian demand for craft beer. More in details, it seeks at exploring consumers’ awareness about craft beer, their attitudes, habits and behaviors. It also aims at assessing the impact of each and all these features on consumers’ choice. At last, the paper frames different consumers’ profiles.

The analysis is based on an online survey associated with a choice experiment designed for assessing willingness to buy (WTB) and willingness to pay (WTP) for craft vs industrial beer. Factors influencing consumers’ expenditure for craft beer are explored via an OLS estimation of a simple regression model. Afterwards, different consumers’ profiles are depicted via cluster analysis.

The survey shows that, overall, Italian consumers appreciate craft beers and are interested in this market. Socio-demographic characteristics impact this inclination but have no significant influence on the results of the choice experiment. Market knowledge, preferences and consumption habits influence consumer spending. Five different consumer profiles emerge.

The research proposes a combined original methodology for assessing beer consumers’ features and their impacts on beer WTB and WTP. The complementary perspectives adopted provide new insights on craft beer demand. Results are of interest for craft brewery managers and for the design of policies aimed at promoting and expanding the sector. Enlarging the sample and improving its representativeness would allow for more general results.

They are as follows: to identify strategic growth opportunities for SMEs in the South African craft beer industry; to understand the complexities associated with operating a craft beer SME in the South African alcohol sector and analyse the SME’s strategic decision-making process that happens as a result; to understand the challenges and identify opportunities for entrepreneurship and growth in an emerging economy and niche segment; to develop a differentiation strategy for a small player in a competitive market; and to impart industry-specific knowledge and insight on the craft brewing industry.

The case is centred on the challenges that Hein Swart, managing director of Mitchell’s Brewery, is facing in sustaining business operations amid heavy regulations and increasing competition from existing craft breweries. In addition, there is the entry of a different type of competitor into the South African market that did not exist previously. The case narrative broadly presents several industry themes that interact with each other and create the existing complexities.

This case is targeted at postgraduate business school students with some work experience who want to build their critical thinking, business management and strategic decision-making skills such as Masters of Business Administration (MBA) and Executive MBA academic programmes, and also delegates on Executive Education programmes. The case is expected to be used as a case study for courses in entrepreneurship and strategic management; however, it can also be applied in strategic marketing courses.

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CSS 3: Entrepreneurship

This paper aims to propose the concept of social terroir to help navigate phenomenological and epistemological conditions of small-scale food entrepreneurship.

This study used a qualitative research approach and was implemented in the peripheral region of Jämtland in northern Sweden. The study interrogated the ambitions of craft brewers when starting up, their long-term goals and visions, including questions about the reason for starting up a brewery, how the different brewers cooperate and how and why the products are designed and labelled the way they are.

This study shows that the production of craft beer is an inherently social practice that is part of a particular sociocultural milieu. This milieu informs production in distinct and interrelated ways: through connecting to place and locality in the different aspects of production and marketing, through cooperation to develop production and overcome barriers, and through embedding their work in sustainability discourses.

The study addresses how, in the context of craft beer, terroir or taste of place, is a matter of social ties to place and community–social terroir. What is novel is the way in which social terroir becomes a critical ingredient in the production of craft beer. This illustrates how small-scale food production and gastronomic efforts can link people, places and businesses.

This paper aims to move beyond previous investigations juxtaposing the performance of global versus domestic brands, where domestic is referred to as “localness” in the literature, conceptualizing and developing two measures of “within-country brand or product localness.” In doing so, it uses objective localness measures, rather than consumer perceptions of brand localness, as have been primarily used previously. Then, by leveraging established theory on brand authenticity and corollary literatures on brand identity and country-of-origin effects, this research develops and empirically tests key hypotheses about how these within-country, more geographically local products or brands (referred to as simply “localness” hereafter, for brevity), influence sales outcomes through increasing perceptions of brand and product authenticity.

Two empirical studies using different archival data sets are conducted to test the hypotheses. Study 1 focuses on new product sales from 2002 to 2011 for 31 categories of consumer packaged goods US product launches initiated in 2002–2005, whereas Study 2 investigates online consumer review and retail sales data in the US craft beer industry from 2001 to 2011. Localness is operationalized as two different objective measures: in Study 1, local distribution is measured, and in Study 2, firm headquarters denotes the geographic bounds of localness. These two measures are motivated by prior consumer perceptual studies of Locavores (consumers who strongly prefer local products), which identify that local systems of production and/or distribution are the key signals of localness. Using two measures allows the localness construct to be tested for the potential firm-side boundaries of its scope and provides two empirical measures that future researchers can leverage.

Brand (or product) localness gives performance advantages over national brands in the form of increased sales across both studies. The second study, focused on craft beer, dives more deeply into the theoretical mechanism (localness operates through increased perceptions of brand authenticity) and shows that while brand authenticity directly translates into higher sales, as anticipated, localness fully mediates this relationship. When coupled with supporting marketing tactics (high price and/or product variety), the link between localness and brand authenticity grows stronger. Local brands with low prices and/or limited product variety are deemed inauthentic by consumers, so it is important for brand managers to use marketing tactics that reinforce brand authenticity to support localness as a strategy.

Future research could extend this inquiry in a number of ways. These include combining both empirical measures of localness into a single empirical inquiry, investigating additional product categories and further integrating aspects of strategy such as market positioning and innovation strategy. Newer data could also reveal how these phenomena are continuing to evolve.

Based on this study, managers can benefit by leveraging localness as a key brand or product attribute to achieve a sales advantage, but they must do so by using marketing tactics consistent with an authentic brand positioning. Efforts to expand a brand’s geographic reach over time should likely be conducted very locally at first, before extending to regional markets and then to a global footprint. It is also posited that retail store managers can benefit from allocating some shelf space to local brand and product offerings.

This paper conceptualizes and measures localness in new ways compared to the previous literatures. It develops objective measures of within-country localness instead of using consumer perceptions of localness and/or considering domestic brands as being “local” compared to global brands; builds key linkages between concepts of localness, authenticity and sales performance; and uncovers when and how within-country localness is a key brand or product attribute associated with increased sales success.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the specific types of coopetition between small and medium-sized craft breweries and related businesses, as well as its drivers and outcomes.

Qualitative research was carried out using in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 18 different small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) combined with site visits and secondary data analysis.

The results reveal that craft breweries are engaging in coopetition in several different ways. Mutual benefit, trust, commitment, and sympathy are the crucial drivers for coopetition; whereas innovation development, market reach and marketing, as well as firm growth represent the key shared outcomes of coopetition.

This study suffers from two main limitations, including the focus on coopetition of craft breweries operating in German-speaking countries only and the risk of subjectivity in analysis and interpretation due to the qualitative, explorative nature of the research.

The findings reveal insights into the uniqueness of SMEs – specifically craft brewers – regarding coopetition, which is currently of strong cooperative nature. This study completes prior coopetition knowledge by revealing the importance of coopetition for small, micro and resource-constrained firms operating in dynamic and innovative but traditional (here craft) industries; presenting the cooperation-based type of coopetition as a good competition strategy under fierce competition from large, more established and global business rivals; and identifying sympathy as an important coopetition driver.