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The aim of this paper is to enhance the understanding of the consumer attitudes and behaviour towards a new currency, euro, before the process of the changeover. The approach of the current study differs from most past research on the same topic as consumer attitudes are surveyed before the currency changeover, not retrospectively based on consumer recall. The research attempts to achieve the following set of objectives: to identify the general consumer attitudes towards euro and pinpoint sources of tension, resistance and uncertainty before the currency changeover process; to identify the pre‐adoption assessment of euro value scales and inflation expectations; and to identify various emotional factors related to the national and European identity in the euro adoption process.

The data analysis of the current research adopts a qualitative methodology. To gather a full insight into the pre‐changeover attitudes, opinions, fears and hopes, a total of 29 qualitative interviews were conducted.

The results suggest that consumer attitudes and opinions towards the changeover process are multifaceted and concerns and uncertainties rise from various sources – from rational economic aspects to emotional aspects related to national identity. This research points also to the underestimated role of national pride in the process of transfer from the national currency to euro.

The study is one of the first attempts to research consumers before a forthcoming changeover; thus it is exploratory in its nature and has the traditional limitations of an exploratory research. Based on the initial findings, it would be possible to design a quantitative research for the subsequent countries adopting euro.

The research identifies the attitudes of consumers before the changeover, outlining their doubts, fears and prejudices. The results can be used by subsequent countries adopting euro while planning their changeover strategies. The efforts of the strategy developers should be directed towards addressing the real challenges people face before the changeover.

A distinctive contribution of this study lies in the addressing of the pre‐changeover attitudes and opinions before the currency change took place. Although there have been surveys asking respondents to recall their pre‐changeover opinions, the accuracy of the respondents' memory over time has decreased, which is why such surveys may not give a valid picture. This paper contributes to the understanding of the pre‐adoption phase in a currency changeover process as seen from the point of view of consumers.

The first objective of the paper is to determine whether the national currency changeover in Turkey has altered the level of consumer price knowledge. The second objective is to investigate the level of consumer price knowledge in an emerging economy, quite apart from the currency changeover.

The paper looks at price knowledge by comparing consumers' price estimations with actual market prices. Data was collected, designed as a panel interview, at two points of time. The price data contains the actual prices of six selected products, from 27 retail stores in Istanbul. The choice of retail outlets was conducted in such a manner, that they provide a highly representative image of prices in Istanbul. The price estimation was obtained at personal interviews (599 individuals) outside a shopping situation in different parts of Istanbul.

The analysis suggests that the price knowledge of Turkish consumers has not deteriorated since the currency changeover. On the contrary, it has slightly improved. According to the second objective, the price knowledge of consumers in an emerging economy turned out to be relatively poor, although the level of price differentiation is rather low in the market.

The first limitation is the context of price data, due to the specific economic infrastructure of an emerging country such as Turkey. The second limitation relates to the investigated product categories and refers to all of the results on the relatively poor price knowledge of Turkish consumers. Regarding further research, it would be useful to establish whether the price knowledge of Turkish consumers will improve in the future on account of the inflation rate, which has been declining noticeably during the past few months. In addition, other methods of measuring price knowledge can be used to determine whether the results for Turkish consumers are stable. Finally, including informal traders could raise the explanatory power of data about the price knowledge of Turkish consumers.

Price knowledge in an emerging economy is poor. The effect of a currency changeover on price knowledge depends on the conversion arithmetic.

The final stage of the changeover to the euro consisted of the introduction of euro coins and banknotes on 1 January, 2002. The national changeover plans, that provided the scenarios, were based on the exclusive transaction function of money. However, in most European countries high‐denomination banknotes were significantly hoarded and/or used in the underground economy. Since the holders of these banknotes could not convert them anonymously in the two months changeover period, some feared that many banknotes would invade the payment system, leading to a cash‐crash. Nevertheless the changeover process evolved smoothly. As for the future, chances are that some users in the regular sector have permanently changed their payment habits by shifting towards electronic means of payment. In the longer run we believe, however, that the tolerant attitude of the authorities with respect to currency use in the underground sector, will sustain the demand for currency.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a matrix of socially responsible behaviour and communication types (corporate social responsibility (CSR)‐BC matrix) to explain different practices companies use when dealing with stakeholder issues, such as transparent changeover pricing.

The analysis takes theories and research on CSR, transparent pricing and consumer expectations, and a case study approach as its starting point. It explores a case study of adoption of the euro in Slovenia, the 13th member state that joined the European Monetary Union. It deals with the importance of expectations about the changeover process and the responsible behaviour and communications of companies.

According to the data, the cases of changeover can be explained with the CSR‐BC matrix. According to the results, it seems that the majority of companies did not abuse the changeover process. This indicates that consumer expectations and actions can be a meaningful sign for companies to adopt appropriate CSR behaviours and communication regarding the euro changeover.

The case study has some limitations regarding the data. For a more thorough exploratory research stronger data such as interviews within the companies would be beneficial.

The paper contributes to the CSR literature by explicitly linking pricing behaviour and CSR and by developing a CSR‐BC matrix that can be used in exploring corporate pricing behaviours or other behaviours and communication practices as well. With the case study illustration it also allows for a theoretical understanding that such behaviours are not made in a vacuum.

The euro’s introduction initially confronts a firm with a currency changeover problem affecting its accounting and reporting systems. The company’s controller can solve this initial problem by means of an electronic data processing project. For the project’s duration, it is crucial to maintain reporting transparency by providing for successive transition of accounting subsystems from the national currency to the euro. Yet, with barely six months remaining until national currencies cease to be legal tender, few firms have prepared their accounting systems for conversion to the euro. Moreover, switching currencies constitutes just a small part of a far larger, complex set of related problems. That is because the common currency’s introduction also influences many business parameters of differing importance to management. Generalized checklists help managers little in dealing with the specific impacts such influences may have on an enterprise. Accordingly, the controller must identify the relative importance and sequence of changes necessary in each of the firm’s functional areas. The euro’s introduction furthermore represents an opportunity for management to modernize the company’s IT structures and to start using both the Internet and data warehouses.

Because its actual impact is still rather blurred, the euro brings up many questions among managers as well as gives rise to much marketing research. This paper aims specifically to assess and measure the impact of the euro on the consumer decision process.

This paper first expounds the theory that the currency changeover creates a cognitive and visual bias. Then it moves on to give experimental evidence with a sample of 800 real buyers that, in the French context, the euro currency creates a bias on the different stages of the decision process.

Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) reveals that euro prices influence the treatment of price information, price perception and, to a more marginal extent, the perception of product value. Individual factors, such as increased experience with the euro, moderate judgmental bias strength.

The results bring out the face value effect of prices, which shows that when unsure of actual price value the consumers turn to nominal value as an anchor for evaluating prices. This paper identifies implications for retailers who have to watch both the overall price range of the items they offer and the price positioning of their own brands in euros and implications for public authorities who have to force consumers to replace price references in the old currency with references in euros.

This research brings out the “magical” or “illusory” effects of prices, while there is only very scant academic evidence available.

The UK, unlike 12 of our fellow European countries, has decided not to join the euro. Indeed, the question of Britain’s membership of the single currency is unresolved. However, whether the UK decides to join or not, the British public house industry will be affected by the single currency. This article discusses the European Union and the euro, the impacts of the single currency on the British public house industry and a strategy for currency changeover in UK public house companies. The article includes a survey of finance directors of public house companies to ascertain their views of the euro. This is presented as a case study. The information contained in this article should be useful in helping public house firms develop a suitable strategic response to the euro. In this context, it is important that currency changeover is seen as an opportunity rather than a threat.

Nominal prices are known to have a distinct impact on pricing, which is normally seen in the form of 9‐ending prices. This article aims to study the effect of nominal prices on pricing patterns using data from a real‐life experiment: the currency changeover to the euro.

The study examines quantitatively the impact of the euro changeover on the price endings used in grocery retailing.

The results show that the length of the price has a marked impact on price endings. The adjustment of price endings is also found to be a very slow process.

The study examines pricing two different market situations within one industry (grocery retailing) in one country (Finland) and shows that there is a difference between pricing patterns in different market situations. It is clear that more research is needed to obtain a more detailed picture of pricing patterns by studying diverse market situations.

This article gives a better understanding of the effect of price length on price endings based on real‐life data sets from before and after the euro changeover. The results are robust because the studied markets and, thus, the culture remained the same over the study period. Further, this article for the first time examines the adjustment of price endings in a market change caused by a currency changeover.

Discusses the economic and monetary union and the euro; the UK and impacts of the euro; the UK public/business opinion and membership; and a suitable strategic approach to the currency. Presents a case study, summarizing the findings of a survey undertaken in May/June 2000, to ascertain the views of financial directors of UK hotel chains to the euro. Concludes that it would appear the UK hospitality industry is not adequately prepared for the euro and that in order for it to survive and prosper it must adopt to change.

The decision on which countries will participate in European Monetary Union (EMU) is to take place as early as possible in 1998, with the final run in, regarding the technicalities of introducing a single currency, starting on 1 January 1999. With this timetable in mind, examines some of the major issues which will have to be confronted by UK retailers. Even if the UK Government decides to opt out, the increasing internationalization of retailing will mean that UK retailers will have to face a Euro‐denominated environment over a significant range of its business activities. Consequently, by identifying EMU factors which specifically relate to retailing, identifies the key areas which retailers need to consider in planning a strategy to take account of the possibility that EMU will take place in at least some major EU economies.