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Shortly before the Second World War, a woman who had never accepted her orphan status, Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel, nicknamed ‘Little Coco’ by her father and known as ‘Coco’ to her relatives, became the first women in history to build a world-class industrial empire. By 1935, Coco, a fashion designer and industry captain, was employing more than 4,000 workers and had sold more than 28,000 dresses, tailored jackets and women's suits. Born into a poor family and raised in an orphanage, she enjoyed an intense social life in Paris in the 1920s, rubbing shoulders with artists, creators and the rising stars of her time.

Thanks to her entrepreneurial skills, she was able to innovate in her methods and in her trendsetting approach to fashion design and promotion. Coco Chanel was committed and creative, had the soul of an entrepreneur and went on to become a world leader in a brand new sector combining fashion, accessories and perfumes that she would help shape. By the end of her life, she had redefined French elegance and revolutionized the way people dressed.

Fair trade has made paying producers in poorer countries a “just” price one of its central aims, with the issue constantly in its public communiqués, from the print media to social networking sites. As most research has looked at fair trade in the South, where small producers and craft makers live, discussions of the fair price have centered on whether the wholesale prices paid to them are alleviating poverty. However, circumscribing the issue of the fair price only to its impact in the South impedes our understanding of how fair trade operates in the North, on which the system relies for its existence. Looking at fair trade from a Northern perspective, this paper sees the fair price as a partial illustration of the social processes that characterize reflexive modernity, particularly the ethical dilemmas that surround the composition of prices. But rather than focusing exclusively on activist discourse, the paper uses practice theory to build a more nuanced picture of the diverse beliefs and behaviors that the fair price is entangled with. Drawing on ethnography with people who consume and sell fair trade in the Italian city of Palermo, the paper shows how understanding what a fair price is appears to be an enigma that conceals different aspects of the fair trade network. Specifically, it reveals that the fair price is not a single but a double entity, comprising the wholesale price paid to producers, where “political” emphasis usually lies, and the fair retail price, an entity discussed far less often.

The purpose of this study is to explore the definition of local food through the concept of perceived proximity in order to improve the understanding of food locality and to propose a new framework for analysis.

The paper presents an exploratory research through 32 semi-structured interviews with six agri-food industry stakeholders carried out in Quebec, Canada. Thematic analysis is used to identify the main dimensions of the proximity of a local food. A conceptual framework based on the results is presented.

The results suggest that local food can be defined according to nine dimensions of proximity: geographic, process, price, identity, relational, functional, cultural, access and experiential.

This study allows the concept of local food to be broken down into a constellation of perceived proximities and expands the understanding of the differences in the perception of food locality.

This paper aims to understand what kind of fashion product picture can arouse greater embodied mental simulation at two distinct steps of consumers' shopping journey (choice between options and purchase intention).

Two experimental studies were developed. Study 1 (n = 169) investigated consumers' purchase intention, and Study 2 (n = 156) investigated consumers' choice for a T-shirt displayed in an e-commerce store. The authors manipulated the product picture by considering pictures with the presence or absence of a human model wearing the product (flat vs. mannequin vs. human model without a face vs. human model with a face).

Consumers demonstrated greater choice and purchase intention for the picture that aroused greater embodied mental simulation. Different pictures aroused greater embodied mental simulation depending on the consumer journey step (choice between two options or purchase intention). Perceived product attractiveness influenced this finding.

The data on men and women were analyzed together due to the low number of male participants in both studies.

The results suggest that mannequin pictures should be used in situations involving product evaluation (e-commerce categories' pages) and that pictures with human models should be used in situations entailing further analysis of the product (e-commerce product page) to encourage purchase decisions. E-commerce managers also need to use pictures of human models when the product is viewed as less attractive.

This research investigated embodied mental simulation around product pictures at two distinct steps of consumers' shopping journey.

This paper aims to focus on evaluating the rich cultural intangible heritage of Sardinia Island, and how such a heritage can contribute to the implementation of tourism during the low season. The purpose is also to verify whether the enhancement of intangible heritage attractors, could be a driver for the sustainability of the island's tourism.

A qualitative approach is used in order to explore a multiple case study: the multifaceted expressions of the Holy Week. This is a cultural event that constitutes a part of the Christian festivity of Easter, which is characterized by traditional processions and ancient rituals widespread in various towns and cities around the island.

Intangible cultural heritage provides an additional opportunity to increase the level of tourism in Sardinia Island.

This study has its limitations: it focuses only on a specific typology of event. Further studies should be taken into consideration in order to explore whether even other kinds of events are able to increase tourism in the low season, and to promote it on a sustainable perspective.

This study about heritage tourism in islands provides information about which little has been written. Moreover, it could offer a framework for other island destinations in the Mediterranean and elsewhere.

To investigate how HRM in an established organization can support employee voice and engage employees to be innovative in their everyday lived experience.

The research is based on a case study of an innovation event in an organization, where 27 employees were interviewed about the emotional, cognitive and behavioral aspects of their engagement in innovation.

Findings highlight the importance of continuing HRM's involvement during an entire event process to connect innovation events with everyday work. HRM has a central role in initiatives that intend to support voice and stimulate the engagement of diverse employees in innovation in established firms.

This was a qualitative and cross-sectional case study of one organization and one event offered two years in a row.

In order to promote innovation, HR and senior management should foster an environment that motivates employees and promotes voice behavior (Morrison, 2014). HRM can create multiple methods of engagement, acknowledging the diversity of the workforce profile and its specific needs. HRM has an important role within an innovation strategy; as it can, together with other areas, create, develop and maintain actions that support and recognize innovative ideas and encourage employees to become actively engaged with the inclusion of innovation in their daily work life. Specifically, innovation exercises are an activity with much potential to foster voice and promote engagement towards innovation.

We develop a model proposing relationships between HRM, employee voice, employee engagement, cross-department collaboration and innovation. The study also considers the engagement of a diverse group of employees in an established company context.

Purpose: The present research draws from neomaterialist theories to investigate women’s erotic consumption in Brazil, analyzing several stages of the consumption cycle, from need detection to disposal.

Methodology/Approach: Fieldwork followed the Itinerary Method, with 35 in-depth interviews and participant observation.

Findings: In addition to providing thick description of two consumption cycle stages, the chapter analyzes assemblages of material objects and people that are part of erotic consumption. The dialectical process that transforms consumers through the agency of erotic products also transforms products through repurpose or personification – as lovers, butlers, or party crashers – which, in turn, highlights these objects’ agentic nature. Erotic products are understood as possessing social life and death.

Practical Implications: This research uncovered a series of transformations performed by the object on the consumer (i.e., objectification of the consumer) and vice versa (i.e., personification of the object). These processes help understand tensions inherent to networks and assemblages formed during erotic consumption. They also suggest, along the consumption cycle, unmet consumer needs that may be tended to by industry, like disposal issues.

Social Implications: This study broadly aims at helping women to more freely exercise their sexuality (with the mediation of erotic products if they so desire) in a Latin-American patriarchal society where double moral standards regarding men and women still prevail.

Originality/Value of Chapter: This is one of the first studies conducted within consumer culture theory that focuses specifically on sexuality related consumption.

The phycocyanin is a pigment present in the microalga Spirulina that has been studied due to its applicability as food coloring; however, it can be used due to the ability to act as an emulsifier or stabilizer in function of its protein characteristic. The purpose of this paper is to use aqueous extracts of Spirulina containing phycocyanin (EP) as a substitute of additives in the production of ice creams.

The study was divided in two sections: first, the influence of addition of EP in ice cream bases (that represent the ice cream preparation before air incorporation step) and second, the influence of addition of EP in five ice cream formulations, in which the differences were the addition of EP in substitution of stabilizer, Chantilly or emulsifier, one at a time or in substitution of all additives together, by the EP.

The different ice creams developed presented centesimal composition according to Brazilian legislation in relation to the chemical parameters. The EP presented emulsifying and stabilizing activity in the ice creams formulations acting in substitution of emulsifier and stabilizer presented in the standard formulation, not influencing the overall acceptability of consumers.

The authors demonstrate that the aqueous extract of Spirulina containing phycocyanin can be used as a natural additive in ice cream in substitution of emulsifiers and stabilizers normally used in this product, contributing to produce more healthy foods, once phycocyanin is an protein of high nutritional value.