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This paper aims to present a case study of virtual-reality-based product demonstrations featuring items of furniture. The results will be of use in further design and development of virtual-reality-based product demonstration systems and could also support effective student learning.

A new method was introduced to guide the experiment by confirming orthogonal arrays. User interactions were then planned, and a furniture demonstration system was implemented. The experiment comprised two stages. In the evaluation stage, participants were invited to experience the virtual-reality (VR)-based furniture demonstration system and complete a user experience (UX) survey. Taguchi-style robust design methods were used to design orthogonal table experiments and planning and design operation methods were used to implement an experimental display system in order to obtain optimized combinations of control factors and levels. The second stage involved a confirmatory test for the optimized combinations. A pilot questionnaire was first applied to survey demonstration scenarios that are important to customers.

The author found in terms of furniture products, product interactive display through VR can achieve good user satisfaction through quality design planning. VR can better grasp the characteristics of products than paper catalogs and website catalogs. And VR can better grasp the characteristics of products than online videos. For “interactive inspection”, “function simulation”, “style customization” and “set-out customization” were the most valuable demonstration scenarios for customers. The results of the experiment confirmed that the “overall rating”, “hedonic appeal” and “practical quality” were the three most important optimized operating methods, constituting a benchmark of user satisfaction.

The author found that it is possible to design and build a VR-based furniture demonstration system with a good level of usability when a suitable quality design method is applied. The optimized user interaction indicators and implementation experience for the VR-based product demonstration presented in this study will be of use in further design and development of similar systems.

Virtual reality (VR) has recently become established as a suite of technologies capable of serving many companies′ future needs in design practice, training and organizational communication. Two years after the launch of a major British collaborative project involving 17 blue‐chip companies, VR is set to become adopted by many as their “information technology of choice” for the next century – some even aiming to establish in‐house facilities before the end of 1996. Proposes that, properly implemented, VR is capable of giving personnel at all company levels, who have a wide variety of educational backgrounds or skills, intuitive access to complex, computer‐mediated processes. Discusses some of the practical solutions to a commercially‐driven selection of demonstrator projects, while attempting to dispel some of the myths associated with VR, such as the necessity to don head‐mounted displays and instrumented gloves.

Microsoft's Office team was developing the marketing communication plan for its new product, Office 2007. Office was a very mature product and several versions of the product had been introduced over more than 20 years. As such, the new version had to overcome the consumer perception that the versions of Microsoft Office that they already have are “good enough” for them. The Office 2007 marketing team has come up with a two-step campaign strategy that sought to first create awareness and intrigue using traditional media, followed by the heavy use of digital media to get consumer to experience the product through different types of “digital experiences.” The team needs to decide how much of its advertising spending it should shift from traditional media to digital media, how to design the most effective digital experiences and how to measure the effectiveness of digital experiences. The case is set at a time when digital media were emerging as a promising way to engage consumers more deeply with brands and products, but marketers were uncertain about the relative effectiveness of different digital marketing tactics and the optimal mix of traditional versus digital marketing channels for different product, market and campaign contexts.

To introduce students to the possibilities of “engagement marketing” using emerging digital marketing channels To emphasize the complementary nature of traditional versus digital media and their relative effectiveness at different stages of the consumer journey from awareness to perception change to behavior. To highlight the opportunities and opportunities in designing and measuring the effectiveness of integrated marketing campaigns when digital channels are added to the marketing communications mix.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the applicability of Pay-What-You-Want (PWYW) pricing multi-channel retailing. Specifically, the impact of PWYW endogenous price discrimination on consumers’ price fairness perception of and reactions to PWYW is investigated.

Three empirical studies with different product categories were conducted through lab experiments with student sample using scenario-based experimental approach.

Results indicate the viability of PWYW with lower suggested external reference price. The impact of PWYW endogenous price discrimination is dependent upon the magnitude of price deviation from regular market price and product category. Consumers’ negative perceptions of price differentiation interacted with their underlying beliefs about the retailer’s cost of products across different channels. PWYW acceptance can be fostered in multi-channel by communication of additional-value generated in offline selling.

The current research is possibly the first to explore PWYW viability in the multi-channel context by exploring the consumer’s price perception process and critical consumer reactions through a well-structured research framework.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the impact of delivering healthy eating messages through an interactive health corner (HC) on improving healthy dietary habits in participants.

Self-administered questionnaires were administered to participants after the education session. In total, 5,292 valid questionnaires were obtained, yielding a response rate of 93.3 per cent. In the last three months of the pilot study, a random sample of 305 from 1,493 participants was chosen and followed up six months later. Bivariate analysis was used to study the association of knowledge gained and attitude. Behavioural change was measured in terms of whether participants had reported an increase in their consumption of healthier food.

Majority (>98 per cent) of participants reported that the HC corner was useful, and had helped increase their awareness and knowledge of creating healthier meals and making healthier food choices. 95.7 per cent were willing to make changes after visiting the HC. At six months follow-up, 84 per cent of the participants reported positive changes in their dietary habits. Those who made positive changes were younger (mean age: 58.0 years) compared with those who did not (mean age 61.0 years, p=0.035).

Incorporating cooking demonstrations as part of nutrition education is effective in inculcating healthy eating practices and changing self-reported eating habits in the short term. Further research is needed to verify actual change in eating habits and to determine if this change is sustainable in the long run.

Currently, no similar initiative has been implemented and studied to evaluate the effectiveness of this mode of health promotion in a primary care setting. This study will help the authors to evaluate if the intervention was effective in changing attitudes and behaviours after an education session at the HC.

An innovative approach for enhancing college courses using virtual worlds was developed to raise the students' level of engagement, promote critical thinking, and meet pedagogical objectives. Reaching to a new level of teaching delivery, this approach involves conducting tours of rich and exciting virtual world venues and assigning students' reflective assignments during and after the tour. In this chapter, the procedures for conducting virtual educational tours are presented, descriptions of explored virtual demonstrations and simulations are provided, findings from the learning experiences are discussed, and students' reactions to the technologies based on comprehensive surveys are shared. Furthermore, key lessons learned and recommended teaching strategies are provided and future plans for application of cutting-edge technologies to education are described.

The purpose of this paper was to examine psychological variables of young Chinese to determine their impact on identification with global consumer culture, attitudes toward global and USA brands and intention to buy USA brands. The independent or psychological variables examined were self-monitoring, life satisfaction, brand relevance, social demonstration effect, change-seeking behavior and reference groups (interacted and non-interacted). The goal was to understand what forces drive global and USA brand preferences.

Data were collected in Guangzhou, China, in 2013 through a survey administered to 152 young Chinese respondents. Confirmatory factor analysis and reliability coefficients verified the psychometrics of each scale. Subsequently, the sample was divided into high versus low groups for each of the independent variables to perform mean tests for each on each of the four dependent variables.

The results showed that all the hypotheses were supported to some extent. The sample had a positive attitude toward all the dependent measures: identification with global consumer culture, global and USA brands and intention to buy USA brands. Self-monitoring and change-seeking behavior had the least association with the dependent variables. Brand relevance, social demonstration effect and interactive and non-interactive reference groups were all found to have strong support.

The authors used an urban sample of young Chinese. Examining an older sample or one that was less urban would also be useful. Future research could also examine other emerging markets such as Brazil or Indonesia to identify the impact of the psychological variables.

Multinational firms wishing to grow revenues of their USA and global brands in China must be attuned to the social aspects of positioning their brands. The implications show that brand relevance, social demonstration and reference groups can be used for positioning of global and USA brands. As China is a collectivist society, using appeals that establish a brand’s desirability or relevance and its ability to allow users to socially demonstrate the brand to reference groups is likely to work well.

No study has assembled the variables in the manner investigated in this research, nor have other studies looked at young Chinese in terms of USA brand attitudes and identification with global consumer culture.

Lifelong learning has come to involve a variety of learning experiences. These include conventional campus teaching, workplace open learning, modular flexible learning programmes, correspondence‐based distance learning courses, and most recently Web or multimedia‐based courseware. This paper considers the use of multimedia environments for open, flexible and distance education, in particular a learning environment known as the “Virtual University” as part of a process of lifelong learning. A comparison of different modes of learning is made. The Virtual University consists of virtual lectures, virtual seminars, virtual tutorials and virtual exams. It has a number of advantages over both formal lectures and conventional open learning materials, such as interactivity, adaptation, simulation, demonstration and integration. A questionnaire survey was conducted to assess the effectiveness of the Virtual University, and the results indicate an enhancement of the overall learning experience.

The purpose of this paper is to describe multiple case studies based on free/open‐source software (F/OSS) web applications. F/OSS web applications were deployed to create a demo web‐portal for Swiss small‐ and medium‐sized tourism enterprises (SMTEs). The web‐portal will demonstrate web applications for the purpose of F/OSS awareness and their subsequent trials.

Multiple case studies using rapid prototyping methods to deploy F/OSS web applications were used.

It was found that a web‐portal for increasing awareness and enabling interactive trials in the context of web applications suited to service organisations such as the SMTEs would enable further investigation regarding F/OSS adoption in the SMTE community.

Major components deployed in developing a web‐portal provide a limited set of trials and do not represent the wide range of F/OSS applications which might be applicable to the SMTE community.

F/OSS applications, especially web‐based business applications, are increasingly being adopted for commercial purposes. However, building awareness and enabling exploration of such applications in the context of SMTEs is still a rare occurrence.

In institutional settings, the decision to adopt technically innovative products is usually made jointly by individuals representing various functional groups. Each individual participant exerts significant influence over the adoption decision; and often the needs and concerns of various participants and groups differ. These characteristics contribute to the complexity of the purchase decision process and accentuate barriers to adoption, thus presenting special challenges for marketers of technically innovative products. The research discussed was designed to investigate the purchase decision process for technically innovative products in institutional markets. The US educational market provides the setting for the investigation. This market’s purchasing process is similar to a variety of tax‐funded institutional markets (e.g. governmental agencies, public health care facilities). Additionally, this market is significant ‐ in its own right ‐ for two important reasons: (1) it currently spends $225 billion annually, and (2) it significantly affects the future socio‐economic success of the USA. The results of the investigation provide important insights into the problems associated with marketing technically innovative products to these types of institutional markets.