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Over the last decade there has been an increase in the development of products sold as own label brands. The major UK grocery multiples have successfully employed this strategy, gaining more than half the grocery market with their own branded products. Supermarkets have strengthened their own‐brands by changing their no‐frills, low‐cost strategy to one of quality at a competitive price. This trend has made a major impact not merely on the fmcg sector, but also on the alcoholic market including wine. Consumer research by the supermarkets has addressed both the contents of the bottle as well as the packaging. Labels on own‐label wines have had much attention paid to them on the quest to reflect a more upmarket image. The acceptance of the own‐label brand by consumers is a serious threat to established brands as own‐label brands are likely to grow at the expense of manufacturer brands.

The existence and extent of consumers' external search effort has been deliberated by consumer behaviour theorists for several decades. Research has largely focused on durable goods such as automobiles for which there is a high monetary risk. This study considers a non‐durable product, wine, where there are several hundred alternatives. Furthermore, knowledge of the product's attributes are difficult to assess by visual inspection of the product. Thus it is presumed that consumers would conduct a search for information prior to their purchase, in particular making use of expert opinion by reading wine reviews and books. Results show that there is very little external search effort undertaken prior to entering the store. Furthermore, the two highest ranked information sources, point of sale material and labels, are only rated somewhat important. Overall there is no one overriding information source but several sources cumulate to provide the information consumers require.

This article focuses on the efforts of wine journalists to disseminate information. A content analysis is undertaken of articles in specialist wine magazines and weekend newspapers. This analysis is in the form of a comparative study based on the wine information for the three southern hemisphere countries of Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. When amount of column space devoted to each is assessed, it is evident that New Zealand, the smallest wine producing country of the three, is more positively favoured receiving a disproportionate amount of attention. However, an analysis of the information disseminated questions the value of the reviews.

Opinion leaders are important disseminators of information. Considers their relevance to the marketing of wine by assessing whether they are a reachable segment with respect to their demography and information needs. The importance of information from articles, books and television programmes is significantly associated with opinion leadership status. Furthermore, opinion leadership status is significantly associated with technical information on wines. This group, who tend to be the “heavy” buyers, is an important segment on whom producers should focus their attentions. Identifying them, however, cannot be undertaken demographically but, rather, they should be isolated by their information‐seeking behaviour. Targeting them by ensuring a constant flow of wine journalism of a more technical nature will feed their quest for information with which to impress and/or influence others.

Over the last two decades the United Kingdom has become a nation of wine‐drinkers. However, due to climatic conditions, very little is actually produced in the UK, Almost all the £6 billion market is made up of imported wine from all corners of the world. The traditional suppliers from France, Germany and Italy have, over recent times, been confronted with the wines from the New World. Supermarkets have led the way in stocking wines from both the traditional and New World countries. Furthermore, their attention to merchandising has been the catalyst for the surge in wine experimentation.

Purchasing products based on their country‐of‐origin is often employed by consumers as it is a short cut in the often lengthy decision process. Researchers have studied this country‐of‐origin phenomenon for several decades notably with an emphasis on durable goods understandably as durable goods tend to be high involvement purchases. The proliferation of brands and lack of knowledge can mean that wine too can be a complex purchase for many consumers. With the assistance of store displays by country many consumers use country‐of‐origin to simplify their wine choice. Generic wine promotions by individual countries further reinforce the country‐of‐origin concept for wine. This study sought to understand the level of understanding of certain countries as wine producers. Tourist‐based activities and price promotions were perceived as suitable strategies for generic bodies. These facilitate the purchase of wines from a country for the first time. The research focused on the case of Switzerland as it has low recognition as a wine producing country. Results show that Switzerland's products have a high quality image and this could be exploited in developing a generic campaign.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on investor reactions to unanticipated changes in income, and whether those reactions can be mitigated by managerial discussion. The authors investigate how top-management team certainty and optimism during post-earnings announcement conference calls can serve as corrective actions and add back firm value in times of unexpected changes in firm-specific risk.

The research question is tested empirically in the context of large, publicly traded, US firms’ quarterly earnings announcements, and their subsequent post-earnings announcement conference calls. The authors use the advanced content analysis software DICTION to measure the levels of managerial certainty and optimism displayed during post-earnings announcement conference calls, and event-study methodology to measure investors’ reactions.

Results indicate that earnings surprises are negatively associated with firm value, but that this relationship is mitigated positively by displays of managerial certainty and optimism during post-earnings announcement conference calls.

This work uses an innovative research design to study top-management team rhetoric in post-earnings announcement conference calls, and how specific discussions mitigate investors’ negative reactions to increases in firm-specific risk. The study highlights the importance of top-management team certainty and optimism for value creation in times of change in firm-specific risk, and the importance of rhetoric as a tool for corrective action.

This paper offers insights into the consumption motives and purchasing behaviour of that market segment in Taiwan against the background of increasing consumption of luxury fashion brands by young female consumers in Asian countries.

Analysis of data collected using face-to-face semi-structured interviews with 23 fashion-conscious females aged 18-32 years was completed and new empirical insights are offered.

The study found a high level of involvement in the world of luxury fashion retailing. Asian consumers devoured media commentary, drew inspiration from female celebrities and treated information-seeking and discussion of luxury fashion brands with friends as a serious and enjoyable pursuit. The social status conferred by expensive fashion wear motivated them to spend on luxury brands even if their discretionary income was limited. Potential guilt in so doing was assuaged by rationalising that the quality was good and the purchase would be long lasting. Marketers targeting this valuable segment should communicate appeals to an aspirational lifestyle in traditional and social media, effective at reaching young women.

The study reported in this paper contributes to the limited published research into the luxury-marketing sector in Asia by examining the buying behaviour of female Strawberry Generation consumers in Taiwan. It is the first to research and investigate the meanings attached to luxury by these individuals in the collectivist culture of Taiwan, as well as their motivations, and the factors influencing their purchase of luxury fashions. The study thus contributes with new knowledge to the buying of luxury fashion products by young female Taiwanese consumers, which may be extended to other collectivist cultures in Asia.

The purpose of this study is to explore consumer anticipation processes that occur after commitment to a purchase has been made, but before consumption occurs. The authors add to the knowledge and theory building about anticipation that occurs in this liminal phase by investigating the cognitive, emotional and behavioural processes that interact to influence post-consumption evaluations.

An abductive research approach used a phase-based research design using semi-structured interviews. The authors identify interactions between cognitive, emotional and behavioural processes that occur during anticipation and associate these with post-consumption outcomes.

Anticipation of a consumption experience, enacted through thoughts, emotions and actions, and undertaken with peers, is an experience per se, independent from and interdependent with the substantive experience, and contributes to performance of the substantive experience. The authors propose a framework in which anticipation – as a performative phenomenon – influences the overall evaluations of the substantive consumption experience in contexts of delayed consumption. The theoretical grounding of performativity makes a useful contribution through its linkage of thought processes to outcomes. The authors further locate their findings within the literature on attribution theory. By engaging in anticipation, informants perceived the locus of causality to be internal, and expressed pride in having anticipated if the subsequent experience was successful. By anticipating, informants perceived an ability to exert control over future events and felt ashamed of not having adequately anticipated if an experience was subsequently unsuccessful.

The theoretical grounding of performativity makes a useful contribution through its linkage of thought processes to outcomes. The authors further locate their findings within the literature on attribution theory. By engaging in anticipation, informants perceived the locus of causality to be internal and expressed pride in having anticipated if the subsequent experience was successful. By anticipating, informants perceived an ability to exert control over future events and felt ashamed of not having adequately anticipated if an experience was subsequently unsuccessful.

The authors discuss the trade-off service providers face between encouraging anticipation, which raises expectations that might not be met, and facilitating anticipatory preparations, which may reduce the risk of service failure.

The authors provide a new lens by conceptualising anticipation as a performative process and identifying mechanisms by which anticipation is embedded in total consumption experience. This study has important generalisable implications for contexts where mechanisms of performative anticipation may be a means for ameliorating uncertainty about future consumption experiences.

The author contributes to the theory of the multinational enterprise by examining subsidiary-specific capability in financial management, defined as the stock of knowledge and capability to plan, manage, control and direct financial resources effectively and efficiently, and the perceptions of subsidiary managers of host country financial development as drivers of export intensity (the share of sales that are exported) of foreign subsidiaries of multinational enterprises (MNEs). The author theorizes that subsidiary-specific capability in financial management is conceptually a valuable subsidiary-specific advantage and it is as important as other traditional competitive advantages, such as research and development and marketing intensity. Perceptions of subsidiary managers of host country financial development are argued to be largely related to the characteristics of the host country-specific advantages.

The author uses a survey dataset of the foreign subsidiaries of Western multinational enterprises (MNEs) together with other public data sources.

The author provides empirical evidence to support for these arguments that export intensity of MNE foreign subsidiaries depends on subsidiary-specific advantages and host country specific advantages.

The study broadens the understanding of the relationships between subsidiary-specific advantage in financial management, host country specific advantage, and export intensity of MNE foreign subsidiaries. In this way, the author makes an original contribution to new internalization theory by emphasizing the internal capability building of subsidiaries. The author discusses the implications of the findings for MNE foreign subsidiary managers, and policy makers because exporting is critical to the overall strategy of foreign subsidiaries, and it also contributes to the balance of trade and economic development of host countries where foreign subsidiaries operate.