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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the significance of value co-creation to the UK animal healthcare sector from the perspective of the key industry stakeholders: clients, veterinarians and paraprofessionals.

Value co-creation constructs in the sector were identified and measured using a mixed methods approach comprised of qualitative NVivo© thematic analysis of depth interviews (n=13) and quantitative exploratory factor analysis (EFA) (n=271).

Qualitative results revealed nine underlying dimensions regarding service delivery in the sector: trustworthiness, communication, value for money, empathy, bespoke, integrated care, tangibles, accessibility and outcome driven service. EFA of professional survey data loaded onto seven latent factors, with strong value co-creation dimensions identified.

The sampling process is sufficiently representative and diverse to present meaningful and valuable results, however, surveying should be extended to include the client group. Due to the originality of the research replication of the study will be beneficial to the broader understanding and application of value co-creation to the high-involvement services of animal healthcare.

Recognition of the importance of value co-creation to the sector should encourage professional stakeholders to develop and adopt integrated models of service provision and to provide improved levels of service quality.

The paper makes an original contribution to knowledge regarding value co-creation in respect of high-involvement service provision. Its findings should be of value to academics interested in value co-creation in service sectors as well as animal healthcare practitioners seeking to offer better value and quality service provision.

The purpose of the study was to further our understanding of in-restaurant family behaviors using an ethnographic study of families with children (at least one child from 2 to 12 years old) dining in fast food restaurants.

This study includes an unobtrusive, direct observational study of family fast food restaurant behaviour, including use of mobile technology, toys and indoor play area. Ordering and dining behaviours include field notes and enumeration of activity times for 300 families (450 children).

The food ordering process was rapid (<6 min), during which personal technology use was minimal, and adult/child interactions were perfunctory. Visits averaged 53 min, and only 18 min on average was spent eating. Families were observed using the fast food restaurant as a “third place” (home away from home) for many activities other than eating food. In-restaurant family behaviours included frequent use of technology (40 per cent of children/ 70 per cent of adults), use of the indoor play area (65 per cent of children/ 33 min of play) and child engagement with a toy (53 per cent of children/10 min of play).

Studying how time is spent in fast food restaurants expands the knowledge of current family eating behaviours and how young consumers behave in restaurants (i.e. with restaurant-provided activities, toys and indoor play spaces). Shifts in dining practices, from the intrusion of technology during the meal (technoference) to a decline in the use of restaurant-provided toys were noted. Dining visits now include many non-food activities, and the dining time in the restaurant was not a time for extensive family conversations or interactions, but rather a public home away from home.

This study aims to examine peer perceptions of a parent dining in a fast-food restaurant with their child.

A vignette approach was used to explore consumer assumptions and normative data using a four-country online survey of parents, with 1,200 respondents (300 from each of Australia, Canada, the UK and the USA). The study included qualitative and quantitative thematic analyses of the responses.

Family dining in fast-food restaurants was most often associated with an opportunity for family time together (25%), a treat (25%) and an unhealthy food decision (19%). For some, this is a normal meal that should not be judged (11%), for others, this is merely a meal of easy convenience (9%). Fathers, when depicted as the parent in the vignette, were more likely to be praised for spending time with their children, while mothers were more likely to be critiqued for making poor nutritional choices. Respondents from the USA viewed fast-food family dining more favourably than respondents from Australia, Canada or the UK.

Despite rising obesity in these four countries, only 19% of respondents focused on the unhealthy element of the food choice, suggesting that perhaps this element is not on the forefront of consumer decision considerations.

This paper confirms parental peer perception differences, based on gender and country, regarding opinions on a child dining with a parent in a fast-food restaurant.

The purpose of this study is to generate insight into the effects of entrepreneurship education in China by conducting a preliminary scoping study of the enterprising tendency of university students studying business.

This study used a self-administered questionnaire based on the General Measure of Enterprising Tendency v2 (GET2) test to measure the enterprising tendency of a group of Chinese university students. Decision trees, using the Chi-square automatic interaction detector (CHAID) approach, and multiple regression analyses were used to investigate the enterprising tendency of respondents.

The findings from this study indicate that the students have an overall medium level of enterprising tendency and strengths in some enterprising characteristics. The findings reveal that gender, family business, hometown and entrepreneurship education are significantly related to enterprising tendency but that age, household income, parents’ education and occupation are not.

Although the study is based on a relatively small sample taken from just one university in Beijing, the findings suggest that the enterprising tendency of students can be encouraged by entrepreneurship education. Combined with evidence that entrepreneurship education is at a relatively early stage of development in China, this finding suggests considerable scope to increase student’s enterprising tendency by extending, creating a more favourable environment for and improving the methods used to deliver entrepreneurship education. Enterprising tendency can be argued to naturally result in entrepreneurial intention; however, this extension is beyond the scope of this study, which is restricted to the analysis of enterprising tendency.

This study makes an original contribution to knowledge as it is one of the first studies to explore enterprising tendency among university students in China. It has value for government, policymakers and university program designers in that it provides direction for entrepreneurship education in China.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of branding on healthy fast food items.

A total of 20 children (age 4–6) performed one open sort and four closed card sorts about food preferences, perceived healthiness and perceived parental preferences using branded and non-branded food image cards. Descriptive statistics were calculated and major themes were identified from the verbatim transcripts.

The children chose whole fruit over branded and bagged apple slices, stating whole fruit would be tastier, healthier and more likely parent approved. When apples were sliced and bagged, perceived taste and healthiness perceptions were variable. Packaged foods were more challenging for the children to conceptualize. Presented with eight options, french fries were the favorite choice as the children did not believe fruit or vegetable side dishes should accompany a cheeseburger.

Only children’s perceptions and not actual eating behaviors were measured. It was a small sample (n=20) with limited sample diversity that would not be representative of all children.

Packaging and branding a healthy food item with a fast food logo did not increase the item’s appeal to the children. Branding healthy foods in this manner may not lead to increased consumption.

The impact of branding healthy items on very young children’s perceptions has rarely been examined. Most of the research on branded food items has focused on high calorie processed foods. Using a card sort exercise allowed children, too young to read and write, to articulate similarities, differences and motivations around food preferences.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the use of pricing (incentive and deterrent) to shift the purchase decision intent of parents when they order food for their child in a fast food restaurant.

A financial incentive and a deterrent pricing tactic was tested using an online quantitative approach with a sample of 400 Canadian parents, representative of the Canadian population based on geography, household income and education level.

The financial incentive tactic demonstrated that a strong and clearly articulated monetary discount can shift the stated purchase intent of parents into an increased number choosing a healthier side dish for a child’s fast food meal. A deterrent pricing approach was shown to also shift stated purchase intent, and had a higher consumer impact on a per dollar basis. Younger parents (<35 years old) were more likely to select healthier side dishes for their child; however, parents of all ages could potentially be influenced through motivational pricing approaches.

This was an exploratory study using online surveys and stated purchase intent among Canadian respondents. Examining “stated” purchase intent only through the use of a questionnaire, and without a consequence of the choice, may not reflect a consumer’s real purchase behaviour. A future study should be conducted on pricing approaches in a restaurant setting, where the parents then have the consequences of interacting with the child and the response of the child to the food decision made on their behalf.

The use of pricing to shift parental food purchase decisions into ordering healthier food items for their children is a promising option, which with further exploration may lead to easily implementable restaurant-level recommendations that achieve the desired results of children eating healthier.

As the frequency of fast food consumption continues to rise, encouraging healthier fast food choices for children could help to combat the troubling rise of obesity in young children.

While most historical research has focussed on teen or adult consumers, this paper offers insights to academics, marketers and restaurant industry influencers into the previously unexplored area of using pricing to encourage parents to make healthier food choices for children in a fast food restaurant environment.

Extends a discussion concerning competition. A model is introduced, based on the concept of the extended product, in order to help TQM practitioners manage the competitiveness of their products. Further, a discussion is initiated which addresses a number of issues relating to competition.

With brands being an important source of competitive advantage, knowledge of branding is needed to inform their management. After reviewing the literature, the article aims to report the findings of a case study that investigated the role of branding in the industrial purchase of agricultural tractors in the UK. The study's overall conclusion is that branding can play an important role in industrial purchase decisions.

Various attributes, together with levels of these attributes, were identified from the literature and a series of semi‐structured interviews with three farmers and farm contractors. Subsequently, conjoint analysis was employed to reveal how purchasers made their purchase decision. A total of 428 farmers and farm contractors (a 28.7 per cent response rate) ranked 25 cards that had been constructed to profile various hypothetical tractor designs.

Five attributes appeared from the literature review and interviews – brand name, price, dealer proximity, quality of dealer's service, and buyer's experience of the dealer. The conjoint analysis revealed that brand accounts for 38.95 per cent of the purchase decision, ahead of price (25.98 per cent) and service (14.90 per cent). The importance of brand varies according to the tractor brand. Also, the overall utility varies, with John Deere and New Holland brand names appearing as marketing assets and Valtra, Massey Ferguson, and Case IH as marketing liabilities. Among the study's other findings are that UK tractor buyers are brand loyal.

The study focuses on tractors in the UK, so while it provides an insight into the role of branding in an industrial purchase situation, further research is required in other product categories before the findings can be generalised.

Manufacturers and distributors need to maintain a strong image. Also, they may charge higher prices for tractors, using the extra revenue to reinforce their brand image. On‐farm demonstration of new tractors is suggested as an experiential marketing strategy. Special attention should be given to the location of dealers and the service they provide.

Research concerning branding in an industrial purchase context is limited, dated, or contradictory. This article contributes with empirical findings on industrial brand management in an important and relevant context.

The aim of this article is to consolidate the theory relating to longitudinal attitude surveys, and supplement it with knowledge gained from the execution of an annual attitude survey of consumers.

First, the article presents a distillation of current knowledge concerning longitudinal research; attitudes and behaviour; measurement of attitudes; and conduct of attitude surveys. Following that, a case study is carried out to survey consumer attitudes. This survey, which is intended to predict future behaviour and monitor changes in consumers' attitudes in response to socio‐political and economic changes in the food and agricultural market environment, is then discussed.

The findings of a series of annual surveys of consumers' attitudes first conducted in 1997 and continued annually to 2004 include: British farmers are viewed as “good food producers”; farms are businesses, which whilst forming the financial backbone of the rural community are at present members of a struggling industry; and there is agreement that the Government does not care for the countryside.

The survey on which the findings and the best practices are based upon relates to the consumers' attitudes in response to changes in the food and agricultural market environment. Further research would be required to verify the findings in respect of other market sections.

The article presents a checklist of eight good practices relating to the conduct of longitudinal attitude survey work.

Attitude surveys are a popular means of gathering market research data. Much has been written about attitudes and the conduct of ad hoc attitude surveys. However, much less has been published concerning longitudinal attitude surveys. The study reports empirical findings in an important context, that is: changes in consumers' attitudes in response to changes in the food and agricultural market environment.

This paper aims to explore the service quality concept in the context of the rapidly growing Chinese language training market.

The study is based on a mixed methodology that includes secondary research, eight qualitative depth interviews, and a quantitative survey of 200 language students studying in Beijing.

The study identified and quantified the key aspects of service quality relating to language training in China and an importance/performance analysis (IPA) finds that management should focus their attention on improving the cost of training, the availability of learning materials, and lectures starting and finishing on time.

Although the findings are statistically significant, it is not quite at the level normally considered acceptable for research studies. In addition, because the data was collected in a single geographic location (Beijing), it is possible that the findings may not be representative of the Chinese market as a whole.

The paper concludes that there is a considerable gap between the expectations of the students and the performance of organisations delivering language training in China. This gap represents a weakness of those organisations already operating in the Chinese language training market but an opportunity for organisations considering entry. Managers are advised that they should improve the quality of the service offering in terms of the cost of training, the availability of learning materials, and lectures starting and finishing on time.

This paper makes an original contribution to knowledge regarding service quality in the language training market in China. The paper also provides insight into the measurement and conceptualisation of service quality.