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This study examines the selection criteria, country preference and people which influence Taiwanese male office workers' business apparel purchases in Taiwan. A partial model by Engel, Blackwell and Miniard (EBM) was used as the framework to indicate that the culture factor directly affects consumers' decision‐making process of purchase behaviour. A total of 232 questionnaires from male consumers in Taipei, Taiwan, were used for data analyses. Selection criteria, country preference and influential people were analysed by demographic variables including age, marital status, education, occupation, and yearly expenditure for business apparel purchase. Overall, the respondents ranked the selection criteria in order of descending importance as: fit, colour, price, style, quality, brand name, ease of care, fibre content and country. The order of country preference was rated first to last as: Taiwanese, Italian, US, French, British, Japanese, Hong Kong, German and Canadian. Individuals who influenced purchases were ranked as: my own opinion, wife or girlfriend, female friend, family member or other relative, male friend and salesperson. This research suggests that if foreign companies want to market to Taiwanese male consumers, they must develop appropriate strategies that help to change the domestic bias of the older males, or choose to appeal to younger males in hopes of developing long‐term brand loyalty. Additionally, the price strategies should be adjusted to be more competitive in Taiwan's marketplace. Meanwhile, fit and colour of apparel products may also need to be altered or modified in order to reach Taiwanese male consumers' demands.

An understanding of consumer behaviour helps companies in catering more effectively to the needs and wants of their target markets. This better understanding of the consumer can lead to significant increases in a company's sales within a given market segment, and therefore can lead to increased profits (Dhalla and Mahatoo 1976). Accordingly, understanding the factors which contribute to consumer purchases and consumer satisfaction are among the most important functions a market researcher may perform (Vecchio 1991). Once manufacturers understand the characteristics of their particular target market segment, more effective promotion can be devised (Piirto 1990).

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how the performance of apparel products is measured in the apparel business so as to contribute theoretical understanding and the company's capacity of apparel product development.

Qualitative research method was employed. Face‐to‐face interviews were conducted with 27 individuals who have developed apparel products in the US apparel and retail industries. Emergent themes were classified into Griffin and Page's “core success and failure measures” including customer acceptance, financial performance, product‐level, and firm‐level.

Findings revealed that the performance measures for apparel products are multidimensional. The combination of consumer acceptance and financial performance measures, especially sales and profitability, served as critical measures for apparel product performance. Both long‐ and short‐term performances were considered.

The small, convenience and purposeful sample should be considered as a limitation.

The findings from this study may be useful for apparel product development in the apparel industry where it is important, particularly in an increasingly competitive marketplace.

The emergent performance measures in this study may be used as a baseline for further studies that need to measure apparel product performance.

Centuries of protection have impeded innovation in the textile industry. As these protections elapse, the industry must contend with increasing competition from abroad. This raises the question: will more R&D expenditure enhance competitiveness? To assess this, we measure firm profitability using Tobin's q, the ratio of the stock market valuation of the firm compared to the book value of the firm's assets. Q values are compared to other financial ratios, and then used to assess the impact of research and development (R&D) spending. A Mann‐Whitney rank test indicates firms that conduct R&D are not more profitable, as measured by q, than those that do not conduct R&D.

This paper, an exploration into Black women cultural consumers of Tyler Perry Productions, examines the ways cultural consumption practices contribute to transformative ideologies and behaviors.

This regionally diverse ethnography using yo-yo fieldwork in Los Angeles, Atlanta, New York, and New Orleans, is based upon the author’s experiences over the course of five years engaging theater attendees and the casts and crew members of multiple Perry productions.

The author first discusses the dichotomous and provocative responses to Perry’s work by scholars, critics, and consumers of Tyler Perry Productions. After an ethnographically rich discussion of the setting surrounding a performance of the stage play Madea’s Big Happy Family, the author discusses how Black women report Perry’s work as a site of resistance to, and resources for responding to, microaggressions and other structures of oppression.

Building on the work of black feminist theory (Bobo, 2001, B. Smith, 1998) and black feminist theater aesthetic (Anderson, 2008), this paper, by crafting a Black Women’s Theatre Aesthetic that, for the first time, engages with and gives primacy to the consumers of theatrical productions, opens a portal for understanding the creative ways Black women call into play cultural consumption practices as tools and devices for transformative praxis.