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Gray market activities have become global, occurring not only in less developed or volatile markets, but also in many well‐developed markets. Although the gray market problem has been discussed in the literature, pertinent research from a demand perspective remains scarce. This study establishes a valid measure of consumer attitude toward gray market goods and investigates the relationships between consumer attitude toward gray market goods and their antecedents. Data analysis reveals that both price‐quality inference and risk averseness significantly and negatively affect consumer attitude toward gray market goods. Strategies for managers of international brands to address gray market problems are presented.

Based on the concept of information salience, the research investigates the factors that might drive potential differences in consumers' preferences between offers framed as free with purchase or as a bundle.

Four experiments examined how participants' preferences for bundled offers or free-with-purchase offers varied as a function of the perceived benefits to be obtained from the supplementary products (studies 1a and 1b) and identified participants' sensitivity to the price of the supplementary component as a mediator of the framing effect of a promotional offer (study 2) and the provision of information facilitating the drawing of comparisons as the boundary condition constraining the effectiveness of a free-with-purchase offer (study 3).

Results show that a bundled offer is preferable to a free-with-purchase offer when the supplementary product provides a high-level rather than a low-level benefit and identify price sensitivity as an underlying mechanism behind the observed effect. Furthermore, consumers' sensitivity to the value of the focal product in the deal brought to their attention by comparative information makes a fair charge for a relatively unattractive component the preferable offer.

While much of the existing published research on bundled offers focuses on the assigning of discounts to individual products in the bundle, this study adds to the body of knowledge by showing that variation in perceived benefits is the key driver of different responses to a free-with-purchase offer versus a bundled offer.

Renewables such as sugar-energy biomass can contribute to national electrical security, job creation and mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions. However, after the auction of reserve energy, in 2008, exclusive biomass, in the regulated contracting environment (RCE), the authors observe that this energy environment has lost competitiveness in the auctions. Thus, a study on the present theme is justified, based on the problem: What are the reasons for the lack of competitiveness of sugar-energy bioelectricity in the Auctions of the RCE of the National Electric Energy Agency? The purpose of this study is to understand the situation of sugar-energy bioelectricity in the Brazilian market.

Literature review was conducted through the Scientific Electronic Library Online database, as well as the survey of primary documents at Sugarcane Industry Union and Electric Energy Trading Chamber.

The reasons for lack of competitiveness in RCE electricity auctions are: distant location of transmission lines; difficulties in obtaining licensing; delay in responses from environmental agencies; difficulties in securing financing for electricity generation projects for distilleries; non-pricing of positive environmental externalities as adequate disposal of waste; and the non-recovery of the cost of retrofit of the plants. The present situation may create economic, social and ecological circumstances adverse for Brazilian development, such as a lack of employment and income generation, loss of international currencies from imports of technologies not developed and produced in the country and more significant inefficiency greenhouse gas mitigation.

The originality of this study is in the contribution to the scarce literature on the understanding of the reasons for the lack of competitiveness of the Brazilian sugarcane sector in auctions of the regulated energy environment, based on SWOT analysis and, based on this understanding, to propose solutions for the expansion of this important matrix energy.

The purpose of this paper is to establish how sales are propelled when consumer spending level falls. Design/methodology/approach – Case study together with deductive research approach was used. Findings – While conventional marketing strategies did little to enhance sales, Geiz‐ist‐Geil was found to be very helpful in sustaining sales levels when consumer spending levels were plummeting.

Theoretical literature on marketing strategy is silent on the use of non‐conventional marketing strategy. Geiz‐ist‐Geil strategy is found to be useful in propelling sales. There is an urgent need to put greater focus on non‐convention marketing strategies. In addition, practitioners need to look beyond the confines of the 4Ps strategy. There is a need for managers to adopt non‐conventional strategies. Originality/value – Contrary to previous theoretical literature, where it is conspicuous by its absence, the use of non‐conventional marketing strategy (i.e. Geiz‐ist‐Geil strategy) is emphasized in this study.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the role of ownership characteristics in a firm’s choice of alternative seasoned equity offering (SEO) methods, offer price discounts, and market reactions to such announcements within the UK setting.

The study examines 697 SEO events of firms traded in the UK during the period 1998 to 2012 using multivariate and binomial logistic regression models. Ordinary least square models are also used to examine how ownership variables affect offer price discounts and stock market performance during the announcement of such corporate events.

The authors show that placings and open offers (OOs) are the preferred methods for issuing equity by firms with higher managerial ownership. Thus, the evidence strongly supports the prediction of the entrenched management hypothesis. Moreover, the probability of choosing a combination of placings and OOs is also found to be significantly related to issue size, offer discount, leverage, and previous stock performance. The results show that pre-issue market conditions have a significant effect on the choice of issue method with rights offers (ROs) and the combination of placings and OOs primarily utilised by firms for issuing equity during hot market periods.

Unlike prior SEOs’ studies in the UK that predominantly concentrate on the use of ROs and placings, this study examines, for the first time, the link between OOs and the combination of placings and OOs with ownership concentration. The authors also investigate how offer price discounts are related to the firms’ ownership structure, various company micro-characteristics and the wider market conditions.

The purpose of this paper is to study the effectiveness of multiple signals. Specifically, the paper investigates how the individual strength of a marketplace signal varies as a function of whether consumers are exposed to that signal alone or in combination with another signal.

The research uses experimental designs to empirically address the research questions. Hypotheses are formulated primarily based on signaling theory and these hypotheses are tested with laboratory experiments using real consumers.

The key finding is that a signal's stand‐alone credibility largely determines whether its individual strength would be diluted or augmented by the coexistence of another signal. Further, when signals with different stand‐alone strengths coexist, the individual strength of the weaker signal is higher than when that signal is present alone. These effects are observed in brick‐and‐mortar and online shopping media.

Past research reports mixed findings about whether the individual strength of a signal is diluted (dilution effect) or augmented (augmentation effect) by the presence of another signal. This research attempts to resolve this issue, for the first time, by demonstrating that whether dilution effect or augmentation effect occurs depends on the stand‐alone credibility of the individual signals in a mix.

Demonstrates how a service can be developed and differentiated into a unique service offering: the augumented service offering. This model is geared to the characteristics of services as intangible products and to the process nature of services. Takes into account not only the outcome dimension of the service offering but also the process dimension. Uses a case from the car rental business in Sweden to show how the model works.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect on price of different cruise industry characteristics from the point of view of actual prices. The analysis is carried out from the supply side but taking into account the real prices paid by customers.

This paper uses the hedonic price methodology. To develop this research, a database of more than 36,000 prices paid by cruise passengers and different characteristics of ships in 2013 was built. To obtain the results, ten models have been developed with significant adjusted R² of between 0.85 and 0.93 making the models and results robust.

The results show that the main attributes affecting prices are the number of nights of the itinerary, the departure date, the number of days before departure the booking is made, the accommodation type and some facilities, such as casinos, cinemas and swimming pools. The results also yield a ranking of ship companies based on price and quality dimensions. Finally, the authors suggest some implications for management and new research.

This paper offers a new approach in the academic literature of the cruise industry in two respects. First, in its use of a broad database of actual prices paid by passengers – more than 36,000 observations. Second, in the application of the hedonic pricing methodology, widely used in the tourism sector (see the Methodology and Database section) but until now not in the cruising segment.