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The authors analyze the relationship between different consumer attitudinal variables and a number of variables related to consumer perception of the store and purchasing behavior, in assortments composed exclusively of private labels (PLs).

The authors developed an experiment based on an online survey to test the hypotheses formulated. The model’s causal relationships are established using structural equations.

The image of stores that only offer their own brand is mainly configured by price consciousness and the attitude toward the private label. The private label purchase intention is strongly influenced by the store image and a favorable attitude toward the brand, and loyalty strategies should be aimed at securing a clear perception of providing real value.

For retailers who only offer their own brands, an assortment with price-competitive PLs is key to the strategy of differentiating them from other retailers. It is reasonable to assume that, if retailers have a favorable image, customers transfer this brand value to their PLs and trust them. Customer loyalty strategies of these retailers should be aimed at ensuring that consumers clearly perceive that their assortment provides real value and that, although it is limited in terms of number of brands, it can meet all their needs.

This research represents a significant contribution to brand management literature because, includes, together with loyalty to the store, its image and the PL purchase intention as consumer response variables. Another differentiating feature is the methodology used. Estimation of the structural equation model permits the simultaneous estimation of the relationships between the variables.

Analizamos la relación entre diferentes variables actitudinales de los consumidores y un número de variables relativas a la percepción de los consumidores con respecto al establecimiento y el comportamiento de compra, todo ello en surtidos compuestos exclusivamente por marcas de distribuidor.

Desarrollamos un experimento online, basado en una encuesta, para testar las hipótesis planteadas. Utilizamos ecuaciones estructurales para determiner las relaciones causales del modelo.

La imagen de los establecimientos que ofrecen exclusivamente su propia marca se configura, principalmente, por la conciencia de precio y por la actitud de los consumidores hacia la marca privada. La intención de compra de la marca de distribuidor está fuertemente influenciada por la imagen del establecimiento y por una actitud favorable hacia dicha marca, por lo que las estrategias de fidelización de clientes deberían estar orientadas a asegurar una clara percepción de proporcionar valor real a los consumidores.

Para los minoristas que ofertan exclusivamente sus propias marcas, un surtido con marcas de distribuidor muy competitivas en precio es fundamental en su estrategia de diferenciación de sus competidores. Además, es razonable suponer que si los minoristas cuentan con una imagen favorable, los consumidores trasladarán este valor de marca a sus propias marcas propias y confiarán en ellas. Las estrategias de fidelización de este tipo de minoristas deberían ir enfocadas a asegurarse de que los consumidores perciben claramente el valor real que aporta su surtido y que, aunque limitado en términos de número de marcas y alternativas, les permite cubrir todas sus necesidades.

Esta investigación supone una significativa contribución a la literatura sobre gestión de marcas al incluir, conjuntamente con la lealtad al establecimiento, su imagen y la intención de compra de la marca de distribuidor como variables respuesta del consumidor. Otro elemento diferenciador es la metodología empleada, ya que la estimación del modelo de ecuaciones estructurales permite la estimación simultánea de las relaciones entre las distintas variables.

This paper aims to explain variations in store brand penetration using trust. It aims to help both retailers and manufacturers predict store brand purchases through an improved understanding of the impact of trust in store brands across 10 different store brand product categories and among nine different grocery retailers.

Data were collected through a telephone survey of 904 participants responsible for the household grocery shopping with a quota of 100 respondents from each of the nine leading grocery retailers in Greece.

The findings provide empirical support that store brand purchases are positively influenced by the consumers’ perceived level of trust toward the retailer’s store brands. Results also confirmed variations in store brand penetration across the ten product categories that were tested, variations among the retailers and variations in the level of trust.

This paper is adding to the store brand literature from a quantitative perspective and is contributing to the theory, as there is no clear theoretical view on the effect of trust on store brand purchases.

El objetivo de este artículo es explicar las variaciones que se producen en la adopción y penetración de la marca de distribución a partir de la confianza que los consumidores depositan en esta. Con ello se pretende ayudar tanto a los distribuidores como a los fabricantes en la predicción de las compras de marcas de distribución a través del impacto de la confianza en diez categorías de producto distintas y diferentes cadenas de distribución de alimentación.

Se recogen datos a través de encuestas telefónicas a una muestra de 904 individuos responsables de la compra de productos de alimentación en el hogar distribuidos equitativamente entre las nueve marcas líderes de distribución alimentaria en Grecia.

Los resultados empíricos obtenidos apoyan el planteamiento del trabajo de que las compras de marcas de distribución están influidas positivamente por el nivel de confianza que los consumidores manifiestan hacia las mismas. Los resultados también confirman que la variación en el grado de penetración de las marcas de distribución en las distintas categorías de productos y cadenas de supermercados analizadas viene explicada por las variaciones en los niveles de confianza manifestados.

Este trabajo contribuye a la literatura de las marcas de distribución no sólo en aspectos teóricos sino también empíricos al no existir hasta la fecha un posicionamiento teórico claro sobre el efecto de la confianza en la adquisición de las marcas de distribución.

The evolution of private labels (PL) is a recent trend in the retail industry: many retailers now manage a PL portfolio that includes multiple value propositions, as well as various brand name strategies. Little research has been done, however, on how this combination of PL strategies conditions the results of the retailer that manages them. This study aims to examine the formation of PL brand equity and its effect on store loyalty for retailers with differently tiered PL programs (a “better” program with standard PL vs a full PL quality spectrum with economy, standard and premium PLs) and different PL naming strategies (store-banner name or stand-alone brand name).

A survey (N = 644) was used to test the model in the context of the consumer goods retail industry. Exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and multi-group structural equation modelling techniques were used to assess the proposed model.

The results show differences in the formation of PL loyalty based on whether the retailer has a tiered PL program. In portfolios with economy, standard and premium PLs, PL associations have a stronger effect than PL awareness in the formation of PL loyalty. Portfolios with a standard PL show balanced effects of PL associations and PL awareness on PL loyalty formation. As to the positive effect of PL brand equity on store loyalty, this study also shows a stronger effect of PL brand equity on store loyalty in chains that choose to use their store banner name in their PLs.

Retailers that manage multi-tier PL portfolios (as opposed to those that commercialise a standard PL) can increase loyalty to the PL portfolio significantly by constructing highly differentiated images of their economy, standard and premium PLs to ensure that consumers truly perceive the different value propositions of their PL tiers. As to PL naming strategy, the authors recommend that retailers that use the same retail chain name for one or several of their PLs invest in their corporate reputation to strengthen the brand equity achieved by their PLs and thus increase loyalty to the retail chain. Retailers must perform specific communication and advertising campaigns for PLs with the stand-alone brand name.

Today, any reference to PLs as a whole is overly simplistic, but no research has assessed empirically differences in the influences of a multi-tiered vs a standard PL program on the PL loyalty formation for PL portfolios. Nor has any empirical research incorporated the influence of PL naming strategy on store loyalty. This study fills these gaps, integrating into the same model two significant moderating variables of retailers’ strategy: their PL tier strategy and their PL naming strategy.

Despite the importance of innovation in business performance, investigation into innovation in services is scanty and lacking consensus. In retailing, it is a topic that has been awakening considerable academic and business interest in recent years. In this study context, this work aims to analyse innovation in retail experiences from two aspects – marketing innovation and technological innovation – to understand the role it exercises in satisfaction and subsequent recommendation.

The authors’ objective is to investigate the direct and indirect influence of marketing and technological innovation on satisfaction and word-of-mouth (WOM) through three core constructs: store image, consumer value and store brand equity. SEM methodology is applied on a sample of 820 retail customers of grocery, clothing, furniture an electronics store.

The results show that technological innovation is more important than marketing innovation in shaping image, value and satisfaction. At the same time, store image is the variable that most influences customer satisfaction and that satisfaction is a very significant antecedent of WOM behaviour. Practical implications for retail managers and further research are presented.

The main value of this work has been to go deeper into the study of retail innovation, both in marketing and technologies, and its direct and indirect effects on satisfaction and subsequent recommendation through store image, consumer value and store brand equity. It is a new line of study, which is still fragmented and with little empirical evidence.

In today’s highly competitive consumer marketplace, developing and managing successful private label offerings has become a priority for many retailing companies. The purpose of this paper is to analyze product, retailer, and individual factors from the private label brand that influence consumers’ loyalty and purchase intention; along with the influence of the manufacturer identification on the product package on purchase intention.

A structural equation model is run on a sample of 362 consumers, and a multi-group comparison is developed to study the role of manufacturer identification.

Findings indicate that the influence of private label image and perceived quality on purchase intention are partially mediated by loyalty and moderated by manufacturer identification. Results also reveal that store image and corporate reputation enhance private label image and perceived quality.

This study provides useful insights to advance the understanding of private label branding and guidance to retailers who should consider store image and company reputation when designing branding strategies.

The purpose of this paper is to focus in customer-based store brand value by comparing three different retailing formats – supermarkets, hypermarkets and discounters – in order to assess how store brand value stems from and to understand the store format influence.

Respondents were randomly selected and data were collected using an on-line structured questionnaire, focussing on Spanish large retailers. Then, hypotheses were tested performing structural equation modeling.

The results suggest that perceived quality, price image along with store commercial image have significant positive influence on store brand value and purchase intent. Moreover, store brands’ performance in the marketplace depends on different variables across the analyzed retailing formats.

These variables may be managed by retailers in order to enhance their own brands’ value proposition. These research implications should be considered within the context of a geographical limitation, despite providing the basis for further research on the topic.

The study adds to the growing literature in retailing a cross-store format comparative analysis, remaining a deeper understanding on how store brands create value from the consumers’ standpoint, based on an empirical research in a European developed market.

Die Frage «Wie weit kann die öffentliche Hand den Fremdenverkehr fördern?» unterstellt bereits die vollzogene Tatsache der staatlichen Förderung des Fremdenverkehrs. Sie scheint diese hinzunehmen, ja sogar davon auszugehen, dass der Staat den Fremdenverkehr fördern soll, vielleicht sogar muss, wobei es dann, nur noch einen Schritt bis zur Untersuchung und zum Entscheid darüber bedeuten würde, wie weit er iiberhaupt zu gehen imstande ist, um das apodiktisch feststehende Gebot der staatlichen Unterstüzung maximal zu erfüllen.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the role of a specific mechanism for cross-functional integration (CFI) in the relationship between product innovation and firm performance. It takes a contingency perspective, accounting for how these relationships vary depending on the degree of organizational knowledge complexity.

Hypotheses are tested via regression analysis with interaction effects in a sample of 105 wineries from Spain, using both objective and subjective firm performance data.

The results obtained confirm the existence of significant triple interaction effect of CFI, knowledge complexity and product innovation on firm performance. CFI has a negative moderating effect on the relationship between product innovation and performance and this effect varies according to the degree of organizational knowledge complexity.

This paper looks at variables that have been hitherto studied at the project or product level, at the firm level, in an attempt to untangle the relationship between innovation, CFI, knowledge complexity and firm performance. Study’s main limitations lie in the use of a cross-functional design and its focus on a single industry.

Firms dealing with complex organizational knowledge could use this CFI mechanism in the development of new products when their size and resources do not allow the creation of more formal temporal structures, such as cross-functional teams. However, unless the winery has to deal with a high degree of knowledge complexity, involving the oenologist in several functional areas for the purpose of coordination, may detract resources from product innovation effort and lead to a poorer performance.

This study showcases a mechanism of CFI not explored in previous research, but used in practice at many firms, i.e. the cross-pollination of ideas across different functional areas through the participation of the responsible for the product development, and tests its role in the relationship between product innovation and different types of firm performance.

Starting from a territorial development project in Western Honduras (Copán and Ocotepeque), farmers aimed to increase and add value to agricultural production by producing and commercializing granulated brown sugar (panela). The Western Honduras sugar market was studied, from the supply and demand side, in order to particularly understand consumer preference which is considered a key to increase smallholder farmers’ income in rural areas.

The research included a qualitative study by means of six visits for observation and data compilation to stores, four face-to-face open semi-structured interviews with store owners and a focus group with local producers to acquire a global picture of the main regional sugar market characteristics from the supply side. Moreover a quantitative analysis applying a Choice Experiment to study consumer preferences was performed acquiring higher knowledge from the demand side.

First, it was found that Honduras sugar market could be experiencing monopolistic practices and white sugar to 9 lempiras per pound was the most popular product according to the qualitative study. Second, for consumers who knew dulce de panela, granulated brown sugar was preferred over refined white sugar. Consumers who had a high level of education, came from rural areas, considered brown sugar to be healthier and read nutritional information were more prone to consume granulated brown sugar. On the other hand, the estimated selling price was around 16 lempiras/pound, but consumers were willing to pay at the most 11.59 lempiras/pound. Nevertheless, market share simulation showed a market niche to comercialize granulated brown sugar – panela.

This research is of academics, farmers and policy makers value. There are no studies analyzing consumer behavior regarding granulated brown sugar in Honduras. The results provide information about the previous steps which need to be given for smallholders in order to commercialize this novelty product; and it stressed the necessity of highlighting health claims on panela which would involve political actions.

The purpose of this article is to summarize the basic literature and concepts of innovation and entrepreneurship, emphasizing the relevant studies for Latin America. The authors aim to assess the role of Latin America in the world innovative activity utilizing the production of USPTO patents.

To achieve the first objective, the authors review and summarize the relevant literature for innovation and entrepreneurship in Latin America. They also introduce each of the papers included in the current special issue of Academia. To achieve the second objective, the authors use the production of USPTO patents by Latin American residents, and examine those levels to the rest of the world.

The authors find Latin America to be a marginal contributor to the world innovative activity. Although the region represented 8.7 per cent of world GDP in 2011, it only generated 0.19 per cent of the world patents registered at the USPTO between 2008 and 2012, and only 0.17 per cent of all patents registered since 1976. However, countries such as Costa Rica and Uruguay have larger levels of patent production by 100,000 inhabitants with 7.05 and 4.72 for 1976-2012.

This introduction introduces work that continues the intense discussion on innovation and entrepreneurship in Latin America. It is to the extent of the authors' knowledge, one of the first attempts to measure the level of innovation at the regional level, and compare the performance of different countries. This special edition has implications for individuals, firms and governments striving to introduce new products, services and processes in a region that has historically confronted important barriers to innovation.

En esta introducción presentamos algunos conceptos básicos sobre innovación y empresariado, y hacemos énfasis en la literatura que ha estudiado estos fenómenos en América Latina. Evaluamos, además, el papel de América Latina en la actividad innovadora mundial, utilizando la producción de patentes registradas en la Oficina de Patentes y Marcas de Estados Unidos (USPTO), y encontramos que América Latina desempeña un papel marginal con relación a otros centros mundiales de innovación. Finalmente, se presentan los artículos de este número de la revista Academia. Esta edición especial tiene implicaciones prácticas para individuos, empresas y gobiernos, que quieran introducir nuevos productos, servicios, y procesos desde una región que históricamente ha tenido que enfrentar barreras a la innovación.