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The purpose of this paper is to identify and investigate non-technical barriers for smart services in the capital goods industry.

A multiple methodology approach is adopted. First, qualitative workshops and interviews were conducted with 14 experts from five companies. The findings generated subsequently provided a basis for a large-scale quantitative survey of manufacturing company service representatives in the capital goods industry, the data from which were analyzed using explorative factor analysis.

In total, 25 items that represent barriers to smart service businesses were identified, using qualitative research. Large-scale quantitative research revealed 24 items structured into four factors. Additionally, the respondents’ assessment of the individual barriers’ impact on their smart service businesses is presented.

The study focuses on manufacturing companies in the capital goods industry, mainly, in the European countries. Caution should be exercised in seeking to generalize the results to other industries. The findings should be confirmed with subsequent confirmatory analyses using additional data.

The authors’ findings provide a comprehensive list and classification of barriers, as well as an assessment of their severity, serving as a practical guideline for managers.

This paper explores the barriers to smart services from a provider’s perspective. Its holistic approach and use of large-scale quantitative data qualify it as one of the first studies of this kind.

Although endorsers are thought to be highly effective when they match-up with a product, the current understanding of endorser match-up offers little insight for distinctions between equally attractive and trustworthy endorsers who have equivalent expertise in the product category, yet still diverge in their performance. Therefore, the main purpose of this research is to understand how a match between social judgments (i.e. warmth vs competence) of a celebrity endorser and specific advertising appeals (i.e. symbolic vs utilitarian) can improve consumer responses to an endorsement.

A preliminary study empirically distinguishes perceptions of warmth and competence from prevailing celebrity endorser evaluative criteria. Then, the authors conduct multiple 2 (warmth vs competence) × 2 (symbolic vs utilitarian) between-subjects experiments to demonstrate the effect of matching social judgments and advertising messaging, across celebrity genders (i.e. male and female), forms of marketing communications (i.e. print ads and interactive online ads) and types of brands (i.e. well-established and new/unknown).

The findings demonstrate that matching celebrity endorser social judgments with the appropriate type of advertising messaging positively influences consumer response to the brand for both male and female endorsers. Additionally, despite a commonly held belief that celebrity endorsements are more effective at changing attitudes than actual behaviors, for interactive online ads, the authors find that the match strategy can motivate consumer response through two different pathways. For well-established brands, the match improves overall brand response predominately through cognitive and behavioral mechanisms. Alternatively, for new or unknown brands, the match initially impacts affective responses, which are subsequently related to consumers shopping a brand’s product category, rating a brand higher in customer recommendations, choosing a brand’s products over top competitors and paying more for the brand’s offerings.

The main contribution of this research is the demonstrated support for an alternative and effective application of the match-up hypothesis, based on a fit between the endorser and the advertising messaging itself.

The purpose of this paper is to advance the theory and practice of luxury and masstige brand advertising effectiveness by decoding symbolism imbedded in fashion advertising.

This research employs a semiotic analysis of masstige brand advertising to discover those messages and themes that emerge and that communicate masstige values.

The research identifies identitary values that are exclusive to masstige brands, and those they share with luxury brands.

The purpose of this research is not to make generalizations; rather, its purpose is to offer insights into those themes that define luxury and masstige brand identitary values.

The research provides insights into the key identifiers, which may inspire further research and provide marketing insights for the operation management in luxury fashion.

The research contributes to luxury and masstige retail brand research by identifying the symbolic meaning of luxury advertising.

The purpose of this paper is to gain deeper insights into performance differences of younger and older users when performing touch gestures, as well as the influence of tablet device orientation (portrait vs landscape).

The authors performed a comparative study involving 20 younger (25-45 years) and 20 older participants (65-85 years). Each participant executed six gestures with each device orientation. Age was set as a between-subject factor. The dependent variables were task completion time and error rates (missed target rate and finger lift rate). To measure various performance characteristics, the authors implemented an application for the iPad that logged completion time and error rates of the participants when performing six gestural tasks – tap, drag, pinch, pinch-pan, rotate left and rotate right – for both device orientations.

The results show a significant effect of age on completion time and error rates. Means reveal faster completion times and lower error rates for younger users than for older users. In addition, a significant effect of device orientation on error rates could be stated. Means show higher error rates for portrait orientation than for landscape orientation. Qualitative results reveal a clear preference for landscape orientation in both age groups and a lower acceptance of rotation gestures among older participants.

In this study the authors were able to show the importance of device orientation as an influencing factor on touch interaction performance, indicating that age is not the exclusive influencing factor.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the patient level characteristics of government-assisted refugees (GARs) who had acquired family doctors after leaving specialized refugee clinics (RC).

A cross-sectional telephone survey of GARs households, three to six years after arrival to British Columbia, that used logistic regression to identify GAR characteristics associated with having a family doctor compared to having no family doctor or remaining at a RC.

Contact rate was 52 percent. Of 177 interviewed GARs who spoke 24 languages, only 61 percent had secured a family doctor. Only 57 percent were educated; 46 percent spoke English and 40 percent worked consistently. Central Asian or African origin was associated with having a family doctor (OR 10.6 (95 percent CI 3.1-36.8) for RC; OR 10.3 (95 percent CI 2.2-47.8) for no family doctor). Other significant characteristics in the comparison with GARs at a RC included English proficiency (OR 15.6 (95 percent CI 4.3-56.9)), and female sex (OR 4.0 (95 percent CI 1.4-1.1)). When compared to those with no family doctor, additional significant characteristics included Health Authority A compared to B (OR 8.9, 95 percent CI 1.4-55.6) and having recently visited a doctor (OR 7.7 (95 percent CI 1.9-30.7)).

The results of this study are limited to a specific environment and the low contact rate may have resulted in bias.

This study described characteristics of GARs who had successfully transitioned to a family doctor and those who had not. This population is rarely captured in studies because they are difficult to contact, ethnically diverse and not proficient in English.

The purpose of this paper is to explore refugees’ experiences of the barriers and facilitators involved in finding a regular family doctor.

Hermeneutic phenomenology was used to produce an integrated description sensitive to the lifeworlds of refugees who came from multiple cultural perspectives. Participants consisted of refugees from Iran, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Vietnam, and Latin America who arrived in Canada between 2005 and 2007. Texts for analysis came from first language focus group discussions and interviews with the interpreters for those groups.

The principal themes that emerged from the experience of barriers were “futility,” “dependence,” and “relevance.” Themes related to the experience of facilitators were “inclusion,” “congruence,” and “benefit to family.” These themes provide key messages about sources of patient decisions to seek or not seek care, not comply, attend irregularly, and not disclose symptoms, which can be used by doctors and other health providers to enhance care planning.

The factors that facilitate refugees’ access to a regular family doctor have implications for the development of culturally appropriate healthcare information, policies that support adequate interpreter services, and cultural sensitivity training for physicians.

Previous research documents barriers such as lack of language access, differences in health beliefs, and lack of knowledge about western healthcare systems. However, little is known about how refugees experience these barriers, nor how they overcome them. This study contributes a rich and deeper understanding of how refugees experience these barriers and elucidates factors that facilitate their process of obtaining a regular family doctor.

The purpose of this paper is to suggest public service corporations as a new means of helping to finance comprehensive public colleges and universities based on a well‐documented assumption that the current shared responsibility for financing public colleges is broken.

The paper focuses on financing comprehensive public colleges and universities, and explicitly does not focus on research, community, or proprietary institutions. The paper draws heavily from national data and literature on college finance and productivity, and uses New Jersey's state colleges and universities as primary examples.

The paper asserts that a new funding rationale for public colleges is imperative or these institutions will fail the principal mission of broad access for middle‐income students. Citing examples from New Jersey and other states, and drawing on work of other policy analysts, the paper proposes creation of new public service corporations not only as a means of generating new revenue to replace diminished state investment, but also as a means of enhancing transparency, accountability and public trust. The paper discusses explicit purposes and measurable benefits of the public service corporation.

The paper is written by two higher education policy practitioners with a combined 40 years executive experience in higher education law and policy at the state and national levels. They have been a leading voice for policy innovation in New Jersey. The paper has significant value for college presidents, trustees, governors, legislators, and policy analysts.

“Cool” is a quality highly desired by consumers and, therefore, highly desired by brand owners, yet it is frequently supposed to be elusive and obscure. Scouting for cool is known as “coolhunting” and its pervasive influence has captivated brand owners and their agencies alike. Its claim to be able to predict future trends by researching cool individuals has been both an inspiration and an irritant to the account planning community. This paper argues that coolhunting is, in fact, self‐defeating. The real challenge for brand owners is not to observe cool people, but to create new cool products, services and experiences. Account planning, with its mix of analytical and creative thinking, is uniquely placed to offer a framework for doing this. One such framework, based on Aristotle’s ethical theory, is discussed.