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Predicting the future is a risky business, and in retailing in particular it is especially hazardous. Which may be the reason why only one or two of the speakers at the Financial Times conference, “Retailing to 1996”, actually dared to prophesy. Nonetheless the two‐day conference, held in London in May, was valuable in that it put forward some useful analyses of current trends in retailing. The range of themes tackled was comprehensive; it included the changing consumer, the two‐nations syndrome, multi‐niche formulae, the specialists versus generalists debate, the emergence of the cellular household, out‐of‐town developments — and the retailer as entertainer! The 150 delegates comprised a wide range of interests — retailers, market analysts, technologists and property developers — and included our contributor, Michael Poynor.

Controversy and well‐argued differences of opinion are the hallmarks of a successful conference, and these were certainly evident at RMDP's second conference on “Techniques for Shop Location”, held in London in June. Attended by nearly 200 delegates, this one‐day event emphasised the practical application of increasingly sophisticated locational techniques, especially those “friendly” to personal computers. But debating points quickly arose. Ross Davies, from the chair, argued that local authorities have become more supportive to superstore development, but this was questioned by Asda's David Gransby. The superstore developer thinks that retail use should be defined geographically; convenience shopping out of town allows the High Street to thrive on comparison stores. But planning economist Peter Jones thinks that some existing centres must be allowed to decline in favour of innovative developments elsewhere, such as combinations of superstores, warehouses and factories. David Powell, setting his arguments against a wide social and political background, took the view that the government should take positive steps to encourage retailers to locate in depressed regions and inner cities, thus creating change in current locational policies. But one delegate thought that government intervention would prove restrictive. Mike Poynor of the CDT, representing RDM at the conference, outlines the points of agreement and the differences.

The third RMDP seminar on Shop Location Analysis was held at the end of June; it focussed as much on the business of finding the right site as on site evaluation. The most eagerly‐awaited presentation came from a representative of Marks & Spencer; as our writer says, “it is their revitalised attitude to merchandise which is directly responsible for their need to increase sales space.” M&S revealed that they need an extra 3 million sq ft of sales space for new and existing products. Other presentations came from Jeremy Smither of Hillier Parker and Dr David Thorpe of the John Lewis Partnership.

Discusses Wal‐Mart’s entry into Europe. Explains the factors that have contributed to the success of the company, for example an efficient logistics system, extensive internal communications, and a capacity for innovation and reinvention. Outlines Wal‐Mart’s strategy for expanding into Europe, which is based on acquisition. Details the main challenges to Wal‐Mart’s entry into Europe, namely the size of the competition and cultural differences.

With the launch of Asdadrive, Asda‐MFI, the third largest retailer in the UK, is to start selling cars. The news that Asda is to enter the motor trade, not only selling new cars but also dealing in servicing, repairs, trade‐ins and credit arrangements alongside their existing superstore operations is a perfect example of the daring and imaginative attitude which personifies “headline” retailers today; “jam‐jars” (Cockney rhyming slang for cars), beside jars of jam … whatever next! In fact this development of elastic product policies exactly mirrors another shift in traditional retail patterns — equally major but less trumpeted perhaps — the rapid growth in forecourt shops selling unconventional lines of merchandise. Our contributor looks at this relatively non‐publicised aspect of retailing, now pushed dramatically into the limelight.

Interest in narrative pedagogies is growing. However, few studies have been conducted outside Western contexts. There remains a paucity of narrative research published by Japanese scholars, despite a pervasive culture of “teacher to teacher conversations,” storytelling, reflection, and action research by teachers in Japan. Thus, this research fills an important gap in the literature. It provides exemplars from preservice teacher education, higher education, and high school, as these educational milieus reflect the notion of “traveling stories” (Olson & Craig, 2009). We describe how this narrative pedagogy is interpreted from an insider’s point of view, through the voices of teacher education students, teachers, and teacher educators. In this process, students and teachers become curriculum-makers (Clandinin & Connelly, 1988; Craig & Ross, 2008), co-constructing knowledge, and reshaping teacher knowledge and identity. Narrative teacher education pedagogies resonate with Japanese teachers and play an important role in curriculum, teaching, and learning in Japan within our increasingly interconnected world. Furthermore, narrative relates favorably to many Japanese cultural practices, including kankei (interrelationships), kizuna (bonds), and kizuki (with-it-ness). These are important, integral, and tacit elements of Japanese teachers’ practices because they embody the “mind and heart” of their personal practical sense of knowing. Furthermore, these practices involve placing other people’s needs ahead of our own – an essential skill for global citizens of the 21st century.

In the past years, the importance of the cultural economy has led urbanism to a new perspective. Simultaneously, the main international institutions have pointed out the need to shift the urban economy into a sustainable one, green and energy efficient. The confluence of both flows explains why the imaginaries of the urban future are related to the concept of creative cities. Hence, the new economic engine of the cities should be founded on art, creativity and culture, all of them understood as clean energies. This study aims to show the crucial role of cultural heritage as a propeller of a new kind of urban development, more flexible and democratic, based on the construction of the city as a communicational, collective and open effort. Therefore, the city is conceived as a cultural heritage platform where tangible and intangible, social and creative interactions happen. Within this context, urban narratives appear as a dynamic material drawn on the possibilities offered by the heritage received from the past as a resource to be used for re-thinking and re-shaping the future.

The approach of this paper is based on a profound analysis of historical cities, mainly in the European context, supported by the work carried out within the H2020 ROCK project. The cities within the project are: Athens, Bologna, Cluj-Napoca, Eindhoven, Lisbon, Liverpool, Lyon, Torino, Skopje and Vilnius. A wide variety of case studies coming mainly from these cities have been considered to understand better the theoretical point of view on the role of heritage, urban development and city branding. The information about cultural heritage projects used as case studies has been collected and selected coming from the direct work made on the field and the communication open with institutions and cultural stakeholders in every city. Even more, parallel seminars on cultural heritage and city branding organized within the project have allowed the authors to gather very valuable, updated and fresh information on these issues in every particular case.

The study proves that cultural heritage has been traditionally underrated as a mechanism for developing the future of the city and its communicative strategy. Cultural heritage appears as a practical tool for constructing more cohesive urban communities based on the use of public space and shared memories as storytelling platforms. The capacity of resiliency and sustainability revealed by cultural heritage through the time is, as well, a clear reference to construct a potential sustainable city, socially, culturally and environmentally.

Cultural heritage projects are shown as a perfect way to build stronger communities. Through the engagement and participation of citizens, urban storytelling reinforces a more open, real and sustainable city able to face the challenges of contemporary life (gentrification, pollution, mobility, etc.). Like that, heritage appears as a feasible tool for including citizens coming from all ages and backgrounds in the construction of a collective narrative of the city, based on the past and looking at the foreseen.

This study tries to relate fields that traditionally have remained not well connected: urban development, city branding and cultural heritage. The study demonstrates that cultural heritage is crucial as an urban narrative tool and consequently, as a planning/branding mechanism. Moreover, cultural institutions and cultural projects are very relevant platforms for social interaction, inviting citizens to have a more active role in the construction of the city as a collective communicational effort based on a network of social and cultural relations. Storytelling turns up as a new key element for communicating the city from grassroots, in a sustainable, democratic and inclusive manner, far away from the traditional top-down official perspective. Crowdsourcing methods are very powerful for establishing a shared and cohesive city brand, now rooted in its cultural and social foundations and not the marketing campaign clichés. Finally, storytelling emerges as a creative resource that enhances the social, cultural and economic layout of the city, forcing urbanists to include a greener, fairer and more democratic perspective in the future of cities.

A methodology that combined ethnographies, including the ethnography of performance with narrative inquiry was used in a research project investigating the assessment of senior secondary Drama performance in Australia. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

After a temporal change in the research approach, it was decided that the research method needed to capture the Drama performance assessment phenomenon as it was lived and experienced.

As a result, methodological choices shifted from procedural documentation and document analysis to ethnographic observations that were able to capture the more nuanced aspects of the relationship between Drama performance and assessment, embracing tacit learning, agendas, cultures, experiences and understandings.

This paper reflects on the methodological dilemmas and choices made when studying artistic and aesthetic texts in the classroom, and poses considerations for future researchers conducting inquiries in aesthetically rich learning environments.

This paper aims to identify the ways that customers respond to customer-to-customer comparisons that may drive loyal customers to engage in undesirable behaviors. The research examines the role that jealousy and envy play in restoring equity through revenge-seeking intentions.

The study uses survey research methodology. The measurement model is validated using CFA, and hypotheses are tested using structural equation modeling. The mediated relationships are calculated using the bootstrap method, and moderated mediation is calculated by creating estimands to test the effects.

Customers who feel either jealousy or envy may engage in revenge-seeking behaviors, such as vindictive complaining and negative electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM). Customers who perceive that a firm is unfairly favoring other customers develop feelings of jealousy and betrayal, and this tendency is strengthened when the customer has a high level of prior trust. Customers typically develop envy when their attention and perceptions of inequity center on another customer, rather than on the firm’s actions and anger drives this effect.

Customers can pursue revenge-seeking actions when unfair actions influence the formation of envy and jealousy through the development of perceived betrayal. Companies can focus on the comparisons that customers make to address revenge-seeking and better manage online relationships preemptively.

The paths that customers take to revenge through jealousy and envy are conceptualized in a communal relationship setting and further developed. Further distinctions of jealousy and envy are made, and the role of prior trust in enhancing revenge-seeking is found.

This study aims to examine the effects of three green information quality dimensions – persuasiveness, completeness and credibility – on green brand evaluation and whether this is mediated by green brand credibility. It also examines the moderating effects of eco-label credibility and consumer knowledge on green information quality dimensions and green brand credibility relationships.

Using a structured questionnaire on environmentally-friendly electrical goods/electronics, cosmetic and apparel product advertisements, involving an elaboration task, this study collected usable data from 1,282 Indian consumers across 50 cities. It also undertook an assessment for three different product groups using structural equation modelling to examine proposed hypotheses and assessed moderated mediation using the Hays process model.

The study indicates that: green brand credibility mediates the effects of green information quality dimensions on green brand evaluation; consumer knowledge moderates the effects of persuasiveness and completeness on green brand credibility and eco-label credibility moderates the effects of persuasiveness and credibility on green brand credibility.

In green information processing, this study supports the relevance of the elaboration likelihood model and the mediation effect of green brand credibility. It also presents evidence that credible eco-labels enhance green information processing. While the results are broadly consistent across the three product categories, the results may only generalizable to the environmentally-aware urban populations.

Help brand managers to design advertisements that add brand credibility in environmentally-aware urban markets.

It helps to define green information quality and the interacting effects of eco-label credibility and consumer knowledge in green information processing.