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Posits that companies offering services that directly compete with products are particularly interested in whether the form of the offering ‐ service or product ‐ affects the behavior of consumers. Compares in two tightly designed and rigorously implemented experiments, consumers’ information search behavior for services that compete with products. Finds that: the critical difference between services and products is not that personal sources are used more for services but that impersonal sources are used less; there are similarities between products and services in search patterns; and with greater knowledge about the service, product and service search does not look very different. Finally discusses implications of these findings for managerial action.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how art production and marketing in China is attempting to move up the value chain as increasing number of Chinese replica-selling galleries seek to break free from the image of Chinese art towns as skilled but imitative centres of art production.

In-depth interviews were conducted among seven gallery owners in Wushipu art village over three weeks to discover how art production in China has evolved and to chart its future growth.

In the Chinese setting with its distinctive cultural patterns, tensions between the emergent national pride in original art and the facile and commercial moneymaking potential of simply selling industrially produced art are revealed.

The changing dynamics of arts markets in China provide marketers and researchers a glimpse into a parallel trend: the gradual but rising shift to innovation, originality and luxury occurring in the China-based manufacturing centres of material goods.

The attempts to break from the imitative mass production of art and strike a balance between creating and meeting the art needs of the Chinese consumer indicate how domestic market priorities and economic growth are likely to serve as the new fuel for contemporary China’s socioeconomic development.

Via an interpretive look at contemporary Chinese modes of arts production and marketing, the paper revisits the antagonism between the creation of original art and the production of industrial art in a context not well-known in the west, the massive art production centres of China.

Social and demographic changes are putting pressures on traditional gender roles in the house‐hold. Reports on the role of married males based on a large‐scale survey of upscale households. The data suggest that males in married households are responsible for shopping activities in varying degrees. The level of shopping responsibility is a function of the spouse′s occupation as well as the type of goods to be purchased. Responsibility for grocery shopping is limited among married males (about 15 per cent claim primary responsibility) but the ones who are responsible express the most enlightened attitudes about shopping and report the greatest degree of enjoyment with shopping at the supermarket. Although 56 per cent of the married males claim primary responsibility for their clothing, enjoyment of the shopping mall is greater among those who share responsibility jointly with their wives. The perceptions of alternative shopping methods such as store, catalogue and computer shopping suggest that store shopping is more fun, satisfying and rewarding. Because of these hedonic components, store shopping is likely to remain popular in the near future.

The purpose of this paper is to address the following questions in the context of a transactional web site. How do web site attributes influence customer satisfaction? Will an increase in the performance of a specific attribute lead to increased satisfaction?

Since interactivity is considered a distinguishing characteristic of the new media and a web site is composed of multiple attributes, the paper empirically examines the interactivity‐satisfaction relationship at the individual attribute level using the Kano methodology. Changes in the interactivity‐satisfaction relationships over time and with user experience are also analyzed.

The paper identifies several relationships between interactive web site attributes and customer satisfaction. At this stage of web development, no attribute emerges as a “must‐be” attribute; one‐dimensional or linear attributes are common but not the only category of interactive attributes. In addition, mixed and attractive attributes were also found. Moreover, the paper confirms that Kano categories shift over time and with usage experience.

Different web site design strategies should be used depending on users' online experience and the various relationships between interactive web site attributes and customer satisfaction.

No previous research has yet examined interactivity at the attribute level. Web site designers and managers have to make decisions regarding each attribute. Adopting the Kano methodology, widely used in other areas of research, this paper examines the relationships between attribute‐level interactivity and customer satisfaction with a retail web site.

Claims that effective price communication for services requires understanding variables that mediate the effects of price and the cognitive systems consumers use to process price information. Presents a model which indicates that involvement and source credibility mediate the effects of price. Discusses the heuristic and analytic cognitive systems which consumers could use to process price information. The article also reports the results of an experiment which tested the model, and discusses the managerial implications of the model.

This paper aims to explore the personal and academic growth of A. Fuat Firat as one example of his academic life.

This is a more personal history, in addition to the 2014 academic history of A. Fuat Firat

Compares the marketing functions of social enterprises with that of private enterprise, and discusses the management problems involved in the selection and implementation of a social enterprise strategy. Purports that the marketing function in a social enterprise, as in other types of enterprise, is concerned with decisions relating to the level, composition, and distribution of the output. Recognises that marketing mix decisions – e.g. product, price, place, and promotional decision – provide one specific way of determining the output enterprise. Concludes that the marketing planning problem, in a social enterprise, is a complex one, and success depends on the twin elements of operating flexibility and consumer participation.