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Learning objectives of this case is to understand the hairdressing industry and develop the sub-branding strategy. After reading this case and practicing in class, students should be able to understand this business and marketing terminology and apply them in the real world. Students will learn the branding strategies: brand extension, brand architecture and brand portfolio. Students will design (DS) the brand name for the new store.

Case synopsis Mr. Tai-Hua Teng (aka TR) was a hair artist and opened his first hair salon, vis-à-vis (VS), in 1989 using a high-end positioning strategy. VS focused on offering superb and diverse services to keep ahead of the competition rather than trying to undercut prices. VS hair salon had a solid foundation based mainly on the elite, celebrities and high-salary customers. In 2017, TR owned 16 stores (including one in Canada and two intern salons), 1 academy, 265 employees and 3 brand names. The three brand names were VS, DS and concept (CC). DS and CC were less known to the public, so now these two brands had been carried the parent name and were known as VS DS and VS CC. Quick cut hairdressing businesses were thriving because customers needed quick and cheap hairdressing services. Acknowledging the benefits of entering the highly competitive quick haircut market, TR began to contemplate the new brand name and services to offer. VS had adopted the brand house strategy but TR wondered if it was better to have an individual brand name when entering the quick haircut market. The sub-branding strategy carried the established quality assurance of VS but there was possible brand overlap. An individual new brand name might lack the well-established values from VS but it also showed the potential to reach different segments of customers. TR’s decision to make: a branded house or hybrid? This case showed a high-end hair salon facing the need for simplicity in the market and considered how to expand its business to the lower-end market. Keywords: hairdressing, brand extension and sub-branding strategy.

Level of difficulty: easy/middle level to undergraduate courses specific prerequisites: it is not necessary for students to prepare or read any marketing theory or chapters of the textbook. However, it would help a more in-depth discussion if students know the CCs of brand architecture, brand portfolio, brand extension and line extension.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 8: Marketing.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether self‐service technology (SST) can enhance customer value (CV) and customer readiness (CR). In addition, it is proposed to inspect the effects of CV and CR in customers' continued use of Internet banking.

An online survey was used with a sample of 771 respondents. Structural equation models (SEM) were used to examine 11 hypotheses in the theoretical framework.

SST characteristics (i.e. ease of use, usefulness, costs saved, and self‐control) demonstrated positive effects on CV and CR. CR is positively related to CV. Furthermore, customers are willing to use Internet banking when CV and CR are high.

The study examines the factors contributing to positive effects on customers' continued use of Internet banking. Further research is recommended to investigate the effects of negative factors, such as risk and complexity. In addition, the same methods should be used to reproduce the survey in other industries to support generalizability.

Managers should reinforce SST in order to increase CV and CR, which would influence customers' willingness to continue using Internet banking.

Unlike previous research, the study focuses on consumers' continued use of Internet banking as opposed to initial use. It concentrates on customer retention rather than customer acquisition. It is the first study to conclude that CV and CR significantly affect continued use of SST.

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.

This paper is a study of the current trends and conditions of electronic resources for Chinese studies, based on a recent survey on the Internet of 29 Chinese libraries in North America and eight Chinese libraries in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. The survey discussed current electronic resources for Chinese studies, with a union list of major Chinese language databases currently used in libraries in Asia and the US. Current views on the use and development of electronic resources for Chinese studies were summarised.

The Communist revolution in China has led to the appearance in this country of increasing numbers of Chinese books in Russian translation. The Chinese names in Cyrillic transcription have presented many librarians and students with a new problem, that of identifying the Cyrillic form of a name with the customary Wade‐Giles transcription. The average cataloguer, the first to meet the problem, has two obvious lines of action, and neither is satisfactory. He can save up the names until he has a chance to consult an expert in Chinese. Apart altogether from the delay, the expert, confronted with a few isolated names, might simply reply that he could do nothing without the Chinese characters, and it is only rarely that Soviet books supply them. Alternatively, he can transliterate the Cyrillic letters according to the system in use in his library and leave the matter there for fear of making bad worse. As long as the writers are not well known, he may feel only faintly uneasy; but the appearance of Chzhou Ėn‐lai (or Čžou En‐laj) upsets his equanimity. Obviously this must be entered under Chou; and we must have Mao Tse‐tung and not Mao Tsze‐dun, Ch'en Po‐ta and not Chėn' Bo‐da. But what happens when we have another . . . We can hardly write Ch'en unless we know how to represent the remaining elements in the name; yet we are loth to write Ch'en in one name and Chėn' in another.

Within the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) supply chain, one of the problems facing the distribution channel strategy is the presence of the gray market. The article shows two novel antecedents of the participation of official distributors in this gray channel: Negative impact on distributor performance and the relationship with their supplier. Knowledge of this background helps to preserve the strategy outlined for the official distribution channel.

Data were collected from 172 Spanish wholesale distributors and analyzed using PLS-SEM.

The authors found that the damage through negative affectation in the official distributor's performance and the cooperation provided by the manufacturer, have different effects. While affectation is shown to be a powerful antecedent of participation in the gray market, the effect of perceived manufacturer cooperation does not show strong results.

In business practice, these findings lead the manufacturer to keep transactions carried out in the gray market at low levels and provide cooperation to official distributors to guarantee the official channel strategy aimed at efficiency in the distribution of branded goods.

The background of the gray market discussed in the study has not been previously analyzed in the literature. In this way, the authors contribute to the knowledge of such a common problem as the presence of the gray market in the segmentation of distribution channels of high-demand products.

The purpose of this study is to reveal the research trends in guest experiences of service robots in the hospitality industry.

In this study, a review was carried out on the Web of Science (WoS) database with the assistance of bibliometric analysis techniques. Cluster analysis was also employed for this to group important data to determine the relationships and to visualize the areas in which the studies are concentrated. The thematic content analysis method was used to reveal on which customer experiences and on which methods the focuses were.

On the subject of experiences of service robots, the greatest number of publications was in 2021. In terms of country, China has come to the fore in the distribution of publications. As a result of thematic content analysis, it was determined that the leading factor was the main dimension of emotional experience. In terms of sub-dimensions, social interactions attracted more attention. Most of the studies discussed were not based on any theory. Apart from these, the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), the Service Quality Model (SERVQUAL) and Perceived Value Theory (PVT) were featured more prominently among other studies.

In this study, only the WoS database was reviewed. In future studies, it would be possible to make contextual comparisons by scanning other databases. In addition to quantitative research designs, social dimensions may be examined in depth following qualitative research methods. Thus, various comparisons can be made on the subject with mixed-method research designs. Experimental research designs can also be applied to where customers have experienced human-robot interactions (HRIs).

In the hospitality industry, it is critical to uncover every dimension of guests' robot acceptance. This study, which presents the current situation on this basis, guides future projections for the development of guest experiences regarding service robots in the hospitality industry.