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Storytelling has long been a popular strategy in marketing. Despite its ubiquity, the influence of storytelling in the sport marketing literature has not been investigated, especially on consumers' perspective. Thus, the purpose of this study is to (a) examine the effect of storytelling on sport consumers, and (b) explore the moderation effect of product involvement on the relationship between storytelling and purchase intention of a signature sneaker.

Two experiments using 3 (storytelling: bullet-point type vs. athlete-based story vs. product-based story) × 2 (product involvement: low vs. high) between-subjects experimental design were conducted.

The main finding illustrates that both the athlete-based story and the product-based story had a stronger influence on a consumer's purchase intention than the information that was given in a bullet-point condition. This study provides a theoretical implication of storytelling strategy for sport marketing literature. From a managerial perspective, the authors heavily recommend the use of storytelling in sport product advertisements.

Previous literature has highlighted the effect of storytelling in sports organization such as professional sports team or utilization in social media. However, limited studies could be found in the sports product industry and consumer behavior sector. Thus, the current study has a significant value of understanding the storytelling strategy in the perspective of sports consumers as well as brand marketers.

The purpose of the paper is to question the possible reach of anti‐brand movements and, by extension, those movements that criticize capitalism via consumption, in order to reflect on the impasse in critique, given the new formats that capitalism has assumed.

This paper takes as the object of its analysis the book No Logo and it is supported by qualitative research into the production of the discourse about the responsible consumer in the business media, as well as in books and articles published about the assimilation of resistance, and especially about anti‐consumption and anti‐brand movements.

The relationship between the empirical findings of the research − the production of the responsible consumption discourse, in the period before, and after the anti‐brand movements – and theoretical articles about empowerment and consumer accountability in the modern day shows how the assimilation of resistance occurred, via the responsible consumption discourse and also draws attention to its limits. Although the qualitative research used in the article was not initially planned for use in it, its findings were incorporated because they are widely applicable to what was being proposed.

The papers originality lies in the fact that it shows the point that a criticism movement has reached after ten years. Although this was already clear to the author in 1999 when No Logo was written, a decade later it is possible to state that the movement has been assimilated by the market, especially since the appearance of the discourse of “responsible consumption”. What is completely novel in this article is this co‐relation. At the end, the article also points to the social risks of attributing a large degree of accountability to individuals for consumption.

We examine how social exclusion and temporal distance (i.e. being socially excluded in the present or the anticipation of exclusion in the future) shape whether people choose hedonic or utilitarian products.

We conduct four experiments to test the hypotheses. Study 1a and study 1b provide the initial evidence that consumers strategically engage in differentiation in response to social exclusion in the present and in the future. Study 2 and study 3 replicate the basic interaction effect of social exclusion and temporal distance on product choices and test the underlying mechanism.

We find that temporal distance affects consumer product choices through people’s coping strategies. When consumers are socially excluded, they are more likely to have a problem-solving tendency and more likely to choose utilitarian products. In contrast, when consumers imagine being socially excluded in the future, they are more likely to have to use emotions to solve problems and choose hedonic products.

Our study contributes to the literature in several ways. First, it deepens our understanding of the psychological drivers of social exclusion in consumer research. Second, it offers insights into understanding prior findings that document both problem-solving and emotion-regulating behavior in response to social exclusion. Third, by showing that social exclusion and temporal distance can influence the type of products selected, our findings contribute to a new stream of work that examines the impact of people’s fundamental desire for control on consumer behavior.

As more and more information is moved around the organization and the world using the growing E‐mail and electronic messaging infrastructure, what technologies are available to ensure that these messages are protected, that the recipient is positive of the sender′s identity and that messages are not damaged or altered in transit? The paper‐based world of message exchange takes these capabilities for granted by using envelopes and signatures. How are these and similar protection mechanisms implemented in the world of electronic documents, E‐mail and electronic messaging? Provides a survey of the technology used to provide digital signatures, message authentication and message protection. It explains how these technologies work and how they can be used in an existing messaging infrastructure to allow the sending and receiving of sensitive information.

This case traces Under Armour from its founding in 1996 through 2008 when the company entered the hyper-competitive non-cleated athletic footwear market. In 1996, with an innovative product and locker room access to college and pro players, Kevin Plank started Under Armour. He turned a struggling t-shirt company into a dominant player capturing 75% of the performance apparel market. In 2006, Under Armour successfully entered the athletic footwear market with a line of football cleats. Under Armour was the first company to disrupt Nike's dominance of the football cleat market by gaining 25% of the market within a year of introduction. In 2008, Under Armour entered the non-cleated athletic footwear market with a cross-trainer sneaker line and a $4.4 million Super Bowl ad. Unlike prior introductions, Nike responded aggressively to Under Armour's move into sneakers. Despite increased sales, Under Armour's costs increased, and profits and stock price decreased. The case concludes by asking students to evaluate Under Armour's next move. An extensive exhibit provides an overview of the athletic footwear industry in 2008.

The purpose of this paper is to present a structured framework whose objectives are to identify, analyse and eliminate fashion-luxury supply chains inefficiencies.

A Lean Manufacturing tool, the 5-Whys Analysis, has been used to find out the root causes associated with the problem identified from a data analysis of production orders of a fashion-luxury company. A case study, which explains the methodology and illustrates the capability of the tool, is provided.

This tool can be considered a suitable instrument to identify the causal factors of inefficiencies within luxury supply chains, suggesting potential countermeasures able to eliminate the problems previously highlighted. In addition, enabling technologies that deal with Industry 4.0 are associated with the root causes to enable further improvement of the supply chain.

The effectiveness and practicality of the tool are illustrated using an industrial case study concerning an international Italian signature in the world of fashion-luxury footwear sector.

This framework provides practitioners with an operative tool useful to highlight where the major inefficiencies of fashion-luxury supply chains take place and, at the same time, individuates both the root causes of inefficiencies and the corresponding corrective actions, even considering Industry 4.0 enabling technologies.

Branded merchandise and licensed apparel comprise a substantial portion of revenue for many organizations and public figures that choose to employ such an endeavor. Endorsement deals with apparel manufacturers have historically been utilized for athletes looking to supplement their salaries and establish greater brand awareness. However, as some athletes establish ownership of their logo and become less reliant on companies such as Nike and Adidas for merchandise distribution, assessing the influence of various entity's logos on the athlete brand has become worthy of analysis. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the influence that cobranded merchandise has on consumers when the athlete logo is displayed next to another team or manufacturer logo.

Using an online panel and survey, a final sample of 127 participants completed a questionnaire to examine their attitudes towards various athlete brand elements. ANCOVA's and MANCOVA's were utilized to assess significant findings, holding the variable of identification constant.

The results revealed that only the perceptions of merchandise quality significantly varied between an athlete brand and an apparel manufacturer (i.e. Nike) co-brand. The findings indicate that athletes should look to co-brand with high brand awareness manufacturers, and that there is no significant difference between consumers' perceptions of athlete brands when co-branding with team brands.

This is one of the first studies to evaluate the relationship between the athlete brand and external entities from a consumer perspective.

Over the last two decades, Under Armour (UA) has emerged from being the “underdog” in the sports apparel and footwear industry to being a leader in the industry, with a fierce attention to performance and great skill at picking up-and-coming athletes who emerge as superstars. This case underscores its administrative heritage, competitive strategy, and growth potential as a global player in a highly competitive industry. It addresses the tension between being a performance brand while launching lines for women vs technology applications and conflicts between its growth strategy and macro-economic forces. It highlights areas in which it has succeeded against macro-economic forces and where it has not.

The research relies primarily on secondary sources and countless studies of UA and its major competitors. Primary research is based on databases, videos of UA’s Chief Executive Officer, Kevin Plank, and articles from Bloomberg to The Baltimore Sun (UA’s headquarters) on the history, growth and future of UA. It also includes observations and site visits to one of its signature brand house stores as well as intensive research and directed studies with students in the USA and China.

The case can be applied to undergraduate, graduate or executive business classes in: business policy and strategy; general management; (sports) marketing; leadership or organisational behaviour classes.