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There is a growing interest in investigating craft beer tourism and consumption experiences as different destinations seek to position unique attributes and cultures in their culinary offerings. Yet, in this space, factors that have triggered the creation, management and marketing of craft beer tourism remain implicit. The purpose of this paper is therefore to present a systematic literature review of craft beer tourism, apply a conceptual model of craft beer gastronomy tourism and, in turn, provide strategic imperatives for the sector moving forward.

A comprehensive search for craft beer tourism in hospitality and tourism literature was undertaken using a combination of Google Scholar search terms as well as institutional library databases. Then, following the steps proposed by Xiao and Watson (2019), articles were sorted into themes before determining their appropriateness to be included in a systematic literature review.

Based on prior research, a Craft beer gastronomy tourism model is proposed. This model was found to provide a macro perspective of the craft beer tourism literature and was applied using the systematic literature review. It was found that not many of the papers fit the three-step process, and a fragmented relationship between craft breweries and tourism was observed. On reviewing the theories and frameworks used, it was found that there was not much consistency with the majority using frameworks and concepts. Furthermore, most studies were undertaken from the perspective of a single region or homogenous samples, with few offering cross-sectional comparisons. The most common methods of the papers were surveys and interviews, with a majority being cross-sectional.

The systematic literature review has led to the development of a novel conceptual model that highlights the current focal areas but also gaps that inform future studies and managerial implications.

This paper aims to uncover patterns of Mexican craft beer consumers and guide companies’ decisions in the creation of new products, marketing strategies, advertising and promotion to increase craft beer sales and contribute to faster growth.

This is a conjoint analysis with a selection of attributes for new or renewed products, marginal disposition to pay for particular characteristics through brand-specific choice-based design, and market simulation.

This paper clearly demonstrates consumers’ preferences and willingness to pay in Mexico, with a cutting-edge market research technique combining the prioritization of preferred craft beer characteristics, and the price consumers are willing to pay for such product characteristics.

The study's sample size of 501 responses is relatively small compared to the total number of craft beer consumers in Mexico. To enhance the validity and reliability of the findings, future studies should aim to obtain larger samples and compare their results with those of this study.

This study has important implications for craft beer producers, allowing them to develop targeted craft beers with appealing attributes for Mexican consumers, such as color, aroma intensity, alcohol degree intensity, bitterness, foam level and price.

This study's market forecasting simulation technique is based on assumptions of consumer behavior and market dynamics. Although relevant variables were considered, unanticipated external factors or market changes could impact the forecasts' accuracy. This will allow for a more comprehensive understanding of craft beer consumer preferences in different markets and enhance the reliability of forecasting techniques.

This paper informs craft beer producers by providing valuable knowledge on customers’ preferences and willingness to pay to enhance craft beer companies’ product development processes.

As a result of both shifting social concerns and stricter legislation, many companies are seeking innovative and sustainable solutions for both primary and secondary packaging. The craft beer industry has made the most notable advancements with a variety of alternatives to the traditional secondary packaging (e.g. plastic rings) used to link beer cans. Yet, despite the impact packaging has on consumer purchase behavior and the environment, secondary packaging has received far less attention in the literature. This study aims to understand consumer perceptions of craft beer secondary packaging on consumers’ willingness to buy via the underlying mechanisms of perceived packaging innovation and sustainability.

A single-factor between-subjects experiment with four conditions (secondary packaging format: Pak-Tech holder, Keel Clip holder, Glue-Pack holder, Biodegradable holder) was conducted with 354 participants to test the hypothesized serial mediation model.

The results demonstrate that none of the secondary packaging styles had a direct effect on willingness to buy, meaning that the package style alone does not influence a consumer’s purchase decisions. Critically, the results also revealed indirect effects; specifically, the Keel Clip and Glue-Pack six-pack can holders were perceived as more innovative than the Pak-Tech holder, which in turn positively influenced perceptions of packaging sustainability and subsequent willingness to buy.

The authors’ results extend the research on sustainable secondary packaging and aids craft breweries along with other beverage producers in making informed decisions as the push for sustainable packaging becomes more prominent.

In recent years, the global consumption of craft beer witnesses remarkable growth. This growth is attributed to the evolving demographics of beer consumers, particularly the emergence of a new generation known as Digitarians or Generation Z. This study aims to analyze the key determinants influencing craft beer consumption among Digitarians.

An online questionnaire is administered, and a total of 296 completed responses are included in the statistical analysis. The methodology uses logistic regressions combined with a backward selection process and variance inflation factor analysis to address multicollinearity. The logistic regressions are conducted in three steps to delve into the research objective and gain insights into the behavior of young consumers. The stepwise backward selection aids in obtaining robust coefficients as a variable selection tool.

The results shed light on how Digitarians’ preferences for craft beer are influenced by various factors, including self-perceived knowledge, alcohol content, gender, food pairings, environment and companionship.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper contributes novel insights by being the first study to explore the significance of craft beer choices among Digitarians, identifying the role of several predictors in their consumption patterns.

This study aims to investigate the interplay between environmental concerns, consumer attitudes and their influence on sustainable practices within the craft beer industry, exploring how consumers’ perception of environmental attributes impact their purchase intentions regarding craft beer.

The study used a quantitative approach, using a self-administered survey instrument comprised 28 Likert-scale items. Data was gathered from a convenience sample of 319 craft beer consumers. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to assess the measurement model’s validity and reliability. Subsequently, partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesized relationships.

This study’s findings challenge established notions within the field, demonstrating that water conservation, carbon footprint reduction, organic farming and local sourcing practices hold significant influence on consumers’ purchase intentions regarding sustainable craft beer. These findings depart from previous research that suggested a less pronounced impact of specific sustainability practices on consumer behavior.

This study contributes to the literature by revealing consumer insights into the environmental implications of craft beer choices, empowering them to make informed purchasing decisions aligned with their sustainability values. However, acknowledging potential limitations, sample size and demographic composition (young adults in Brazil) potentially impact the generalizability of the findings.

This study addresses the understanding of consumer attitudes and priorities regarding environmental sustainability within the craft beer industry. By focusing on the tangibility of specific sustainable attributes the research shows how these practices influence consumer perceptions and purchasing intentions.

This study aims to explore the role customer satisfaction play in mediating the nexus between commitment, trust, relative dependence and customer loyalty from an emerging market context under a business-to-business (B2B) setting.

The study was a descriptive survey, and using convenience sampling technique, questionnaires were used to gather data from 356 businesses that were distributors of Guinness Ghana Company Limited. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to test the proposed hypotheses for this study, and macro-PROCESS was performed to test the mediating effect of customer satisfaction.

The findings show that relative dependence had the most considerable significant and positive impact on B2B partners satisfaction, followed by commitment and trust, respectively. A positive and significant relationship was also found between B2B firms’ satisfaction and loyalty. The result also indicates that customer satisfaction mediates the relationship between commitment, trust, relative dependence and B2B loyalty.

Practitioners can manipulate specific relative dependence, commitment and trust features to increase customer satisfaction with their firm’s services, thus ensuring longer-term customer loyalty.

Drawing on the social exchange theory, this study provides a more profound perspective focusing on an emerging market context, by examining from a B2B setting the significance of commitment, trust, relative dependence and B2B partners satisfaction on loyalty.

This paper aims to explore the impact of the origin of hops on the sensory and hedonic evaluation of highly involved craft beer consumers.

Data was collected through a between-subject tasting experiment, where the origin of hop was manipulated (imported vs locally grown). The craft beer samples used in the experiment were produced using hops of similar age but grown in two distinct places: USA (imported hop) and in the city of Ribeirão Preto, Brazil, where the experiment was conducted (locally grown hop). The sensory and hedonic evaluations of highly involved craft beer consumers (n = 100) were collected after tasting the samples.

The origin of hop proved to be significant in affecting participants’ sensory and hedonic evaluations. It was observed that women were more sensitive than men to the origin information: when information was given, differences were found only on men’s scores of dryness/astringency; while in women, significant differences were found not only in dryness/astringency, but also in bitterness and refreshing, which are important attributes in the sensory profile of craft beer. It was also confirmed the effect of localness in hop cultivation, once men’ and women’s scores on liking were higher for the sample brewed with locally grown hop.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first work using craft beer brewed with hops cultivated in Brazil and a sample of Brazilian craft beer consumers, therefore, providing a significant contribution to the field of consumer behavior. Furthermore, it adds to the discussion on sex-/gender-related differences regarding sensory expectation and perception of foods.

This viewpoint will present some statistical information about employee ownership in the US and interpret and analyze this information in order to address the barriers question using material from qualitative interviews that the authors have conducted over the last ten years with practitioners in the field. There have been few actual empirical studies that sort out the different barriers to employee ownership. The authors have chosen to focus on employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) in the US because this is the principal example from which people could learn from, and the high prevalence of ESOPs plays an important role in the US. This overview will present interpretations of these interviews with conceptual arguments that cannot always be supported with either overwhelming empirical studies or arguments that conclusively eliminate one or other explanation. This is an initial attempt to bring some comprehensive treatment and data to this incipient discussion. This is based on an interpretive analysis of qualitative interviews without quantification or social survey methods used for measurement. The advantage of this approach is that it lays out a completely different level of analysis of the barriers to employee ownership in the US that is “closer to the ground” and more based in the views of front-line practitioners who are actually implementing it.

Analysis and interpretation of qualitative interviews.

The list of barriers that has been identified is not exhaustive. The preliminary conclusions are that (not necessarily in this order) limitations of investment banking models, poor supportive infrastructure, complexity and cost and regulatory issues, the lack of support by political parties and social movements, the sale of companies due to financial considerations and legal complexities and lack of clarity and resistance by Federal agencies are major barriers in the US. Various sectors of Wall Street has been amenable to employee ownership with the proper government and private sector support. What is needed now is a series of quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews of retiring business owners in closely held companies and of CEOs and CFOs in stock market companies in order to gauge the barriers that they believe are blocking their own action in the employee share ownership area. The Rutgers Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing is working on such a research agenda at this time. In addition, with the future size of the US employee ownership sector at stake, a more intensive one-year interview project would make sense in order to present these different explanations to key actors and practitioners and ask them to provide evidence to prove or disprove the relevance of the different barriers.

Empirical research which can resolve which barriers are more important than others is presented, when possible; however, studies that provide metrics to compare different barriers are not available and need to be carried out.

Other countries considering employee ownership policies can learn from the US experience. US policymakers and legislators can learn from an original, recent discussion of barriers.

If employee ownership sectors are to be developed, a careful discussion of barriers is most relevant.

Original document by the authors based on original interviews.

Pandemics are frequent events, and the impact of each pandemic makes a strong and long-term effect on companies and markets. Given the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important to investigate the crisis from a different perspective to know how companies have sustained growth in markets. The purpose of this paper is to understand how profit-oriented customer-centric companies (small, medium and large) have responded and adapted to COVID-19 crisis, using the complexity theory.

Drawing upon the complexity theory, a humble attempt is made to develop theoretical propositions by conceptualizing companies as complex adaptive systems. The paper examines companies from three dimensions (i.e. internal mechanism, environment and coevolution).

Companies self-organize, emerge into new states and become adaptive to the changing environment. Companies create knowledge to understand the dynamic anatomy and design survival and growth strategies during and post COVID-19 era. Complex adaptive systems perspective provides companies with insights to deal with complex issues raised due to COVID-19 pandemic. They can handle the impact of pandemic efficiently with complex adaptive systems by developing and implementing appropriate strategies post-COVID-19.

The study reveals how companies evolve and emerge into as complex adaptive systems to adapt themselves to the highly dynamic environment, which are uncertain, unpredictable, nonlinear and multifaceted, in the context of COVID-19. Implications for theory and practice of viewing companies as complex adaptive systems and coevolving structures in the COVID-19 context are discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to compile a comprehensive status report on pipes/piping networks across different industrial sectors, along with specifications of materials and sizes, and showcase welding avenues. It further extends to highlight the promising friction stir welding as a single solid-state pipe welding procedure. This paper will enable all piping, welding and friction stir welding stakeholders to identify scope for their engagement in a single window.

The paper is a review paper, and it is mainly structured around sections on materials, sizes and standards for pipes in different sectors and the current welding practice for joining pipe and pipe connections; on the process and principle of friction stir welding (FSW) for pipes; identification of main welding process parameters for the FSW of pipes; effects of process parameters; and a well-carved-out concluding summary.

A well-carved-out concluding summary of extracts from thoroughly studied research is presented in a structured way in which the avenues for the engagement of FSW are identified.

The implications of the research are far-reaching. The FSW is currently expanding very fast in the welding of flat surfaces and has evolved into a vast number of variants because of its advantages and versatility. The application of FSW is coming up late but catching up fast, and as a late starter, the outcomes of such a review paper may support stake holders to expand the application of this process from pipe welding to pipe manufacturing, cladding and other high-end applications. Because the process is inherently inclined towards automation, its throughput rate is high and it does not need any consumables, the ultimate benefit can be passed on to the industry in terms of financial gains.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the only review exclusively for the friction stir welding of pipes with a well-organized piping specification detailed about industrial sectors. The current pipe welding practice in each sector has been presented, and the avenues for engaging FSW have been highlighted. The FSW pipe process parameters are characteristically distinguished from the conventional FSW, and the effects of the process parameters have been presented. The summary is concise yet comprehensive and organized in a structured manner.