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Marketing Management, Consumer Behavior.

This case is suitable to be used in advanced undergraduate and MBA/MSc level.

This case highlights the initiative taken by Malaysian government in order to launch and implement “No Plastic Bag” campaign. The objective of this campaign is to discourage consumers from using plastic bags since plastic is not biodegradable and thus a big threat to the environment. As a result of this campaign, all supermarkets, hypermarkets, or department stores stopped providing plastic bags to the customers while shopping which was a usual practice before to carry the purchased stuffs. Consumers left with two options: either carrying their own bag during purchase or purchasing the plastic bag from the cashier for 20 sen. Azmir, the managing director of ForU hypermarket, was receiving several complaints from his customers since they need to pay for the plastic bag which made him ponder about how to make customers accept the “No Plastic Bag” policy wholeheartedly.

This case illustrates:

• The challenges faced by the Malaysian government in implementing “No Plastic Bag” campaign.

• The need for considering heavy promotional effort in creating awareness among citizens about green issues.

• The necessity to understand different mentality and behavioral pattern of consumers in embracing green consumption behavior.

The challenges faced by the Malaysian government in implementing “No Plastic Bag” campaign.

The need for considering heavy promotional effort in creating awareness among citizens about green issues.

The necessity to understand different mentality and behavioral pattern of consumers in embracing green consumption behavior.

Fashion and textile industry has confronted to participate with the sustainable industry and society proactively not by the government regulations, but by the shareholders or consumers driven with corporate social responsibility. The purpose of this paper is to consider methods applied for the sustainability of products according to Korean domestic fashion and textile companies and clothing types and to investigate the limitation of current sustainability methods of companies.

The study used document analysis and case studies of 396 companies. The study looked into newspapers, monthly magazines, and publications of fashion companies and internet web sites of almost every possible type that have been issued to date and analyzed the previous studies as well.

The companies’ strategies are of three groups, the uses of environmental friendly materials: 36.9 percent (natural fibers, recycled fibers and biodegradable fibers), apparel reuse: 4.5 percent (remodeling/alteration and transform/combination with more materials), and eco-marketing promotions: 58.6 percent. For women’s and casual wear section, the methods used with organic materials and the green-campaign messages appeared frequently, while in the men’s wear section, coolMapsi, 0or warm OnMapsi for business wear did a lot for the low indoor energy consumption, such as no neck-tie in the hot season or wearing underwear in the cold season.

Fashion and textile products have provided the key solutions for the generation’s happiness, identity, value, self-realization, health and role. There have been the low quality and similarity of fashion products from mass production and high speed and we should consider sustainability for the next generation and society. But the current problem in the industry is that most of eco-product developments are only short term. Also, from the high cost of eco materials and processes, there is a limited portion of sustainability section among total products and low design quality of fashion or the low profit outcomes.

The present study aims to demonstrate that providing a free gift upon purchase may induce consumers to devaluate the main product promoted with the offer. The mediating role of persuasion knowledge and the moderating role of consumer shopping orientation are also examined.

Three studies with between-subject designs are conducted to test the influence of product–gift fit on evaluations of the promoted product.

When a low-fit gift (vs a high-fit gift) is provided as a promotional offer, consumers’ evaluations of the promoted product are undermined. These negative effects are driven by consumers’ activation of persuasion knowledge on the company’s ulterior motive to entice consumers to make a purchase. Such devaluation effects occur especially for consumers with a task-focused shopping orientation, whereas they are mitigated for consumers with an experiential shopping orientation.

This research extends the conceptualization of product–gift fit and challenges the common claim that free gift promotions maintain the value of the promoted product. By instigating a mechanism underlying consumers’ objections toward low-fit gifts, this research implies that consumers may think of an implicit cost to a free offer based on their knowledge of companies’ tactics.

Marketers should be aware of the fact that a certain gift may come at a cost for companies and bring about negative inferences regarding the main product. They need not only to select a gift that drives sales but also to be cautious about the gift’s influence on perceptions of the main product. Marketers should ensure that the gift has a good fit with the product while trying to discover a unique gift for consumers. Marketers should also provide an offer that matches shopping orientation of the target consumers.

This research reveals counterevidence to prior research claiming that free gift promotion does not hurt the perceived value of the promoted product. It enhances a theoretical understanding of devaluation effects and provides useful implications for designing and targeting free gift promotion.

Justice appears as an important strategic concept for promoting sustainability. Among the sustainable development goals established by the United Nations (UN), Goal 16 is about providing access to justice for all and building effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions. In the stakeholder theory perspective, the perception of fair treatment in the stakeholder management allows the organization to value fairness, impartiality, and morality among all stakeholders. The purpose of this chapter is to analyze the influence of justice in the organizational processes of a network of solidarity economy cooperatives. We used semi-structured interviews and desk research on documents made available by the network. The results point to a series of values and processes based on justice throughout the production and managerial chain, providing relationships understood as fair, which can be replicated in organizations that pursue the same ideals.

The purpose of this paper is to recognise the areas of implementation of the principles of sustainable development (SD) in the model of retail chains activity. In the paper, the assumption was made that nowadays it is necessary to adopt the rules following SD while making strategic decisions by retail chains.

The study uses secondary data sources, reports, academic literature and the case study research method. A case study research is a multi-method paradigm based on full range of a scientist’s tool-kit: reviewing literature studies, examining secondary documents and comparing the websites of investigated retail chains.

According to that business model, the authors were recognising selected components of this model, that is to say: recourses and competences of retail chains and value proposition for their customers. The greatest chances of development will be enjoyed by those retail chains that will be able to provide real value to customers. Maintaining a competitive advantage will require constant improvements in the quality of service and innovative business models connected with sustainable elements.

It seems necessary to develop research tools that allow for identification of the level of use of the SD concept in retail chain’s business models in the future.

The paper is of interest to practitioners and students of retail management.

The concept of the SD model included in the retailer business models serves to build value for the customer through the care of his quality of life. The vast majority of retailers believe that it is the responsibility of the business sector to respond to social and environmental challenges.

The paper intends to fill the gap in the literature concerning the influence of SD concept on changes in the business models of retail chains. The SD activities can lead to the development of specific capabilities based on intangible recourses that are sources of competitive advantage (SD). That is the main reason of undertaking this subject.

This study aims to investigate and compare mobile and desktop user search behaviours of the 1300K site, a Korean shopping search engine, by using transaction log analysis.

Transaction logs of 1300K site were collected over a three months’ period, from 1 January to 31 March 2018. The data set of this study consists of 1,149,690 desktop queries, 2,346,938 mobile queries, 2,481,747 desktop browsing activities and 2,550,309 mobile browsing activities. This study quantitatively analyses transaction log of 1300K site.

The results of this study show that mobile usage is higher than desktop usage: there are more mobile sessions than desktop sessions and the number of mobile queries is more than double of desktop queries. Overall, mobile query search behaviours are more simple, targeted and focused than desktop query search behaviours. Also, mobile browsing behaviours are more simple and passive than desktop browsing behaviours. However, mobile click behaviours are more active than desktop click behaviours.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study appears to be the first of its type in Korea that compared search behaviours of a large number of users on desktop computers and mobile phones. To identify various characteristics of user search behaviours, this study analyses users’ directory browsing behaviour and click behaviour as well as query search behaviour. The results of this study can be implemented to address the effective improvement and development of search services and interfaces for different devices.

This paper aims to analyze the impacts of distinct advertising appeals on brand attitudes and purchase intentions toward green brands across two different product categories (technology-intensive and technology non-intensive) among the young adult consumers.

On the basis of focus group discussion, recyclable shopping bags (technology non-intensive) and hybrid cars (technology intensive) were identified as two product categories for the final study. A total of eight advertisement copies were developed (three in each product class + two control group ads) and distributed across 240 young consumers. A 4 (three advertising appeals + one control group) × 2 (product classes) between group experimental design was used to test the hypotheses formulated.

The study findings show that all the three advertisement appeals significantly influence attitudes and purchase intentions toward green brands across both the product categories. However, it was also found that functional appeal generated significantly lower mean scores for brand attitude and purchase intention for recyclable shopping bags compared to hybrid cars, whereas emotional appeal generated significantly lower mean scores for brand attitude, as well as purchase intention for hybrid cars compared to bags. This implies that functional green ad appeal would be more effective for technology-intensive products and emotional green ad appeal would be more effective for technology non-intensive products. Self-expressive green ad appeal was found to be equally effective in impacting brand attitudes and purchase intentions across both product categories.

The value of this research lies in investigating how the effects of distinct green brand advertising appeals on brand attitude and purchase intention can vary across technology-intensive and technology non-intensive products.

Reusable takeaway food containers (RTFCs) are a newly emerging green packaging choice for the takeaway industry that can effectively reduce campus solid waste but are not yet well accepted. Therefore, this study aims to identify the key factors influencing university students’ intention to choose RTFCs, seeking to enhance RTFC project management practices and contribute to developing a sustainable “green university.”

In total, 316 valid respondents from a Chinese university were surveyed for data collection. A multivariate ordered logistic regression model was used to conduct empirical analysis.

The results of this study underscore the crucial role of perceived value in the relationship between perceived green attributes and students’ intention to choose RTFCs. The positive impacts of perceived green attributes on intention are direct and indirect, through the lens of perceived value. When the value is substantial, it significantly boosts the student’s intention to choose RTFCs. Conversely, the perception of lower hygienic quality or higher returning time cost dampens this intention, with a more pronounced effect than perceived green attributes. Notably, perceived publicity activities have the most significant impact on student’s intention to choose RTFCs.

This study contributes to the understanding of promoting RTFCs, a key strategy for reducing plastic waste on campuses. The findings provide actionable recommendations for the project company and the university, offering practical ways to encourage students to use RTFCs and contribute to plastic waste reduction.

As UN’s sustainable development goals (SDGs) are integrated across Asia-Pacific Higher Education Institutes (HEIs), the purpose of this descriptive and exploratory study is to investigate undergraduates’ own self-stated commitment to the SDGs and their perceived feasibility by the 2030 target.

A mixed-methodology approach covered quantitative and qualitative approaches facilitated by purposive selection of an Asia-Pacific HEI via a Japanese liberal arts college where a questionnaire survey was administered in Autumn 2021. Responses were monitored from freshmen students in twin courses within the same major (introduction to “Environment” and “Development” studies, respectively; n = 177) that both integrated SDGs within their respective curricula.

Students in both classes rated the SDGs as a useful learning tool but were sceptical of their feasibility by 2030. A self-stated commitment was high, especially among environment studies students. Multiple regression was run to predict SDGs commitment from gender, major, perceived SDGs’ usefulness and feasibility. These variables partially predicted SDGs commitment but only gender and major variables added statistical significance. Moreover, the same variables were less equivocal in terms of predicting the self-stated belief that the SDGs could be achieved by 2030.

The findings can inform instructors of students’ perceptions towards SDGs. Significant differences raise academic and applied discussion points, such as how to engage male students, for example, by setting up sustainability “business case” practicums.

As global HEIs grapple with effective ways to vertically integrate SDGs into a university’s curriculum, students’ opinions are often underrepresented. This paper’s originality and value address these gaps by exploring a holistic student-centric perspective on SDGs in the context of commitment. This paper also has implications for more effective cross-curricula integration of the SDGs.