Search results

The purpose of this paper is to measure the thermal and moisture resistance of the knitted upper fabrics with the foot model, which provided basis for designing and producing sports shoes with thermal-moisture comfort.

In this paper, different yarn materials and fabric stitches were selected as the changing factors. The three kinds of yarn materials and the three kinds of fabric stitches were combined to design and weave eight pieces of knitted upper fabrics. Human sweating was simulated by the thermal-moisture comfort foot model, and then tested the thermal and moisture resistance of eight pieces of fabrics in different parts of the foot. Finally, the relationship between yarn material, fabric stitch, and the thermal and moisture resistance in different parts of the foot was analyzed by data.

The composition of the yarn material and fabric stitch has certain effect on the thermal-moisture comfort in different sections of the foot. When the yarn material of the four parts of the lateral arch, medial arch, ankle and heel is composed of 31.1tex moisture wicking polyester/33.3tex spandex coated yarn, the yarn material of the instep and toes is composed of 31.1tex ordinary polyester/33.3tex spandex coated yarn, and all parts of fabric stitch choose single-sided loop transfer stitch, the knitted sports shoes have the best thermal-moisture comfort.

The study used the thermal-moisture comfort foot model to simulate the human body metabolism and sweating system. Through the quantitative analyze of the thermal and moisture resistance of knitted upper fabrics to provide basis for the producers to design and product knitted sports shoes with good thermal-moisture comfort.

This case aims to demonstrate how leading firms are learning how to sustain competitive advantage by co‐creating experiences of value with customers.

The shoe company Nike provides a glimpse of the next “best practices” of value co‐creation with customers. By engaging with informed, connected, and networked customers around the globe, Nike has found their shared experiences to be a new source of value.

The paper finds that customers are now informed, connected, networked, and empowered on a scale as never before, thanks to search engines, engagement platforms, the growth of internet‐based interest groups, and widespread high‐bandwidth communication and social interaction technologies. Customers have learned how to use these new tools to make their opinions and ideas heard.

A few leading companies like Nike are involving customers in the value creation process by offering Internet sites where they can share their interactions and experiences. These range from customers' ideas about how to improve or customize products to their feelings when they use products.). For Nike, the learning from these interactions creates new strategic capital. The company can now learn directly from customers' direct input on their preferences. Nike can build relationships and trust with the Nike+ community and experiment with new offerings, all the while enhancing its brand.

The strategic opportunity for Nike is to build and promote the use of Internet engagement platforms through which the firm can build customer relationships on a scale and scope as never before. Effectively managing these new initiatives initially posed a new challenge for Nike, a traditionally product‐centric organization. Now their viewpoint is reversed. “In the past the product was the end point of the consumer experience. Now it is the starting point.”

The purpose of this paper is to study motivational effects and age differences of gamification in product advertising. Game-elements can easily be embedded within product advertisements, but little is known about the success factors of this technology. We investigated which motivational incentives of game designs influence the purchase intentions of consumers. The theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1991) was expected to explain purchase intentions for non-gamified sports products, whereas the modified technology acceptance model (Herzig et al., 2012) was expected to predict purchase intentions of gamified sports products.

Participants were 101 consumers who performed sports on a regular basis. Age and prior experience with digital games were assumed to influence the effectiveness of gamification.

Purchase intentions of conventional products were predicted by attitudes, subjective norm and perceived control, whereas purchase intentions of gamified products were predicted by attitudes and the perceived usefulness. Enjoyment and flow were significant mediators between motivational incentives and purchase intentions. Consumers with prior gaming experience had higher purchase intentions for gamified products.

Gamify products for younger target groups with gaming experience; use intrinsic and extrinsic motivational incentives; focus on enjoyment, flow and the perceived usefulness.

Game-elements in sports advertisements might also be suitable for public health campaigns. They may motivate people be more physically active and lead a healthier lifestyle.

This study specifies predictors for purchase intentions of gamified products and emphasizes the importance of flow and enjoyment as mediators. Age differences indicate that young consumers had higher intentions to purchase the gamified product, judged it as more useful and perceived more flow and enjoyment than the older age group.

The purpose of this study is to explore the influence of perceived corporate social responsibility (CSR) effort on consumer preference in the case of brands with different CSR histories in the clothing and footwear sector.

This study uses the conjoint analysis method and analyzes a sample of 381 French consumers. Two sports brands were tested in this experiment: Nike and Patagonia.

The results show that despite the sensitivity of the respondents to the social and environmental conditions involved in the manufacture of the shoes they purchase, they mainly preferred Nike – regardless of its shorter CSR history and significant criticism for social issues in its value chain. Customer recognition of a greater CSR effort by Patagonia does not seem to change this preference.

One fictional product was tested, and the two selected brands have different levels of recognition by French consumers. To strengthen the external validity of the results, it would be interesting to repeat the study using other, real products and other brands with a similar offer on the market and level of consumer awareness.

The findings suggest that the ethical dimension of the product should not be put forward as the main selling point, but rather as an added value for the product.

Although there has been an increasing number of studies of consumer behavior toward ethical attributes in recent years, none to date have compared this behavior for products of ethical brands with different CSR histories.

In retail, product fitting is a critical operational practice. For many products, the operational outcome of the retail supply chain is determined by the customer physically fitting products. Digital product fitting is an emerging operational practice in retail that uses digital models of products and customers to match product supply to customer requirements. This paper aims to explore potential supply chain outcomes of digitalizing the operational practice of product fitting. The purpose is to explore and propose the potential of the practice to improve responsiveness to customer requirements and the utilization of existing variety in mass-produced products.

A maturity model of product fitting is developed to specify three levels of digitalization and potential outcomes for each level. Potential outcomes are developed based on empirical data from a case survey of three technology-developing companies, 13 retail cases and a review of academic literature.

With increasing maturity of digital product fitting, the practice can be used for more purposes. Besides matching product supply to customer demand, the practice can improve material flows, customer relationship management, assortment planning and product development. The practice of digital product fitting is most relevant for products where the final product configuration is difficult to make to order, product and customer attributes are easily measurable and tacit knowledge of customers and products can be formalized using digital modeling.

Potential outcomes are conceptualized and proposed. Further research is needed to observe actual outcomes and understand the mechanisms for both proposed and surprising outcomes in specific contexts.

The maturity model helps companies assess how their operations can benefit from digital product fitting and the efforts required to achieve beneficial outcomes.

This paper is a first attempt to describe the potential outcomes of introducing digital product fitting in retail supply chains.

The purpose of this study was to develop an initial understanding of sport brand ambassador participants' experiences in sponsored user generated branding (UGB) programs to assist sport organizations in developing the most mutually beneficial brand ambassador programs possible.

Semi-structured interviews were held with six individuals who serve as brand ambassadors for various sport brands. Data were analyzed using qualitative thematic analysis.

Participants were intrinsically motivated to serve in brand ambassador roles. Their experiences were impacted by whether their personal expectations were met, perceived relationship with the brand, perceived value to the brand, and perceived amount of work involved. They reported the best aspects of participation were a sense of community and free products and/or discounts. The most challenging aspects included not wanting to come across as a marketer, self-inflicted pressure to perform a certain way for the brand, pressure to purchase products, and lack of clear communication from the brand.

As this study was qualitative, the findings are unique to the participants and the brands they represent. Therefore, the findings may be used to guide other research and brands but are not generalizable.

Sport brands wishing to employ sponsored UGB strategies such as brand ambassador programs must set clear expectations for ambassadors, communicate regularly, and develop a sense of community with and among ambassadors.

This study contributes to the limited sport management research on sponsored UGB and offers theoretical and practical implications in the areas of sport marketing and branding.

This research enables the authors to highlight the importance of proper pricing for retailers. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the importance of demand-based pricing, providing empirical results that reveal the validity of this pricing philosophy in the sport retailing industry. In particular, this study has identified the limits of acceptable prices for the products studied, selected the most appropriate method for pricing products suffering from high competition and compared the impact produced on price perceptions according to different retail environments to be able to relate changes in the acceptable prices ranges according to the geographical location of each point of sale, differentiating between rural or urban environment and type of client.

The authors have carried out surveys of 350 customers in each of the three points of sale analysed. Therefore, there are a total of 1,050 interviewees, for the three products analysed. The direct method of acceptable prices setting is developed. In addition, ANOVA and t-test have been carried out to find differences between the three shops.

One main finding is that the acceptable price range is not unique. Each point of sale has one that is distinct because it depends on many factors: the competition, the economic capacity of the closest residents, the location of the point of sale or the ability to attract customers.

The foremost contribution of this paper is to demonstrate empirically how considering the local demand at setting prices would generate larger earnings, even for a small retail chain. The direct method of setting acceptable prices enables us to set the prices according to the demand. The best option is if these prices are above the costs. It can be noted that the prices should be set according to each shop, and a different price used in each point of sale to maximise profits and to adapt to what the typical customer of each shop is willing to pay, despite the products being the same and the points of sale belonging to the same retail chain.

Esta investigación nos permite resaltar la importancia de una fijación de precios adecuada para los minoristas. El objetivo principal de esta investigación es demostrar la importancia de la fijación de precios basada en la demanda, proporcionando resultados empíricos que revelan la validez de esta filosofía de fijación de precios en el sector minorista de productos deportivos. En particular, en este estudio se han identificado los intervalos de precios aceptables para los productos estudiados; se ha seleccionado el método más apropiado para la fijación de precios de productos que sufren alta competencia; y se ha comparado el impacto en las percepciones de precios según el entorno detallista y se han encontrado cambios en los intervalos aceptables de precios en función de la localización geográfica del punto de venta, diferenciando entre entorno rural y urbano, y el tipo de cliente.

Los autores han realizado encuestas a 350 clientes en cada uno de los 3 puntos de venta analizados. Por lo tanto, hay un total de 1050 entrevistados, para los 3 productos analizados. Se desarrolla el método directo de fijación de precios aceptables. Además, se han realizado pruebas ANOVAs y T para encontrar diferencias entre las 3 tiendas.

Un hallazgo principal es que el intervalo de precios aceptable no es único. Cada punto de venta tiene uno distinto porque depende de muchos factores: la competencia, la capacidad económica de los residentes más cercanos, la ubicación del punto de venta o la capacidad de atraer clientes.

La principal contribución de este artículo es demostrar empíricamente cómo considerar la demanda local al establecer precios generaría mayores ganancias, incluso para una pequeña cadena minorista. El método directo de establecer precios aceptables nos permite establecer los precios de acuerdo con la demanda. La mejor opción es si estos precios están por encima de los costos. Se puede observar que los precios deben establecerse de acuerdo con cada tienda, y se debe usar un precio diferente en cada punto de venta para maximizar los beneficios y adaptarse a lo que el cliente típico de cada tienda está dispuesto a pagar. A pesar de que los productos son los mismos y los puntos de venta pertenecientes a la misma cadena minorista.

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of background music on consumer's psychological and physiological responses when watching sports advertisements. We investigated how consumers' exposure to background music affects emotional arousal, attention, brand attitude and purchase intentions; and further tested consumers' information processing by using the same measures. Effects of music on viewer responses were hypothesized using arousal theory while the information processing was hypothesized using hierarchy-of-effects model.

We employed a between-subjects experimental design with random assignment. Fifty-four participants were recruited with 27 in an experimental group and 27 in a control group. Quantitative electroencephalogram (qEEG) and self-report measures were used to assess information processing. A multivariate analysis of covariance was conducted to compare the mean differences of variables between the groups. Partial least squares algorithm and bootstrapping were performed to further explore the relationships among the measures.

Mean differences indicated that the background music exposed group's emotional arousal, attention, brand attitude and purchase intention were significantly higher than those of the non-exposure group. Path analysis showed that the level of arousal induced by watching sports advertisements affected attention, attention affected brand attitude and brand attitude affected purchase intention. Indirect paths from arousal to brand attitude and attention to purchase intention were significant.

This study provides practical implications for sports marketers regarding methods to increase the effectiveness of sport advertisement. Results might contribute theoretically to the sports advertisement field by demonstrating the relationship between physiological and marketing-effect factors. Our method of measuring physiological response using qEEG is also expected to influence physiological measurement in sports marketing.

Marketing management, digital marketing, advertising and promotion management, and technology management.

The case is suitable for BBA and MBA students. It can also be considered in executive education programs.

Venkatesh Kothapalli, the marketing head at Reebok India headquarters at Gurgaon, was in a decision dilemma about the effectiveness of using social media marketing and its employment in the current scheme of marketing strategy being planned. He had been able to generate a fair amount of awareness and excitement amongst potential users on Reebok's social media sites. However, these often fail to convert into topline sales. In addition, Alex his superior had given clear instructions that no separate budget would be earmarked for this type of medium. So Venkatesh had to divert some parts of his existing budgets (which he did from the PR budget and the DM budget) and channel these into the new area of social media marketing. This had also created concerns in Venkatesh's mind about the possibility of the new media not showing favourable results while budgets of the traditional and tried and tested media like PR and direct marketing were being chopped.

These include: understanding the dilemma of an organization's adoption of newer marketing tools as opposed to traditional marketing practices; evaluating the role of newer mediums like social media marketing and its long term and short term relevance; understanding the origins and development of social media marketing to grasp the full scale of its usefulness; and appreciating the complexities of measuring the effectiveness of social media marketing initiatives.

Teaching notes are available, please consult your librarian for access.