This book focuses on topics such as the cultural specificity of Arab family businesses with regard to shaping their governance and management; the influence that specific values in the Arab world could exert on the management of family businesses; how spiritual and religious values influence business in Arab family firms; and the role of emotions in the management of family firms in the Arab World. Presenting a collection of contributions addressing management, finance, strategy and succession in Arab Family businesses, this book constitutes a novel and unique contribution to the research field of family businesses.

This book encapsulates the 'New Normal Policy' which has changed the regional policy between China and the African continent. This volume emphasises China's role in Africa as a collaborator in an attempt to fulfil the Beijing consensus in emerging countries. The contextual research encompasses how one can comprehend the influence of the Chinese model in Africa and her diplomatic relations with the continent. China and Africa: A New Paradigm of Global Business endeavours to define whether or not the Washington model has become weathered, and the Beijing consensus more relevant in this specific continent.

Unlike other books which focus solely on the business or profit aspects of measuring the customer experience, this book focuses on the benefits to the consumer as well as the company or financial institution. The book describes how business and government can undertake market research to determine whether the credit and investment markets are functioning properly and providing consumers with adequate information to make sound and safe credit and investment decisions. A discussion of different market research methods abilities to uncover problems in the credit and investment markets is provided. Findings and trends from studies measuring the customers experience in the credit and investment markets during the 1991 - 2009 time periods are discussed along with regulatory guidelines and consumer protection laws. The methodologies used to measure the customer experience and detect misleading sales practices; unfair treatment and discrimination in the financial services market place are described in detail. The techniques of mystery shopping, matched pair testing and consumer surveys are described along with a detailed discussion of study design, data collection methods, sample size determination, statistical testing, reporting and analysis. Sample questionnaires, mystery shop scenarios and profiles and sample analyses and charts are provided.

This book reflects the current thinking and research on how consumers' perception of product risks and benefits affects their behavior. It provides the scientific, regulatory and industrial research community with a conceptual and methodological reference point for studies on consumer behavior and marketing. The contributions address various aspects of consumer psychology and behavior, risk perception and communication, marketing research strategies, as well as consumer product regulation. The book is divided into 4 parts: Product risks; Perception of product risks and benefits; Consumer behavior; Regulation and responsibility.

This book proposes that organizational policies are what ensure the institutionalization and sustainability of futures thinking in organizations. It presents several case studies from corporations and other institutions that describe effective use of foresight methods and internal policies to respond to rapid change. The case studies address changing trends in technology, globalization and/or workforce diversity, and the impact on the economic and political well-being of the organization. The editors also develop an organizational capability maturity model for futures thinking as well as providing questions for discussion that promote critical review of each case chapter. This book will inform scholars and organizational leaders how best to utilize foresight methodologies and organizational policies to sustain successful management strategies within futures thinking organizations. Chapter 9 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

Canonical Authors in Consumption Theory is the first reference work to compile the contributions of the greatest social thinkers to the global conversation about consumption and consumer culture. A prestige reference work, it offers original chapters by the world's most prominent thought leaders. It introduces the works of historical theorists and surveys how their work has influenced and shaped consumption theory, both through history and at the cutting edge of research. Consumption is at core of contemporary lifestyles, of political successes and failures, and with discussions of sustainability and environmental change. Contemporary consumer culture shapes modern identities, and is the engine of the globalizing capitalist economy. Still, the majority of social theorizations over the last century and a half have been addressing production processes rather than consumption processes. This is about to change. Studies of consumption play an increasing role as a topic and a domain of study in marketing, anthropology, sociology and cultural studies. Currently, there is no single compilation that systematically links scholarly work published by the greatest social thinkers of the last century and a half to the understanding of contemporary consumer society. This book provides a solid framework for understanding the relevance of these canonical authors in social theory to facilitate analysis of consumer culture, and to act as a comprehensive reference point for consumer researchers, doctoral students and practitioners.

This book represents the work of some of the contemporary world leaders in marketing. The contributors are authors of a set of path-breaking books on marketing. To ensure sufficient depth of coverage, the contributors have taken the essence of their earlier books and combined it with their latest understanding and cases. This has served to enhance the content and put it in the readers' current context. It is common knowledge that keeping pace with the growing application of marketing requires a novel approach. With new ideas and nuances being discovered every day, it has become a real challenge for marketers and students of marketing to keep up to date on important contemporary marketing concepts. Given its unique approach and thoughtful curation, this book presents readers with diversity of perspectives along with a unique depth of thinking.

Canonical Authors in Consumption Theory is the first work to compile the contributions of the greatest social thinkers in the global conversation about consumption and consumer culture. A prestigious reference work, it offers original chapters by the world's most prominent thought leaders and surveys how the work of historical theorists has influenced and shaped consumption theory, both through history and at the cutting edge of research. Consumption is at the core of contemporary lifestyles, of political successes and failures and of discussions around sustainability and environmental change. Contemporary consumer culture shapes modern identities, and is the engine of the globalizing capitalist economy. Still, most social theorizations over the last century and a half have addressed production processes rather than consumption processes. This is about to change. Studies of consumption play an increasing role as a topic and a domain of study in marketing, anthropology, sociology and cultural studies. Currently, there is no single compilation that systematically links scholarly work published by the greatest social thinkers of the last 150 years to the understanding of contemporary consumer society. This book provides a solid framework for understanding the relevance of these canonical authors in social theory to facilitate analysis of consumer culture, and to act as a comprehensive reference point for consumer researchers, doctoral students and practitioners.

The study and teaching of marketing as a university subject is generally understood to have originated in America during the early 20th century emerging as an applied branch of economics. This book tells a different story describing the influence of the German Historical School on institutional economists and economic historians who pioneered the study of marketing in America and Britain during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Drawing from archival materials at the University of Wisconsin, Harvard Business School, and the University of Birmingham, this book documents the early intellectual genealogy of marketing science and traces the ideas that early American and British economists borrowed from German scholars to study and teach marketing. Early marketing scholars both in America and Britain openly credited the German School, and its ideology based on social welfare and distributive justice was a strong motivation for many institutional economists who studied marketing in America, predating the modern macro-marketing school by many decades. Challenging many traditional beliefs, this book provides an authoritative new narrative of the origins of marketing thought. It will be of great interest to educators, scholars and advanced students with an interest in marketing theory and history, and in the history of economic thought.

Presenting some of the most significant research on the modern understanding of luxury, this edited collection of articles from the Journal of Brand Management explores the complex relationships consumers tie with luxury, and the unique characteristics of luxury brand management. Covering the segmentation of luxury consumers worldwide, the specificity of luxury management, the role of sustainability for luxury brands and major insights from a customer point of view, Advances in Luxury Brand Management is essential reading for upper level students as well as scholars and discerning practitioners.

Context and Cognition in Consumer Psychology is concerned with the psychological explanation of consumer choice. It pays particular attention to the roles of perception and emotion in accounting for consumers' actions and their interaction with the desires and beliefs in terms of which consumer choice is frequently analyzed. In this engaging book, Gordon Foxall extends and elaborates his theory of consumer action, based on the philosophical strategy of Intentional Behaviorism. In doing so, he introduces the concept of contingency-representation to explore the ways in which consumers mentally represent the consequences of past decisions and the likely outcomes of present consumption. The emphasis is on action rather than behavior and the manner in which the intentional consumer-situation, as the immediate precursor of consumer choice, can be reconstructed in order to explain consumer actions in the absence of the environmental stimuli required by behaviorist psychology. The result is a novel reaffirmation of the role of cognition in the determination of consumer choice. Besides the concept of contingency-representation which the author introduces, the analysis draws upon psychoanalytic concepts, theories of cognitive structure and processing, and the philosophy of perception to generate a stimulating synthesis for consumer research. The book will be of interest to students and researchers in consumer behavior and economic psychology and to all who seek a deeper interdisciplinary understanding of the contextual and cognitive interactions that guide choice in the market place.

Successful business communication is more than simply speaking your client's language. At the heart of all effective communication lies a fundamental understanding of human behavior. The natural result of globalization is a level of behaviors that we all share and expect. However, underneath this level are many other influencing factors. We tend to view the situation around us according to our own expectations which are often shaped by our cultural backgrounds. What happens, though, when our cultures are so different that the expectations collide? This book combines theory and practice in a way that helps you as a busy intercultural manager understand what others are communicating to you and those around you. We take apart real examples of intercultural business interaction and show you how deeply embedded cultural norms are found within a simple conversation. Then we offer you important tools and principles that you can use to improve your own intercultural business communication. After reading this book, you should have a good understanding of the basic culture types, and be able to identify most cultures based on the principles described here. Additionally, you will know which social issues, attitudes, and values appear even in the most rational business negotiation. Most importantly, your cultural awareness will help you build successful and lasting relationships with your clients across regional and global boundaries.

Consumer Science and Strategic Marketing: Case Studies in the Traditional Food Sector aims to close the gap between academic researchers and industry professionals through real world scenarios and field-based research. The book explores how consumer and sensory science has been implemented in the food industry for achieving the following strategic aims: rejuvenating product image, shaping new market places, achieving market differentiation and geographical diffusion, achieving customer loyalty, promoting traditional features of the product and defining product positioning in competitive environment. There is an emerging demand from food industry professionals and undergraduate and postgraduate students who attend business and agricultural studies courses who want to gain practical information through real cases and field-based research. This book aims to answer the following questions, amongst others: How research in the field of consumer science became relevant for marketing strategies?, Which tangible economic and financial outcomes have been obtained by the joint work of sensory scientists, researchers in marketing field and food business professionals?, and which communication methods and practices have been relevant to make the most of R&D in the food industry? Through case studies, successful examples and practices are provided, with newer inputs for further theoretical investigation given. Both current and future professionals in the food industry will gain insights that can be used in their business environment.

This book brings together the state of the art and current debates in the field of formative research, and examines many of the innovative methods largely overlooked in the available literature. This book will help social marketing to move beyond surveys and focus groups. The book addresses the needs of social marketing academics and practitioners alike by providing a robust and critical academic discussion of cutting-edge research methods, while demonstrating at the same time how each respective method can help us arrive at a deeper understanding of the issues that social marketing interventions are seeking to remedy. Each chapter includes a scholarly discussion of key formative research methods, a list of relevant internet resources, and three key readings for those interested in extending their understanding of the method. Most chapters also feature a short case study demonstrating how the methods are used.

The theoretical and empirical literature to date has fallen short of reaching a consensus as to whether granting more managerial discretion to managers tends to enhance, not alteror diminish organizational performance (the discretion puzzle). This book aims to build a bridge between these contradictory results by synthesising principal-agent theory, stewardship theory, and managerial discretion theory into a new empirically-validated model. Using a representative sample of 'double-blind' interviews with managers of 467 firms in China and applying partial least squares path modelling (PLS), the study identifies a potential cause of the discretion puzzle: the failure of the extant literature to account for granularity in the way that managers use their discretion. This generates far-reaching implications for theoretical and empirical research as well as practical recommendations for managing managers in multinationals and Chinese companies."

Contemporary Consumer Culture Theory contains original research essays written by the premier thought leaders of the discipline from around the world that reflect the maturation of the field Customer Culture Theory over the last decade. The volume seeks to help break down the silos that have arisen in disciplines seeking to understand consumer culture, and speed both the diffusion of ideas and possibility of collaboration across frontiers. Contemporary Consumer Culture Theory begins with a re-evaluation of some of the fundamental notions of consumer behaviour, such as self and other, branding and pricing, and individual vs. communal agency then continuing with a reconsideration of role configurations as they affect consumption, examining in particular the ramifications of familial, gender, ethnic and national aspects of consumers' lived experiences. The book move on to a reappraisal of the state of the field, examining the rhetoric of inquiry, the reflexive history and critique of the discipline, the prospect of redirecting the effort of inquiry to practical and humanitarian ends, the neglected wellsprings of our intellectual heritage, and the ideological underpinnings of the evolving construction of the concept of the brand. Contemporary Consumer Culture Theory is a reflective assessment, in theoretical, empirical and evocative keys, of the state of the field of consumer culture theory and an indication of the scholarly directions in which the discipline is evolving providing reflection upon a rapidly expanding discipline and altered consumption-scapes by some of its prime movers.

As innovation moves from the lab to the market, a new research phase begins for the entrepreneur: the market research phase. Inspired by a new technology that can change the world, critical questions need to be addressed. Is there a market for my innovation? Who are my clients? What do they need? Is my innovation filling that gap in the market? Who are my competitors? How are they approaching the market? If these questions are unaswered, entrepreneurs meet potential investors or partners with only a basic understanding of their market. The objective of this book is to fill this gap. It is a practical manual that gives entrepreneurs real-world advice and tools to build a solid market model. The book provides tips, models and tools entrepreneurs can use to collect, interpret and present their market and integrate it into their business plan. What the entrepreneur learns in this book will help him throughout his journey. After going over the market research process, he will learn how to design and use a number of market research tools, and how to adapt them in a life science context. From building a web survey to preparing interviews to doing your own secondary research, this handbook will help him gain a comprehensive understanding of how to perform his own market research activities and how to analyze his data. Finally, a number of frameworks (such as the TAM-SAM-SOM as well as the KANO Model) are described so that he can efficiently share what he has learned, using models that simply yet effectively shares findings.

In services marketing, it is important to understand why customers behave the way they do. How do they make decisions about buying and using a service? What determines their satisfaction with it after consumption? Without this understanding, no firm can hope to create and deliver services that will result in satisfied customers who will buy again. Understanding Service Consumers is the first volume in the Winning in Service Markets Series by services marketing expert Jochen Wirtz. Scientifically grounded, accessible and practical, the Winning in Service Markets Series bridges the gap between cutting-edge academic research and industry practitioners, and features best practices and latest trends on services marketing and management from around the world.

Contemporary consumer society is increasingly saturated by digital technology, and the devices that deliver this are increasingly transforming consumption patterns. Social media, smartphones, mobile apps and digital retailing merge with traditional consumption spheres, supported by digital devices which further encourage consumers to communicate and influence other consumers to consume. Through a wide range of empirical studies which analyse the impact of digital devices, this volume explores the digitization of consumption and shows how consumer culture and consumption practices are fundamentally intertwined and mediated by digital devices. Exploring the development of new consumer cultures, leading international scholars from sociology, marketing and ethnology examine the effects on practices of consumption and marketing, through topics including big data, digital traces, streaming services, wearables, and social media's impact on ethical consumption. Digitalizing Consumption makes an important contribution to practice-based approaches to consumption, particularly the use of market devices in consumers' everyday consumer life, and will be of interest to scholars of marketing, cultural studies, consumer research, organization and management.

Many countries have implemented policies to increase the number and quality of scientific researchers as a means to foster innovation and spur economic development and progress. To that end, grounded in a view of women as a rich, yet underutilized knowledge and labor resource, a great deal of recent attention has focused on encouraging women to pursue education and careers in science even in countries with longstanding dominant patriarchal regimes. Yet, overall, science remains an area in which girls and women are persistently disadvantaged. This book addresses that situation.It bridges the gap between individual- and societal-level perspectives on women in science in a search for systematic solutions to the challenge of building an inclusive and productive scientific workforce capable of creating the innovation needed for economic growth and societal wellbeing.

This book examines both the role of gender as an organizing principle of social life and the relative position of women scientists within national and international labor markets. Weaving together and engaging research on globalization, the social organization of science, and gendered societal relations as key social forces, this book addresses critical issues affecting women s contributions and participation in science. Also, while considering women s representation in science as a whole, examinations of women in the chemical sciences, computing, mathematics and statistics are offered as examples to provide insights into how differing disciplinary cultures, functional tasks and socio-historical conditions can affect the advancement of women in science relative to important variations in educational and occupational realities.

Edited by three social scientists recognized for their expertise in science and technology policy, education, workforce participation, and stratification, this book includes contributions from an intellectually diverse group of international scholars and analysts and features compelling cases and initiatives from around the world, with implications for research, industry practice, education and policy development."

Paco Underhill, the Margaret Mead of shopping and author of the huge international bestseller Why We Buy--praised by The New York Times as "a book that gives this underrated skill the respect it deserves"--now takes us to The Mall, a place every American has experienced and has an opinion about. The result is a bright, ironic, funny, and shrewd portrait of the mall--America's gift to personal consumption, its most powerful icon of global commercial muscle, the once new and now aging national town square, the place where we convene in our leisure time. It's about the shopping mall as an exemplar of our commercial and social culture, the place where our young people have their first taste of social freedom, and where the rest of us compare notes. Call of the Mall examines how we use the mall, what it means, why it works when it does, and why it sometimes doesn't.

Ethnic Marketing shows the rich opportunities that ethnic minority communities have to offer, as well as offering instruction on the design and implementation of effective social and business marketing strategies. The text offers practical guidance on assessing the needs of individual ethnic communities and a guide to marketing to these communities within various countries.

This book presents a collection of interrelated research advances in the field of technological entrepreneurship from the perspective of competition in emerging markets. Featuring contributions by scholars from different fields of interest, it provides a mix of theoretical developments, insights and research methods used to uncover the unexplored aspects of competitiveness in emerging markets in an age characterized by disruptive technologies.

This book guides in the advocacy process, as well as in courses in consumer behaviour, political science and law. It defines the consumer interest in many dimensions in order to be able to evaluate the effects of agricultural marketing board regulatory activity on consumers.

The book outlines a practical approach to shopper marketing in order to grow both revenue and brand equity. A story runs through the book in the first part of each chapter, so that it is easier to connect the theory and tools in the second part of each chapter, with a real-world scenario. The book follows the story of the Big Beverage Company, who receive a call from their biggest customer one afternoon asking for their help in getting the coffee category growing again. This sets the Big Beverage Company and their management team on a journey from being a brand-focused business, to one that understands how a broader emphasis on the category and its shoppers can lead to greater growth for themselves and their retail partners. The book contains over 300 industry and academic references as well as numerous examples from the author's own experience.