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The objective of the present research is to examine the relationship between consumer’s perception of Firm of Origin (FOO) of a company and the equity they associate with the brand. FOO is related to the importance consumers attribute to human dimension of a company. Brand equity (BE) is conceptualised as a three-dimensional construct including brand awareness/associations, perceived quality and brand loyalty. In order to investigate the relationship between brand equity and FOO, a FOO scale was developed and validated. Then, a survey was undertaken using a convenience sample. The questionnaire used to collect data included two categories of brands: convenience and luxury brands. The relationship between BE and FOO was examined using multivariate analysis of variance. In addition, the impact of FOO has been investigated on consumers’ intention to purchase the brand products. Results indicate that brand equity varies with the importance associated with FOO. This is true for both luxury and convenience brands, and FOO affects each driver of BE, namely brand awareness/associations, perceived quality and brand loyalty. The principal contribution of this study is that it demonstrates empirically a positive relationship between the human dimension of the firm (FOO) and brand equity. The people considered are those placed at every level in the organisation: entrepreneurial, managerial and operational.

PurposeIn the current era of fake news, illusions, manipulations and other artificial attributes of virtuality and reality, authenticity is a virtue that people highly appreciate. This study aims to examine the influence of the personal brand authenticity of top football players on loyalty to the football discipline in general, via the mediation of personal brand identification.Design/methodology/approachBased on data collected from a convenience sample of 562 respondents from Poland via an electronic survey and analyzed using the structural equation modeling method, this study explored, first, the influence of top football players’ personal brand authenticity on consumers’ identification with these football players, and second, how this identification may lead to enhancing loyalty to the football discipline. Finally, it verified how the loyalty effect (attitudinal and behavioral) varies across different categories of spectators.FindingsPersonal brand identification with authentic football stars is a focal factor enabling the creation of loyalty (attitudinal and behavioral) to the whole discipline. Consumers’ perceptions of the authenticity of the personal brands of football players play a role in increasing identification with these personal brands. This identification is essential in achieving loyalty to football as a sports discipline via football celebrities.Practical implicationsFootball players perceived as authentic are evaluated more positively, leading to consumer identification with these players, which, in turn, increases consumers’ loyalty to football. Thus, the presence of authentic, skilled players is important for football, but the actual loyalty effect from authenticity can be achieved only by identification. Therefore, football requires exceptional, strong stars who reflect a set of desired personal values. Further research is needed to identify the desired set of values that leads to identification with football stars.Originality/valueThis study presents evidence that the personal brand authenticity of a football star is a driver of loyalty towards football discipline in general if the spectators’ identification with this superstar occurs. Moreover, this study proves that loyalty to football driven by the personal brand authenticity of football stars differs between spectators’ categories.

In a fair-trade system, intermediate organizations act as a bridge between highly different contexts. Several studies have shown the role of these organization, but the literature has still not dealt with their specific role from a strategic perspective. Adopting ambidexterity theory, the aim of this research is to investigate: (a) whether the intermediate organization is ambidextrous, simultaneously pursuing exploration and exploitation activities and sustainability and profitability related goals; (b) the modalities in which explorative and exploitative competences are transferred within the fair-trade system. The study adopts a qualitative approach based on the analysis of seven organizations belonging to the fair-trade system. Results show that the intermediate organization engages in ambidexterity within the system, but the balance between exploration and exploitation inside the intermediate organization is still to be achieved. The research, as first time, applies ambidexterity theory to the fair-trade system. In addition, direct managerial implications can be derived.

From a marketing perspective, companies use social media as a tool to establish relationships with customers. Thus, brand–customer relationships via social media are able to deliver different kinds...

Purpose of the paper : The paper aims to present two experimental projects (“#Divano per Managua” and “#Sofa4Manhattan”) conducted by an Italian small-medium enterprise of the furniture industry in order to outline crowdcrafting as a new manufacturing model. Methodology : An inductive research approach is followed. Our research strategy is a case study that works as an illustration and inspiration for new ideas. Findings : Berto Salotti projects fully embodied Knowledge Economy principles are meaningful examples of Experience Economy and act as a good application of crowdsourcing logic as well. They do represent an empirical illustration of the “future craftmanship” approach. Research limitations : The paper deals with one single case study, hardly generalizable, even if it is highly representative; the initiative is still in its starting phase and its results are hardly assessable. Practical implications : Companies aspiring to apply crowdcrafting could improve their customers’ service by looking for new ways of interaction with them. Opening up themselves to social networks, finding competencies from the outside and providing customization and product quality together with unusual experiences are some suggestions. Originality of the paper : Our work makes both scholars and practitioners aware of an Italian SME innovative in introducing crowdcrafting in its processes; at the same time, it highlights the feature of such an approach both theoretically and practically.

Nonprofit arts organizations attracting an international audience should strive to understand how perceptions and intentional behaviors might differ between attendees from different countries. This study investigates the effects of performance quality and customer education (i.e., number of performances attended and self-perceived expertise) on attitudinal loyalty to an opera festival from a cross-country perspective. In addition, it explores the moderating effect of self-perceived expertise on the relationship between performance quality and attitudinal loyalty. Based on a survey of Italian, German, and British attendees ( N = 7,252), the findings reveal that performance quality predicts attitudinal loyalty for all subsamples. The number of performances attended has a significant, but negative, effect on attitudinal loyalty for Italian respondents, while self-perceived expertise has a significant positive effect on attitudinal loyalty for Italian and British respondents, as well as a significant moderating effect for all subsamples. Implications for nonprofit arts managers are discussed.

Purpose: This paper aims to verify how interesting and useful practitioners find academic management research by asking entrepreneurs and managers what they think of some articles published in leading journals that have been selected on the basis of precise criteria as representative of management research. Methodology: This pilot investigation was conducted in April and May 2015. In accordance with the study design, a convenience sample of 43 entrepreneurs and managers were mailed four articles published in leading management journals in 2014, accompanied by a simple questionnaire consisting of closed-answer questions. Although strictly lacking statistical validity, the 23 completed questionnaires received in return not only provide the first feedback concerning the subject of the study, but also offer some fundamental indications concerning the approach of the project as a whole that will help to refine the orientation of its next phase. Findings: An analysis of the literature shows that the very concept of relevance is difficult to measure as its defining traits have a certain level of ambiguity and the meaning attributable to them is rather complex. This paper highlights how management research should focus on subjects that are of real interest to practitioners, satisfy the need for rigour required by the positive sciences, and be capable of producing knowledge that has a strong impact on the professional communities. Practical implications: The ongoing debate cannot remain confined to academic circles, but needs to involve practitioners with whom to establish a synergistic dialogue. They should ask management researchers to study problems that are relevant and interesting to them, and observe the more complex and dynamic situations that firms have to face. Originality and value: In literature it has emerged the importance of clarifying whether and in what ways the results of university scientific research are used in practice. This paper proposes and testes a rigorously systematic framework in order to enable us to investigate the way in which managers perceive management research with the aim of increasing the relevance of academic research strategies and the editorial policies of management journals.

Purpose – The intent of this paper is to discover whether practical examples of new forms of business enterprise are to be found in the real world and what the peculiarities of any such experiments are.Design/methodology/approach – The research conducted is of an eminently explorative nature. The research operations are fundamentally based on direct observation and use is also made of secondary sources – especially publications and the contributions of independent web‐based agencies.Findings – The number of companies that the research conducted made it possible to identify is not actually very high. Indeed, at present the list counts nine such firms. What should be underlined is that these are not enterprises that have decided to adopt a corporate social responsibility or corporate citizenship approach while still leaving their basic nature substantively unchanged. They are, rather, firms that can be termed “anomalous”, given that, in one way or another, they operate outside the conventional rules on the ...

Purpose of the paper : The aim of this study is to propose a theoretically grounded conceptual framework focusing on the effects of customer education process in terms of customer perceived value. In doing so, it especially highlights the role of customer evaluation skills. Methodology : This is a conceptual paper whose analytical approach draws heavily on theoretical evidence published in service marketing and management literature. Using this analysis, nine research propositions are developed to highlight the relationships between customer education, evaluation skills and perceived value. Findings : Customer education is a under-researched concept in the service marketing and management literature. It is a process aimed at informing and training customers in order to increase their knowledge levels (basic, general, and deep). It affects customer perceived value in terms of benefits (skill of information evaluation, satisfaction and appreciation, perceived risk, purchasing power, and protection of rights and interests), and outlays (economic commitment, product complexity, information accessibility, time employed, cognitive and behavioral effort, and resulting stress). Customer evaluation skills mediate this relationship by allowing customers to perceive value in the function of the different knowledge levels acquired. Practical implications : Providing customers with a number of information and cognitive tools for evaluating products reduces information asymmetries between a company and its customers. Therefore, at least in principle, this can reduce the power of the company. Managers should consider this risk by both creating knowledge about service alternatives and evaluating what information can be offered to customers for increasing their knowledge levels. Managers should favour the development of initiatives aimed at strengthening customers education because it allow companies to obtain a number of advantages. Originality of the paper : The study contributes to enriching the analyses the post-purchase evaluation phase by proposing a conceptual framework primarily considering cognitive dimension of customer education.

The Cluetrain Manifesto is a document, published in 1999, on the World Wide Web which, on the basis of the opportunities offered by the Net, introduces some rather innovative ideas on company communication whose effects involve company management as well as, in a broader sense, the way the company is conceived. Being considered a contribution deserving some interest, in this paper a critical analysis of the Cluetrain Manifesto's contents is carried out in order to highlight the positive aspects as well as those that seem to be less convincing. In the final evaluation, a thesis is exposed according to which the Cluetrain Manifesto belongs to that heterogeneous group of studies which, from different points of view, are presently challenging the role of marketing as a company function, the legitimacy--or at least the reputation--of the management as a professional activity and, last but not least, the position of the company as an institution of our society.

Purpose : This paper analyses the Last Minute Market (LMM) experience, an innovative service born in Italy as an academic spin-off in order to reduce the food waste problem at the local community level. Its main purpose is to discuss how distribution can work towards greater efficiency and to lower the costs associated with assortment management from the standpoint of sustainable local growth and solidarity. Methodology : The study is based on an inductive type of approach according to which, proposing LMM as a single case study, one may try to draw more general considerations. Findings : The paper highlights LMM as a completely new service model, that focuses on how to get the best out of waste rather than merely eliminating it. Through this new perspective, assortment management knowledge is enriched. As far as we know, LMM is the first meta-organization specially developed to connect both profit and no profit realms. LMM provides services aiming at the daily recovery at a local level of excess food and non-food in favor of agencies and associations that assist needy people. LMM may essentially be defined as a “gift broker”: it creates the necessary infrastructural conditions to make the transformation of waste into resources possible. Managerial and theoretical implications : The reasons for the LMM model’s success, the effects of its presence and the conditions for its diffusion are examined as managerial implications. On a theoretical level, LMM contributes to unveil some of the traits of the company of the future. Originality of the study : This paper focuses on a new Italian experience that has not yet been examined in the international service management literature. Key words: Last Minute Market, stakeholder, service management, assortment management, sustainability, gift economy, local government