Chester K.M. To

Potential niche markets for luxury fashion goods in China

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate market segmentation of affluent Chinese consumers and develop profiles of identified segments for potential target markets for luxury fashion goods.Design/methodology/approach – The data are from the 2006 edition of an annual survey called the “Chinas New Rich Study”. The respondents form a representative sample of affluent consumers, 18 to 45 years old, residing in Chinas 12 largest cities. A psychographic segmentation approach is employed to classify these consumers.Findings – Five distinct market segments of affluent Chinese consumers are identified and profiled. Of these segments, three seem the most promising target markets for luxury fashion goods.Practical implications – When companies understand the similarities and differences between consumer segments as well as the unique characteristics of segments, they have a meaningful basis for selecting receptive target markets and formulating and implementing effective marketing strategies. The find...

RFID systems implementation: a comprehensive framework and a case study

A growing number of organisations around the world are considering the implementation of radio frequency identification (RFID) systems to improve their business and operations processes. In this study, a multi-stage implementation framework is developed and evaluated through a case study. The framework provides practitioners with a better understanding of the various stages of the RFID implementation process, including guidelines and issues with RFID systems implementation that need to be considered. We illustrate the viability of this implementation framework through a case study analysis of a textile dyeing and printing mill in China. We hope that the proposed framework will provide practitioners with a holistic perspective of implementing RFID systems.

Measuring perceived service quality of fashion stores: a test‐retest reliability investigation

Using a test‐retest methodology, an established measurement scale for consumer‐perceived service quality in fashion retailing was further evaluated in terms of reliability. Results indicate that the scale possesses, relative to another popular nonindustry‐specific scale, high internal consistency reliability. However, in terms of temporal reliability, the scale is relatively inferior. Suggestions are also made for further study, as to why the scale is unstable.

Service‐enhanced manufacturing: a study of perceived service quality of apparel manufacturers

Within the last decade of the twentieth century, the apparel industry in Hong Kong has been undergoing drastic changes. These changes mainly stem from the challenges of process globalization, which has led to manufacturers shifting a majority of production processes to countries that entail better cost‐competitive advantages, while retaining crucial planning and decision‐making services centrally. Industrialists, educators and even the Government have made a great deal of effort to enhance the provision of high quality service in an attempt to transform the industry strategically into a centre of service excellence in the South‐East Asian region. However, without accredited standard and reference points, the measuring and monitoring of quality in manufacture‐related service is very vague and perplexing. In this paper, the authors first review the extant literature for measuring perceived quality in service provision and then explore the respective implementation issues. A Servqual scale in three‐column format, adapted from the service quality measurement scale proposed by Parasuraman (1995), is used to survey the opinion of international buying offices and to assess the Hong Kong apparel manufacturers’service performance. Two expectation‐discrepancy standards in Service Adequacy and Service Superiority are constructed to measure the service deficiency (gaps). As a result the authors learnt that there are empirical differences between what is perceived in the existing manufacturer’s service performance and what the buyer side really desires. The paper concludes with a discussion of the Servqual modelling operational implications and future research directions.

Is Total Trust Possible

Abstract Customers are passionately loyal about doing business with sellers who can always be trusted to act in their best interest over time. This research tries to identify how to develop a total trust relationship. The core antecedents behind this total-trust relationship are reciprocal responsiveness, shared understanding, personal disclosure, customization and cooperative concern. We examine how these antecedents affect satisfaction and trust en route to affecting loyalty. Based on data from insurance services, we empirically test and substantiate the roles of these antecedents in building loyalty. A total-trust framework incorporating services effectiveness and functional efficiency is proposed. Managerial implications and directions for future research are also given.

Putting Assumed Emotion in Fashion Brand Literacy: Understanding Brand-Identity Relationship in the Interdependent Asian Context

Abstract Over the past decade, consumer researchers have been interested in understanding symbolic relationship between consumers and brands, especially on identity construction (Elliott & Wattanasuwan, 1998; Escalas & Bettman, 2005; Kirmani, 2009) and its implications on brand management (Arvidsson, 2005; Holt, 2002; 2004). Following a cultural-psychological view to study how culture shapes brand-identity relationship, Eckhardt (2000) addresses that little attention have been paid to understand consumer behavior within interdependent cultures when compare with the prolific account of western literatures that reported the consumption behavior with an independent self-construal. This paper strives to address this absence through researching how a group of Chinese youngsters internalize their cultural values with a sense of assumed emotion and developed local specific brand literacy towards fashion brands’ perception and consumption. Following Bengtsson and Firat (2006)’s concept of brand literacy, this interpretative research aims to extend our current understanding of symbolic brand consumption and brand-identity relationship in particular to the interdependent Asian context. The literature review discusses previous studies on brand symbolism in formulating brand-identity relationship and how social psychological understanding of interdependent construal of self can be applied to consumer researches. The cultural characteristics of Chinese consumers are also discussed with reference to previous indigenous consumer researches on symbolic brand consumption. As part of a greater project on fashion and brand consumption experience among young Chinese in Guangzhou, 18 Chinese volunteers aged around 20 are recruited from local universities and colleges and become the main research informants. The fieldwork is conducted in Guangzhou. In-depth interviews and participant observations are the main data collection method. Triangulation analysis technique has been adopted to review and cross-check data collected. Our findings and discussions demonstrate different dimensions of assumed emotion (Hu, 1949) among the Chinese youngsters in structuring their brand literacy. We discuss how cultural concern towards their social identities, including as students, sons/daughters, friends, and changing identities expected in the future, may significantly impact the youngsters’ fashion and brand value, perception and consumption. Through symbolic consumption, the Chinese youngsters depict a sense of culturally specific fashion and brand knowledge as demonstrated in their fashion choice, taste and consumption, in a way that is culturally appropriate in fitting themselves in a complex social network. Guided by this sense of assumed emotion, Chinese youngsters adopt the signs and meanings embedded in brand names and its associated symbols to engage in the different social situations within their cultural setting. This has resulted in a different construct of brand literacy within the interdependent cultural context. An emergent theme is also found as there is a major difference in fashion brands perceptions and choices between the urbanities (i.e. Guangzhou localities) and peripheries (i.e. outsiders) because of a cultural difference in constructing their cosmopolitan identities (Thompson & Tambyah, 1999). To conclude, this study has contributed to our understanding of brand-identity relationship in the interdependent Asian context. Consumers in the eastern cultures tend to be subjected to integrate a larger socio-cultural context than maintaining individualistic pleasures as in western cultures. A greater concern of understanding the assumed emotion and how consumers asserted their social identities with symbolic fashion and brand consumption would be a key to understand the consumption cultures with interdependent self-construal.

The Turkish handmade carpet industry: an analysis in comparison with select Asian countries

The main purpose of this paper is to analyze the Turkish handmade carpet industry and to compare it with select Far East countries. In particular, the Turkish handmade carpet industry is compared with the handmade carpet industries of Iran, India, China, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Nepal. In this context, the determinants of handmade carpets in the US market are analyzed empirically. Our results show that the Turkish handmade carpet industry has been experiencing a period of recession in the past decade. Through the relative comparative advantage (RCA) index and the Kreinin–Finger similarity (KFS) index, we observed that the RCA index for Turkey indicates that Turkey’s RCA has been declining since 1992. However, despite this decline, the RCA of Turkey was above that of other countries until 1997. But after this, the advantage disappeared eventually and was gained by Iran. During this period, the other competitors of Turkey showed small increases. Furthermore, the empirical results from the gravity model suggests that a 10% real depreciation/appreciation of the US dollar against foreign currency leads to a 0.2% decrease/increase in imports. This finding suggests relatively low exchange rate import pass‐through in carpet commodity. The results also support the Linder hypothesis that countries with similar preferences and demand structures will tend to trade more.

Import demand response of MFA apparel/nonapparel fibers and cottons in the United States: a case study of China and Hong Kong

This paper documents the export performance of multifiber agreement fibers mainly of cottons exported from Mainland China and Hong Kong to the United States during 1989–2005. The authors used the cointegration and error correction approach to investigate whether long-running relationships among variables exist. The empirical results suggest that a unique long-run relationship exists among import price and quantity, real income per capita, and trade liberalization. The short-run dynamics of export demand functions were estimated using an error correction model in which the error correction term was found correctly signed. The empirical results provide insights into private and government agencies that are actively engaged in the business.

A quad model for assessing innovation potential : toward a theory of innovation orchestration quality

Abstract The study draws on the prevalent theories for orchestrating cross-organizational innovation and new knowledge development processes, and proposes a new, epistemic perspective for contextualizing innovation with two management dimensions, namely, innovation complexity and innovation orchestration preconditions. Innovation complexity concerns the indeterminacy or contingency of new knowledge, or new competence, to be pursued during the course of organizational innovation. Innovation orchestration preconditions refer to the contextual innovation prerequisites that should be well meshed with one another to provide a sufficiency for innovation success. The preconditions include innovation units’ structures and connectivity, behavior, and convenorship. The two dimensions describe a context map-an antithetic quad model-to imply four innovation orchestration qualities, namely, coherence, cohesiveness, congruence, and concordance. Based on the quad model, the study sets forth a measurement of the four qualities, which can assess innovation potential. To corroborate the quad model and the corresponding quality measurements, the study discursively observes a cross-sectoral innovation project. The observation results evidence the multi-finality of the four qualities for innovation success. The results reveal that it is necessary for these four qualities to be managed temporally and dynamically at different stages of innovation, and reject a fallacy that any one of these qualities is more necessary than the others. The study posits that if innovation units can be convened in accordance with the four qualities, the likelihood of innovation success will be sufficiently increased. The study finally discusses theoretical and practical implications of orchestration and convenorship.

Behavioral determinants that drive luxury goods consumption : a study within the tourist context

Chinese tourists have become the greatest driving force behind global tourism. An increasing number of luxury fashion brands regard these tourists as a potentially significant segment of status-conscious consumers. Yet a limited number of marketing studies have addressed the significance of the intrinsic motivation that drives these tourist consumers to consume luxury goods. This study investigates the significant intrinsic factors that affect the luxury goods buying behavior of tourist consumers. Data are collected from 284 tourist consumers and analyzed by using the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and cluster analysis. The EFA purified the measurement instruments to four factor attributes, namely, self-satisfaction, possession obsessiveness, status consciousness and personal differentness. The cluster analysis identified three groups of tourist consumers with distinctive behavioral segmentation criteria: ‘shopping hedonists’, ‘ego-defended achievers’ and ‘conspicuous fashionistas’. These findings provide managerial implications for building sustainable luxury businesses and competitive strategies tailored for tourist consumers.