Marketing organically produced food products in Greece: Challenges and opportunities

The purpose of this paper is to explore the demand and supply characteristics of organically produced food products in Greece. Two large-scale surveys were conducted. The purpose of the first survey was to investigate consumers' awareness and intention to purchase organic products, consumers' perceptions and attitudes toward organic products, and reasons that hinder the purchase of organic products. The second survey was directed at the managers of chain-store supermarkets and its purpose was to examine their attitudes toward organic versus conventional products, and the challenges they are facing in marketing organic products. The paper concludes with the managerial implications of our findings

Convergence in the high-technology consumer markets: Not all brands gain equally from adding new functionalities to products

Convergence, New products, Brand quality, Consumption goals, Functionalities,

Context effects in the evaluation of business-to-business brand alliances

Brand alliances in the business-to-business domain are becoming increasingly popular. This study investigates the impact of context-related effects on the formation of evaluation perceptions in B2B brand alliances. Assimilation and contrast effects represent the conceptual framework. Employing an experimental design we test the influence of two contextual factors on a range of product attributes: quality perceptions of the known brand ally (valence), and amount of information provided for the brand alliance. Using data collected from a cross section sample of large B2B UK companies we report assimilation effects across different product attributes of the alliance. Positive valence of the known brand ally results in higher evaluations of the brand alliance. In terms of provision of information, we find that, (a) unlike consumer markets, in the B2B domain higher evaluations are the result of detailed information, and (b) the impact of detailed information is significant only for tangible product attributes. Further, we find that valence of the known brand ally and amount of information provided are independent factors. The results add significantly to the knowledge on context effects in B2B brand alliances and lead to a number of managerial recommendations on partner selection and marketing communication of new brand alliances

Assessing multifunctional innovation adoption via an integrative model

This study proposes and tests an integrative model that incorporates the mental resources framework (MOA: motivation, opportunity, and ability) alongside traditional innovation adoption predictors for assessing the adoption of dual-functionality innovations (DFI), a special case of multifunctional innovations (MFI). The multifunctional nature of an increasing number of new products demands the use of mental resources in evaluating new offers, as the comprehension of MFIs is more demanding (i.e., requires more mental resources) than singlefunctionality (SF) products. The proposed model also recognizes the role of MFI categorization as a critical link in the process, because an MFI, and within the context of our study a DFI, helps consumers achieve multiple goals if they realize its dual functionality. Our model demonstrates that mental resources play a significant role in consumers’ adoption decisions and should be included in studies of MFI adoption. Further, our integrative model offers a significant improvement over rival alternatives that use only traditional innovation adoption predictors. Thus, the model offers a new approach for estimating MFI adoption with a superior predictive power and facilitates the development of appropriate marketing strategies for such products.Product Innovation ManagementIndustrial Design Engineerin