Since Ted Levitt's seminal article on the globalisation of business, the case now seems closed. In all managerial and consulting circles, and in most business reviews, global brands are the only thing that count, and the process of global branding the only thing worth spending time on. Indeed, all multinational companies are now engaged in a fierce and drastic reduction of their brand portfolios, focusing exclusively on the brands able to be globalised. Recently, L Owen Jones, CEO of L'Oreal, explained the remarkable growth of the company by the concentration of its activity on 12 truly global brands. But is the argument so cut and dried? This paper reconsiders the arguments for globalisation in the light of local brand successes.

Is there really no hope for local brands

With the advent of technology and with growing occupancy of the people towards it, online shopping has become the need of the hour. With heavy discounts floating over the e-commerce websites, customers find that online shopping allows them to save both time and money. The e-commerce websites on the other hand seek to avail the early advantage of the frequently visited customers through the recommendation engines by using gamification techniques. This tends to make their products highly attractive with the least cost paid by them along with facilities of extra discounts given to debit/credit card holders. This article provides a coherent picture in the research that has taken place in the area of gamification by comprehensively reviewing 1073 research studies extracted from the SCOPUS database and mostly validates the findings on the effectiveness of gamification in the various fields. This article also peer reviews the various motivating factors that makes customers prefer gamified online shopping over market retailers. The review points out the effects of gamification in e commerce websites in gaining customer retention. The article would also suggest the future of research directions in the field of research of gamification and further research that can be explored in the field.

Gamification in E- Commerce: A Comprehensive Review of Literature

A large number of persons ("Excursionists") access the luxury product domain only in certain situations. In this paper, we argue that such behavior can be analyzed in terms of the functions played by the products. Each luxury product can fulfill a certain set of functions. Each situation calls for certain functions to be fulfilled. Therefore each luxury product is more appropriate in certain situations than in others. Four situations are designed on the basis of two dichotomies (social vs individual, planned vs impulse). Respondents indicate their behavior in these situations for three products (scarfs, perfumes, diamond rings). A correspondence analysis assesses the strength of the adequacy of each product to each situation.

The Functions of Luxury: A Situational Approach to Excursionism

The importance of value co-creation processes to firms' competitive strategy is widely recognized, both in practice and in academia. Therefore, it becomes essential to identify which variables drive consumers to collaborate with companies. A primary influence on this consumer decision relates to the search for greater satisfaction. This article proposes a theoretical model that relates the process of co-creating value with customer satisfaction. The proposed conceptual model also includes the user's motivation as a potential mediating variable in the process that transforms co-creation activities into consumer satisfaction.

The Influence of Value Co-Creation on Consumer Satisfaction: A Mediating Role of Consumer Motivation

PurposeDrawing on the combined theoretical perspectives offered by the sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) practices view and the resource-based view (RBV), this study aims to examine whether pursuit of environmental, social and economic sustainability measures of SSCM practices drive competitive advantage (CA) among fashion-apparel manufacturing organizations in an emerging economy. Furthermore, the study investigates whether the above relationships are mediated by productivity.Design/methodology/approachBased on a theoretically supported conceptual framework, a set of hypotheses are tested by applying partial least squares structural equation modeling on a sample of 345 export-oriented fashion-apparel manufacturing companies in Bangladesh. SmartPLS (v.3.2) is applied to analyze the path model through bootstrapping procedure.FindingsThe findings suggest that the direct relationship between social sustainability dimension of SSCM practices along and CA is positive and significant. While the direct relationships between environmental sustainability and CA, and economic sustainability and CA, were found to be non-significant. However, when productivity was applied as a mediator, all the paths were significant.Research limitations/implicationsThe study contributes to the strategic management literature by presenting a combined theoretical perspective proposing the idea that sustainable supply chain practices can influence both productivity and CA, where productivity is a pertinent mediator.Practical implicationsThe study presents evidence for ready-made garments manufacturers in emerging economies on how compliance with environmental, social and economic sustainability measures in the supply chain of apparel manufacturers leads to gains in CA for the firms. Additionally, the study shows that such measures must also have a net positive impact on productivity to be able to influence CA significantly.Originality/valueThis paper appears to be among the first study that presents a framework based on a combined view of SSCM practices and RBV to empirically investigate the role of productivity as a mediator in the relationships between the sustainability dimensions of SSCM practices and CA in apparel manufacturing.

Mediating effect of productivity between sustainable supply chain management practices and competitive advantage: evidence from apparel manufacturing in Bangladesh

This chapter looks at the concept of value, and how consumers perceive sustainability as increasing the value of fashion products. It then examines how companies create value along the value chain, and what type of structures they develop to achieve it. Finally, the fundamental role that local suppliers from African countries can play in this value creation through sustainable raw materials and processes is described.

Sustainability in Global Value-Chain Management: The Source of Competitive Advantage in the Fashion Sector

This chapter shows how women entrepreneurs in Africa generate significant benefits for their countries economically, socially and environmentally. They continue, however, to face significant cultural, social and legal barriers to the entrepreneurial process. The support of governments, institutions, and local and international companies will be vital to the development of entrepreneurial initiatives among women in the sustainable fashion sector and above all, to the consolidation over time of empowering business activities that provide equality for women.

Challenges and Opportunities for Women Entrepreneurs

The purpose of this chapter is to analyse luxury fashion brands’ interactions with consumers, especially on social media. In this sense, we firstly propose a hypothesis relative to how luxury fashion brands can use celebrities (in general, and particularly music and TV idols) and social media to influence on young consumer behaviour. Lately, we try to response this question through a case study based on one of the most South Korean luxury fashion brands. Using members of social media has been a constant in brand strategy. Especially when targeting the young audience. They big consumers and fans of music and audio-visual entertainment products, show a high level of loyalty. This leads them to copy the behaviour and consumption of the same products and brands of their idols. They are big users of social media and the Internet, where they express their feelings, experiences and opinions about their music idols as well as the brands and products they use. This being the case, technology offers empowerment to young people. This allows them not only access to more information but allows the possibility to create their own new content. Thus both roles are important regarding branding. We can use the example of how Korean luxury fashion brands and how they use young music idols to establish a strong emotional relationship with their consumers. They do this by increasing their participation and involvement with their brands in social networks. Strategies for Luxury Fashion Brands’ Targeting the Young Audience: How to Link Celebrity Endorsements and Brand Extensions with Social Media

Ana Isabel Jiménez-Zarco

Papers

Sustainability in Global Value-Chain Management: The Source of Competitive Advantage in the Fashion Sector

Challenges and Opportunities for Women Entrepreneurs

Strategies for Luxury Fashion Brands' Targeting the Young Audience: How to Link Celebrity Endorsements and Brand Extensions with Social Media

Online Distribution Channels for Global Luxury Brands: A Comparative between USA and China

Fair Trade and Innovation in the Shopping Channel: NGOs' Private Label Strategies as a Retailer of Fair Trade Products