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The article presents the highlights of the "Customer Analytics and Insights in Retail Financial Services" conference organized by FC Business Intelligence in Great Britain in late February 2015, including such topics as customer analytics, marketing campaign improvements, and customer lifetime value.

The article discusses the methodologies for assessing nuclear energy technologies. It states that re-entry of the Great Britain into nuclear field after a two decade gap has a potential first tranche of reactor build selected by market drivers, rather than any overall technological strategy in Great Britain. Information on suitability of a reactor system is also offered.

Purpose:As part of service infusion, manufacturers use services to differentiate their products and provide growth. Although several attempts have been made to classify manufacturers' service strategies and offerings, most have been based on small purposive samples. The purpose of this article is to create a generic typology of manufacturers' service strategies. Methodology/approach:The unit of analysis was the manufacturer or strategic business unit. The data collection was based on a survey of 145 B2B manufacturers in the United Kingdom. Findings:Three categories of service offerings were identified: product-attached services, operations services on own products, and vendor independent operations services. These categories are used to specify three generic service strategies: Services Doubters, for whom services are not a strong differentiator with no focus on any category of service offerings; Services Pragmatists, for whom product-attached services are a key differentiator; Services Enthusiasts, for whom services are both a product differentiator and an enabler of growth, with all three categories of service offerings important. Research implications:Whereas prior studies tend to use the concepts of service strategies and categories of service offerings interchangeably, we find empirical support for the importance of making a clear distinction between the two concepts. Practical implications:Manufacturers can be classified according to their services strategies. For Services Doubters service infusion is unlikely to be an appropriate approach to creating differentiation. For Services Pragmatists services play a crucial role in creating product differentiation. Services Enthusiasts use services to both differentiate their own products and also develop services-led growth. Originality/value/contribution:The paper exposes an ambiguity in the extant literature, with a manufacturer's categories of service offerings used as proxies for service strategies. A new typology of service strategies is presented based on categories of service offerings, which provides insight into how manufacturers infuse services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose:This article is to test the proposition that the 3 conceptually related constructs of trust, reliance, and dependence are distinct from each other and to test the proposition that the quality of business relationships can be measured with a formative index incorporating trust and reliance. Methodology/Approach:The authors' propositions are tested with a survey sample of 221 firms in the U.K. construction industry. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses are used to analyze the survey data. Findings:The independence of the 3 focal constructs of trust, reliance, and dependence is confirmed. The formative index is found suitable for evaluating the level of relationship quality in which reliance carries more significant weight than trust. Research Implications:The separation of the overall construct of “trust” into trust at interpersonal level and reliance at interorganizational level, as found in this study, overcomes the problem existing in past studies that researchers rarely specify at which level trust operates. The clear conceptual distinction between reliance and dependence as found in this study implies that although both operate at the organizational level, they do not have overlapping boundaries. The finding that reliance is a more important impact factor than trust in constructing the formative index supports the notions that reliance is a necessary and sufficient condition for developing sustainable business relationships, and trust is an insufficient condition to sustain an ongoing business relationship. Practical Implications:Reliance sets the keynote of the business relationship. In contrast, trust as the interpersonal variable only acts as the facilitator to create a favorable social environment. Nevertheless, both trust and reliance have a significant and positive weight in the relationship quality index formed. This means that a business relationship with high levels of both trust and reliance is particularly resilient and stable and is the most successful and desirable one which is frequently oriented toward the long run. Originality/Value/Contribution:The confirmation of the difference between trust and reliance makes an important contribution to the study of trust in business to business marketing by showing that what has traditionally been treated as theoverall construct of trust can and should be regarded as being made up of two separate constructs: interpersonal trust and interorganizational reliance. The difference between reliance and dependence as an additional finding makes another important contribution by providing conceptual clarity of the two constructs and confirming that there is no overlapping boundary between them. The formative index and the relative importance of its components are another important contribution of this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The redistribution of resources in global stock markets is prevalent: the capital is transferred from one investor to another. Sometimes, earning a substantial return in the stock market seems complicated to implement for an individual investor. Investing contributes to the welfare of society and the wealth of citizens. This is why people should look for efficient ways to invest. Investment should become a natural part of personal finance management in the majority of households. For this reason, an investment model is developed where stocks are selected based only on market intelligence using historical data. The model helps find one or several stocks that generate the highest return on a separate step. Applying this model, experiments were performed with daily data from German, US, and UK stock markets. The possibility of obtaining higher than average returns in these markets has been noticed. In the German market, during the 97-day period, the authors obtained a 1.46 return, which implies a 2.31 annual return: in the USA market, a 2.37 return (7.93 annual return), and in the UK market, a 1.90 return (4.09 annual return). Thus, the proposed investment decision-making system could be an efficient tool for forming a sustainable individual or household portfolio. It can generate higher investment returns for an investor and, moreover, make the market more efficient by applying market intelligence and related historical data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Much controversy surrounds genetic modification (GM), especially in Australasia, Britain and Europe. In spite of this controversy, there is little research linking GM with relevant anti-consumption topics. This article addresses the gap by using a brand avoidance framework to help understand consumers’ negative attitudes towards GM. Although brand avoidance research typically focuses on the avoidance of specific brands, this article uses the same framework in a different context and analyses the significant role that a negative association, such as GM, plays in anti-consumption. The findings indicate three reasons motivating avoidance of GM: concerns regarding safety, symbolic incongruity, and issues of morality, all of which map onto an existing brand avoidance framework. More importantly, this research concludes that in controversial industries such as GM, where consumers are more likely to be predisposed towards avoidance, a lack of brand awareness, or ‘brandlessness’, may be of short term benefit to companies, but is, nonetheless, a risky strategy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In this study, we investigate the process of the European car market integration by analysing the evolution of cross-country differences in the degree of pricing-to-market behaviour of United Kingdom exporters. We estimate these country differences by exploiting statistical information for pre-tax retail prices and for export unit values. Conclusions from both independent data sets are, in general, quite consistent. Results support the claim that, in the period before the Block Exemption Regulation (1400/2002) came fully into force, international price discrimination was an important source of car price dispersion within the euro area. For a more recent period, we found that estimated deviations in pricing-to-market behaviour across destinations have become lower. This convergence suggests that car market integration was progressively improved at the end of the last decade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current approaches to measuring the contribution of individual media channels to integrated marketing campaigns within an online environment are typically based on a 'last-in wins' methodology. Under this methodology, the final media channel that precipitated a response is considered the sole or chief contributor to that response. Although this approach has historically been used to avoid double- and triple-counting responses, it relegates the contribution of those media channels that are not attributed with the response but which assisted in the final, elicited response. The current study seeks to extend the findings of Naik and Raman and Schultz et al by proposing an alternative technique for attributing the true contributions of individual media strands to the synergistic effect observed within integrated marketing campaigns. This technique is applied in an online environment using a number of UK insurance company case studies. It reveals significant differences in the established, prevalent media measurement technique with that of the proposed technique. The results have implications for media planning and offer a more sophisticated model-based approach that quantitatively incorporates media synergy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents successful online marketing strategies, more specific "Pay Per Click" publicity and social marketing strategies. Both practices target a well-defined market segment and can be used to increase exposure, generate traffic and in the end generate conversions. While "Pay Per Click" means buying every action (visit/Like etc.), social marketing is looking to establish one to one interactions and to provide value to customers. These two online marketing practices were analyzed both in regards with their theoretical aspects and in regards with the way in which they are applied by companies. The examples used in this analysis are from Romania and from the United Kingdom [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social enterprise is a hybrid form of profit- and social benefit–seeking organization whereby traditional nonprofit organizations pursue both their social mission and business opportunities. To embrace this new strategic direction shift, the nonprofit organizations need to develop new competences that will enable them to respond to the changes in the business model. The article investigates the learning mechanisms through which social enterprises develop a marketing capability to deploy their resources in the marketplace as the drivers of competitive advantage in their commercial practice. We study eight cases of U.K.-based charity retailers to address the role of knowledge accumulation, articulation, and codification process in the evolution of marketing capability development. We identify, among other things, that the critical process of organizational learning for social enterprise is to transfer the experience into organization-specific knowledge under the social aspects of constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Crave It! conjoint research studies on dairy products (cheese, ice cream, yogurt) were conducted in 2004 in France, Germany, and the UK. Milk, chocolate milk, soy, and other milk substitutes were studied in other years and other locations. In each study, consumers were provided with 36 elements (different types of communication/information), combined into short concepts, presented over the Internet. Here we report on yogurt research conducted in France, Germany, and UK. Consumers rated each test concept. Individual respondent models of the part-worth contribution of each concept element to interest were created. Segmentation showed two groups of consumers, present in about 2:1 ratios in all three countries: taste/fruit seekers and health/wellness seekers, with a slightly higher proportion of health seekers present in Germany. Slight differences in geodemographics, attitude profiles, and self-reported body state suggest that marketing efforts to reach the segments have to be fine-tuned to address product-specific issues, not lifestyle-specific issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - This paper aims to explore public perceptions on marketing-related issues of Islamic mortgages, which can help to identify the contents of the best marketing strategies for financial institutions wishing to promote Islamic mortgages among the Muslim community in the UK. In doing so, the access issues of the Islamic mortgages and how to effectively raise awareness among the Muslim community is discussed. The paper also aims to discuss the integration of the Islamic mortgage and to investigate the importance of staff confidence and the acceptability of promoting the Islamic mortgage by a non-Muslim sales person. Furthermore, the role of religion, the Muslim households' consumer preferences and the prospect of Islamic mortgage providers' cross-selling Islamic mortgage products to the Muslim customers are also discussed. Design/methodology/approach - The principal method used to gather primary data is a questionnaire survey conducted with Muslim households in East London. From a total of 350 questionnaires distributed, 270 were returned, of which 250 were fully completed, thereby yielding a response rate of about 77 per cent. Findings - The findings indicate that wider social factors and lifestyle choices may be increasing the demand for Islamic mortgages. The paper also argues that there is scope in the UK to expand the market for Islamic products and services to non-Muslims as well if effective and sound marketing strategies are implemented. Research limitations/implications - The sample size can be extended to have more reliable results. In addition, future research should consider other geographical locations in the UK to provide diversity in terms of participants. Practical implications - The findings of the research can provide valuable information for the Islamic mortgage market in the UK but also render information for Islamic finance service providers in shaping their marketing strategy in relation to Islamic mortgages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – Previous studies on corporate identity (CI) suggest that different beholders view CI from different angles. For example, senior managers' angle can be different from those of employees or customers. The present study aims to explore the dimensions of managerial perceptions of CI. Design/methodology/approach – A total of 48 semi-structured interviews were conducted with senior managers within three organisations in the British financial service sector. Findings – Seven principal categories of corporate identity anchors were identified: ownership, vision and mission, values and beliefs, business, personality attributes, external image, and strategic performance. Practical implications – The study suggests that CI anchors can be a starting point for CI program or corporate image management. Attention should be accorded to the diversity of the internal and managerial perceptions of CI and how such diversity can be translated into strong and persuasive messages to other stakeholders. Originality/value – The findings contribute to the literature by identifying potential corporate attributes that are relevant to CI. These findings expand the traditional view of the CI mix and represent a significant progress toward the identification and mapping of the construct of CI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author reflects on the marketing strategies of town centres to focus on retail competitiveness in Great Britain. He examines why the time has come for a new vision of the high street, and how demographic and economic changes are forcing a choice between innovation and obsolescence. He stresses that national planning policy has restricted the growth of out-of-town centres, but has been less successful at minimizing he move of retailing from compact stores to large sheds.

The primary aim of this article is to estimate the multiple determinants of film advertising expenditures in four important media, namely television, press, outdoor and radio, in the UK. First, television advertising, the leading film advertising medium, is examined as part of a system of equations, capturing the interdependences between advertising, the number of screens on which films are initially shown and box office revenues. Then a reduced form model is put forward to reveal the determinants of film advertising in the four media. While major distribution companies have different preferences for the use of the alternative advertising media, results highlight the importance of quality signals, such as critical reviews, in determining advertising expenditures in the film industry. Moreover, advertising expenditures can themselves be considered to offer potential cinema goers signals of film quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intention of this paper is to investigate whether market-related factors have a stronger influence on the strategic decision making of ventures in "liberal market economies" than on that of their counterparts in "coordinated economies." Thereby, I focus on a particularly important strategic decision that firms face-the commercialization choice. Using a unique survey data set on the commercialization of British and German biotechnology firms, I analyze the determinants of commercialization strategy, paying particular attention to national idiosyncrasies. Together, the findings indicate that the commercialization strategy follows distinct patterns in the British "liberal market economy" and the German "coordinated economy." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid growth and popularity of the microblogging service Twitter has been one of the most recent phenomena of the Internet, which opens up opportunities for businesses in general and publishers in particular to do marketing in a dialogue- and consumer-oriented way. This survey analysed UK trade publishers' use of Twitter with the specific objective of finding out what influence a publisher's size has on its Twitter adoption, patterns of use and the content of its Tweets. Overall, the results suggest that a publisher's size primarily affects its general Twitter use, while being less influential regarding its patterns of use and the tweeted content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers suggest that private label penetration is due to the degree of retailer power over suppliers and the level of retailers' concentration (Tarzijan, 2004). While true for some countries, this is not the case in Australia, where the retailer concentration is one of the highest in the world (two retailers hold 74 per cent of the grocery market) and private labels account for only 24 per cent of supermarket sales. The aim of this article is to investigate additional factors besides retailer concentration, such as retailer strategies towards their private labels that may explain this exception. A detailed examination of the marketing activity and diversity in pricing and branding strategies in two countries, Australia (low private labels penetration) and the United Kingdom (high private labels penetration) has been undertaken. This involved in-store observations, price comparisons and a literature review. The findings show that the marketing strategy of Australian retailers is very different from British retailers. Private labels are rarely promoted, and are positioned as cheaper alternatives to national brands. This highlights the other factors, such as retailer commitment and marketing activity that may distinguish between countries with different private label penetration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to investigate how product-centric businesses (PCBs), operating in a business-to-business environment, develop industrial services to align with their services strategies and sources of market differentiation. PCBs are companies whose businesses were historically based on the products, rather than the services, that they sold. Design/methodology/approach – This was a UK-based study that included interviews with 40 managers in 25 industrial companies for whom services are a market differentiator. Findings – The empirical results show that PCBs' industrial services are aligned with their services strategies and sources of market differentiation and can be categorised, i.e. "discrete services", closely linked to PCB-supplied products, either their own or those of other suppliers; "product lifecycle services", concerned with product-related activities throughout the lifecycle of a PCB's products; "output-based solutions", providing solutions to customers' operational issues. Modularity in design means that service categories are often backward compatible, meaning that PCBs supplying output-based solutions can also supply product lifecycle and discrete services. Research limitations/implications – The main limitation is the focus on the perspective of suppliers, with customers likely to impact which service offerings PCBs provide. Practical implications – PCBs should align industrial services with their resources that provide market differentiation, for example related to their products or relationships with other parties. Whilst it can be valuable to increase the range and depth of services provided to customers, creating modular offerings will ensure that customers are able to find an appropriate level of services engagement with their product suppliers. Originality/value – The study provides a new typology of PCB service categories that are related to services strategies and sources of market differentiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although branding is now widespread among UK universities, the application of branding principles in the higher education sector is comparatively recent and may be controversial for internal audiences who question its suitability and efficiency. This article seeks to investigate how and whether the effectiveness of branding activity in the higher education sector should be evaluated and measured, through exploratory interviews with those who often drive it: UK University marketing professionals. Conclusions suggest that university branding is inherently complex, and therefore application of commercial approaches may be over-simplistic. While marketing professionals discuss challenges, they do not necessarily have a consistent view of the objectives of branding activity although all were able to clearly articulate branding objectives for their university, including both qualitative and, to some extent, quantitative metrics. Some measures of the real value of branding activity are therefore suggested, but a key debate is perhaps whether the objectives and role of branding in higher education need to be clarified, and a more consistent view of appropriate metrics reached? Various challenges in implementing branding approaches are also highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses research which was conducted to develop a deeper understanding of the centrality of the own brand to fashion retailer brand strategy. Researchers conducted six in-depth interviews with large-scale fashion retailers from a sample of the 20 largest and most successful fashion retailers in the United Kingdom. They found that the interview participants identified the motivations, dimensions, success factors and problems associated with the creation, development and management of the own brand. The researchers found that while their research may be limited their study may provide information on key areas for future research development to be applied within the fashion retail sector or to be expanded within alternative retail sectors. They concluded that there has been little research conducted on the development of brand strategy within the fashion retailing sector.

Urban regeneration has been an integral focus of central government policy in the UK for more than three decades and has played a pivotal role in enhancing the competitiveness of the UK economy, repositioning cities and city regions as the mainstays of economic growth. Utilising IPD data, this study confirms the capacity of regeneration property to match or outperform the wider real estate market in terms of total return over the medium-long term. Significantly, optimal portfolio analysis demonstrates that urban regeneration property replaces mainstream real estate within a multi-asset portfolio based on the total returns performance of equities, bonds, mainstream property and regeneration property over the 28-year time series 1981-2008. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Tobacco displays at the point of sale (PoS) are an important means for the tobacco industry to communicate with consumers. With regulations prohibiting PoS displays recently having come into force in Ireland, passed into law in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and some Australian states, and being considered in New Zealand, Finland and Brazil, this is an increasingly important issue. This study explores the nature of displays, the extent to which they are tobacco industry funded, and the relation between the tobacco companies and retailers. METHODS: Three areas were chosen to gain a snapshot of PoS displays in England. Over 100 retailers were visited, with interviews taking place on site. Information was gathered on the type and size of tobacco display, who was paying for the display, requirements and incentives, and visits by industry representatives. RESULTS: The majority of retailers had gantries provided by tobacco companies. A minority of these were fitted with automated dispensers called retail vending machines. Attractive lighting and colour were often used to highlight particular products. Most retailers were being visited by industry representatives who checked displays. Some retailers also reported incentives offered to them for displaying products. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that the tobacco industry presence and control in the retail environment is significant. Tobacco companies overwhelmingly provided tobacco gantries in the shops surveyed and influenced displays through a combination of requirements and incentives. The extensive involvement of tobacco companies in providing and monitoring retail displays suggests the importance of implementing policies to end this form of advertising. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- The purpose of this empirical paper is to investigate internal marketing from a behavioural perspective. The impact of internal marketing behaviours, operationalised as an internal market orientation (IMO), on employees' marketing and other in-role behaviours (IRB) were examined. Design/methodology/approach -- Survey data measuring IMO, market orientation and a range of constructs relevant to the nomological network in which they are embedded were collected from the UK retail managers. These were tested to establish their psychometric properties and the conceptual model was analysed using structural equations modelling, employing a partial least squares methodology. Findings -- IMO has positive consequences for employees' market-oriented and other IRB. These, in turn, influence marketing success. Research limitations/implications -- The paper provides empirical support for the long-held assumption that internal and external marketing are related and that organisations should balance their external focus with some attention to employees. Future research could measure the attitudes and behaviours of managers, employees and customers directly and explore the relationships between them. Practical implications -- Firm must ensure that they do not put the needs of their employees second to those of managers and shareholders; managers must develop their listening skills and organisations must become more responsive to the needs of their employees. Originality/value -- The paper contributes to the scarce body of empirical support for the role of internal marketing in services organisations. For researchers, this paper legitimises the study of internal marketing as a route to external market success; for managers, the study provides quantifiable evidence that focusing on employees' wants and needs impacts their behaviours towards the market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Approximately 16% of UK couples are currently married abroad. However, academic or practitioner focused research that explores the complex nature of a couple's buying preferences or the development of innovative marketing strategies by businesses operating within the weddings abroad niche sector, is almost non-existent. This exploratory paper examines the role and relevance of marketing within the weddings abroad sector. The complex nature of customer needs in this high emotional and involvement experience, are identified and explored. A case study of Perfect Weddings Abroad Ltd highlights distinctive features and characteristics. Social networking and the use of home-workers, with a focus on reassurance and handholding are important tools used to develop relationships with customers. These tools and techniques help increase the tangibility of a weddings abroad package. Clusters of complementary services that are synergistic and provide sources of competitive advantage are identified and an agenda for future research is developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to discuss exploratory research into the perceptions of British Muslims towards Islamist ideological messaging to contribute to the general debate on "radicalisation". Design/methodology/approach - Four focus groups were undertaken with a mixture of Bangladeshi and Pakistani British Muslims who were shown a selection of Islamist propaganda media clips, garnered from the internet. Findings - The paper proposess that Islamist communications focus on eliciting change in emotional states, specifically inducing the paratelic-excitement mode, by focusing around a meta-narrative of Muslims as a unitary grouping self-defined as victim to Western aggression. It concludes that British Muslim respondents were unsympathetic to the Islamist ideological messaging contained in the sample of propaganda clips. Originality/value - The paper provides an insight into how British Muslims might respond to Islamist communications, indicating that, while most are not susceptible to inducement of paratelic-excitement, others are likely to be, dependent on which genre of clip is used, the messages contained therein, and who that clip is targeted at. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes national and regional processes, and the evidence base developed from a series of engagement and involvement events across the NHS, to develop an effective marketing campaign and a framework for regional strategies to recruit and retain nurses. The consultation and engagement process was also designed to ensure that the campaign would be supported by the workforce. It will be of interest to the independent and voluntary sectors and, while relating to English strategy and policy, it is pertinent to the whole of the UK and internationally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the importance of block buying and choice of issue methods for seasoned equity offerings in Great Britain. The author emphasized that the methods would give the businesspeople on how to manage efficient macro corporate governance for cost savings concern. It states that corporate environment is characterized by a unitary board structure whereby directors report to shareholders who are predominantly financial institutions. Moreover, pre-emptive rights of stockholders are considered to differentiate legal environment and financial development across the countries.

Technological change is a major factor in gaining competitive advantage in manufacturing industries. Promoting innovation, exploiting technological opportunities and avoiding threats are increasingly important. Firms need to recognise both current and potential future technological advances that can affect their products, services and processes. This paper presents a Technology Intelligence (TI) methodology and toolset, the main purpose of which is to enable companies to monitor and assess technological developments associated with their products, components, processes and other areas of concern. These technology management activities will assist the company in evaluating its environment while taking advantage of technological changes that represent opportunities or threats. The methodology is described in detail and demonstrated using a case study conducted in an aerospace manufacturing firm in the United Kingdom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports developments in online marketing which demonstrate the growing power of online communities in building brand reputations and customer relationship in Great Britain. It states that through the strategy, businesses created a sustained engagement with the consumers. It also cites how the evolution of online communities overcome the lack of human contact online in businesses to meet consumers' social activity needs. The article cites Cisco Systems Inc. as one of those companies who fostered customer communities and saved significant customer support cost through helping them technically via web communities.

Firms devote increasing funds and resources to cause-related marketing (CRM). This report seeks to uncover some of the factors that explain how firms choose between competing social causes in the development of their CRM strategy. The behavior of firms traded on the London Stock Exchange is analyzed, by highlighting regularities and patterns in CRMactivities. The rationales for the observed patterns are investigated through semistructured interviews with managers employed by UK-based nonprofit organizations, financial services, and retail firms. The authors identify, among other things, differences in the nature of the "selected" social causes, the length and geographical scope of the social campaigns, and the (CRM) strategies used to implement them. It is argued that these variations may reflect differences in the organizational legitimacy pressures experienced by firms in the retail and financial services sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that exporters' brands were an unsuccessful response to the problems of selling sherry in the British market caused by quality uncertainty. Sherry exporters' brands were unable to sustain their reputation and price advantage. The sale of sherry-type wines increased substantially after World War II to account for 50% of the British market, but exporters failed to take legal action against them. The inelastic supply of wines in Jerez in the short run, which caused difficulties in meeting the increasing demand for sherry, explains the sale of cheap sherries by exporters as well as their acquiescence of the use of the word 'sherry' by imitators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of branding is a neglected theme in business history. This article examines the emergence on a large scale of the unique product brand name - distinct from a company name or product descriptor - in the UK in the later nineteenth century. It looks at the interaction of branding strategies and UK trade mark law, which is shown to have accorded property rights in word-based marks only gradually and shaped the development of branding in the UK. Trademark application data from the 1870s to the 1920s is cited to illustrate the widespread take-up of the brand name in the UK from the 1880s, and to consider its use by different types of consumer goods firms. The article then analyses the effects of such branding into the twentieth century, including its contribution to competitive advantage, the introduction of brand architecture, and the problem of brand genericisation. It is argued that the adoption of the brand name marked a major shift in brands, from descriptions of origin to objects of artifice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Purpose - The purpose of this study is to explore empirically the relationship between the scope of the e-commerce strategies currently being deployed by the largest and most influential UK-based retailers, the drivers for their adoption, and perhaps most importantly the degree to which they are perceived to be successful. Design/methodology/approach - The objectives of this research were addressed by using a quantitative research strategy, based on a postal questionnaire survey of the UK's largest retailers. The research strategy produced a wealth of primary data, which were thoroughly analysed using a variety of multivariate, statistical techniques. Findings - The study's findings suggest that the scope of the retailers' e-commerce strategies is strongly associated with the strength of management support behind the strategy and its perceived strategic fit. By contrast, the perceived success of their strategies is most strongly associated with the degree to which the retailer has deployed a portfolio of appropriate resources and capabilities, in support of its online operations. Research limitations/implications - The major limitation associated with the study is with respect to the rather disappointing response rate of 10 per cent. However, this level of response is similar to many previous surveys in this domain, and it is probably not surprising, given the commercially sensitive nature of the data. Moreover, the extensive phone-based follow-up of non-respondents has provided an important reassurance that any resultant bias is likely to have only a modest effect on the results. Practical implications - The findings highlight that, despite their close relationship, the scope of an e-commerce strategy and its success are rather different entities, and therefore the factors that affect the scope of adoption cannot be relied on to deliver success. In particular, retailer managers must recognise that, while their support and commitment may well be the impetus necessary to deliver a wide-ranging strategy, its ultimate success may be dependent on their ability to deploy a suitable portfolio of resources and capabilities. Originality/value - The study makes a major contribution in a number of ways. It provides one of the first attempts to measure the relationship between the drivers, scope and perceived success of e-commerce strategies, and, in so doing, it delivers an objective comparison between those factors that affect the scope and the success of e-commerce strategies. Moreover, important new measures of e-commerce scope and success have been developed and deployed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]