One size does (obviously not) fit all: Using product attributes for wine market segmentation

The intense competition affecting the wine industry in recent decades has forced wineries and retailers to reshape their marketing strategies on the basis of consumer preferences. The current study aims to identify such preferences and the effects they might have in influencing consumer decisions. Preferences for different wine attributes as well as the psychographic traits of respondents were revealed through a web-based questionnaire administered to 504 wine consumers living in the wider metropolitan area of New York. Best-worst scaling (BWS) was used to detect consumer preferences for eleven wine attributes. Based on individual best-worst scores, a latent class segmentation analysis was implemented to classify consumers into four segments on the basis of psychographic characteristics such as involvement, subjective knowledge, innovativeness and loyalty proneness. The four segments identified (i.e. experientials, connoisseurs, risk minimizers and price-sensitive) differ significantly in terms of their preferences towards wine and psychographic characteristics, suggesting that a mass marketing approach is no longer suitable. Accordingly, managers need to adapt their marketing strategies to meet the preferences of different target groups. The results provide broad implications for marketers, wineries and retailers interested in successfully targeting consumers in a highly competitive market

Traceability: European consumers' perceptions regarding its definition, expectations and differences by product types and importance of label schemes

Given the heterogeneity of European consumers it is not unsurprising that they have different perceptions and expectations regarding (but also understanding thereof) 'traceability'. A large number of individuals may not even have a memory anchor for the concept. Consumers may also perceive traceability differently among different product types. The present study is based upon focus groups analysis of 12 countries across Europe. It presents an explanation of traceability's understanding by European consumers. It also presents consumer's expectations towards traceability and its differences according to different product types.Focus groups, Traceability, Cross-national, Perceptions, Food products, Labels, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

At the Cutting Edge Between Semiology And Phenomenology: The Bloody Performances of Orlan and Franko B

This paper sets out to explore the intricacies between trauma, performance and the body through an in-depth analysis of the various ‘performances’ and ‘rehearsals’ of the French performance artist Orlan and the Italian artist Franko B. Through the lens of psychoanalytical, semiological and socio-theoretical frameworks, and via recourse to trauma and performance studies, it attempts to trace the widespread and obsessive fascination with the tearing and ripping apart of skin. It also draws on Baudrillard's work on the postmodern, Derrida, and Judith Halberstam’s work on the Gothic, amongst others, to cement its arguments

Fractured Bodies and Social Wounds: The Simulation of Trauma in J.G. Ballard’s Crash

J.G. Ballard’s sci-fi novel Crash is a powerful – albeit highly controversial – depiction of man’s destiny in late industrial culture, “the destiny of [his] human body in a world of automotive disaster” and proliferating technology (Youngquist). It traumatically “crashes” the boundaries between bodies and machines, interior states of subjectivity and the external world, even the boundaries between fiction and reality, and depicts a ghastly marriage between sex and technology through the mediation of the metallic car-body – which, as Ballard points out in his “Introduction” to the French edition of the text, is portrayed in Crash “not only as a sexual image, but as a total metaphor for man’s life in today’s society” (Ballard 6)

Southeastern Mediterranean: The Case-Study of Geopolitics and Maritime Delimitation Issues

The 1982 United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea UNCLOS is the main document of international law which regulates the various issues concerning the establishment of an Exclusive Economic Zone and the delimitation of maritime zones in general The recent developments in the energy resources sector in Southeastern Mediterranean Sea are changing the geopolitical environment and creating a pressure need for high policy actions for all the littoral states thus for both the Cypriot and the Greek government The energy resources of the region should be exploited for the energy security of EU and Western Central Europe in order to diversify the producing sources Nevertheless for the smooth implementation of such a project the unsettled maritime delimitation issues of the region have to be effectually addressed instead of remaining a point of friction among the adjacent state

Renal artery stenosis-when to screen, what to stent?

Renal artery stensosis (RAS) continues to be a problem for clinicians, with no clear consensus on how to investigate and assess the clinical significance of stenotic lesions and manage the findings. RAS caused by fibromuscular dysplasia is probably commoner than previously appreciated, should be actively looked for in younger hypertensive patients and can be managed successfully with angioplasty. Atheromatous RAS is associated with increased incidence of cardiovascular events and increased cardiovascular mortality, and is likely to be seen with increasing frequency. Evidence from large clinical trials has led clinicians away from recommending interventional revascularisation towards aggressive medical management. There is now interest in looking more closely at patient selection for intervention, with focus on intervening only in patients with the highest-risk presentations such as flash pulmonary oedema, rapidly declining renal function and severe resistant hypertension. The potential benefits in terms of improving hard cardiovascular outcomes may outweigh the risks of intervention in this group, and further research is needed

Fractured Bodies and Social Wounds: The Simulation of Trauma in J.G. Ballard’s Crash

J.G. Ballard’s sci-fi novel Crash is a powerful – albeit highly controversial – depiction of man’s destiny in late industrial culture, “the destiny of [his] human body in a world of automotive disaster” and proliferating technology (Youngquist). It traumatically “crashes” the boundaries between bodies and machines, interior states of subjectivity and the external world, even the boundaries between fiction and reality, and depicts a ghastly marriage between sex and technology through the mediation of the metallic car-body – which, as Ballard points out in his “Introduction” to the French edition of the text, is portrayed in Crash “not only as a sexual image, but as a total metaphor for man’s life in today’s society” (Ballard 6)

Sight as trauma : the politics of performing and viewing the body on stage

My thesis aims to partake in the controversial and theoretical debates surrounding sight which can be traced as far back as Plato. It seeks to provide an overview of the cultural history of the gaze in order to set up a triangulated and in-depth schema or triadic relationship between theatre, text and trauma through the lens of psychoanalytical, phenomenological and socio-theoretical frameworks. More specifically, it attempts to explore the various interactions, along the axis of representation, between theatrical metaphors and those of traumatic vision, as well as traumatic representations on stage of viewing and the multi-layered and socio-political implications of various ways of looking (or non-looking), which often trigger traumatic responses. By examining two canonical plays – Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex and Shakespeare’s Macbeth – as well as the modern performances of artists such as Orlan and Franko B, I hope to show how visual trauma can transcend time and space and how the stage, as well as dramatic performances, can function as a body or body politic upon which various visuo-spatial and traumatic themes can be inscribed and re(enacted). The shift in emphasis, beginning with Freud and onwards, from physical to psychological trauma has often led to a blurring and obfuscation of the question of sight and the various lines of inquiry related to it. It has unfortunately often been overlooked in trauma theory, together with the issue of how certain sights/sites can often lead to broken, baffled and even traumatic responses when there is a failure to adequately interrogate, interpret and subsequently assimilate various events both on and off-stage. This failure is further compounded by various theoretical strands which view trauma as being non-representable. Thus by bringing trauma and vision to the fore, my research aims to inflect the cultural history of the gaze by showing how it contributes invaluably to a greater understanding of identity formation and hermeneutical activity in particular, as well as theatrical practices and even gender discourse analysis in general. By recourse to Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex and Shakespeare’s Macbeth, two canonical plays which draw heavily on notions of sight, blindness and the traumatic implications of viewing certain objects or events, as well as through an interrogation of various responses to the theatrical performances of more modern bodily-based performance artists such as Orlan and Franko B, who cut and refashion their bodies in front of a large audience, this work seeks to bring together various theoretical approaches ranging from psychoanalysis to phenomenology in order to shed light on how sight can lead to trauma both on and off the stage, thus contributing to the ongoing theoretical debates surrounding the body and the theatre

A cross-cultural study on consumer preferences for olive oil

In this paper, we study consumer preferences for olive oil across four countries (Denmark, France, Tunisia, and the US). Based on a large-scale study with olive oil consumers (N = 3,462), we use the Best-Worst Scaling method to measure perceived importance for product attributes known to influence consumer choice. Our results show that consumers across all countries rate type, price, prior experience, and country of origin as important product attributes. On the other hand, packaging, label design, and brands are considered as less important product attributes. While the perceived importance for olive oil attributes differs across countries, the order of importance is almost similar for all countries. We further derive a three-segment solution and describe each segment based on its attitudinal beliefs, usage, and socio-demographic profile. We discuss implications for the study of consumer preferences for olive oil and provide managerial insights.© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed