Slow Fashion Trends: Are Consumers Willing to Change Their Shopping Behavior to Become More Sustainable?

The fashion industry, despite generating great benefits in terms of trade, employment and income worldwide, is considered one of the most polluting industries due to the linearity of its production process with a high consumption of energy and raw materials as well as of waste generation. Furthermore, the short life cycles of its products, where the consumer seeks more to be fashionable than the products’ durability, contribute to this. However, this paradigm is changing due to society’s increased concern for the environment and a healthier way of life, promoting the emergence of a new concept called slow fashion, which seeks to improve the sustainability of fashion items from an environmental and ethical point of view. In this way, many companies are implementing circular economy measures in their production processes and innovating more circular products. The purpose of this work was to determine the consumer orientation toward slow fashion consumption, their perceived value and if they are willing to accept changes in their own behavior. The results confirm this new consumer orientation toward slow fashion consumption, which entails an important business transformation, fostering the innovation of new products and manufacturing systems characterized by a circular approach.

Formation of a range of sports league services

The article discusses the features of sports league services. Special attention is paid to the factors that influence the formation of the nomenclature of sports league services, as a structured list of products offered that may be in the league’s assortment. As the main of such factors, consumers are singled out, which make it possible to divide the services of sports leagues into commercial and non–commercial. The development of these groups of the range of services of sports leagues occurs in different ways. The main sources of profit in the activities of professional sports leagues are the sale of tickets and season tickets for sports competitions, the sale of rights to television and radio broadcasts of competitions, advertising and sponsorship and licensing and commercial activities of clubs. The problems of the formation of the nomenclature of sports league services are highlighted — this is the lack of market conditions, competition and demand, as well as the lack of consumer orientation. The scientific novelty of the work consists in the proposal to form a range of sports league services based on the use of active marketing, analysis of the solvency of the main consumer groups, as well as the introduction of innovative services using digital technologies.

SPIRITUAL AND RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS DIVISION OF THE KAZAKHS INTO “ZHUZES”AND THE ROLE OF BIIES IN THIS

The origin and purpose of juzes is one of the most important issues in the historiography of Kazakhstan. Despite significant changes in methodological approaches to the study of the history of the Kazakh people, disagreements still persist.Zhuzes became a real form of social and political organization of the Kazakh people. Scientists do not have a consensus about the time of the appearance of juzes, the reasons for their appearance and the internal structure.In Kazakhstani historiography, Juzes are recognized as an integral part of a single Kazakh nation and traditionally established unions of tribes inhabiting their territories.As a result of religious and spiritual processes in the Golden Horde, and then in the Kazakh Khanate, the division of the state and tribes into three parts gradually acquired a religious and spiritual character. After the reorganization of tribal organizations and Juzes, genealogical ties and Juz systems played an important role in the sphere of power and ideological relations. Kazakh biys regulated the organization and interaction of Kazakhs as a single ethnic group. This was mainly due to the consumer orientation of the nomadic economy, as well as spiritual and ideological needs. Therefore, the system of genealogical kinship and dynasties played an important ideological and regulatory role in the life of a nomadic society.Key words:Kazakh ethnos, zhuzes, yassaviya tarikat, spiritual and religious processes, biys institute, historical process, ethnogenesis.

The marketing potential of the enterprise and the possibilities of its development in modern conditions

The article is devoted to the study of the modern concept of “marketing potential” and the possibility of its use for the development of modern enterprises. Scientific research in recent years has studied the concept of “potential” in detail from the point of view of theory and practice. The marketing potential is a relatively new category and its emergence is dictated by the development of modern market relations. The article analyses various approaches to the study of this concept based on the evolution of marketing concept. It is emphasized that all the main approaches to determining the essence of marketing potential are based on orientation to the market and consumers. The relevance and novelty of the research lies in a integrated approach to the concept of “marketing potential”: from the point of view of various approaches, concepts, classification by functional characteristics. The purpose of the study is to determine the features of the modern category of “marketing potential of the enterprise” and their scientific use in the implementation of long-term development plans. The methodological basis of the research is modern scientific developments in the field of management, enterprise economics, marketing management. The marketing of the enterprise should correspond to two main concepts: consumer orientation and orientation to a cost approach to management.

THE EFFECT OF MARKETING ETHICS AS A MODERATOR ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CUSTOMER ORIENTATION AND SMES PERFORMANCE IN SAUDI ARABIA

Recent literature has demonstrated the importance of consumer orientation (CO) for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs); however, doubts persist about how CO can improve SMEs performance due to its ambiguity. We examine the marketing ethics (ME) that govern the relationship between COs and SMEs. A proposed model was empirically tested using a structural equation model (SEM) on 408 manufacturing SMEs in Saudi Arabia. The findings indicate that CO has a positive effect on the performance of SMEs and, more importantly, that this effect is indirect because ME fully moderates it. These findings indicate that CO improves performance when firms invest in marketing ethics development. While consumer orientation is critical, it may not be enough to boost performance if the firm is unable to adhere to marketing ethics practices.

Social marketing: a commercial marketing strategy for understanding and improving health

Disease prevention and health promotion is now looking forward to newer innovative platforms to bring social change. Social marketing is a process that applies marketing principles and techniques to create, communicate, and deliver value in order to influence target audience behaviours that benefit society (public health, safety, the environment and communities) as well as the target audience. There are many challenges of marketing approach in India like financial cost, non-availability of audience data, difficulty in measuring marketing efforts, negative demand benefit to third party etc. These challenges can be dealt with 8 benchmark of social marketing which includes exchange, self-interest, behaviour change, competition, audience segmentation, consumer orientation, formative research and marketing mix (4 ‘P’s). Currently in India, condoms are social marketed under NACP-IV which can be extended to OCPs, Injectable contraceptives, ORS, Mosquito nets etc. For success of social marketing incorporation of consumers as partners into the planning process is must along with training of health professionals to enable them to imbue public health organizations with a marketing mind-set. Grantees should be given sufficient time and resources to conduct formative research, develop evidence-based marketing strategies, pretest program interventions, and monitor program activities.

Consumer Orientation and Competitor Awareness on Firm Performance in the Bottled Water Industry

Purpose: To assess the Influence of strategic positioning indicators namely customer orientation and competitor awareness on firm performance in the bottled water Industry, with sector standards as a moderating variable. Design/Method/Approach: This study adopted a quantitative methodology and cross-sectional explanatory study design of which a sample of 424 licensed bottled water firms were randomly selected. Structured questionnaires were distributed to the managers and a factor analysis was used to reduce the number of variables and establish the underlying constructs, while the analysis of moments of structures was applied to develop theory. Findings: It was found that there exists a positive and significant relationship among consumer orientation and competitor awareness on firm performance. The moderating effect of water sector standards on consumer orientation and firm performance was found to be statistically significant and operates fully or in part as a mediating variable in predicting the influence of competitor awareness on firm performance. Theoretical Implication: This study concluded that to enhance firms’ performance measured in terms of growth, there is need to manage and sustain consumers’ needs based on gender and age preferences, buying behavior as well as conducting market analysis and have internal capability to retaliate. Originality/Value: This study will not only add value to the existing body of knowledge in strategic management, but will also address the application of strategic position to improve firm performance. Research Limitations/Future Research: Since the study was quantitative, there was risk of omitted variable and nonresponse bias, limited access to performance data and lack of previous research on the subject. Future research should extend to other categories of firms which have diverse decision processes and purchase intentions amongst consumers. Paper type: Empirical

Market orientation and corporate performance of small and medium-sized enterprises in Saudi Arabia

The goal of this paper is to examine the effect of business orientation on the success of small and medium-sized enterprises in Saudi Arabia. Corporate performance is a dependent variable, whereas business orientation, competitor orientation and inter-functional orientation are used as independent variables. This cross-section analysis was based on a quantitative survey design. The target population consisted of 72 SMEs (industrial, commercial and service) identified by the Saudi Chamber of Commerce in Riyadh. The companies were selected from Riyadh, Jeddah, Abha, Dammam and Bisha, which were founded before March 1, 2005 with less than 100 employees in Saudi Arabia. The findings showed that consumer orientation, competitor orientation and inter-functional cooperation had a substantial positive influence on the success of SMEs in Saudi Arabia during the study period. Market orientation dimensions, in particular, demonstrated a modest relationship to company efficiency. It was concluded that the greater the orientation of the business, the higher the output and the income of the enterprises. SME owners/managers are advised to understand the consumer orientation dimensions that have a positive effect on the success of their firms. Involved parties also need to establish more consistent business-oriented strategies that assess corporate success in order to boost the output of Saudi companies.

FORMATION OF A MANAGEMENT SYSTEM MARKETING OF EDUCATIONAL SERVICES

Scientificapproachestothe definition of "marketing of educational services" are studied. It is determined that the marketing of educational services as a promising area should be used for the development of educational institutions and meet the needs of: individuals; educational institution; organizations, enterprises; society; states. It turns out that the leading factor in marketing is consumer orientation. It is proved that to meet the requirements of consumers it is necessary to: constantly study the challenges of the market and the educational needs of consumers; forecast demand and manage its formation; to regulate the production and supply of educational services; to form a positive image of the institution. A conceptual model of educational services marketing management is proposed, which, unlike the existing approaches, includes: types of management activities grouped into educational services marketing management functions: 1) planning includes defining tasks and developing ways to solve them. The tasks include: research; communication; organization of an effective educational process; assessing the level of quality of educational services; feedback; 2) the organization includes the implementation of special measures, the use of computer information resources, management decisions, duties and responsibilities: first, special measures include: research of the market of educational services; maintaining contacts with graduates, potential employers and stakeholders, cooperation with recruitment and recruitment agencies; conducting advertising campaigns, organizing annual exhibitions "Modern institutions of higher education", round tables "My future profession"; active participation in scientific, pedagogical, social and cultural activities aimed at the development of higher education institutions; secondly, computer information resources include: Internet marketing and OLV (online video); PR - activity on the Internet; conferences, webinars, round tables on-line; exhibitions on the Internet; posting information on your own website, social networks; 3) motivation includes the provision of such an organizational environment that motivates employees to perform their duties in the best way; 4) control includes supervisory and regulatory activities aimed at ensuring the implementation of tasks, comparison of planned and actual results, correctionofdeviations.