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The purpose of this study is to extend the understanding of the business model of video game retailers using online and physical stores. It focuses on the impact of digitalization on the retailing industry considering different actors like retailers and consumers. This is a qualitative multiple-case study based on deductive reasoning. Two cases of click-and-mortar retailers operating in the Swedish video game industry have been considered along with feedback from customers. Online personal interviews and semi-structured interviews have been conducted with retailers and customers respectively. Both primary and secondary data have been used. Findings show that video game retailers need to encourage engagement through incentives and other activities to create value and change up their formats and sales strategies through pricing to reach new customers and focus on design of their online store fronts to convey trustworthiness. It offers some insightful practical suggestions to retailers who are struggling hard to adopt digital transformations in the industry. Authors’ proposed research model, based on Sorescu et al. (2011)’s retail business model and the empirical findings, contributes in the less explored domain of research on business models from retailer’s perspectives. Moreover, it adds values in industry specific study like the video game industry in Sweden considering all actors, which is argued as scarce. 

The purpose of this study is to understand innovation of startups operating in a niche market.  Through a review of previous research works, a conceptual model and propositions are developed, where illustration of a company case is used to exemplify this model. It reveals that a research gap exists regarding startups in a niche market with dynamic capabilities and breakthrough innovations as a source of success. This study reflects on the potential relationship between dynamic capabilities and breakthrough innovation of a startup and its subsequent effect on the performance of the startup in a niche market. It has proposed that dynamic capabilities work as a foundation for startup to develop a breakthrough innovation. It also proposed that in a niche market, both core competency and industrial network are crucial for a startup to scaleup, where breakthrough innovation works as a pathway to acquire consumer acceptance.

E-commerce has become an alternative to physical sales of many products. At the same time, customers often need direct contact with selling companies, not least regarding value creation connected to customized products. This chapter demonstrates how retailing firms in the video game industry may tackle price competition due to competitors’ scale effects. The competition reinforces a firm’s motivation to find a viable way to implement a global responsiveness strategy in terms of identifying an optimum combination of online and offline value adding. Thus, a retailer may handle price competition by carefully setting prices for its own products and aiming for customer responsiveness. In particular, effective responsiveness rests on value driven incentives. A retailer generally needs to create value for end customers and engage actors in the entire value chain. Also, the retailer needs to encourage the end customers themselves and motivate them to interact with the firm and other buyers.

Though, in the automotive industry, technology is considered as a source of innovation and development, emerging change in consumer perception has brought industry focus on design. Evolution of this industry is closely related to the convergence of technology and design. In such context, implication of design driven innovation strategy in the automotive industry has potential to be explored and to create sustained competitive advantage through balancing customers’ need, technological opportunities and product meaning. The aim of this paper is to give a holistic view of design driven innovation as a differentiation strategy in the automotive industry and its implication for strategic management through some relevant research reviews and empirical information. On the contrary, this research lacks detailed description on industry practice to provide greater breadth, since it attempts to correlate the strategic concept of design with the dynamic capability of a firm in that particular industry.

Brand management has become an emerging issue today for any organization where branding starts with the concept of building brand identity in the target market. For the success of consumer goods or service brand, it is obvious to track brand through research. Brands of lifestyle products operate within extremely narrow target audience with highly specialized interest. The nature of this niche market demands strong brand identity and brand planning to secure sustainable relationship with customers. Lifestyle magazines are not exempt from this condition though this type of product is not explored in-depth within the brand management context. Consistent and congruent brand identity of a lifestyle magazine works as the mantra to design effective marketing communications which in turn strengthens the relationship between the reader and the branded magazine. The aim of this paper is to review basic concept of brand identity, to explore the implication of brand identity facets on marketing communication of a brand and to synthesize that understanding with a case study on a Swedish brand of lifestyle magazine–‘Sköna hem’through explorative research; thus this small-scale study endeavors to high-light the potential of this research arena for further development in future.

The aim of this paper is to discuss brand elements and to explore its contribution to brand equity based on some relevant research reviews and some examples of prominent brands where brand elements have played a significant role to reach consumer’s head and heart. Brand is a combination of name, symbol or design, which creates a distinctive identity to consumers within a crowd of choices through its different brand elements. A distinctive or unique offering as well as get-up of a brand is the primary key of survival from the immature death in competition. Differentiating approach of different brand elements always cause a high level of brand awareness and familiarity among target consumers and later on individually or collectively, brand elements work as clue to consumers to recall and recognize the brand.  Proper integration of both strong and weak brand elements of a brand contribute to brand equity, which has been focused here through some literature reviews.