Introductory description

N/A.

Module web page

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

Business Models and Brand Management in luxury Companies: Six Key Dilemmas
Key Trends: International Expansion and Growth Strategies of Luxury Firms
Country of Origin
The Economics of Luxury: Digital Transformation and Data Analytics
Customer Engagement: The use of Digital Marketing
Sustainability, Ethics and Luxury Companies

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Understand and critically evaluate business models in luxury industries, the growth strategies of luxury firms plus their differentiation strategies in the international context.
• Evaluate macro-trends that link luxury to sustainability and to investigate sustainability as an opportunity to build trust, innovation, legitimacy and brand equity.
• To understand and critically consider the role of digital settings in enhancing the marketing strategy and the KPIs of customer engagement in luxury with lessons learned for other industries.
• Critically reflect on their own and the experiences of others as participants in Strategic Luxury Leadership, interdisciplinary learning processes.
• Critically reflect on and contrast different disciplinary models of pedagogy, learning, and theory.
• Identify trans and inter disciplinary issues, formulate questions and engage in Strategic Luxury Leadership problem-solving, including own independent research.
• Synthesise and analyse ideas imaginatively from a range of different disciplinary perspectives.
• Understand and critically evaluate the international expansion of luxury companies and global fashion brand management within social, macroeconomic, political and technological contexts

Indicative reading list

Lojacono, G., and Pan, L., (forthcoming, 2021). "Resilience of Luxury Companies: How agile business models survive crises". Berlin, De Gruyter.
Kapferer, J.-N., and Michaut-Denizeau, A., (2017). “Is Luxury Compatible with Sustainability? Luxury Consumers’ Viewpoint”, in J.-N. Kapferer et al. (Eds.), Advances in Luxury Brand Management, Palgrave.
Kumar, A., Killingsworth and Gilovich, T. (2014). "Waiting for Merlot: Anticipatory Consumption of Experiential and Material Purchases", Psychological Science, 25 (10), 1924-1931.
Wang, Q., and Narain, N., (2017). “Consumer Behavior in Special and Subpopulations”, Chapter 8, Consumer Perception of Product Risks and Benefits, Emilien, Gerard, Weitkunat, Rolf, LuÌdicke, Frank (Eds.), Springer.
Hildebrand, D. H., Harding, R. D. and Hadi R. (2018). "Culturally Contingent Cravings: How Holistic Thinking Influences Consumer Responses to Food Appeals", Journal of Consumer Psychology, 39-59.
Jee Han, Y., Nunes, J. C., and Dre Ze, X. (2010). “Conspicuous consumption: Signaling Status with Luxury Goods: The Role of Brand Prominence”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 74 (July, 2010), 15–30.
Venkatesh, A., Joy, J., Sherry Jr, J. F., and Deschenes, J. (2010). “The aesthetics of luxury fashion, body and identity formation”, Journal of Consumer Psychology, 20, 459-470.
Hagtvedt, H., and Patrick, V. M. (2009). “The broad embrace of luxury: Hedonic potential as a driver of brand extendibility”, Journal of Consumer Psychology, 19, 608–618.
Beverland, M. B., and Farrelly, F. J. (2010). "The Quest for Authenticity in Consumption: Consumers’ Purposive Choice of Authentic Cues to Shape Experienced Outcomes". Journal of Consumer Research, 36, 838-856.
Van Boven, L., & Gilovich, T. (2003) “To do or to have? That is the question”. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 1193–1202.
Masuda, T. and Nisbett, R. E. (2001). "Attending holistically versus analytically: Comparing the context sensitivity of Japanese and Americans", Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81(5), 922-934

Interdisciplinary

The module is designed to provide the students with an understanding of relationships between the different disciplinary areas within luxury management, particularly strategy, marketing and I.T. It also invites the students to make connections with other disciplinary areas covered in their main study programme. It provides a critical understanding of dominant traditions and methodologies associated with the luxury management covered in the module and enables the students to transcend disciplinary boundaries. The interdisciplinary course cohort provides contact opportunities and learning to see from different perspectives and is a core aspect of the learning experience.

International

The module is located in an international setting plus draws on cases and visits from different contexts, including different geopolitical areas, professional environments and linguistic contexts. The content and assessment invite the students to reflect on the societal relevance in different environments of the phenomena covered in the module. The assessment involves students working in groups with academic and ideally non-academic stakeholders which will) allow for a global and local outlook to be built into the module’s work.

Subject specific skills

Evaluate and deploy research tools and resources, including cases, and reference material correctly.
Weigh and compare evidence from historical and contemporary sources in order to make informed but independent evaluations and original judgements.
Appreciate the value of understanding and experiencing different disciplinary approaches and perspectives on Strategic Luxury Leadership, especially in relation to their subject specialism.

Transferable skills

Analyse and reflect on personal Strategic Luxury Leadership approaches and those of others.
Participate in team activities with confidence, support the generation of original ideas and questions, help lead
teamwork and performance.
Articulate proposals and advice orally and through well-argued writing, supported by widely read research and
practice.
Solve problems pragmatically and with originality.