Abstract Helmut Gründl discusses in his paper the effects of the present low interest rate environment on the German life insurance industry. By referring to a recent study of the “International Center for Insurance Regulation”, he assesses insolvency probabilities for life insurers with...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to decompose the concept of country of origin (COO) and test the influence of country of design (COD) and country of manufacture (COM) on consumer evaluations of bi‐national products (products designed in one country and manufactured in another). In...

Purpose – A focus on product aspects that are most important to target consumers helps communicating product advantage to consumers, both in product design and in marketing. In previous studies, relations between the importance of functional and expressive product aspects and gender, age and...

Purpose – This paper aims to use a mixed method (qualitative and quantitative) approach to exploring the effectiveness of price bundling. Design/methodology/approach – The study is based on a concurrent, two‐studies design where quantitative and qualitative data are both collected...

Examines consumer preferences for forthcoming technological innovations. Studies consumer response to different levels of technology over time. Looks at preferences for existing and intermediate technologies when future ones are expected. Focuses on technological consumer durables that are...

Considers changing marketing and advertising attitudes to disabled people, and the medical advances which allow people to live longer. Examines the nature of the disabled consumer market and marketing strategies which are inclusive of, rather than exclusively for, disabled people. Discusses...

Purpose – Taiwanese computer and electronic products possess advantages in design, innovation, rapid response, and global market flexibility. This study aims to examine Taiwanese computer and electronics firms to explore the product marketing strategies they adopted to deal with global...

Purpose – This paper aims to discuss whether product research and development (R&D) in developed economies tends to be too high compared with the socially desired level. Design/methodology/approach – In this context, a model of vertical and horizontal product differentiation within the...

Purpose – Surgical robotics can be divided into two groups: specialized and versatile systems. Versatile systems can be used in different surgical applications, control architectures and operating room set‐ups, but often still based on the adaptation of industrial robots. Space consumption,...