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The purpose of this paper, focusing on the visually impaired and legally blind consumer, is to explore the relationship between the perceived consumer vulnerability on customer satisfaction and the effect of satisfaction on the intention of repurchase and recommendation as the determinants of store loyalty in an apparel store context.

A survey was conducted on 216 visually impaired and legally blind consumers in the province of Manisa, Turkey, concerning their apparel shopping store experiences to examine how the perceived vulnerability influences visually impaired and legally blind consumers’ satisfaction, recommendation and repurchase intentions. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling.

The results of the study revealed that as the visually impaired and legally blind consumers perceive themselves more vulnerable, they become more satisfied with the store, and that the more they are satisfied with the store, the more their intention to recommend that store and purchase intention from that store increases. However, the authors’ investigation showed no significant differences between the consumers who were born blind and who became blind later in their life.

The paper contributes to the literature by extending the understanding of visually impaired and legally blind consumers’ perceived vulnerability in the brick-and-mortar stores and demonstrates how it is related to satisfaction as a major driver of post-purchase intentions like recommendation and repurchase. It also exhibits the fact that blind consumers – both congenitally blind and subsequently blind – cope with this vulnerability through their own solutions to go on their lives, and they do not perceive themselves as vulnerable, as it is perceived by the able-bodied.

It is evident that while new technologies are shifting the current dynamics of the marketplace, technological innovations and Industry 4.0 are influencing the marketing activities along with our perceptions and expectations. The effects of globalization, digitalization, and Internet on marketing activities and consumers are indisputable. Almost every person, society, organization, and even the government has experienced some sense of transformation as a result of the increased connectivity and interaction. Discussion of the current concepts, theories, the way they are used in understanding the technology adoption behavior, and their role in the transformation of the consumers in the digital age is necessary in order to understand the aforementioned changes happening in the marketplace. It is also essential to focus on the transformation of marketing applications caused by Industry 4.0 in order to better understand the consumer expectations, reactions, and behavior. Hence, this study aims to investigate how Industry 4.0 affected and transformed marketing and consumer behavior, by examining the recent technological innovations. In this chapter, the basic concepts related to technology and innovation adoption are explained, and the relationship between marketing and Industry 4.0 is discussed. After reviewing the recent technological innovations and their relation to consumer behavior, a general discussion is given.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution has revealed some emerging concepts and technologies. In the framework of Industry 4.0, the Internet of things (IoT) is one of the key concepts as well as an evolving paradigm that creates opportunities of integration between the things and the physical world which has an unprecedented influence in our lives, particularly in the lives of those with disabilities. It is a groundbreaking way of providing independent living opportunities to individuals with disabilities, such as academic and learning aids (e.g. computer-based software, portable word processors), communication aids (e.g. captioning devices, smart glasses, augmentative communication devices), mobility aids (e.g. smart canes, smart wheelchairs), and smart systems (e.g. smart home, smart city, smart workplace), which increase the amount of their participation in the society, thus, empowering individuals with disabilities. This chapter aims to present the IoT technologies for individuals with disabilities and consists of five sections. The first section presents background information about the IoT and how it relates to individuals with disabilities. The second section introduces key technologies and applications that drive the IoT concept of Industry 4.0 in terms of the subject of disability in five domains which are mobility, smart environments, monitoring, communication, and education. The third section illustrates the importance of the IoT technologies and its relevance to the universal approach. The fourth section presents the implications of global business and implications of COVID-19 for IoT technologies. Finally, the chapter concludes with suggestions.

The new type of coronavirus (COVID-19) has deeply affected football, the most followed sport in the world, financially and socially. The clubs that have been heavily hit financially will certainly focus more on the digital world to overcome this problem. Competition in the field will take place in the digital world at the same rate. Three factors will be very important for clubs in the new period: firstly, reassuring the loyal fans' expectation of success as before; secondly, adjusting themselves to the rules of financial fair play and being financially successful; and lastly, meeting the expectations of the new and digitalized fan generation. As a result, the football industry should find the most suitable way for itself, considering the negative consequences of COVID-19 and the changing dynamics of the industry.

The COVID-19 outbreak occurred in Wuhan region of China has significantly affected the exports and production of countries. Digitalization and technological developments have increased with the Industry 4.0, and COVID-19 measures accelerated this process. In this study, the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic have been investigated on international trade and production in European countries and Turkey. Accordingly, the cointegration relations between variables were examined with Westerlund panel cointegration test. As a result of the cointegration test, it is determined that there are long-term relationships between variables. The causality relationships between variables are analyzed with the Dumitrescu–Hurlin panel causality test. Causality analyses show that there is a unidirectional causality relationship from COVID-19 cases and deaths to export, while there is a unidirectional causality relationship from COVID-19 cases to production. The empirical findings demonstrate that COVID-19 outbreak has a significant impact on production and export processes in European countries and Turkey.

Climate change is one of the greatest challenges for the earth that is mostly driven by human actions. The rapid increase of world population forces the businesses to reach the economies of scale. Digital and technological transformation of the world, thanks to “Industry 4.0,” provides new opportunities for production as well as international trade. Today, the green production process of an imported product could produce lower emissions than producing domestically. However, the greenest countries in the world are developed ones such as Denmark, Switzerland, and Austria. Furthermore, nearly half of the goods' export belongs to developing economies. This chapter focuses on the carbon dioxide (CO₂) emission of 18 countries that produce approximately 75% of the world's CO₂ emission and its determinants. The main target of the study is to investigate the impact of export on carbon emission. The convergence estimation and responsiveness scores (RSs) of countries' CO₂ emission levels are performed to find carbon emission convergent groups and the impact of emission determinants. Besides, the study divides the export of countries into broad economic categories (BEC) and evaluates the impact of capital goods, intermediate goods, and consumption goods groups over the emission. The findings demonstrate that intermediate goods export leads to 7.4% deviation of CO₂ emission whereas the effects of capital and consumption goods are neutral. To the knowledge of the authors, this is the first research discussing the BEC classification impact over the carbon emission of that 18 countries. The results help to take necessary and effective measures of supranational organizations to have a sustainable trade policy especially for the post-Covid-19 period of the world.

The changes in the industry have gone through many stages until today. These changes can be called a transition phase of industries that lasts for years. The process that started with the emergence of the Industry 1.0 concept first came to the concept of Industry 4.0. Recently, Industry 5.0 concepts are spoken around the world. Germany, where the concept of Industry 4.0 first emerged, is leading Industry 4.0 revolution. With the emergence of this concept, different topics such as smart factories, cybersecurity, simulation, 3D printers, and autonomous robots have come to the fore. These subheadings are undoubtedly very important topics for a factory. To fully implement the Industry 4.0 system, these subheadings must be applied and their sustainability must be ensured. In this study, the 3D printer selection process of a factory that wants to fully integrate its factory into a new revolution is discussed. This problem is called a multicriteria decision problem in terms of being very different criteria and alternatives. Decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method was used to solve the problem, and the results were interpreted.

With the holistic approaches of Industry 4.0, products, services, standards, and application techniques have been improved. This digitalization era has not only impacted the production and service dynamics, but also added advanced dimensions to logistics and supply chain management. According to the current world standards, consumer behavior makes the logistics and supply chain processes more challenging. Especially during the COVID-19 outbreak, logistics and supply chain operations became more crucial for the firms, as most consumers have tended toward online shopping while they are in lockdown. Therefore, the competitive environment today enables firms to adapt the technologies and approaches of Logistics 4.0 and smart/digital supply chain, as they must respond to consumers' demands quickly. Moreover, firms need to have strong relations with their supply chain partners via these technologies. The technologies such as the Internet of Things (IOT), cyber-physical system, Big Data, and cloud computing help to change the fundamentals of logistics and supply chain and improve processes for all industries. This study aims to analyze the transformation of traditional logistics and supply chain activities into Logistics 4.0 and smart/digital supply chain. Primarily, we hope to analyze the existing studies by investigating the concept of Logistics 4.0 within Industry 4.0 dynamics. As firms develop their logistics operations, their supply chain processes will be shaped by the technologies and applications, and this situation also leads us to find out the importance of smart or digital supply chain operations. Discussing the potentials of smart or digital supply chain also lets us to reveal how companies handle their logistics operations during the COVID-19 period.