This article identifies important changes in the Portuguese health care industry, such as the ownership of health care providers. At the same time, customers are changing their attitudes towards health care, becoming much more concerned and demanding of health services. These changes are forcing Portuguese private and public health care organisations to develop more marketing-oriented services. This article recognises the importance of quality evaluation of health care services as a means of increasing customer satisfaction and organisational efficiency, and develops a framework for health care evaluation based on the relationship between customers and providers.

This article proposes a conceptual framework to analyse hospital competitiveness at the organisational level. Hospital competitiveness, defined as the capacity a hospital has to develop a superior performance that leads it to a position of competitive advantage, may be analysed in three dimensions: organisation, strategic behaviour, and performance. Based on previous studies and on the current structural adjustment in the Portuguese public hospital sector, this article suggests the following categories: legal status, organisational complexity, and resources for the organisation dimension; stakeholders, services and inter-organisational relationships for the strategic behaviour dimension; and type of indicators, efficiency and effectiveness, and benchmarking for the performance dimension. This framework seems to be particularly useful in evaluating Portuguese hospital competitiveness and providing insights for hospitals' managers and public decision makers both from Portugal and other countries.

PurposeThis article aims to understand the influences surrounding the consumption of fragrances, especially if these products fit as a brand extension of luxury brands. More specifically, it aims at identifying the main reasons behind the process of buying fragrances and the main features associated with the consumption of fragrances.Design/methodology/approachThis research adopts a qualitative approach in the form of 15 in-depth interviews with consumers of fragrances, seeking to assess attitudes and influences in the consumption of fragrances as a brand extension of luxury brands.FindingsThis research shows that the emotional use of fragrances as a luxury product is much more important than their functionality, the relationship between the studied consumers and fragrances depends on the occasion of consumption (season of the year; day or night) and the aroma and the durability of the aroma is the main decision criterion for the purchase of fragrances. Respondents have also mentioned comfort, elegance and sophistication as attributes to choose a fragrance as a luxury product.Originality/valueThis article adds to the current knowledge on the topics of luxury brand management and buying behaviour by providing a better understanding of attitudes and influences towards the use of fragrances. This research recognizes the importance of a brand extension strategy for luxury brands, especially in the case of fragrances.

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Studies on demand impact for 9-ending and rounded prices have so far offered controversial results, with hardly any research focusing on their effect on online commerce or in a multichannel sales context. Our study aims to fill this gap by analyzing the conditions that influence the strategy behind setting such type of pricing in the multichannel retail business of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG). To test the formulated hypotheses, scanner data from FMCG retailers are used. In addition to "demand" and "price", "promotion communication", "retailer type" and "price level" are included as moderators between 9-ending, rounded prices and demand. The results aim to provide, both in the academic and business fields, systematic findings of pricing relationships between online and offline channels which contribute to a better management strategy for "9-ending" and "rounded" prices.