In recent years and mostly during the last two decades, the decisive role of the environment in the business administration field and business life in general has emerged. In the modern, fast changing, and highly competitive business environment, and even more so in the context of the recent economic crisis, businesses constantly struggle to survive, trying to resolve problems and improve their performance and competitive advantage. Therefore, they must save and invest substantial sums of money to build strong infrastructure, to change procedures, and to produce environmentally friendly products. In view of the above, the current study attempted to examine the impact of environmental strategy on the growth of medium and large enterprises in all sectors in Greece, in a period of economic crisis. The study, carried out in February and March 2018, confirmed the positive correlation and the critical role of environmental strategy in the financial performance of Greek enterprises during this period of economic recession. Both eco-efficient practices and innovative practices lead to the creation of competitive advantage and, thus, to the improvement of the financial performance of a firm.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of atmospheric cues encountered in the complex retail environment of pharmacies and, in addition, to test the boundary conditions for the formation of experience-rich emotions. Following this rationale, the research succeeds to partially explain patronage decisions and behavior in pharmacies.Design/methodology/approach: A quantitative methodology was used, using a structured questionnaire. Data were collected using a multistage sampling approach of days of the week and times of each day, seeking responses from customers exiting three, aesthetically diverse types of pharmacies in the wider area of Athens, Greece. Structural equation modeling techniques were used to test the measurement using SmartPLS3 statistical software.Findings: The results primarily confirm the multidimensionality and complexity of atmospherics in pharmacies and the consequent effect on customers’ emotional state. Emotions, amplified by repeat visitation, have both a direct and a mediated effect on customer loyalty while emotional attachment acts as the mediator.Originality/value: The recent elevation of pharmacies from a mere convenient shopping destination of mostly emergency goods to a shopping alternative for a wide variety of well-being goods and services, necessitates the shift of focus of research from the technical expertise of the pharmacist to the enabling dimensions of the retailing environment. The paper answers this need and test the boundary conditions for the development of experience-rich emotions in retailing. The proposed model indicates the significant impact of atmospherics in customer decision-making even in the complex setting of pharmacies.

Tourists nowadays do not travel only to experience a destination or visit attractions at different destinations, but also to find, explore, change and/or create their ‘self’ or fill their higher self needs. The present research constitutes a first attempt to explore the novel concept of self-love in tourism and examine which types of tourists develop this type of love. Two separate qualitative efforts were undertaken to gather primary data from tourists. The findings reveal that self-love is a higher self-need and a multi-item construct. Furthermore, results show that individuals from different cultures who are generally older, highly educated, of high monthly income, and mainly singles tend to develop self-love emotions at destinations and are repeat visitors to them. Hence, the present research opens up a new research area in affective attunements and certainly adds up to the discourse of an emotional birth of constructive values that is apparently rather absent in tourism literature. The proposed self-love framework could be useful for tourism providers in order to develop more meaningful, transformational or/and emotional experiences that better fulfil the self needs of tourists. Managerial targeted strategies are suggested for tourism experts in order to satisfy the self-lovers inner needs, as well as strengthen their loyalty programs, which could focus on intrinsic motives and sophisticated rewards that require ongoing (intellectual) interaction. Finally, new directions for further research have emerged.

Over the past decade, several studies in services and tourism literature have been conducted and concluded that satisfaction is associated and affected by value because value appraisals precede satisfaction. This study aims to examine the relationship between customer satisfaction from each destination service/encounter and overall, and its antecedent, customer value. The proposed relationships are tested using the structural equation modelling (SEM) analysis at an established Greek heritage destination, Olympia. The results indicate that value dimensions can explain considerably the destination service encounter satisfaction, which in turn contributes to overall satisfaction. This study can be considered among the first attempts to empirically test the relationship of service encounter satisfaction from every destination service and customer value.