This chapter discusses the roles of brand attachment and trust in the adoption of smart service systems within the wellness industry. The exponential growth in smart wellness products and services, driven by technological advancements and increased consumer interest in personalized well-being, necessitates an understanding of consumer responses in this domain. Smart products, such as wearable fitness trackers, are often integrated with services to form smart service systems, enhancing customer experience through data-driven personalization. However, the success of these systems hinges on consumers’ willingness to share personal data for the company to manage. This chapter explores how brand attachment and trust influence such willingness, proposing that ownership of branded products fosters brand attachment, which in turn builds trust and increases data-sharing willingness. Empirical evidence is provided through a study involving 450 participants, highlighting the mediating roles of brand attachment and trust. The findings offer theoretical insights into the interplay between brand attachment, trust, and data sharing, providing practical recommendations for companies to build strong brand attachments and trust through high-quality products, transparent communication, and robust data security practices. This strategic approach can enhance consumer acceptance of companies’ data management and encourage the adoption of smart wellness services. 

This chapter investigates the role of user data in creating value propositions within digital wellness business models and the implications for consumer privacy. We examine user agreements of seven such platforms/apps, exploring how consumer data are utilized to enhance customer experiences and generate profits, while addressing privacy concerns. The main findings reveal six value propositions derived from user data, which are further problematized in the discussion. By combining consumer data and privacy research with a business model perspective, this chapter provides insights for managers seeking to navigate the complexities of data-driven digital business models while respecting consumer privacy and integrity. 

This article explores the development process of a sharing platform in the tourism industry, drawing on a longitudinal case study of a sharing-based business in adventure tourism in Sweden. The purpose is to explore how sharing business models emerge through processes of ideological narration—the strategic use of stories to shape and sustain a business. Over a two-year period, empirical data were collected through in-depth interviews, participant observations, and document study. The findings suggest that sharing business models are developed in processes of ideological narration designed to attract labour, capital, and users to a digital platform. Four master narratives are identified—sharing, sustainability, shared identity, and profit-making—narratives grounded in conflicting ideological logics. The dominance of these narratives shifts over time, reflecting different priorities and challenges encountered at various stages of a sharing business model’s development. This dynamic highlights the fluid and multi-faceted nature of narratives in shaping and sustaining sharing businesses in the tourism industry.

In this chapter, the authors conceptualise the Swedish concept of fika in terms of a historically rooted, cultural meal practice encompassing specific values. The mundane but multi-faceted practice enables the exploration of a meal centred around social gathering and food composition.

The authors also suggest that research into fika presents an opportunity to develop Culinary Arts and Meal Science by contributing to new scientific collaborations. By providing a “case” which, like the full gastronomic meal, can be looked at in relation to health and sustainability, financial soundness, internationalisation, branding, design, and other topics, the practice of fika is well worth investigating.

This commentary explores the untapped potential of incorporating Swedish fika into culinary culture and gastronomy tourism, emphasizing its significance in destination branding and product value offerings. It integrates the social, temporal, spatial, and symbolic aspects of Swedish fika from a multidisciplinary perspective, to provide a holistic view that can guide the exploration of culinary culture and daily practices into enhancing perceived values across offerings. Described as a national interest, Swedish fika is deeply intertwined with values of democracy, open atmospheres, and agenda-free meetings, creating positive associations in branding.

This paper describes and discusses how new digital venture business models are modelled by entrepreneurs at the vision stage. Using a longitudinal case-study methodology we study two digital wellness ventures. These studies indicate several sequential business models at the vision stage, where increased stakeholder integration but also insourcing upstream mark these. The business models can be understood as proactive opportunity-based, positively reactive coincidence based and negative reactive failure based. Over time, the business models move from a technological resource foci to legitimacy building practices. Contributions are made to innovation research through highlighting business modelling at the vision stage and theorising its mechanisms and legitimacy concerns. To practise, learnings related to legitimacy, rather than only resource constraints, would allow new ventures to quickly turn their focus in the right direction when trying to develop their business models.