Managing Sustainable Luxury and Digitalization

This book offers new transdisciplinary perspectives on luxury, exploring the topical phenomenon of digitally retouched (censored) and blockchain-secured (sensored) luxury watches and outlining implications that emerge for the field of luxury studies and managerial practice. Based on a cross-disciplinary approach, the book integrates theoretical and empirical perspectives to advance the readers' understanding of luxury. With a particular focus on the Swiss luxury watch context, the book thereby draws on qualitative, quantitative, and archival data to shed new light on recent luxury trends, integrating literature on aesthetics of labour, conspicuous consumption, Gestalt theory, ethical theory, functional theories of attitudes, and surveillance studies. Eight chapters take the readers through a range of topical challenges arising with the display and changing moral perceptions of luxury and shifts that the luxury watch sector is facing in light of the digital transformation impacting luxury goods and the luxury management environment. This unique book will be of value for academics, scholars, and upper-level students across management studies with a particular interest in the luxury and fashion industries, luxury management, brand management, business ethics, and digital transformation. With a foreword by Thomaï Serdari, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, New York University.

Mario D. Schultz is an assistant professor of international management at Franklin University Switzerland, where he teaches "Sustainable Luxury Management." He is the co-founder of the Luxury Observatory Lugano (LOL), together with Peter Seele. Prior to joining Franklin University Switzerland, Dr. Schultz worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Università della Svizzera Italiana (USI). He studied business administration at the University of Vienna and the University of Amsterdam. His primary research interests are corporate social responsibility, luxury management, business ethics, corporate sustainability management, and information and communication technology. More specific research topics include the ethical use of artificial intelligence and algorithmic pricing, greenwashing and machinewashing, sustainable luxury management, and new conceptualizations of corporate social/political responsibility in the digital age. www.LOLugano.ch Peter Seele is a professor of corporate social responsibility and business ethics at USI Lugano, Switzerland, and co-founder of LOL, together with Mario D. Schultz. Professor Seele holds a PhD each in philosophy (University of Düsseldorf) and economics (University of Witten/Herdecke), worked two years as a business consultant in Frankfurt, and, prior to Lugano, was an assistant professor at the University of Basel. Next to USI Lugano he is also a guest professor at the University of St. Gallen, where he teaches "Philosophy of Luxury." His primary research interests are business ethics, digital ethics, greenwashing, machinewashing, and the cultural and philosophical underpinnings of luxury.

Foreword Thomaï Serdari Introduction Chapter I. Defining Luxury in the Watch Industry: Exploring the Gestalt of Swiss Luxury Watches Chapter II. Trends and Challenges in the Swiss Luxury Watch industry: Insights from an Expert Survey Chapter III. Luxury Watches and Ethical Hubris: A Comparative Overview Of Illustrative Cases Chapter IV. Gestalt-Switch of Luxury Products: Exploring pitfalls of inconsistent value expressions in conspicuous consumption Chapter V. "Some of my customers... take off their Rolex prior to a client meeting": Luxury Display at Work and the Social (Re)Construction of the Organizational Image Chapter VI. The transitory Janus-face of Surveillance: Studying Blockchain-Based Product Identifiers in the Swiss Luxury Watch Industry Chapter VII. Censored and sensored luxury: a new theory, combining retouching of public luxury display and digital product identifiers Chapter VIII. Future Outlook: How cutting-edge technologies and new consumer generations reshape the luxury environment