Module overview
This module provides the context in which luxury brands are constructed and perceived. You will
explore a range of historical and contemporary issues affecting luxury, which form the fabric of the idea of luxury today.
Areas such as luxury consumption, luxury marketing and management, technology and luxury, and the relativity of luxury, constructs the significance of luxury, and the role and impact it plays within the global business environment.
The module will also examine the issues that impact sustainable and ethical luxury and develop strategic luxury management and leadership skills to a high level in a global luxury context. The internal and external factors that have impacted and influenced luxury businesses in the past, present and future will be explored.
Aims and Objectives
Learning Outcomes
Disciplinary Specific Learning Outcomes
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- demonstrate critical understanding of the context of luxury through an exploration and analysis of luxury ideas, formulating your own explanation of luxury today.
Transferable and Generic Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- demonstrate accurate and effective academic research and communication skills.
Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- critically analyse examples and case studies relevant to luxury brand management.
Knowledge and Understanding
Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:
- how to critically examine academic ideas and debates related to luxury brand management.
Syllabus
This module will allow you to construct an idea of luxury through the engagement with, and critical reflection of, a number of historical and contemporary areas within the luxury sector.
You will look at the meaning of luxury over time, the relativity of luxury, luxury from a cross cultural and global perspective, as well as the ethical and sustainable practices of luxury both in the past, present and future.
You will also look at luxury from a consumerist viewpoint as well as its significance in the context of one’s social and personal identity. This will allow you to develop understanding of the meaning of luxury in different contexts and environments and how this impacts luxury branding and marketing as well understanding the key drivers of luxury and how the market is evolving at a domestic, international and global scale.
You will focus on how key issues relating to luxury have developed over time and where luxury is heading in the future.
Learning and Teaching
Teaching and learning methods
Teaching methods include:
- Lectures
- Seminars
- Tutorials
- Research workshops
Learning activities can include:
- Reflection on verbal or written feedback: this may be verbal or written offered during seminars, tutorials, group activities
- Evaluation of feedback: this may take the form of reflective formative tasks
- Group and collaborative projects and tasks
- Independent research and investigation
- Online reference material research
- Peer group learning and peer assessment tasks
- Problem-solving activities
- Class discussion/critiques
- Student presentations
| Type | Hours |
|---|---|
| Teaching | 24 |
| Independent Study | 126 |
| Total study time | 150 |
Resources & Reading list
Journal Articles
European Journal of Marketing .
Journal of Brand Management.
International Journal of Market Research.
Luxury: History Culture and Consumption.
Journal of Marketing Communications.
Business Horizons.
Journal of Business Research.
Journal of Consumer Research.
Harvard Business Review.
Journal of Marketing.
Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management.
Textbooks
Armitage, J & Roberts, J (2016). Critical Luxury Studies: Art, Design & Media. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Silverstein, M., Fiske, N & Butman, J (2005). Trading up: why consumers want new luxury goods-and how companies create them. New York, US: Portfolio.
Thomas, D (2007). Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster. New York, US: Penguin Press.
Kapferer, J.N. & Bastien, V (2012). Luxury Strategy: Break the Rules of Marketing to Build Luxury Brands. London, UK: Kogan Page.
Hoffmann, J, & Coste-Maniere, I (2011). Luxury strategy in action. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Hoffmann, J, & Coste-Maniere, I (2012). Global luxury trends; Innovative strategies for emerging markets. London, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
McNeil, P. & Riello, G (2016). Luxury: A Rich History. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Calefato, P (2015). Luxury: fashion, lifestyles and excess. London, UK: Bloomsbury.
Chevalier, M & Gutsatz, M (2012). Luxury retail management: how the world's top brands provide quality product and service support. Singapore: John Wiley & Sons.
Gardetti, M. Giron, M & Maria, E (2016). Sustainable Luxury and Social Entrepreneurship Volume II: More Stories from the Pioneers.. London, UK: Greenleaf Publishing Limited.
Ricca, M. & Robin, R (2012). Meta-luxury: Brand and the Culture of Excellence. London, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
Assessment
Formative
This is how we’ll give you feedback as you are learning. It is not a formal test or exam.
Group work
- Assessment Type: Formative
- Feedback: Verbal feedback via tutor and peers
- Final Assessment: No
- Group Work: Yes
Summative
This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.
| Method | Percentage contribution |
|---|---|
| Illustrated essay | 100% |
Referral
This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.
| Method | Percentage contribution |
|---|---|
| Illustrated essay | 100% |
Repeat
An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.
| Method | Percentage contribution |
|---|---|
| Illustrated essay | 100% |