Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop a process model for the role transformation of vulnerable consumers through support services. Design/methodology/approach: The study is based on four years of participant observation at a community-based support service and in-depth interviews...

This paper studies the product line decisions of firms under two consumer segments differing in their quality-sensitivity. We focus on a negative impact of the product variety on the consumers' motivation to purchase, while each product is horizontally differentiated. In the presence of this...