In globalization era, firms have to deal with multifaceted challenges. Dynamic changes in consumers’ demands and desires, technology, and new knowledge and innovative movement of competitors are some examples of the important tasks to be managed in order to be able to survive in the market. The role of communications and the presence of market maven cannot be ignored because both are salient elements for establishing a firm’s marketing strategy. Market maven has been well defined and studied. However, the participation of market maven in improving a consumer’s knowledge and trust in certain object is unclear. Therefore, this study aims to: (1) investigate the role of inherent personal knowledge in affecting trust, (2) investigate as to whether mavens play a role in improving a recipient’s knowledge level and trust. The authors conducted a study that involved a total of 134 students as respondents. The correlation between subjective knowledge and trust attains a medium level, while objective knowledge is related to trust at a very low level. Trust in the low maven group is the lowest compared to that in medium and high mavens. This study indicates that there are different results in terms of effects of information provided by three different maven groups.

Plant sterols and stanols are similar in chemical structure to cholesterol, differing in their side chain configuration. The mechanism by which they lower cholesterol is thought to involve inhibition of cholesterol absorption. A number of products containing plant sterols are now available. A limitation on the development of such products is the poor water solubility of plant sterols. The most common solution is to esterify plant stanols or sterols with fatty acids to enhance availability in food fats such as margarines and salad dressings. A number of studies have shown the efficacy of plant stanol- and sterol-enriched margarines for lowering cholesterol. However, there have been no studies demonstrating that consumption of these stanol ester-containing margarines influences the incidence of coronary heart disease.

The function of a market maven in the information

Recently, the functional food market has been confronted with some controversial dilemmas with respect to regulation; market convergence and consumer acceptance and psychological reaction towards it. Rigid regulation on health claims is not only designed to protect consumers from misleading and false marketing campaigns but it is also made to protect disruption of innovation. To develop and market a functional food, a firm needs to comply with this complex regulation and to manage its competencies and resources. Several pertinent competencies relevant for functional food market converge, including a selective measure of managing the firm's capabilities to adopt new technology and knowledge on the issues of consumer's dynamic behaviour, product development and commercialization of innovation. The main aim of this review is to provide insights into three key areas related to functional foods, i.e. regulation, problems encountered when developing a product and entering the functional food market and consumers' psychological set towards functional foods.