Limits to growing customer value: Being squeezed between the past and the future

Marketing managers often have to balance between marketing exploitation strategies (reaping value from what already is known) and marketing exploration strategies (reaping value from new sources). However, do marketing strategies once exploited or explored in a certain way or direction leave enough potential for further exploration? Based on the various cases of Apple, Alpro, Intel, Nutella, Patagonia, and Ryanair, this article shows that several risks and limits come into play when trying to answer this question. Companies may get squeezed between the past and the future while facing the pressure of temporal consistency driven by past behavior and experiencing the limits of future growth in the dominant customer value drivers. To counter this problem, companies often start integrating new value drivers in their story, leading to other risks, such as incompatibility with existing drivers. The cases discussed in this article reveal that companies may have to accept more sacrifices in order to increase returns within their growth trajectory. Value engineering will become a crucial discipline for companies to survive in many industries. This article gives a step-by-step approach on how to implement this in an organization.     

How and when taking pictures undermines the enjoyment of experiences

The consumption of experiences (as opposed to products) has seen an increasing amount of research attention in recent years. A key aspect of the experiential consumption journey is how the experience is consumed. For instance, people almost invariably take pictures during highly enjoyable experiences such as vacations or important family events. Although past research has suggested that taking pictures may enhance the enjoyment of moderately enjoyable experiences, the effect of picture taking on the real‐time enjoyment of highly enjoyable experiences is not clear. To address this matter, the authors investigate whether taking pictures affects consumers’ enjoyment of highly enjoyable hedonic experiences. A series of laboratory studies demonstrate that taking pictures (compared with not taking pictures) can decrease enjoyment of highly enjoyable experiences. This study suggests that, by constantly striving to document their experiences, consumers may unwittingly fail to enjoy those experiences to the fullest. These results have implications for how firms may best stage experiential offerings to enhance their customers’ experiences.     

Pride in my past: Influencing sustainable choices through behavioral recall

Emotional appraisal research has demonstrated that recalling a past behavior and its associated emotions can influence future behavior. However, how such recalled emotions shape sustainable consumer choice has not been examined. This study examines the role of recalled pride and guilt in shaping sustainable purchase intentions and the mediating role of anticipated pride and guilt. A conceptual model is proposed for motivating sustainable purchase intentions through the emotions associated with the behavioral recall. The model is applied in two experiments with online consumers examining purchase intentions of low carbon cars. Recalling feelings of pride associated with a past sustainability‐related behavior increases sustainable purchase intention, as compared with a neutral recall. This effect occurs through the mediation of both anticipated pride at the prospect of a sustainable behavior choice and anticipated guilt if the future choice is not sustainable. Similar hypotheses relating to recalled guilt at past unsustainable behavior were not supported. The study contributes to research on sustainable consumption, revealing an emotional route by which past behavior can influence future behavior. It also adds to emotional appraisal research by showing the role of specific self‐conscious emotions in forming this route, as prior research has focused more broadly on emotional valence.     

The influence of past behavior on behavioral intent: An information‐processing explanation

Despite considerable research on the impact of past behavior on decision making over the past two decades, little is yet known about how past experience moderates decision theoretic factors within models of behavioral intent. This research explores the implications of past behavior within the theory of planned behavior (TPB), and how it influences key decision‐making variables. A theoretical model of how past behavior can induce deliberative versus heuristic processing of information is developed and tested. Consumer implications of the impact of past behavior on behavioral intentions are discussed, highlighting the importance of addressing one's experience when making a decision. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Enjoyment of the Shopping Experience: Impact on Customers' Repatronage Intentions and Gender Influence

In this paper the authors investigate enjoyment of the shopping experience, its influence on consumers' intention to repatronise a regional shopping centre and the effect of gender differences on shopping enjoyment. Four dimensions of shopping enjoyment are proposed and a 16-item measure is developed to assess 536 consumer perceptions of the shopping experience across five counties in the United Kingdom. Findings indicate that shopping experience enjoyment has a significant positive influence upon customers' repatronage intentions. Furthermore, men are found to have a stronger relationship of enjoyment with repatronage than women. The implications of these results are discussed, together with managerial implications, study limitations, and future research directions.     

The past,present, and future of brand research

Marketing Letters - This article discusses the past, present, and future of brand research. We begin by reviewing three historical eras of branding development in the past: the information,...     

Linking employee and customer misbehaviour: The moderating role of past misdemeanours

Abstract

Traditionally, studies that examine the activities of misbehaving employees and customers have done so in a separate and unrelated manner. Drawing on research that explores deviance amplifications and deviant learning, the current study aims to address this identified gap in the literature and provide empirical evidence of the linkages between perceived employee deviance and the severity of customer misbehaviour. Utilising equity, power and differential association theories, a conceptual model is forwarded comprising four hypotheses between the constructs: perceived employee service deviance; customer repatronage intent; severity of customer misbehaviour; and past customer misbehaviour. Using survey responses from 380 consumers of bars, hotels and restaurants, the empirical results offer support for the forwarded research model. The results show that customers perceiving employee misbehaviour are profoundly affected. Such experiences erode their repatronage intentions and are linked (directly and indirectly) to the severity of dysfunctional customer behaviour performed. Consumers’ past experience of misbehaviour is also found to impact the hypothesised relationships. The paper concludes by considering the implications of the findings and outlining directions for future research.     

Strategies to offset dissatisfactory product performance: The role of post-purchase marketing

This research examines the role of post-purchase recovery initiatives in offsetting the negative effect of a dissatisfactory product experience. Experiment 1 explores the effect of counterfactual thinking, a mental simulation process of reflecting upon past events and generating alternative possible outcomes, on product evaluations after an individual experiences a negative purchase outcome. Experiment 2 builds on these findings and shows how customer surveys can be used as tactical tools to boost post-purchase product evaluations. The results indicate that post-purchase marketing efforts, such as customer surveys, can engage consumers in counterfactual thinking and positively affect their product evaluations.     

Customer happiness as a function of perceived loyalty program benefits - A quantile regression approach

Customers consider pursuit of happiness to be fundamental to their purchase experiences; thus, companies are increasingly looking for opportunities to bring happiness to customers especially in their consumption activity. The current study undertakes analysis of effect of perceived benefits of loyalty programs and customer satisfaction on customer happiness/purchase enjoyment if he/she has loyalty program membership. Empirical study with 407 participants found that Discovery and Entertainment Benefit (DEB) and Satisfaction Derived (SD) have an effect on customer happiness/purchase enjoyment while being a loyalty program member. Quantile regression analysis was used to analyze if independent variables have a differential effect on different levels of the dependent variable i.e. customer happiness/purchase enjoyment from use of loyalty programs. Since DEB and SD were found to be positively significant in influencing customer happiness/purchase enjoyment, companies should focus on balancing these aspects of customers’ consumption experience.     

Cooperative strategies in international business and management: Reflections on the past 50 years and future directions

Over the past 50 years, cooperative forms of governance such as equity joint ventures and other strategic alliances have received tremendous attention in international business and management research. This article traces the history of this research over these past five decades with particular emphasis on the critical role that (Columbia) Journal of World Business has played in disseminating scholarly and managerial expertise on the successful management of cross-border, inter-firm collaboration. We highlight the evolution of interest in different contexts, phenomena, theories, and methodologies, along with the factors that have driven interest in these topics. Several suggestions for future research are also provided.     

Product recall,brand equity,and future choice

Abstract

The number of major product-recall incidents involving established brands have increased markedly over the last few years. Although the direct costs have been evaluated in these cases (typically in the millions), the indirect costs to brand equity and subsequent loss of market share are harder to evaluate. This paper applies a simulated multistage choice-based experiment to assess the impact of hypothetical product-recall experiences on brand-equity measures and, importantly, future brand choice. Contrary to some evidence, we find that product-recall experience has greater negative impacts for established strong brands than weaker non-established brands. Additionally, attributes of product recall such as the seriousness of the recall problem and speed of recall announcement impact on pre- and post-recall differences in consumer evaluations of brand equity. Differences in brand-equity evaluations for the established strong brand significantly affect post-recall choice.     

Experience as a catalyst of export destinations: The ambidextrous connection between international experience and past entrepreneurial experience

This paper examines how different forms of accumulated exploitable knowledge—i.e., export experience with the current firm and past entrepreneurial experience—stimulate export destinations, defined as the number of foreign markets where businesses sell their products/services. The proposed hypotheses are tested on a unique sample of Costa Rican entrepreneurial businesses for 2017. Results from the sequential deductive triangulation analysis (QUAN → qual) reveal that the ambidextrous connection between export experience with the current firm and past entrepreneurial experience is an essential prerequisite for explaining export destination figures. Also, the positive effect of export experience with the current business on export destinations is more prevalent among firms created by serial entrepreneurs. These findings corroborate our argument line on the importance of generative-based learning processes. Furthermore, the results of the qualitative analysis suggest that task-specific international experience and experience gained through past business venturing are relevant micro-foundations of international business expansion in the context of the export destinations of entrepreneurial firms.     

Examining the relationships between online store atmospheric color,flow experience and consumer behavior

Although atmospherics and flow experience are widely studied, the relationship between online store atmospheric cues and flow experience has received a little attention. Furthermore, there is a lack of published results about the role of atmospheric color in creating flow. Using the Stimulus – Organism – Response model and the theory of optimal experience of flow, this study investigated the impact of online store background color on the achievement of flow and its effects on online consumer behavior. In this study, an online experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of a warm hue – yellow versus a cool hue – blue of the background and used a self-administered online survey for data collection. The results underscore the important role online store color plays in creating the flow experience and revealed that blue hue induces more flow than yellow. The two dimensions of flow (perceived enjoyment and concentration) have direct and mediating effects on purchase intention and revisit intention. Concentration, but not enjoyment, has direct and mediating effects on the number of viewed pages and time spent per visit. This research enhances our understanding of the relationship between online store atmospheric color and flow and highlights the role of flow as an extension of SOR model applied online. Other theoretical and managerial implications of the results are discussed. Finally, suggestions regarding future research are presented.     

Are Digital Menus Really Better than Traditional Menus? The Mediating Role of Consumption Visions and Menu Enjoyment

This study examined consumers’ responses to interactive media in a restaurant setting (i.e., digital menus). Study 1 tested a conceptual model, which examined the underlying process shaping customers’ evaluations of a Web-based digital menu. The results demonstrated that consumption visions and menu enjoyment mediated the effects of perceived interactivity on attitudes toward the digital menus. Study 1 also identified direct product experience as an important moderator of the relationship. Study 2 extended and replicated Study 1 in an offline setting by conducting a lab experiment that compared the use of digital and traditional menus in ordering foods that participants have experienced versus those they have not. In general, tablet-based digital menus generated greater enjoyment, increased intentions to adopt, and encouraged participants to order more within a shorter time. But they were preferred only for less-experienced foods. Furthermore, consumption visions were important mediators of interactivity effects in the digital menu condition, but not in the traditional paper menu condition, while menu enjoyment played a mediating role in both conditions.     

The past,present, and future of measurement and methods in marketing analysis

Marketing Letters - The field of marketing has made significant strides over the past 50 years in understanding how methodological choices affect the validity of conclusions drawn from our...     

“Should I stay or should I go?”—Why the future of global work may be less binary: Lessons on approaches to global crises from the experiences of expatriates during the COVID-19 pandemic

COVID-19 has significantly impacted expatriates, affecting their ability to work effectively and their personal and family lives. This study explores their experiences in different phases of the pandemic, and their perspectives on the future of international living in light of such global disruption. Involving over 600 expatriates in 48 countries, the research shows shifts in motivation and priorities as a result of the crisis and reveals how family (extended and immediate) topped expatriates' concerns. The study examines if and how support systems worked and looks at coping mechanisms, skills, traits, previous experience, and attitudes which participants found useful. A common theme was “falling between two stools”—where expatriates were ineligible for support in either their home country or in their host country. Others described being “pulled in different directions” or “torn by a dilemma” with pros and cons in either choice. The study contributes to the questions about the future of global work with results of the survey revealing changing norms for expatriation and global mobility raising the possibility of more nuanced approaches to global projects and less binary options for global professionals and their families.     

Consumers under pandemic anxiety: Suppressors,intensifiers, and resilients

COVID-19 turned the lives of all people across the world upside down. Everyone faced the threat of catching the virus and denial of access to the physical marketplace. For many, it also brought the threat of partial or full unemployment. This trinity of upheaval produced heightened anxiety. The purpose of this article is to understand how consumers coped with anxiety during the pandemic and lockdown periods. We hypothesized that consumers coped with such anxiety by engaging in diverse creative and productive activities, which served as anxiety suppressors. In addition, we hypothesized that one's enduring mind positivity provided resilience and helped consumers mitigate their anxiety. In survey data from a random sample of 550 consumers in the United States, we found support for these hypotheses. Consumers who engaged in voluntary productive activities suffered less anxiety. And consumers with higher resilience levels also felt lower levels of anxiety. In addition, we found that enjoyment of shopping intensified the experience of COVID-19-induced anxiety. The research framework linking this specific set of antecedents to COVID-induced anxiety and its affirmation in this study are new to the literature and therefore offer a notable contribution to it. These findings show two pathways to marketers: Organize and promote voluntary productive activities and offer means for consumers to cultivate personal resilience, on for-profit and not-for-profit platforms. Also, we suggest a future consumer research agenda for when fate again brings us face-to-face with similar or even lesser catastrophes, which, according to scientific forecasters, it sadly but surely will.     

Brand alliance and customer‐based brand‐equity effects

This research examines brand alliances, a specific marketing strategy designed to transfer the positive brand equity of two or more partner brands to the newly created joint brand. The study explores how customer‐based brand equity (that is, brand equity as seen from the customer's perspective) of partner brands affects consumer evaluations of an alliance brand; how the brand equity of one partner brand affects the other; how customer‐based brand equity of the partner brands affects consumers' evaluations of the search, experience, and credence attribute performance of the alliance brand; and how product trial influences such evaluations. Results suggest that merely the act of pairing with another brand elevates consumers' evaluations of the partner brands' customer‐based brand equity, and high‐equity partners enhance pretrial evaluation of experience and credence attributes that are relevant to the high‐equity partner. As hypothesized, product trial moderates the equity value of the alliance partner for experience attributes, and brand equity of the partner brands influences consumer perceptions of the alliance brand's equity. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.