Brands: Just for consumers? Introduction to the special issue on B2B branding

Although there is significant interest in branding in a B2C context substantially less research has been conducted in B2B marketing. The research in B2B marketing is somewhat fragmented and a research agenda to develop coherent models and provide guidance to practitioners is required. Despite the disjointed nature of the research in this area, B2B branding has been found to convey a number of benefits e.g. conferring uniqueness. This special issue consists of eleven papers covering a range of topics including brand alliances, brand personality, brand equity and brand relationships, brand identity, corporate branding and social media.     

Introducing ‘Journeys Home’

Homelessness, despite being a major social policy issue in Australia, is an area that is not well served by data. Most sorely lacking is any large‐scale panel study that follows a broad sample of persons with recent experience of homelessness and unstable housing histories. In 2010, the Australian Government set about rectifying this deficiency when it commissioned the Melbourne Institute to undertake a new panel study, now known as ‘Journeys Home’. This study draws its sample from the population of Centrelink income‐support recipients, targeting persons identified in the administrative data as having recent experience of homelessness, as well as others with similar characteristics who may be vulnerable to housing difficulties in the future. This article summarises the design of this new study and reports on fieldwork outcomes from the first two waves of data collection.     

Learning to Build a Supply Network: An Exploration of Dynamic Business Models

abstract    Firms are confronted with the challenge of learning how to develop and manage supply networks, which reduce their operating costs and maximize their effectiveness in the marketplace. In pursuit of such goals they are increasingly turning to the use of dynamic business models. Dynamic business models represent continuous change and therefore make firms learn constantly new and better ways of doing things. These changes are manifestations of inter-firm knowledge transfer. The aim of this research is to explore dynamic business models as an example of inter-firm knowledge transfer. Adopting a case study approach, we examine three components of dynamic business models – network structure, inter-firm routines and knowledge forms – and describe their integration through a problem solving approach to building an offshore supply network. Our empirical findings suggest that dynamic business models help organizations identify and link key actors with each other (at the firm and individual level), and aid the identification and specification of appropriate knowledge types and knowledge transfer mechanisms for different actors, in different contexts.     

Testing spatial regression models under nonregular conditions

In time series context, estimation and testing issues with autoregressive and moving average (ARMA) models are well understood. Similar issues in the context of spatial ARMA models for the disturbance of the regression, however, remain largely unexplored. In this paper, we discuss the problems of testing no spatial dependence in the disturbances against the alternative of spatial ARMA process incorporating the possible presence of spatial dependence in the dependent variable. The problems of conducting such a test are twofold. First, under the null hypothesis, the nuisance parameter is not identified, resulting in a singular information matrix (IM), which is a nonregular case in statistical inference. To take account of singular IM, we follow Davies (Biometrika 64(2):247–254, 1977; Biometrika 74(1):33–43, 1987) and propose a test procedure based on the supremum of the Rao score test statistic. Second, the possible presence of spatial lag dependence will have adverse effect on the performance of the test. Using the general test procedure of Bera and Yoon (Econom Theory 9:649–658, 1993) under local misspecification, we avoid the explicit estimation of the spatial autoregressive parameter. Thus our suggested tests are entirely based on ordinary least squares estimation. Tests suggested here can be viewed as a generalization of Anselin et al. (Reg Sci Urban Econ 26:77–104, 1996). We conduct Monte Carlo simulations to investigate the finite sample properties of the proposed tests. Simulation results show that our tests have good finite sample properties both in terms of size and power, compared to other tests in the literature. We also illustrate the applications of our tests through several data sets.     

Classifying relationships across cultures as successful and problematic: Theoretical perspectives and managerial implications

There is increasing interest in the theoretical and practical challenges that managers face in having to deal with the multiple dualities inherent in managing a portfolio of different business relationships. A number of relationship portfolio models have been developed which use a wide range of criteria for categorizing relationships. The research reported here takes a different approach by identifying the key process and/or outcome elements which managers use to distinguish between successful and problematic relationships, and also offering a comparison of the managers' perceptions across three different countries. The aim is to contribute to the development of more robust management thinking and action. Managers in the United Kingdom (UK), France and Finland were found to think about relationships in terms of both process and outcome variables. Whilst the outcome variables used to discriminate between successful and problematic relationships vary slightly across countries, it was found that they all used the process variables of trust and problem resolution.     

Financial and operational decisions in the electricity sector: Contract portfolio optimization with the conditional value-at-risk criterion

The restructuring of electricity markets around the world have caused increased volatility and uncertainty of the price power. As a result, providers of power now face increased uncertainty and risk in the operational and financial decisions related to procurement. Providers must seek optimal ways to deliver the required volume of power to retailers and end users while managing risk. We consider a mixed-integer programming model for a power providing agent that jointly considers the problem of selecting custom electricity contracts and finding the optimal procurement strategy of meeting contract obligations under spot price uncertainty. A two-stage stochastic integer programming (SIP) model with a conditional value-at-risk (CVaR) constraint to incorporate risk aversion is developed. Computational results are presented that demonstrates the CVaR approach and the results are compared with a corresponding expected cost minimization approach. The SIP model with CVaR will allow acceptance of contracts at lower prices compared to an approach based on a corresponding risk-neutral model as a hedge against uncertainty and mis-specified arbitrage.     

The impact of Investors in People: a case study of a hospital trust

This article reports on case study research conducted in a hospital trust and explores the impact that the Investors in People award had on employees. Investors in People is widely seen as the principal mechanism for increasing workforce skills within a voluntarist system as well as supporting ‘good’ employment policies. Yet in this case study, as elsewhere, most of the ‘soft’ HR initiatives had existed prior to accreditation and the internal marketing of corporate value statements was met with both amnesia and cynicism. More worrying, training activity was focused on ‘business need’, which was defined in the narrowest sense, with the result that some employees had fewer opportunities for individual development. Motivation and commitment levels were high, staff were enthusiastic about their work and many actively engaged in training and development. But this owed little to Investors in People, and its impact here raises questions about its influence on skill levels more broadly.     

Communication practices in a business relationship: Creating,relating and adapting communication artifacts through time

The purpose of this paper is to re-examine the task-media fit model of communications by adopting an interactive approach and thus taking into account the influence of time. Task-media fit is manifest in communication artifacts such as emails, minutes of meetings, reports or flowcharts. Task-media fit theory holds that when communication tasks (e.g. sharing sales data, work-in progress reports or technical data) are matched with the appropriate media (e.g. email, text, face-to-face), a more effective communication is likely to occur at that moment in time. By adopting a multi-methods approach, this longitudinal study explores how communication practices shape a new business relationship. Our findings show how different forms of time (horizontal, vertical, standardized, and planned time) interact and are variously privileged in complex task-media fit judgments. Findings show how task-media fit judgments change as they unfold over time, stabilizing to create communication norms that then become disrupted by critical events. Communication artifacts are emergent and relational, to what has gone before and what is intended to come next.     

Fostering Responsible Communities: A Community Social Marketing Approach to Sustainable Living

Just as socially irresponsible organizational behavior leaves a punitive legacy on society, socially responsible organizations can foster curative change. This article examines whether small organizations can foster societal change toward more sustainable modes of living. We contend that consumption is deeply intertwined with social relations and norms, thus making individual behavioral change toward sustainability a matter of facilitating change in individual behavior, as well as in social norms and relations between organizations and consumers. We argue that it is in this facilitation process that small firms can play a major role, by adopting upstream and downstream approaches to diffuse behavioral change. By synthesizing four key strands of literature – small businesses and corporate social responsibility, ethical consumption, community social marketing, and the diffusion of innovation – and using the exemplar case of Modbury, the iconic “plastic bag-free” town, we demonstrate how responsible small firms can influence communities, and the individuals therein, to encourage environmentally sustainable practice to diffuse and support change in society.     

How is information technology affecting business relationships? Results from a UK survey

Since the interaction approach to the study of business-to-business relationships was developed in the early 1980s [Hakansson H, editor. International marketing and purchasing of industrial goods: an interaction approach. Chichester: Wiley, 1982.], significant changes in the business environment have occurred. The change from manufacturing to services in the more mature economies, globalisation and the rapid evolution of IT and e-commerce are obvious examples. The development of IT and e-commerce on the Internet has been predicted to dramatically affect the way business is conducted, with most surveys pointing to the dominant role that it will play in business to business markets [Key Note. Internet usage in business. London: Key Note Market Reports, 2000.]. In this paper, we examine the impact that information technology is having on business relationships, which lie at the very centre of current thinking in marketing. The results of our initial study shows that the uptake of new technology in business to business companies to be very variable. The usefulness and frequency of use of mobile phones, e-mail, the Internet, intranets, extranets, and audio- and video-conferencing will we believe increase in the future, but perhaps not as quickly as many of the forecasts have predicted. Interestingly, although suppliers are more computer literate than the buyers, the buyers are using the Internet to source suppliers from abroad.