Innovation in family and non-family SMEs: an exploratory analysis

This study provides an exploratory analysis of differences between family and non-family firms in innovation investment, product and process innovation outcomes, and labor productivity. Using data from the Community Innovation Survey on 2,087 German small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), we observe significant disparities at each stage of the innovation process. Whereas family SMEs have a higher propensity to invest in innovation at all, conditional on investing in innovation, these companies do so less intensively than their non-family counterparts. Family SMEs further tend to outperform non-family SMEs in terms of process innovation outcomes when controlling for innovation investment. Given the level of product and process innovation, however, family SMEs underperform regarding labor productivity in comparison to non-family SMEs. These findings complement previous empirical research by illustrating how the presence of a dominant family relates to innovation inputs and outputs of SMEs in Europe’s largest economy and its innovative SME sector.     

Board diversity in the United Kingdom and Norway: an exploratory analysis

This paper examines the evolving pattern of gender diversity of the boards of directors of leading Norwegian and British companies on a longitudinal basis. The period covered by the study covers the run up to proposed affirmative action legislation in Norway and, as such, affords an insight into corporate actions in this emerging institutional context. The findings demonstrate that, while board diversity has grown substantially in both countries in recent years, it has done so considerably more rapidly in Norway than in the United Kingdom. The analysis highlights the sectoral variation between the countries in the pattern and growth of board diversity and suggests that the vast majority of the overall growth in board diversity is the result of changing firm behaviour rather than sectoral shift in the United Kingdom or Norwegian economies. It is also shown that as diversity has increased there has been no fall in how experienced female directors are; neither is there evidence of a rise in the number of boards that female directors sit on. This suggests that the rapid growth in board diversity has been achieved without any fall in the quality of female directors.     

Community crosstalk: an exploratory analysis of destination and festival eWOM on Twitter

Abstract

Research suggests that festivals can promote a destination via online word-of-mouth (eWOM) on social media, even though the nature of this effect is not yet fully understood. Using a combination of Social Network Analysis and text analysis (qualitative and quantitative), this article examines eWOM at a tourism destination (Bournemouth) when a festival (Bournemouth Air Show 2013) is staged. The Communities of Interest of eWOM interactions on Twitter were captured and analysed to understand the structure and content of eWOM. Findings indicate that key users are usually already prominent individuals and that festivals act as both a direct generator as well as an online animator of eWOM. Finally, network size, span and scope may be useful indicators when comparing eWOM networks.     

Leadership marketing: an exploratory study

In an era when collaboration is the key to business prosperity, the ability to develop one truly coherent and agile brand lived by its employees and delivered to external stakeholders has become extremely challenging. Unity between the internal brand and a company’s external image, when change is the only constant, has almost ceased to exist. The marketing function is frequently underemphasised at board level and its role is often devalued in leading organisational change. This paper concerns how marketing can partner with organisational leadership for a mutually beneficial exchange of skills and capabilities to be able to reinvent organisations rapidly enough to cope with shifts in the external business environment and create a sustainable future for the business. This paper explores the concept of “leadership marketing” from an interpretivist perspective which challenges the conventional view of marketing and leadership as two separate fields and offers a holistic approach for business management and brand alignment.     

Managing negative word-of-mouth: an exploratory study

Abstract

This exploratory study investigates how executive-level and functional managers in three large organisations understand and respond to negative word-of-mouth (NWOM). The findings, based principally on analysis of 54 interviews over 3 years, show that organisations devote far more resources to the management of NWOM than they do to the promotion of positive word-of-mouth. Marketing and other customer-facing work groups play varied roles in organisational response to NWOM, which often involves complaints management and crisis management. We find that senior management, marketing, sales, advertising, PR and contact-centre staff all have different fears about NWOM and therefore respond to it in various ways. Our recommendations for better management of NWOM stress three points – leadership, organisational readiness and public relations management.     

Management education in Ibero-America: An exploratory analysis and perspective

Considering the importance of management education for society and the pedagogical inadequacies that pose a threat to academic institutions, this article develops an exploratory approach for evaluating and monitoring the quality of management education within an Ibero-American context. Latin American countries and Spain tend to think of themselves as an Ibero-American region, so the overview of key issues in management education in this article is pertinent to the entire region. The data is important to policymakers who wish to enhance the quality of higher education, since well-trained managers contribute to successful business strategies and superior organizational performance. Unfortunately, there is almost no empirical work available on the performance and effectiveness of higher education in Ibero-American countries. Our study helps bridge that gap by providing useful data for evaluating and reflecting upon some of the variables associated with management education in a sample of Ibero-American universities.     

Consumer ethical beliefs and personality traits: An exploratory analysis

The present study examines the relationships between consumers' ethical beliefs and personality traits. Based on a survey of 295 undergraduate business students, the authors found that individuals with high needs for autonomy, innovation, and aggression, as well as individuals with a high propensity for taking risks tend to have “less ethical” beliefs concerning possible consumer actions. Individuals with a high need for social desirability and individuals with a strong problem solving coping style tend to have “more ethical” beliefs concerning possible consumer actions. The needs for achievement, affiliation, complexity and an emotion solving coping style were not significantly correlated with consumer ethical beliefs.     

Consumer motivations and concerns in online auctions: an exploratory study

This investigates the reasons behind the dramatic growth of Internet auction companies such as eBay, exploring into why so many consumers have been motivated to turn to online auctions to purchase and sell goods. It is found that the ability to purchase items at lower prices than from retail stores is the primary motivation, along with having access to previously unobtainable items. Concerns mainly relate to potential fraudulent transactions, although the negative feedback system is found to be vital in the reduction of fears over fraud. Interaction with other auction users is found to be important for practical reasons such as information seeking, rather than for enjoyment. The main conclusion is that the benefits of using Internet auctions far outweigh the risks involved.     

Consumer perceptions of environmental marketing claims: an exploratory study

This paper reports the results of research which examined consumer perceptions of 10 environmental claims: degradable, biodegradable, no CFCs, safe for the environment, environmentally friendly, compostable, recycled, pre-consumer waste, post-consumer waste, and recyclable. Implications for policy makers and future research are identified.     

Market orientation and uncertain supply in upstream markets: an exploratory study

A key task of the purchasing function is to secure adequate and timely supplies of necessary input factors. In some industries, however, this task is challenging, as it may be difficult to obtain timely and reliable input, e.g. in industries based on natural resources. This may have serious implications for firms’ ability to compete effectively in their output markets. Few empirical studies of purchasing behaviour have focused on how actors cope with uncertain supply. Also, the fast-growing market orientation literature generally seems to have neglected the importance of supply. This paper aims to provide insight into the poorly understood question of how upstream actors cope with uncertain input supply to handle customers’ needs and wants. To investigate our research problem an exploratory study was conducted among 20 upstream actors in the seafood industry. A quasi-experimental approach was applied by selecting firms from two industry branches so that one group was exposed to the “treatment” (i.e. uncertain supply) while the other group was not. Our findings show that when supply is uncertain it is of utmost concern and considered a key determinant in satisfying the firms’ target markets.     

Lookalikes and customer confusion in the grocery sector: an exploratory survey

This paper discusses the issue of copy-cat branding, an issue that has dominated the marketing and retail trade press recently. Brand owners have claimed that lookalike own-label products confuse consumers. Retailers, mean-while have claimed that similarities in packaging design are essential to enable consumers to recognize own-label products. There is, however, relatively little academic research on the issue of lookalikes and consumer confusion.

This paper reports the results of an exploratory survey which show that a considerable number of consumers are confused by the packaging of own-label products. It is also shown that consumer confusion varies by store, product and frequency of shopping. Safeway shoppers were found to be more confused by own-label packaging than shoppers who used other retail outlets. Significantly, shoppers at Sainsbury's - the store that has been criticized most heavily over the packaging of its own-label products - were found to be considerably less confused than the 'average consumer'. The purchasers of Coca-Cola, Head & Shoulders and Nescafe Gold Blend were found to be most confused by own-label packaging.     

Consumer trust relations with payment cards and banks: an exploratory study

The article focuses on the ways in which consumer complaints reflect the trust relationship between consumers, payment cards and banks from the consumers' point of view. The empirical data consist of consumer complaints from Finland and are analysed with qualitative method. The data show that consumers use payment cards in various places for different purposes at home and abroad at least until something unexpected and problematic happens. According to the consumer complaints, in problem situations, the banks blame the consumers and categorically deny their responsibility. Negligence on the part of the consumers and questions concerning technology are the major reason for distrust concerning the reliability of payment cards. These findings provide bases for practical guidelines to increase trust in payment cards and, finally, implications for consumer education are discussed.     

Place as a site and item of consumption: an exploratory study

While places are recognized as sites of consumption within the field of consumer behaviour, they have yet to be generally accepted as forms of consumption. This study investigates the idea of place as a consumption object by comparing conceptions of city and country within a cross‐cultural sample. Thirty‐six consumers living in the US, the UK and Australia were interviewed to explore their thoughts and feelings relating to the cities and countries in which they reside. The findings provide empirical support for key conceptualizations of place in the sociology literature and extend consumer behaviour theory to include considerations of the physical, social and cultural aspects of place that impact upon consumption. In addition, the findings portray places as entities that are assessed, selected and experienced in comparable ways to products.     

Integrating online communities within business-to-business marketing communications: an exploratory study

The article provides a conceptual contribution by developing a framework for business-to-business (B2B) marketers seeking to implement online communities (OLCs). Furthermore, the conceptual contribution is augmented by a small-scale exploratory study comprising in-depth interviews with B2B chief marketing officers (CMOs). The findings challenge existing thinking that B2B marketers can follow generic marketing communication frameworks. This is due to the differences in B2B OLCs in terms of multiple stakeholders and two-way information flows and differences in buyer behaviour. For researchers, the contribution is an embryonic model that will facilitate future conceptual development as well as empirical testing through a series of research propositions. A sequential decision-making framework, which identifies key implementation challenges, is provided for B2B managers.     

Product placement in US and New Zealand television soap operas: an exploratory study

Although the soap opera as a television genre has consistently captured the imagination of millions of people around the world, surprisingly little has been written about it in the marketing literature. Understanding the consumption imagery in soaps may allow marketers to assess the relevance of product placement for their promotion strategy better, as well as providing valuable insight into the consumption habits of their considerable viewing audiences. Data were collected through content analysis from two soap operas, one in the USA and one in New Zealand. The results indicated a high level of consumption imagery, including brand references. Furthermore significant differences in the types of product and the emotional outcome of product use were found between the countries.