Collaborative orientation to advance value co-creation in buyer–seller relationships

This study extends the theory of value co-creation by investigating how collaborative orientation advances value co-creation drivers that benefit both buyers and sellers in competitive markets. With direct field research, conducted in a real-life context, the authors interviewed (using a mirrored, semi-structured protocol) buyer–seller respondents at multiple levels in 1 seller and 10 buyer firms. Ten cases developed from these data reflect how buyers and sellers develop value and share resources to advance value co-creation during a formal buyer–seller relationship effort. Our findings suggest four propositions and identify four drivers that may advance value co-creation in buyer–seller relationships: (a) mutual understanding of industry problems through continuous interactions during the relationship period; (b) ability to develop and leverage knowledge and resources; (c) share asset-specific investments; and (d) shared long-term goals. This article extends previous resource-based models and provides novel insights into value co-creation.     

“Let's make a deal:” Price outcomes and the interaction of customer persuasion knowledge and salesperson negotiation strategies

In response to increased consumer empowerment and frugality, many business-to-consumer (B2C) firms now negotiate “deals” with customers. Understanding how buyer and seller inputs affect negotiation outcomes is important because successful completion, or a closed sale, results in perceived value (based on the negotiated price) for both the customer and the seller. We suggest negotiation is influenced by the persuasion knowledge of the customer and the negotiation strategies used by the salesperson to manage conflicts that arise during the process. Using unique dyadic data from the automotive industry that combines multisource (salesperson and customer) survey data with objective purchase price information, we find that price outcomes and customer satisfaction depend on the different interactions of customer persuasion knowledge and salesperson negotiation strategies. The results suggest that perceived value may be generated for both the selling firm and the customer based on these unique inputs.     

Mediating and moderating processes in the relation between problem customer perceptions and work–family conflict

Deploying the emotion regulation perspective, this study examined the process linking the relationship between problem customer perceptions (PCPs) and work–family conflict (WFC) by focusing on the mediating influence of surface acting (SA) and the moderating role of distress tolerance (DT). Data were obtained from 265 frontline service clerks located in the banking industry throughout 71 different local banks in Taiwan. The results revealed that SA fully mediated the PCP–WFC relationship. Meanwhile, frontline service clerks' DT moderated the SA–WFC relationship, such that the relationship was weaker when service clerks with the higher the DT. The managerial implications of the findings were discussed.     

Influence of customer–firm relationships on customer participation in the service industry

Previous research has focused on relationship value and outcome as ‘consequence variables’ of customer participation (CP). This study examines customer–firm relationships as an ‘antecedent variable’ of CP. Early contact and relationships with customers build confidence in the service encounter and create customer trust, which leads to commitment and improves customer cooperation. Likewise, interaction and relationship building in the service encounter encourage active customer cooperation and participation in the later stages of interaction. This study analyzes the influence of relational antecedent factors affecting customer participation intention, examines the moderating effects of customer relationship proneness, and suggests some theoretical and practical implications.     

Does the length of a customer–provider relationship really matter?

This study examines both a moderator and a mediator of perceived service quality and payment equity as they relate to customer loyalty in the banking industry. Through the moderating factor, the length of the customer–bank relationship, this study builds a conceptual framework for distinguishing between transactional- and relationship-oriented customers and provides an empirical analysis by using structural equation modelling. The empirical findings of this study, the result of the examination of 610 banking customers, showed that different lengths of the customer–bank relationship form loyalty from different variables and from a different path. For transactional-oriented customers, loyalty was built through the achievement of overall customer satisfaction; whereas for relationship-oriented customers, loyalty was built through the establishment of trust. Suggestions and limitations based on the finding are also discussed.     

Knowledge transfer in the context of buyer–supplier relationship: An analysis of a supplier's customer portfolio

In the context of buyer–supplier relationship, the present study will not only analyse the role of formal and informal mechanisms to transfer knowledge but also the direct and moderating effect of trustworthiness, as relational dimensions, to understand how customers acquire knowledge from suppliers. The results related to a sample of 105 customers belonging to a medium-sized Italian manufacturer's customer portfolio show that both formal and informal transfer mechanisms positively impact knowledge acquisition. Trustworthiness positively moderates the effect of informal transfer mechanisms and negatively moderates the effect of formal transfer mechanisms on knowledge transfer. Some considerations regarding the customer portfolio are suggested to enhance our understanding of the effectiveness of knowledge transfer mechanisms in relation to different trustworthiness contexts.     

“Untact”: a new customer service strategy in the digital age

Service Business - The Industry 4.0 era has brought a shift in consumers’ purchasing behaviors from traditional retailing to online and/or mobile channels, triggered by advanced digital...     

Retailer–manufacturer responsibility in the marketing of firearms: exploring the concept of negligent distribution

One of the most divisive, controversial issues confronting Americans today is the regulation of firearms. Statistics pertaining to firearm-related injuries and death in the United States are staggering; approximately 32,000 Americans die annually from gunshot wounds, the vast majority of which can be attributed to handguns. Estimates of the costs of gun-related violence in the United States run as high as $100 billion/year. Not surprisingly, the firearms death rate in the United States is among the highest in the world, and clearly the highest among industrialized nations. To what extent, if any, do manufacturers and retailers share responsibility for harm caused by firearms? Manufacturer/retailer responsibility for firearm-related injuries may be tested under any one or more of a number of legal theories: products liability, public nuisance, and negligence. Of particular interest to marketers and retailers is the assertion that responsibility can be traced to negligent distribution practices. Although negligent distribution has been alleged in a number of key cases, the concept remains ambiguous. What does seem clear is that legal responsibility for injuries and death attributable to handguns has expanded, and negligence in marketing and distribution practices will become a paramount issue shaping the future direction of the firearms industry worldwide.     

Is there a relation between religiosity and customer loyalty in the Chinese context?

The prevalent and complicated religiosity inside Chinese consumer makes it interesting but difficult to investigate the relation between their religiosity and consumer behaviour. Based on the marketing and psychology background in the Chinese context, this study explored the relationship between Chinese religiosity and their customer loyalty. Cross‐sectional survey data and statistical methods were used to compare customer loyalty under different levels of religiosity. The results reveal significant and positive differences of customer loyalty among consumers with different extent of religiosity in most product categories. This study puts forward a new perspective for marketers to predict and develop loyal customers, even to promote marketing segmentation and customer value.     

Developing CSR in retail–supplier relationships: a stakeholder interaction approach

The purpose of this research is to explore how a stakeholder interaction perspective can add to the understanding of the dynamics of the process of corporate social responsibility (CSR) development in retail buyer–supplier relationships. Firstly, we find that interaction with suppliers and other stakeholders seems to have a pivotal role in the development towards sustainable retail supply chains. Secondly, and by addressing the phases of initiation, implementation and maturation of CSR development, we find that the role and intensity of interaction in stakeholder interaction changes over time and that the salience of particular stakeholders can be pivotal in the phases of the process of CSR development. Thirdly, we find that there is not necessarily one active and one passive party in the stakeholder interaction. Although suppliers in developing countries are typically asked to follow codes of conducts of retailers, suppliers are also acting and taking initiatives, and organizing themselves to better meet the demands on CSR.     

What’s in a crowd? Exploring crowdsourced versus traditional customer participation in the innovation process

This study explores the emerging crowdsourcing phenomenon, that is, the outsourcing of idea generation to the product users (‘the crowd’), typically via online platforms to interact with many and diverse customers and glean valuable market insights. The study focuses on this phenomenon and the factors that determine the value of crowdsourced customer participation over more traditional market research methods. The authors present the results of an extensive, in-depth qualitative case-study analysis pertaining to the media industry. The authors find that crowdsourced customer participation is not consistently superior in enabling firms to discover how to serve their customers better. Instead, the results unearth a catalogue of seven interrelated value determinants that show where the boundaries of both crowdsourcing and traditional customer participation in innovation lie. These value determinants fall into three main categories: (1) innovation-specific value determinants, (2) firm-specific value determinants, and (3) managerial value determinants.     

The role of commitment on the customer benefits–loyalty relationship in mobile service industry

The purpose of this study is to identify appropriate combinations between various types of commitment and benefit, to induce and enhance loyalty behaviours, such as customer retention, cross-selling, and customers' positive word-of-mouth, in a matured service market. The results show that functional and economic benefits have significant effects on customer retention through calculative commitment, while experiential and symbolic benefits significantly affect cross-selling and positive word-of-mouth via affective commitment. Normative commitment mediates the relationship between affective commitment and customer retention. The implications of these findings for loyalty management strategy related with service benefits and type of commitment are discussed. Limitations and recommendations for future research are also presented.     

“Towards a co-creation framework in the retail banking services industry: Do demographics influence?”

Although many firms profess to adopt a customer-centric approach many are yet to embrace the notion that value is not solely created within the boundaries of the firm, that it is created co-jointly with outside parties. As such, value co-creation has increasing importance in modern marketing, impulsed by Service-Dominant Logic. While co-creation is a hot-topic in the marketing literature, services marketing literature recognizes the impact of demographic characteristics in consumer behavior. However, literature analysing the effects of demographics in co-creations models is very scarce.Therefore, the aim of this paper is to examine a set of outcomes of co-creation (satisfaction, loyalty and WOM) from a customer perspective. More, this research also analyses the potential moderating effect of demographic characteristics such as gender and age in this co-creative framework.The results show that co-creation directly affects customer satisfaction, customer loyalty and WOM. Co-creation also results in increased levels of customer satisfaction, which in turn mediates the effect of co-creation on customer loyalty and positive WOM. Data also reveal different patterns of behavior depending on gender and age.This paper contributes to the understanding of co-creation from a customer viewpoint. Firms should strive to foster co-creation initiatives as this can lead to increased levels of customer satisfaction, more loyal customers and the possibility of attracting new customers through positive WOM by current customers. Customers databases must be segmented for higher levels of marketing campaigns efficiency.     

Harold James,Making a modern central bank: the Bank of England 1979–2003

Business Economics -     

Caught in a communicative catch-22? Translating the notion of CSR as shared value creation in a Danish CSR frontrunner

There is a growing interest in how the notion of corporate social responsibility (CSR) as shared value creation is translated in Scandinavia. However, current research seems to disregard that the specific institutional context is ambiguous, enabling the organization, and its internal stakeholders to translate the institutional logics into contradictory meanings of CSR as shared value creation. Building on the institutional logics perspective and the metaphor of translation, and framed within a case study of a Danish CSR frontrunner, this paper explores how the notion of CSR as shared value creation is translated at both the organizational and individual level through discourse. The study shows that the organization and its internal stakeholders employ different strategies to reconcile the institutional logics of ethics and economy, suggesting that the translation processes are a complex communicative matter of continuously balancing the contradictory institutional logics to maintain legitimacy in the eyes of external stakeholders.     

Longitudinal analysis versus cross-sectional analysis in assessing the factors influencing shoppers’ impulse purchase behavior – Do the store ambience and salesperson interactions really matter?

Numerous studies in the marketing literature focused on consumer behavior in general, but relatively few studies have examined Impulse purchase behavior (IPB). Although few studies examined IPB, the vast majority of the studies were conducted using the cross-sectional design. These studies suffer from certain limitations like random measurement error, common method bias, causality & validity-related issues that are inherently associated with the cross-sectional design. Despite these limitations, very few studies have examined the IPB using the longitudinal design. Multilevel structural equation modeling (ML-SEM) is conducted in the study to analyze the longitudinal data for examining the changes in the causal effects of the factors influencing the shoppers' IPB over a period of time. Additionally, structural equation modeling (SEM) is conducted to examine changes in the causal effects of the factors influencing IPB at each time point of data collection. Drawing upon the stern's model and stimulus-organism-response model, the study examines the causal effects of the factors influencing the IPB. The results of ML-SEM indicate significant fluctuations in the factors influencing IPB over time. Similarly, the results of SEM indicates that few factors (like store ambience and salesperson interactions) have shown a significant influence on IPB in the initial time points (i.e., during the initial store visits of shoppers), but became insignificant over a period of time in their subsequent store visits. The findings suggest that the store crowd, secondary customers influence, and in-store promotions show a significant influence on the IPB, compared to the store ambience and salesperson interactions.     

Does the origin of a succession CEO matter in the market value of innovation? Disentangling the origin of internal CEOs

This study complements previous research regarding CEO origin and family businesses by incorporating upper echelons theory with the perspective of family effect as well as disentangling CEO origin to provide a better understanding of how external, unrelated internal, and family succession CEOs affect innovation performance. We further reveal how a family founder helps improve the value of innovations undertaken by family heirs. The results show that firms with unrelated internal succession CEOs experience higher (lower) stock market reactions to innovation announcements than those with family (external) succession CEOs. Founders serving on the board reduce the negative effect between family heirs and innovation performance. Copyright © 2016 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The role of social value creation in business model formulation at the bottom of the pyramid – Implications for MNEs?

This paper presents an exploratory study of how social value creation and business models may be interrelated in the context of the bottom of the pyramid (BOP) business formation. We develop our analysis around five case studies of actual businesses set up in rural India by people in the BOP. We attempt to draw implications from the performance of the business models in the BOP for what MNE strategies of engagement with the BOP may learn from the processes we analysed.     

FDI and the skill premium in a North–South global economy

The effect of FDI from North to South countries on the skill premium of both groups of countries is examined. The lower wage of unskilled labor in the South induces the Northern firms to shift the unskilled labor intensive production processes in the South. FDI occurs in an unskilled labor intensive activity, but in a skill-intensive sector. It is shown that this leads to an increase in the skill premium of skilled labor in both North and South.