Strategic IMC: From abstract concept to marketing management tool

Although integrated marketing communication (IMC) has progressed towards mid-range maturity level, its full-scale adoption has been impeded by a lack of consensus on its defining constructs. The purpose of this study is to move from abstraction to define the construct of strategic integration (SI) and develop this into a management tool, thus making an important contribution to both the theory and practice of IMC. Drawing from both IMC and strategic management literature, the construct of SI is operationalised into a number of key factors and a well-cited management model, Fuchs' ‘integration valuator’ is explored as the starting point of a measurement tool for IMC. To do this, a Delphi study invites the scrutiny of an expert panel of world-leading IMC researchers and practitioners. The panel validated the model construction process, redefined overarching constructs and key factors with a high degree of consensus, supported a process measure, suggested a weighted evaluation measure and recognised the importance of developing such a measure. They delivered clear and consistent imperatives guiding model development. The result is a measure of SI that evaluates organisational proficiency and diagnoses the integration of IMC campaigns. It also advances theory by providing a better understanding of the construct of SI.     

Marketing management and marketing research

Abstract

A sample of marketing graduates was surveyed to identify the factors that caused some of them to feel that they had become ‘professional marketers’ consequent to their early experiences of work in graduate marketing positions. A model of the possible determinants of the form of ‘workplace identity’ that a marketing graduate would assume was developed and tested. The model hypothesised that: (i) a firm's approaches to training and management development, mentoring, appraisal and reward; (ii) the natures of the tasks allocated to graduate marketing recruits and the task culture prevailing within an enterprise; and (iii) specific characteristics of the individual employee affected the emergence of particular types of workplace identity. Levels of each category of professional identity observed among the sample members were then correlated with job and organisational satisfaction and commitment, self-assessed operational performance, and intention to remain with an enterprise.     

Performance implications of market orientation,marketing resources,and marketing capabilities

Abstract

Drawing on the competitive capability theory, this paper examines how market orientation, marketing resources, and marketing capabilities contribute to firm performance. The empirical results show that being market oriented influences the level of marketing resources firms possess and the capability to deploy such resources. The findings show marketing resources and marketing capabilities are significant drivers of firm performance, and their impact is greater when they are complementary to each other.     

基于科学发展观的企业管理模式研究

传统发展观影响下的管理理论,一方面将企业管理对象约束在社会经济管理系统中,将自然生态系统排除在外,走向了经济管理与生态环境相脱离的道路;另一方面又形成了企业管理过程中片面重视人的工具性价值的＂物化＂管理模式。而将注重整个生态经济社会复合系统的科学发展观引入到企业管理中,意味着当代企业管理模式必须既基于经济之本,又超乎单纯经济发展之上,追求经济效益、社会公平和生态和谐的有机统一;既关注人的外在工具性价值,更注重人的内在精神世界。这就是新的科学发展观指导下的人本管理与绿色管理相结合的新型企业管理模式。     

Customer retention in sports organization marketing: examining the impact of team identification and satisfaction with team performance

Over the past two decades, relationship marketing efforts have assumed a prominent role in sports organization marketing. A sports organization that successfully implements relationship marketing programmes is able to develop long‐term relationships with its fans, thus increasing the likelihood of customer retention. This study examines customer retention in sports organization marketing by considering the impact of team identification and satisfaction with team performance on four fan consumption behaviours: in‐person attendance, media‐based attendance, purchase of team merchandise and word‐of‐mouth communication related to the team. Survey data were collected from 300 fans of more than 40 professional and collegiate teams involved in seven sports. Results suggest that both team identification and satisfaction with team performance impact multiple consumption behaviours, as represented by fans' intentions to engage in future consumption. Team identification was found to have the greater impact on consumption behaviours, suggesting that a sports organization's continuing efforts to bond with its fans may provide greater benefits than efforts to improve the team's competitive performance.     

Uncertainty representation and risk management for direct segmented marketing

ABSTRACT

Mining for truly responsive customers has become an integral part of customer portfolio management, and, combined with operational tactics to reach these customers, requires an integrated approach to meeting customer needs that often involves the application of concepts from traditionally distinct fields: marketing, statistics, and operations research. This article brings such concepts together to address customer value and revenue maximisation as well as risk minimisation for direct marketing decision-making problems under uncertainty. We focus on customer lift optimisation given the uncertainty associated with lift estimation models, and develop risk management and operational tools for the multiple treatment (recommendation) problem using stochastic and robust optimisation techniques. Results from numerical experiments are presented to illustrate the effect of incorporating uncertainty on the performance of recommendation models.     

Analysis of the role of complaint management in the context of relationship marketing

Abstract

This research aims to contribute to the relationship-marketing strategy by studying the role of complaint management in long-term relationships. Two factors distinguish it from other studies: it takes into account two types of customers, consumers and firms, and the result variable selected is the probability of ending an ongoing relationship. Two questionnaires were designed for every population. One of them was auto-administrated to a sample of consumers in the north of Spain, and the other one was sent to a representative sample of Spanish firms. The data analyses were conducted using structural equation modelling. The findings confirm the importance that theory accords to the relationship-marketing strategy, and also provide evidence for the importance of complaint management. Thus having a good complaint-handling system and trained and motivated staff who are fully committed to the firm's objectives are fundamental requisites for firms to be able to build a stable customer portfolio.     

西部开发必须坚持科学发展观

西部地区资源丰富,但加工程度低,多为原材料性质的初级产品,价格和利润都低。西部开发必须坚持科学发展观,着眼于产业结构调整,大力发展原材料及农产品精深加工业。西部地区少数民族多,又多沿江河集中居住在山区,其开发应综合经济、社会、生态各方面进行考虑,兼顾少数民族利益和特点,注意听取他们的意见与建议。西部开发必须正确认识经济整体的内在比例关系,才能实现可持续发展。     

CEO regulatory focus and myopic marketing management

This study details the mechanisms on how CEO regulatory focus affects the salience of the gains versus losses involved in myopic marketing decision-making, and how such CEO psychological attributes interact with internal equity-based compensation, external pressure from equity analysts, and environmental turbulence to affect firms’ myopic marketing management propensities. We find that when faced with short-term earnings pressure to meet earnings expectations and when time is no longer a resource, predominantly promotion-focused are more likely to engage in myopic marketing management to benefit from the temporary stock price increase, which comes from meeting or beating earnings expectations. Conversely, predominantly prevention-focused CEOs are less prone to such short-termist actions which results in long-term value loss. For the moderating variables, we find that: (1) equity-based compensation tends to attenuate myopic marketing tendencies of promotion-focused CEOs but have no impact on prevention-focused CEOs, (2) whether equity analysts improve monitoring or aggravate short-term earnings pressure depends on the CEO’s regulatory focus, and (3) environmental turbulence does not increase the myopic marketing management tendencies of predominantly promotion-focused CEOs but rather intensifies the relunctance of prevention-focused CEOs to take short-termist actions. We further find that myopic marketing management mediates the impact of CEO regulatory focus on future firm performance. These findings have important implications for firms and boards when selecting new CEOs and structuring the compensation of existing CEOs. Firms need to simultaneously consider the fit between the CEOs’ regulatory focus, firms’ needs, the business environment, as well as CEO compensation structure.     

用科学发展观看现代物流管理

从人类诞生之日起,就开始与信息打交道。人类的五次信息革命分别是:语言→文字→印刷术→电话→互联网。真正意义上的现代流通是在进入第五次信息革命中迅速形成的。     

An integrative approach to relationship marketing,customer value,and customer outcomes in the retail banking industry: a customer-based perspective from Turkey

Given how important it is to provide superior value to customers and to maintain customer loyalty for a sustainable competitive advantage, the aim of this paper is to examine the relationships among relationship marketing components of – trust, competency, commitment, communication, and conflict handling, – relationship investment, relationship quality, perceived customer value, satisfaction and loyalty in an integrated framework in the Turkish retail banking industry. Unlike previous studies, this research extends the literature by analysing affective as well as cognitive dimensions in the same model with a holistic view by simultaneously examining the direct and indirect effects of the related concepts. The distinctive nature of this study is its evaluation of customer satisfaction and loyalty from the perspective of actual consumers. The research model was tested using data collected from 685 retail banking customers by applying structural equation modelling. The findings show that relationship marketing induces loyalty through relationship quality, customer value, and satisfaction, which are mainly provided by trust, communication, and relationship investment. Furthermore, relationship investment and relationship quality are the most important factors in the development of customer value, satisfaction, and loyalty. The emotional value dimension, which captures the affective aspects of perceived value, has the strongest effect on both satisfaction and loyalty.     

科学发展观与发展循环经济

发展循环经济是落实科学发展观的重要途径,必须摒弃传统的线性经济模式。从实际出发应进行循环经济制度框架设计和法律法规体系构建,建全循环经济产业体系,确定其发展重点及主要控制对象,同时进行生态环境和资源价值评估,构建交易价格体系。     

Climate perceptions and the customer orientation of frontline service employees

Satisfaction of customers' needs is particularly dependent upon the customer orientation of frontline employees. Understanding the drivers of such orientation is, therefore, a key issue in current research. Research relating perceptions of organisational values with the customer orientation of employees is rather sparse. This topic is approached by investigating the role of selected dimensions of psychological climate in promoting the customer orientation of frontline service employees. A structural equations model is developed and empirically tested, indicating that perceptions of customer, ethical, and innovation climates exert an indirect effect on the adoption of customer-oriented behaviours by frontline employees.     

A marketing perspective on the rise of China: monopoly,politics and value

Abstract

As researchers in the social sciences seek an understanding of the spectacular rise of China, the seemingly counterintuitive stance of an autocratic regime attaining such sustained economic performance challenges multiple analytical frames. The relatively ponderous responses of the United States and Europe to recent global conditions, and the democratic uprisings in Arabic states, further represent a glaring contrast. While the marketing literature is rich in the particulars of specific management issues in the China market, no analysis from the discipline has attempted to provide a broad, distinctly marketing contribution to the China phenomenon. Choice is a fundamental construct underpinning theories of politics, economics and marketing, though it is notably absent from Chinese politics. The changing relationship between markets, business and government reveals a question that is clearly important to marketers, and China is a challenging boundary case for marketing management.     

Business strategy and the management of digital marketing

The internet brought disruptive change to the business landscape through the creation of a whole host of digital marketing tactics. But with these new tactical options has come the need for marketing managers to (1) prioritize what they wish to accomplish and (2) determine which digital marketing tactics to invest in. We consider these issues from the perspective of four business strategies: prospectors, analyzers, low-cost defenders, and differentiated defenders. In this article, we provide marketing managers with insights into how businesses pursuing various strategies approach these digital marketing issues, with the ultimate goal being to assist managers in the efficient and effective implementation of their firm’s adopted strategy.     

Study on the relations among the customer knowledge management,learning organization,and organizational performance

This article reports the results of a study of customer knowledge management (CKM) of Taiwanese service businesses in China. Over 600 questionnaires were sent out to the Taiwanese directors and staff in 150 Taiwanese service businesses in Kun-Shan City, China, with 322 valid responses included in the study. Four relationships were examined in the study: the correlation between CKM and organizational performance, between CKM and the learning organization, between organizational performance and the learning organization, and finally the effect of the learning organization on the relationship between CKM and organizational performance. Findings and conclusions are discussed.     

企业流动型客户占有率及其效益的马尔科夫预测

客户关系管理是目前各界探讨的一个热点问题。从适应客户关系管理对客户数据深入挖掘的需要出发,将客户分类为流动型客户和稳定型客户,流动型客户可分为高利润客户和低利润客户。对企业产品对流动型客户的占有率以及由该客户创造的效益选用马尔科夫预测模型进行预测和效益评估,有利于指导企业的运作,也有利于预测结果的准确。     

Customer Retention Strategies of Fast-Food Outlets in South Africa: A Focus on Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), Nando's,and Steers

The primary aim of the research was to critically analyze and evaluate the different customer retention strategies being implemented by fast-food outlets such as Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), Nando's, and Steers in South Africa. The fast-food industry in South Africa is experiencing numerous market-related changes, which range from intense globalization forces to heightening competition levels. The pressure on businesses today is further increased by a market where the customer acquisition rate is slowing, customer loyalty is decreasing, and sales cycles are lengthening. In such an environment, losing a valuable customer to a competitor can have a significant impact on profitability and growth. As a result, many companies have shifted their focus from customer acquisition to customer retention. The research was primarily concerned with assessing customer relationship management, relationship marketing, and communication through technology as strategies to maintain intimate relationships with customers. Personal interviews and in-depth interviews with the help of questionnaires were used to collect primary data in the research. The results indicated that KFC, Nando's, and Steers adopt similar marketing strategies or use the same concepts to manage their relationships with both internal and external customers and other stakeholders. These strategies and concepts include customer relationship management, relationship marketing, and technological means of communication.     

Stakeholder management and the stakeholder matrix: Potential strategic marketing tools

This article examines how marketers may be able to apply the stakeholder management process and the stakeholder matrix to marketing strategy formation. Existing marketing theory does not utilize the stakeholder management process when undertaking strategic marketing planing, although most marketing theory implicitly identifies the need to develop strategies that address the needs of multiple groups or stakeholders. By understanding and applying stakeholder theory, marketers should be able to develop more effective marketing strategies. While there is extensive management literature examining stakeholder theory, there is little marketing literature in this area, and this article attempts to partially fill this gap.