Market orientation and customer-based corporate brand equity (CBCBE): a dyadic study of Indian B2B firms

The relationship between market orientation (MO) and one of its most important consequences – firm performance – has received considerable attention in marketing research. Performance has been largely judged through financial or objective measures. This paper connects assimilation of MO in firms with corporate brand performance since academics have not used judgmental or market-based measures in assessing performance. We have introduced customer-based corporate brand equity to obtain a rounded idea of firm performance. This is achieved through a dyadic study, instead of self-assessment, wherein the marketing chiefs of B2B firms and their respective organisational customers are surveyed to gauge the effects of incorporating MO. We have shown that corporate brand performance is enhanced significantly in the presence of organisational innovativeness. From a practitioner’s perspective, the study details the organisational actions to be taken to assimilate MO and how those can be exploited to enhance corporate brand performance.     

Building value co-creation with social media marketing,brand trust,and brand loyalty

Value co-creation has emerged as a critical challenge for fashion brands in the age of social media. Despite its importance, scholars have not adequately explored the role of social media marketing (SMM) in enhancing value co-creation (VCC) intentions among fashion brand consumers in mainland China. SMM encompasses five hierarchical elements: entertainment, customization, interaction, electronic word-of-mouth (EWOM), and trendiness. This study developed a theoretical framework based on attribution theory and employed the partial least squares–structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) method to analyze the value co-creation process. The results indicate that SMM positively impacts brand loyalty (BL), brand trust (BT), and VCC. Furthermore, BT positively affects BL and VCC, while also serving as a positive mediator between SMM and BL and VCC. Finally, BL positively enhances the VCC intentions of fashion brand consumers. Our study's unique insights, derived from the attribution theory's advantage point, enrich the marketing literature. These findings also offer practical guidelines and tips for marketing managers seeking to optimize their SMM mix for VCC.     

Bridging the B2C and B2B Research Divide: The Domain of Retailing Literature

As the oldest academic journal in marketing, Journal of Retailing publishes research dealing with all sorts of B2B and B2C retailing-related topics. However, there appears to be a perception that Journal of Retailing welcomes only research pertaining to B2C issues. In this article, we debunk that perception through an analysis of the content of Journal of Retailing articles published during the 2002-2008 period. In particular, we find that only 18.7% of Journal of Retailing's content is devoted exclusively to B2C or C2C (consumer-to-consumer) topics. The remainder focuses on B2B research issues. We explore the implications of these findings for researchers who wish to pursue retailing-related B2B research.     

B2B品牌价值的构成及其影响因素研究

目前,国内外现有的品牌理论与策略大多数针对的是B2C产品,如海尔、三星、可口可乐等。与此同时,随着思科、IBM、GE等一些B2B企业制造了强有力的品牌,增强了竞争优势,树立了良好的企业形象,创造了巨大的经济效益。越来越多的学者看到了分析和建立B2B品牌价值的重要性和必要性。本文首先简明扼要地阐述B2B市场中,品牌价值的重要性和不可或缺性;而后重点分析构成B2B品牌价值的两个维度:而后分析了影响品牌功能价值的四个要素:功能价值、情感价值、而后分析了关系价值和环境价值。     

Influencer marketing: Homophily,customer value co-creation behaviour and purchase intention

Given the rise in influencer marketing on social media, this paper explores how homophily between influencers and their audiences affects customer value co-creation behaviour, resulting in increased expected brand value and purchase intention. A sample of 910 respondents from the United States completed an online investigation. The results indicate that homophily positively influences customer value co-creation behaviour as well as positively correlates with expected brand value and purchase intention. Customer value co-creation behaviour plays a multi-mediating role. Para-social relationship moderates the relationship between homophily and customer participation behaviour. Overall, this study encourages further research on value co-creation in influencer marketing and can constitute a valuable reference for marketing practitioners and influencers.     

实体企业进行B2C电子商务创业实证分析

电子商务相对于传统实体创业无论在成本上还是营销方面都体现出来明显的优势,电子商务创业过程中需要解决包括平台建设,推广投入,运营维护,渠道拓展等等一系列难题.通过对B2C电子商务创业的要素分析和创业过程的分析,结合安徽国润茶业有限公司的实证进行探讨,得出中小企业进行B2C电子商务创业应注意的事项和具体实施途径,为我国中小企业进行B2C电子商务创业提供一种思路.     

Exploring value co-creation in Fan Fests: the role of fans

Abstract

Fan Fests have recently provided various opportunities for host cities, organizers, sponsors and fans, manifesting a modern intersected third place service setting (other than a stadium) where varied stakeholders can co-create value and sport experience and consumption can take different forms and shapes. Yet, although Fan Fests are becoming integral parts of mega-events, research has fallen short of capturing the unique nature of such value co-creation ecosystem, and the role of fans in such value co-creation environment. This paper takes up this challenge and explores the still evolving nature of the Fan Fest, using a primarily consumer and participant focused approach in order to explore the experiences of a Fan Fest and address questions of event construction, participation, organization and consumption. Drawing on SDL and Consumer Culture Theory perspectives we situate the role of fans in value co-creation in Fan Fests and provide implications for management and future research.     

Employee brand engagement on social media: Managing optimism and commonality

This article considers how employees engage with B2B firms on social media, a topic that is largely overlooked in the extant brand engagement literature. Using the results from a large-scale study of employee brand engagement on social media, we identify two key drivers of employee brand engagement using the content analysis tool DICTION—namely, optimism and commonality. Employees of top-ranked and -rated firms express higher levels of optimism and commonality in their reviews of their employers on social media than do their counterparts in bottom-ranked and -rated firms. This permits the construction of a 2 × 2 matrix that allows managers to diagnose strategies for increasing or improving employee brand engagement. This creates four different kinds of employee brand engagement situations, and offers human resources and marketing managers different strategies in each case. We demonstrate how practitioners and scholars can shed new light on the way stakeholders engage with brands.     

Deconstructing B2B,co-creation and service deployment in East Asia: evidence from Taiwan and PRC manufacturers

Academia and governments have been advocating service deployment as an upgrading strategy for manufacturers for some time now. Existing research findings show that customer co-creation may be a key to service strategy success. However, prior studies have focused on relatively resource-rich and advanced Western contexts. This research examined co-creation’s role on service deployment performance and the conditions that encourage co-creation in the manufacturing business-to-business context of Taiwan and the PRC. The results indicate that co-creation fully mediates the relationship between a firm’s service deployment and customer-perceived value. Additionally, a firm’s product-service significance, capability specificity, supply chain mode and customer-perceived environmental turbulence may significantly influence co-creation.     

C2B电子商务网络营销策略研究

C2B是一种新的电子商务模式,本文介绍了这种模式的几种常见形式和特点,分析了它对电商企业产生的影响,并提出了C2B模式下应该从将需求模块化批量化、具备全产业链且服务专业规范、挖掘大数据进行精准营销、整合营销传播聚合更多消费者、以及制定合理规则提高转化率等五个方面进行网络营销的策略。     

The community brand paradigm: A response to brand management's dilemma in the digital era

Abstract

The consumer adoption of digital media has warranted much attention over the last decade. However, relatively little has been written about how digital media has impacted upon brand management perspectives and practices. The digital era has resulted in changes in how consumers interact with brands and each other, and this shift in behaviour requires a reappraisal of how brands should be managed. The current relational paradigm is no longer sufficient. Therefore this conceptual paper calls for brand management to develop and embody a deeper understanding of this shift by adopting a revised paradigm. Current brand management issues not addressed by the relational paradigm are outlined, the new community paradigm follows, and examples of community paradigm practice are provided as a guide for brand management.     

虚拟市场B2C心理营销理论探析

虚拟市场是当今经济环境中新兴的市场,在此市场中如何让B2C营销发挥作用是一个亟待解决的问题。虚拟市场B2C心理营销理论的提出、结构、观点及研究过程的探索,目的在于明确网络营销仍然是关于人的营销,在制定和实施各种营销策略时必须充分考虑人的因素、特别是人的心理行为。利用虚拟市场B2C心理营销理论指导企业的B2C营销工作,使B2C营销真正能够为企业创造价值,扩大我国的B2C营销模式,促进我国网络经济健康有序地发展     

基于价值链B2C电子商务企业的自营物流成本控制

在电子商务飞速发展的今天,B2C电子商务企业如何降低物流成本,获取"第三利润源泉"成为电子商务企业普遍关注的问题。尤其是随着电子商务企业自营物流的建立,使得降低自营物流成本更为必要。基于价值链的思想对B2C电子商务企业自营物流的成本进行分析,提出运用运筹学的思想来实现整个价值链上物流成本最低,达到控制物流成本的目的。     

Achieving value co-creation through cooperation in international joint ventures: A two-level perspective

How can international joint ventures (IJVs) enhance value co-creation? Using a resource-based view (RBV), this study examines whether partners’ cultural compatibility and parent companies’ asset complementarity foster top-level cooperation and/or operating-level cooperation in IJVs and investigates the underlying mechanisms (i.e., top-level goal alignment and operating-level goal alignment) in IJV relationships. This study also scrutinizes the differing impacts of top-level and operating-level cooperation on value co-creation in IJVs. The findings from a survey of 200 IJVs in China show that partners’ cultural compatibility positively affects top-level cooperation primarily through top-level goal alignment, while asset complementarity positively affects operating-level cooperation through operating-level goal alignment. Furthermore, operating-level cooperation has a stronger effect on value co-creation than top-level cooperation. This study offers fresh insights into IJV cooperation and value co-creation by introducing a two-level perspective and provides important managerial implications for the development of sustainable IJVs.     

Designing corporate brand experience in an online context: A qualitative insight

This study explores the dimensions and components of corporate brand experience in an Internet setting. Corporate brand experience (CBE), which is a source of a company's added value, could be an effective way to position a corporate brand in relation to the overall corporate marketing strategy. However, the concept of CBE has attracted very little attention from previous research, thereby our understanding of what the concept is and how to operationalize it is limited. Previous brand experience research is mainly focused on the conceptual understanding of brand experience itself, and/or the product brand level (rather than at corporation level). Understanding CBE is important because corporate brand equity (e.g. corporate image, brand loyalty) is dependent not only on how one is satisfied with the product (mostly addressed by functional/performance values of product), but also through the values of the corporation (corporate brand values). This study thus contributes theoretically to the corporate and online branding literature by proposing underlying new dimensions and components of CBE in an online environment. A series of focus group discussions (FGDs) with 32 online banking respondents informs the study. We identify five main themes and 26 sub-themes of corporate brand experience — corporate visual identity, functionality, emotional, lifestyle and corporate/self-identity. Financial service providers can address these dimensionalities during the process of brand positioning and when designing their corporate marketing in an online setting.     

Understanding the omnichannel customer journey: The effect of online and offline channel interactivity on consumer value co-creation behavior

Building on the service dominant logic, this study explores the effect of online and offline channel interactivity on consumers’ value co-creation behavior (VCB), the mediating effect of brand involvement, and the moderating effect of cross-channel consistency (CCC). We surveyed 387 customers who engage in omnichannel shopping. The relationship between online and offline channel interactivity and VCB was positive and partially mediated by brand involvement. The interaction effect of online channel interactivity (ONI) and offline channel interactivity (OFI) had a negative effect on brand involvement when CCC was low but a non-significant positive effect when CCC was high. These findings enrich the theoretical understanding of value co-creation and provide insights into omnichannel management.     

What and how to communicate about a corporate brand with the consumers: An exploratory study

The present exploratory study investigates the differential impact of various relevant corporate brand associations on consumers' cognitive (product attitude and purchase intention) and affective responses (affective corporate commitment) in the three sectors, namely durables, services and fast moving consumer goods. The findings reveal that corporate brand associations can be categorised into two categories – universal associations, which are influential in all the sectors, and sector-specific associations, which have a differential effect on consumers in different sectors. Thus, this study reveals that corporate branding is important to consumers in all the sectors, but a single corporate brand story does not work in all the sectors. Further, corporate associations do not always have a positive effect on the consumers; under certain circumstances, these might either have no effect or have a negative effect on the consumers. Finally, there are two routes by which corporate brand associations can influence consumers – by affecting their cognitive responses or by influencing their affective responses towards the company. The recognition of the important corporate brand associations in the three sectors, and the routes (cognitive or affective) through which these associations influence consumer choices would enable marketers to develop more sophisticated corporate communication strategies.     

Marketing channel evolution: From contactual efficiency to brand value co-creation and appropriation within the platform enterprise

Abstract

In recent years, major technological advances have been a primary force driving channel evolution. In particular, the Internet of things has provided a means for some firms to experience the rise of one of the most innovative and cutting-edge channels—the platform enterprise (i.e., firms such as Amazon, Etsy, and Airbnb). We examine the platform enterprise through a marketing channel evolution lens. In doing so, we point to key factors that enable particular kinds of firms to forge unique marketing channels. As platform enterprises, these channels offer value that transcends contactual efficiency, because they utilize their resources and capabilities not only to connect buyers and sellers efficiently but also to create a community of stakeholders whose collective efforts are focused on two linked priorities—brand value co-creation and brand value appropriation.     

Country-of-origin effects and antecedents of industrial brand equity

Does the country-of-origin effect matter to industrial brand equity in international business-to-business (B2B) markets? The effect of a product's country-of-origin (COO) on both industrial buyers' and consumers' perceptions and evaluations has been one of the most widely studied phenomena in the fields of international business, marketing, and consumer behavior since the 1960s. Although many country-of-origin studies focus on consumer behavior in developed countries and acknowledge that the processes and stages of economic development by which consumers use COO information may differ in developing countries, the fact that there has been little research to investigate the effects of COO could explain the variations in international buyers' evaluations of industrial brand equity in the newly-industrialized economies, such as Taiwan. Taiwanese firms are now formidable global B2B market players by successfully transforming themselves from manufacturing mainly low-value and labor-intensive goods to producing many high value-added products that require advanced technology, equipment and significant business expertise. With the adoption of advanced technology and equipment, an important question is whether unique and innovative fastener products from Taiwan have generated the country-of-origin effects in international B2B buyers' minds. The main finding is that the country-of-origin of fasteners has not yet become an important antecedent of industrial brand equity in the case of the fastener industry in Taiwan.     

Comparing Digital Strategies and Social Media Usage in B2B and B2C Industries in Spain

ABSTRACT

Using 285 responses obtained in a survey of high- and middle-level managers of firms located in Spain and by implementing clustering techniques, we identify differences in the conception and adoption of a digital strategy and the use of social media. A driver for these differences is represented by whether companies are adopting a B2C or a B2B business model. Specifically, B2B companies are slower to generate an overall digital strategy compared to B2C firms. Moreover, B2B firms adopting a digital strategy are prioritizing the use of more professionally oriented platforms (e.g., LinkedIn), while B2C firms are favoring the use of more socially oriented services (e.g., Facebook). Additionally, we find that those B2C companies without a clear digital strategy are nonetheless significantly using social media, particularly social networks, while B2B companies are delaying the use of social media until conceiving a clear digital strategy.