Loyalty program structure and consumers' perceptions of status: Feeling special in a grocery store?

Loyalty programs are business practices increasingly pursued by companies in order to achieve customer loyalty. Recent studies have focused on the relationship between loyalty program structures (i.e., number and size of hierarchical tiers) and status levels (i.e., exclusivity) perceived by members. The current study examines two potential moderators of this relationship between program structure and perceived status. Specifically, the aim of our research was to test whether loyalty program structure affects status perceptions in more and less exclusive industries, and among consumers with more and less positive attitudes toward loyalty programs.An experimental design based on different scenarios was used. Two industries and three loyalty program structures were examined. In the airline industry, which is higher in perceived exclusivity, perceived status in the top tier of the loyalty program increased as the number of customers in the top tier decreased and as the number of tiers increased. Notably, however, loyalty program structure had no effect on perceived status in the supermarket industry, which is lower in perceived exclusivity. Moreover, even in the airline industry, status effects were only observed among respondents with a positive attitude toward loyalty programs. Those with neutral or negative attitudes toward loyalty programs were unaffected by the structure of the loyalty program. Thus, the effect of loyalty program structure on consumers' perceived status varied systematically across industries and across individuals.     

The effect of item reduction on assortment satisfaction—A consideration of the category of red wine in a controlled retail setting

This study aims to investigate the effect of item reduction on assortment satisfaction within the red wine category. The study conducted an online experiment using a simulated online wine store. Lowest selling wines were removed after the first buying phase, and the respondents repeated the browsing process in the reduced assortment. A questionnaire measured the shift in perceptions. The results show that assortment perceptions can be maintained in the face of item reduction. There is also a strong association between category familiarity and assortment satisfaction, with differing levels of assortment satisfaction between high and low category familiarity groups. The presence of a favourite item also plays a role in maintaining assortment perceptions. The results suggest that retail managers can reduce assortments by removing low selling items while not affecting customers' assortment perceptions. Furthermore item reduction can be used to increase consumers' satisfaction if they are unfamiliar with the product category. This particular study is limited in the sense that the results were obtained exclusively in an online environment. Future studies may therefore be useful in validating these results in brick and mortar wine outlets.     

What makes a good citizen in service settings?

As service firms face intense pressure to improve service quality, contact employees have been asked to do more with less. It is important that managers understand the concept of organisational citizenship behaviours and attempt to motivate employees to exhibit such behaviours. This study developed and tested a model of how employees' perception of organisational support affects affective commitment (AC), which contributes to their citizenship behaviours in service settings. Questionnaire data from matched pairs of 318 contact employees and their supervisors demonstrated that both perceived organisational support (POS) and AC play strong, central roles in determining contact employees' exhibition of citizenship behaviours. In addition, AC was found to be an effective mediator linking contact employees' perception of organisational support to their citizenship behaviours.     

Is ‘Good’ governance good for business? A cross-national analysis of firms in African countries

Good governance can reduce uncertainty, transaction, search and production costs, and ultimately affect firm performance. In this paper, we explore the link between good governance and the profitability of individual firms in African countries. We employ the governance indices developed at the World Bank and assemble a sample of companies from 21 countries over four years. Contrary to prior research that found a negative association between institutional development and profitability, our evidence shows that an improvement of good governance in countries currently with low levels of governance ratings has greater positive effects on the firm profitability than a similar improvement in countries with relatively higher ratings of good governance. Good governance reduces the variability of the company's profitability, leading to high-return and low-risk investments. Finally, we find that the role of good governance depends upon the country's income level. When the income level is lower, an improvement in public governance is more likely to impact firm performance than when the income level is relatively higher. Good governance is more important for the stability of the profitability of firms in countries with higher levels of good governance ratings than lower ratings.     

What European Union in the “Age of Uncertainty”? Weathering the Geopolitical Storms in a World of Perpetual Crises

Intereconomics - A world of risks and uncertainties can also be a world of opportunities. How and how quickly the EU adapts to the socio-political, economic, energy and climate transitions at hand,...     

What affects shopper’s choices of carrying devices in grocery retailing and what difference does it make? A literature review and conceptual model

Shopping carts, dating back at least to 1936, are not only used as an aid for shoppers to increase sales but are now being further developed and tested in relation to healthy food selection. To improve retailers’ ability to discover, generate, and capture the value related to both current practice and future innovations; such as consumers using smart carts when shopping, we systematically go through the empirical literature on carrying equipment in in-store shopping. We expose how limited the literature is by revealing the scarce number of studies on the effectiveness of baskets and carts on consumer behavior and especially when classified into different research themes. The contribution is a systematic literature review and a conceptual framework covering the most important factors affecting the choice of in-store carrying equipment, as well as the consequences of these choices in terms of in-store behaviors and transactional outcomes.     

A study of Hong Kong Businessmen's perceptions of the role “Guanxi” in the People's Republic of China

Guanxi is perceived as a major determinant for successful business in China. This research paper investigates the importance of Guanxi from the Hong Kong Businessmen's viewpoint. It confirms previous findings in this area and adds on new dimensions. Therefore, practitioners and academics may further refine their knowledge in this subject.Leung, T. K. P. is an Assistant Professor of Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He specializes in industrial marketing and marketing in China. His current research interests include issues in Guanxi, networking in China, and Chinese negotiation. He has published in referred journals related to the PRC market.Wong, Y. H. is an Assistant Professor at Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He teaches courses in sales management and international marketing. His current research focuses on issues of relationship marketing and Guanxi model. His recent publications include articles in preferred journal and books.Wong, Syson was a lecturer of Hong Kong Polytechnic University and is now a business consultant. She specializes in quantitative methods and China business. Her current consultancy works include a big project in China.     

Is brain hemisphericity a correlate of performance in problem-solving courses? A case study from an HBCU

The authors set out to determine the brain dominance characteristics of students enrolled in business statistics courses in a historically Black university in a major southeastern Texas city. Thereafter, the authors investigated the relationship between a student’s brain hemispheric preference and academic performance in college courses, which emphasize problem solving. The results reported in this study reveal that left brain– and right brain–dominant students are at parity when it comes to performance in a problem-solving course. Moreover, both left brain– and right brain–dominant learners perform better than whole-brain dominant learners in a problem-solving course.     

What makes export manufacturers pursue functional upgrading in an emerging market? A study of Chinese technology new ventures

This study examines unique factors causing emerging market firms to pursue functional upgrading. Our analysis draws on the resource-based view and learning theory, and our study sample consisted of Chinese new technology ventures. We test the effect of governance mechanisms and internal resources on the functional upgrading of firms. The results indicate that trade shows and quality advantage facilitated the functional upgrading of firms. However, contrary to our expectations, electronic markets and technological advancement do not emerge as significant variables. The implications of the results are discussed in consideration of the existing literature, and future research opportunities are described.     

“How does customer perception of salespeople influence the relationship? A study in an emerging economy”

Sales and sales force management is a complex activity that largely determines a company's commercial success. Customer perception of the salespeople in terms of expertise, trust, interaction, and risk can drive the establishment of long-lasting ties, making customer portfolio management profitable in the long-term. Yet to date, while much work has been done on company-customer relational issues, very few studies have taken customer perception of salespeople as their reference. Moreover, most existing studies have taken western countries and developed economies as their reference of analysis.The present study, in contrast, provides an analysis of an emerging economy context, Peru. Using a sample of more than 400 consumers and structural equations analysis, this article presents a model based on the Social Exchange Theory. The final part of the study presents the theoretical discussion together with key implications and recommendations for management.     

“Greed is good” ... or is it? Economic ideology and moral tension in a graduate school of business

This article reports the results of an exploratory investigation of a particular area of moral tension experienced by MBA students in a graduate school of business. During the first phase of the study, MBA students' own perceptions about the moral climate and culture of the business school were examined. The data gathered in this first part of the study indicate that the students recognize that a central part of this culture is constituted by a shared familiarity with a set of institutionally reinforced premises about human behavior and motivation including the ideas that: 1) people are self-interested utility-maximizers, 2) individuals should be unimpeded in their pursuit of their own self-interest through economic transactions, and 3) virtually all human interactionsare economic transactions. The data further indicated that the business students experience a degree of tension between this ethic of self-maximizing and the everyday ethics prevalent in our broader culture, in which altruism and selflessness are central elements. The final section of the study was an effort to see whether and how these institutionally sanctioned premises were integrated into the students' arguments about the relationship between self-interest and social responsibility.Janet S. Walker is currently a PhD candidate in The University of Chicago's Committee on Human Development. Previously, Ms. Walker worked in both public and private sector organizations, conducting economic research in the United States and abroad. Ms. Walker's current research focusses on understanding economic activity as meaningfully embedded in a psychological and cultural context. Ms. Walker is also pursuing certification in clinical psychology.     

What Managers Could See in the Philosophical Block of “Free Will”?

Business ethics’ theories have come under a lot of criticism lately. The problem has been the lack of a philosophical base or the inadequate implementation of it. We are trying to solve this problem by examining the roots of ethics and then applying it to the business environment. The root that has been undeservedly overlooked has been the concept of free will, the oldest philosophical problem on which every ethics theory lies. We have chosen two theories that we think would be the best base for business ethics. We will shortly present the others. Since free will presents the core of business ethics, business ethicists must first agree on which theory to implement. Aristotle’s and Aquinas’ theory of free will best amplify the core of economic theory, because it gives reason a central and most important role in the theory. The concept of free will is mainly philosophical as is business ethics so the article follows this tradition, but we tried to give business examples where possible. We do not give a final conclusion because it should be reached by debate and mutual agreement between business ethicists. Matej Drascek is presently a graduate student at University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Social Studies. His research interests include: corporate social responsibility, stakeholder theory and business ethics. Stane Maticic got his Phd in Theology at University of Lateran, Rome. He is presently a priest at the Archbishopric of Ljubljana. His research interests include: ethics, symbolism and theology.     

What Does it Mean when Mitchell Gets an ‘A’ in Business Ethics? or the Importance of Service Learning

In this essay I show that business needs business school graduates who are capable of ethical business action. Thus, business ethics courses should help students develop the capacities and skills they will need to act ethically at work. Towards this developmental end, I list eight steps business ethicists can take to implement service learning in their courses. I show how service learning in the classroom can be combined with a college honorary program to promote ethical business actions in students.     

What Makes for a Successful Hotel? Insights on Hotel Management Following 15 Years of Hotel Occupancy Analysis in England

Time series analyses of daily and monthly occupancy rates in different samples of hotels in England over a 15-year period reveal consistent temporal components of occupancy performance. These differentiate hotels in terms of overall occupancy levels, seasonality, length of season, trend and within-week variations. The components are related to the characteristics of hotels and their management using statistical methods and structured interview surveys, and the factors affecting occupancy performance of hotels are identified and calibrated. The policy implications for the results for successful hotel marketing and management are extracted.     

A Reply to “Business Marketing in Master's Programs: A Part of the Fabric”, But What If the Suit Differs?

ABSTRACT

In this reply to James Narus, James Anderson and Earl Honeycutt (NAH) we elaborate on the journey, a 25-year process, in teaching Business Marketing at Ivey. We further discuss the goal to elevate Business Marketing knowledge in the core of the program, rather than to build a strong specialization in the area. Inspired by NAH's reply, we then comment on the root causes of lack of progress at some schools in bringing more Business Marketing into master's programs, and we address the question, “What about those schools where the characteristics are different from Ivey, i.e., how far can our ideas be generalized?”     

What characterizes Chinese consumer behavior? A cross-industry analysis of the Chinese diaspora in Japan

In order to profit from China??s enormous business opportunities, international firms need to know Chinese consumer preferences. To learn more about intrinsic Chinese consumer preferences and their distinction from other Asian consumer preferences, this study analyzes differences in the formation of customer satisfaction, repurchase intent, and word-of-mouth intent between Chinese-born and locally born consumers in Japan. Verifying culture-based hypotheses, cross-industry analyses show that Chinese-born consumers pay less attention to the public brand image and risk-related switching costs, but more attention to quality expectations, perceived value, experienced usefulness, and financial switching costs than Japanese consumers. Marketing strategies should account for these preference structures.     

Do You See What I See? A Simulation Analysis of Order Bundling within a Transparent User Network in Geographic Space

The Physical Internet (PI) concept presents a radical change with the aim to revert the unsustainable practices that are used for transporting goods. It identifies dedicated freight flows and transforms them into transparent open logistics networks which can be accessed by other users, such as shippers and carriers. In this paper, we test the universal network openness in which the users can tap into the PI network and place orders that will be assigned to the nearest available transport service and consequently delivered to the order sender. The objective of our paper is to investigate the impact of inserting extra service points into existing dedicated freight flows of a service‐driven company. We simulate different transparency levels and routings to new pickup locations and evaluate the impact in terms of altered lead times, covered distances, and fill rates. The novel aspects presented herein are (1) deliveries based on decentralized location detection of the nearest order sender, (2) dynamically changing speed parameters of agents within specific geographic clusters based on their geo‐locations in order to account for congestion levels, (3) more realistic routing strategies that consider the urban layout, and (4) transparent querying of nearest agents in space and time that meet specific conditions such as current ongoing processes, available capacity, and position. Finally, we identify the impact from a general/holistic perspective that emerges once extra orders are assigned to the service‐driven company's fleet.     

What do we know about fashion adoption groups? A proposal and test of a model of fashion adoption

The purpose of this paper is threefold: (1) to identify gaps in the literature and inconsistencies between empirical data and Rogers' diffusion of innovations model originally outlined in 1962; (2) to propose a model of fashion adoption; and (3) to conduct an empirical test of the proposed model. The proposed model varies from Rogers' model as follows: four (vs. five) ideal‐type adopter groups with unique names and clear operational definitions; proportional distribution of consumers among groups; clear method of statistically identifying group members; categorization based on fashion innovativeness and opinion leadership; and standard procedure for identifying groups based on mean and standard deviation. The proposed model offers greater precision and provides results that are comparable across studies. The model was analyzed empirically using four methods of categorizing participants into fashion adoption groups (independent variable) and fashion involvement as the dependent variable. Participants in the study were 309 students from two universities. The analysis using the proposed model provided clear‐cut results that supported the hypothesis that higher levels of consumers' fashion involvement increased the probability of earlier adoption. Results from the other three analyses were not as clear‐cut. Based on the model for fashion adoption presented in this paper, the foundation is primed for development of a theory of fashion adoption. The proposed model offers a solution to the problem of identifying fashion adoption groups, plus, the solution achieves the desired effect with the simplest effort and is undertaken with appropriate methods.