Finding critical success factors for virtual community marketing

Previous studies have identified critical success factors related to using virtual communities as a marketing channel. These studies have followed two research trends that connect the virtual community to actual purchasing. One is finding relationships between the operational elements of a virtual community and members’ intent to purchase and the other is finding relationships between characteristics of virtual community members and their intent to purchase. The model for this study reflects both trends. In addition, the model reflects research related to factors of customer satisfaction and the measurement of marketing success in terms of sense of community and loyalty. Conclusions from this research have been verified empirically with survey data collected from 292 virtual community members representing nine profit-oriented virtual communities. This study confirms that operational elements of a virtual community and characteristics of virtual community members affect the success of virtual community marketing. It is also confirmed that perceptions of usefulness, trust, and commitment toward the virtual community are important intervening effects. However, not all factors studied in the model were found to be significant in relationship to successful virtual community marketing. The analysis of the results from this study should be helpful to practitioners who use virtual communities as a marketing channel.     

Consumer valuation of health attributes for soy-based food: A choice modeling approach

Given that soy foods possess health-promoting attributes that offer the promise of reducing heart-related chronic diseases, this article employs choice experiments to estimate marginal willingness to pay (WTP) for soy attributes including taste, contents of soy protein, and health claim. Random parameter logit (RPL) models were estimated in consideration of potential heterogeneity across individuals in their preferences for soy food. Standard deviation parameters in the RPL models are highly significant, indicating that individuals have widely varying preferences for soy-based food products. Results suggest that, while taste is the dominating attribute that drives consumers’ WTP for soy food products, consumers do respond to the information provided in the health claim. Yet, consumers do not seem to be recognizing soy protein as the link to health benefits of soy foods.     

The interplay between consumer self-view,cognitive style,and creative visual metaphors in print advertising

This paper examines the use of an advertising rhetoric technique – visual metaphor, and its persuasion effects in light of consumers’ cultural and individual dispositional characteristics when processing visually relational information. Of particular interest are the culturally driven self-views and individuals’ cognitive thinking styles. An experimental study involving visual metaphor manipulations in the context of print advertising was conducted. Results showed that, visual metaphor techniques significantly enhanced the persuasion outcomes through consumers’ evaluation of the advertising message and the brand. Both consumers’ self-construal orientation and their analytic-holistic processing style, moderate the effects of visual metaphors in print ads for low-involvement products, but not for high-involvement products. Implications for academics and practitioners, as well as future research directions suggested through the current experiment, are discussed.     

How do independent directors influence innovation productivity? A quasi-natural experiment

Due to managerial myopia, managers may be reluctant to make long-term investment decisions that do not produce immediate results. Effective corporate governance can align managers’ short-term-oriented incentives with shareholders’ long-term interests. Because the board of directors is the paramount governance mechanism, we explore the role of board governance on managerial myopia. In particular, we investigate the effect of independent directors on corporate innovation. To minimize endogeneity, we exploit the passage of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act as an exogenous shock that raises board independence. Our difference-in-difference estimates show that board independence leads to significantly higher investments in innovation as well as higher innovation productivity. Our results are consequential as they show that board governance has a palpable effect on important corporate outcomes such as innovation productivity.     

Fintech: Ecosystem,business models,investment decisions,and challenges

Fintech brings about a new paradigm in which information technology is driving innovation in the financial industry. Fintech is touted as a game changing, disruptive innovation capable of shaking up traditional financial markets. This article introduces a historical view of fintech and discusses the ecosystem of the fintech sector. We then discuss various fintech business models and investment types. This article illustrates the use of real options for fintech investment decisions. Finally, technical and managerial challenges for both fintech startups and traditional financial institutions are discussed.     

The Roles of Business Ethics in Conflict Management in Small Retailer–Supplier Business Relationships

Any ongoing relationship involves conflict. While facing conflict can be a serious matter for small firms with limited resources and capabilities, little is known about conflict management or the role of an ethical foundation, or business ethics, for small businesses. This study examines some influential factors regarding conflict management and the role of business ethics in satisfactory business relationship building in the context of small retailer–supplier relationships. The proposed model identifies (1) the relative importance of business ethics and role performance as antecedents and (2) two dimensions of satisfaction (social and economic) as consequences. The data, collected from small apparel retailers in the United States, clearly demonstrate the powerful role of business ethics. The positive perceptions of small retailers regarding supplier business ethics significantly reduces retailer–supplier conflict and increases retailer–supplier social satisfaction. Supplier role performance does not contribute to a reduction in retailer–supplier conflict as perceived by small retailers, but it does enhance the economic satisfaction of retailers, which further increases their social satisfaction. The functional benefits of conflict provide interesting insight. Providing several meaningful implications, this study demonstrates the unique aspects of conflict management within small retailer–supplier relationships.     

The appealing characteristics of download type mobile games

As the mobile game industry enjoys continual and rapid growth in the market and becomes a major sector of the service industry, it is of great interest to examine the very features that make mobile games so fascinating and keep its players coming for more. Pinpointing more precisely the very factors that increase the attraction of games will help game makers allocate corporate resources more efficiently. In addition, a more in depth analysis of the appealing characteristics enable game producers to establish an organized strategy in developing more advanced and technologically sophisticated mobile games, and to enhance their competitive advantage. In order to find these factors, we proposed a model, analyzed empirical data, and then interpreted the results. In this study, we examined the download type mobile game to find and compare factors that cause intent to play. The suggested model has three layers. The top layer is the intent to play mobile games. The second layer, the psychological perception layer, consists of two perceptive factors: perceived enjoyment, and perceived copresence. The third layer is a technological layer, used to classify the characteristics of the mobile games content into image, communication, and attractive characteristics, all of which have relationships with perceptive factors. The study shows some interesting results and we believe the conclusion and implications of this research will be useful for mobile game scholars and industry participants.     

Strategic Choice and Performance in Late Movers: Influence of the Top Management Team's External Ties

This work examines how the strategic choice and performance of late movers are influenced by the top management team's external ties, inside and outside the firm's industry. Using a multiyear sample of firms from the computer industry, we found that intra-industry trade-association ties of top managers led to the adoption of a resource-imitation strategy by late movers while extra-industry importation and professional-association ties led to the adoption of a resource-substitution strategy. We also found that trade association ties had a negative effect on the performance of late movers using resource-substitution, while top managers' service on other firms' boards had a positive influence on the performance of those firms. Our findings not only confirm the importance of the role of fit in strategy and performance, but they also highlight the importance of the management and control of boundary-spanning activities.     

Impact of Environmental Performance on Firm Value for Sustainable Investment: Evidence from Large US Firms

This research examines the impact of environmental performance on firm value, applying the event study methodology to Newsweek’s ‘Green Rankings’ announcement of 2012 for large US firms. Specifically, it analyzes the impact of the absolute green score and green rank of firms on their performance in the stock market. We found that investors perceive the announcement as positive news, leading to significant positive standardized cumulative abnormal returns (SCARs). After controlling for industry‐ and firm‐specific effects, we observed that firms with repeated green rankings for enhancing environmental performance showed significantly higher SCARs than those with either reduced or unchanged environmental performance. In addition, the environmental impact score measuring environmental damage from a firm's operational activities was found to be the most influential factor in improving the firm's value. Our findings are beneficial to managers in allocating resources to different types of environmental initiative, and provide valuable insight for sustainable environmental investment. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment