Gulping the Poison: How Webcare Attributes Reduce Damages to Brands Caused by Negative Reviews

Negative reviews written by unsatisfied consumers can significantly erode the image of a brand. Therefore, marketers regularly respond to these reviews through written messages posted on online channels: a practice known as webcare. The present article seeks to explore whether selected webcare attributes, such as strength, sidedness, and ownership, have any effects on consumers’ forgiveness of the service failures caused by transgressing firms. Furthermore, the effects of consumer forgiveness on satisfaction with webcare, brand attitudes, and purchase intentions are also investigated. The article examines these relationships in the context of a fine dining restaurant (Study 1) and a hotel (Study 2). The results reveal that webcare attributes play a salient role in achieving consumer forgiveness. Furthermore, the studies also reveal that consumer forgiveness leads to satisfaction with webcare and improved brand attitudes and purchase intentions.     

Development of Value Stream Mapping from L’Oreal’s Artwork Process

ABSTRACT

This research develops value stream mapping (VSM) for L’Oreal’s artwork process, to eliminate waste, reduce lead-time, and identify stages that should be automated, which makes the process less prone to human error and more responsive to fulfilling B2B (B2B) customer requirements. Additionally, amendments frequently occur slowing down the artwork process. In this context, VSM is applied to L’Oreal’s artwork process to reduce lead-time, human error, and missed deadlines.

This practitioner note uses data from L’Oreal’s artwork tracker from 2018 to 2019, which is manually tracked by the launch team. The service level agreement and task time data has been collected from 12 employees representing the launch, factory, and marketing teams working on the artwork process. Qualitative feedback was also obtained from nine employees to validate the VSM for L’Oreal’s artwork process.

VSM identified stages that should be streamlined and automated in L’Oreal’s artwork process, which makes the process more efficient and responsive to the changing scope of the artworks. Fifty percent of the stages have been eliminated from the manual artwork process, resulting in a reduced lead-time of 10.5 days and a reduction of 28% time spent on the process. This allows the artwork process to be more agile to the requirements of B2B customers. Moreover, the proposed VSM shows a 73% increase in value added time for a renovation and a 75% increase in value added time for new product developments (NPD).

VSM has been used within many functions in a business, such as operations and supply chain management, however, its application within marketing has not been extensively explored. This practitioner note attempts to fill this gap by applying VSM to L’Oreal’s artwork process (AP). Moreover, this research extends the understanding of the concept and application of VSM within the context of lean in a marketing process. VSM has successfully identified the inefficiencies in the artwork process and highlighted the stages in the process that should be removed or automated thereby, making the process responsive and agile to meet the changing requirements of B2B customers.

VSM has been successfully applied to L’Oreal’s artwork process that resulted in a significant reduction in the total number of stages in the proposed process by eliminating non-value added activities. Efficiency gained through the application of VSM will lead to increased B2B customer satisfaction, reduced lead-time, and reduction in human errors and missed deadlines.

VSM has been specifically designed, developed, and analyzed for L’Oreal’s artwork process, in order to make the process more efficient and responsive to B2B customers' requirements.     

Modeling and Promoting Organic Food Purchase

This study aims at enhancing organic food product (OFP) purchase by identifying customer segments based on their knowledge and attitude related to organic food along with their demographic profile. Two scales for measuring Knowledge and Attitude related to organic food were developed to measure their levels. The scales have covered six dimensions of organic food: Healthy, Eco-friendliness, Price, Availability, Certification, and Brand. After identifying the customer segments, each segment was further segmented based on their media consumption behavior. Hierarchical followed by K means cluster analysis resulted to six distinct segments with their corresponding subsegments. Cluster analysis was again performed for each customer segment, and a media selection method (MSM) was evolved to effectively communicate with OFP customers. These methods can guide marketers in devising an appropriate communication plan for enhancing OFP purchase.     

Attention to social comparison information and brand avoidance behaviors

This research links brand avoidance behaviors to attention to social comparison information (ATSCI). We posit that high (vs low) ATSCI consumers will suffer from more social-evaluative uncertainty, i.e., more uncertainty regarding others’ reactions to their brand choices. To alleviate this problem, high ATSCI consumers will avoid distinctive or conspicuous brands and brand icons that might draw the attention of others, playing safe in their brand choices, rather than risking social disapproval. Two preliminary studies provide support for the theoretical assumptions, confirming that ATSCI is positively associated with brand consciousness, brand social-evaluative uncertainty, and brand avoidance motivated by social-evaluative concerns. Study 1 examines brand identification and shows that although high and low ATSCI consumers identify themselves with equally prestigious brands, the former avoid identifying with distinctive brands. Study 2 demonstrates that unlike their low ATSCI counterparts, high ATSCI consumers avoid conspicuous brand logos even in the case of highly prestigious brands.     

Ethical standards,attitudes toward risk,and intentional noncompliance: An experimental investigation

Prior research has investigated the influence of decision maker characteristics on decision choice. This research examines the effect two personality traits of taxpayers, attitude towards risk and ethical standards, on intentional noncompliance. A taxpayer who is more (less) ethical will have lower (greater) intentional noncompliance, while a taxpayer who is more (less) risk averse will have lower (greater) intentional noncompliance. However, this study also found significant correlation between risk attitudes and ethical standards. This is because tax evasion is not just a gamble which can be explained by merely considering the risk variable. To understand tax evasive behavior better requires incorporation of noneconomic factors in the analysis, such as ethical standards, although risk attitudes may be an important explanatory factor. The current research suggests that individuals with lower ethical standards will have more intentional noncompliance. However, since ethical standards are correlated with attitude toward risk, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) can partially overcome the influence of ethics by making the tax audit environment more uncertain. Thus, the research results justify the decision of the IRS not to release all its audit parameters because it makes the audit environment less uncertain.Dipankar Ghosh's research interests are in judgment and decision making, transfer pricing, and negotiation. He has published inDecision Science, Journal of Conflict Management, International Journal of Accounting, andJournal of Management Accounting Research.Terry L. Crain's research interests are in tax policy, tax equity, and the effects of taxation on taxpayer decision. He has published inDecision Science, International Journal of Accounting, andJournal of the American Taxation Association.     

Insiders' personal stock donations from the lens of stakeholder,stewardship and agency theories

This paper studies the relationship between personal stock donation by top executives and board of directors (insiders) of publicly traded corporations and their personal tax, shareholders' returns, and social responsibility. The study finds evidence that the timing of stock donations is driven by personal tax gain. The study further shows, comparing stock gift corporations relative to their non‐stock gift cohorts, that personal stock gifts are associated with lower short‐term and long‐term stock returns to shareholders. This implies that stock donation driven by insiders' personal gain adversely affects shareholder wealth. However, the likelihood and intensity of insiders to make personal stock donation is reduced when firms have strong corporate social responsibility (CSR). Agency theory explains insiders' opportunistic behavior, stakeholder theory is also supported by evidence that stock donation is negatively related to CSR, and stewardship theory offers a different view to explain the rationale behind insiders' stock donation and shareholders' reactions to stock gifts.     

Stock-market reaction to growth-induced dividend cuts: Are investors myopic?

This paper focuses on shareholder reaction to growth-motivated dividend cuts and omissions. The results reveal that although growth announcements mitigate the capital loss induced by dividend decreases, the stockmarket response to growth-oriented dividend cuts is still strongly negative. However, the capital loss suffered by investors is significantly reduced when dividend cuts are accompanied with stock dividends. Two potential explanations of the results are explored: (1) shareholders find the immediate benefits of stock dividends more attractive than the potentially higher future rewards of investment opportunities; and (2) shareholders overreact to dividend announcements. Analysis of the performance of the firms for two years following the dividend cut indicates weak support for the overreaction hypothesis.     

A QUADRATIC PROGRAMMING INTERREGIONAL TRADE MODEL: AN APPLICATION AND A PERSPECTIVE*

This paper presents a theoretical activity-type model of U.S. interregional trade for the agricultural sector as an extension of the broad non-linear programming formulation of Samuelson [4] and the quadratic programming reformulation of Takayama and Judge [5]. A shorter model is applied to the problem of examination of the short-run competitive strength of Wisconsin, particularly in beef and pork (interregional) trade. The conclusions for Wisconsin suggest competitive price disadvantages in beef and beef feeding but with belter prospects for expansion for a pork sector At a time of growing interest in the probable impact of expanded and freer Canada-US. trade, this type of programming model is suggested as a significant approach to problems of Canada-U.S. trade. In addition, in an apparently emerging era of regulated marketing and production control, the employing of such a model for interregional market share analysis appears a major possible policy avenue Ce papier présenle un modèle théorique “Type-activiie” du commerce interregional aux Etats-Unis, pour le secteur agricuhurel, en guise ?extension du propos de vaste programmation non-lineaire, tel que formule par Samuelson [4], ainsi que celui de Takayama el Judge [5], qui proposent une réformulation de programmation quadraiique. Un plus petit modèle est appliqué au probleme ?examinalion de la force immédiate et compétitive de Wisconsin, tout particulièrement dans le commerce (interrégional) du boeuf et du pore. Les conclusions tirées pour Wisconsin suggèrenl un prix com-pétitif qui désavantagerait le boeuf el ?alimentaiion du boeuf, mais qui favoriserait ?expansion du secieur du pore A un temps oú?on se préoccupe de ?impact tout probable dûà un commerce plus libre et plus étendu entre le Canada el les Etals-Unis, ce genre de modéle de programmation est suggéré comme étant une approche significative aux problèmes de commerce Canada-Eiats-Unis. En plus, en celle époque qui semble mettre de plus en plus ?emphase sur le marché ajuslé et le comrôle de production, les possibililés ?employer un lei modéle pour ?analyse de la part du marché interrégional nous apparait comme étanl une possibilité majeure en fait de ligne de conduiie.     

The Effects of Oil Price Shocks on Output

This analysis explores the effects of oil price shocks on U.S. economic growth. We begin with a well-known model developed by James Hamilton, consider refinements to his definition of an oil price “shock,” and then explore alternatives to his basic reduced-form model. We find that a structurally inspired error-correction model for non-farm business output, which allows for oil price changes to have both long-run and short-run effects, performs better than the basic reduced-form model and also shows significantly smaller adverse effects of rising oil prices. Our preferred model suggests that oil prices reduced GDP growth by about 0.4 percentage point on average through the first three quarters of 2008, before contributing 1.7 percentage points in the fourth quarter as prices plummeted.