Influence of perceptual metrics on customer profitability: The mediating effect of behavioural metrics

Accountability of marketing actions is a topic of ongoing interest. In accordance with the growing importance of the subject, a multitude of customer metrics has been developed intended to measure and value marketing investments and link their returns to financial results and performance. Managers widely acknowledge the need for quantitative measures of marketing performance but now face the challenge of deciding which metrics to measure and how to interpret them. One of the main difficulties lies in the interdependencies of metrics. Those interdependencies may lead to serious misinterpretation and have been widely neglected in the existing literature. Therefore, this study empirically tests if the influence of customer perceptual metrics (for example, customer satisfaction) on customer profitability persists when customer behavioural metrics are considered. We use data from a large European financial service provider. Our findings support the relevance of mediating effects of customer behavioural metrics (for example, cross-selling ratio) on the relationship between customer perceptual metrics and customer profitability. The article contributes significantly to the body of knowledge about interdependencies between different customer metric combinations by considering direct and indirect links, testing for mediator effects, and evaluating their impact on customer profitability.     

Designing the future—A reflection of a transdisciplinary case study in Austria

The paper presents a transdisciplinary case study which aimed to encourage a vital regional process for building more sustainable structures and regional networks in the future. The case study looks at the industrial city of Steyr which is located in a highly dynamic region in Upper Austria and has to compete with other regional industrial centres and on the global market with internationally acting companies in the automotive sector. For finding local strategies to cope with globally induced pressures and changes several foresight techniques and transdisciplinary approaches have been applied such as interviews, photo elicitation, workshops and scenario building. The transdisciplinary case study is reflected by exploring three major research questions: first, how does transdisciplinarity work in practice, second, what are the benefits and limitations of transdisciplinary research in regional foresight processes and third, how can transdisciplinary research contribute to initiating a long-term process for building sustainable networks and structures in the region. Some answers can be given from the empirical example of Steyr. The case study shows that particularly in regions with a long industrial history and tradition and where existing paradigms cannot easily be overcome, a transdisciplinary procedure provides clear advantages over sole expert solutions. Transdisciplinarity can be the key to get through to the local actors, to develop perfectly fitting strategies for the region and to initiate joint learning and in an ideal situation a long-term change process. New ideas, structures and networks are established which are essential for improving the long-term development of a region.     

Market failures and the additionality effects of public support to private R&D: Theory and empirical implications

We extend the theoretical basis of the empirical literature on the effects of R&D subsidies by providing an estimable model of strategic interaction among subsidy applicants, and public and private sector R&D financiers. Our model incorporates fixed R&D cost and a cost of external finance. We derive the optimal support rule. At the intensive (extensive) margin the costs of external funding reduce (increase) the optimal subsidy rate. We also establish necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of additionality. It turns out that additionality at the intensive margin is less likely with higher spillovers. Our results suggest that the relationship between additionality and welfare may not be straightforward.     

Utilizing Verbally Told Stories for Informal Knowledge Management

In knowledge management, the act of telling stories is utilized to capture and convey knowledge. Spoken language is the basis for telling stories. Collaborative audio-based storytelling uses the act of verbally telling stories in groups. In this paper, we explore how to utilize verbally told stories for informal knowledge management. To identify the requirements for an information system that supports collaborative audio-based storytelling, we review the body of knowledge in relation to storytelling and knowledge management. After reviewing the state of the art, we present the CASTing information system. CASTing (Collaborative Audio-based StoryTelling) addresses the identified requirements and supports a process for collaborative audio-based storytelling. CASTing consists of a client application which supports nomadic work as well as a web portal which aims at building a storytelling community. We present CASTing along our process for collecting, structuring, linking and using verbally told stories. We conclude with a report on first experiences as well as an outlook on future directions.     

Impact of hurricanes on US insurance stocks

This paper analyzes the impact of hurricanes on insurance stock returns in the United States. The objective is to assess the reaction of insurance stock prices caused by hurricanes using an extensive data sample consisting of the costliest hurricanes since 2004. We aim to understand the insurance stock price reactions and provide possible explanations for the observed results. The main outcome is a negative abnormal return for all examined time windows. Analyses of impact factors show that high-category hurricanes have more negative abnormal returns in comparison to low-category hurricanes. The latter category is even positively correlated with the cumulative abnormal return. The regression model indicates a statistically significant negative correlation between the cumulative abnormal return and the damage caused by the hurricane.