Marketing capabilities and innovation. How do they affect the financial results of hotels?

From the point of view of firms’ managers, the knowledge of the factors which explain their firms’ financial results is considered of great usefulness to propose the most appropriate and profitable marketing strategies and actions. This research sets out from this central idea and proposes a model of relationships that considers the marketing results, the marketing capabilities, and the innovation capability as key factors for achieving good financial results. This model is verified via an empirical investigation carried out among 200 directors of hotel establishments in Andalusia, a region in the south of Spain which is one of the country's main tourist destinations. The results indicate that innovation capability is strongly conditioned by marketing capabilities and resources and that this innovation capability affects the financial results of the firms analyzed. Likewise, it is deduced that a market-oriented management philosophy contributes to the development of these marketing capabilities. The implications for management are considered very relevant as they must lead these firms to invest in the development of marketing resources and capabilities, and apply a market-oriented management philosophy if they wish to improve their financial results.     

An Empirical Segmentation of Users of Mobile Banking Apps

Digital technologies have squeezed the entire world into a small frame. Trade and transactions never stop, and they go where the customer is. Marketers must reinvent their strategies and toolkits to win in this hyper-connected world. Companies are creating new and improved ways for engaging and involving their consumers, and one significant tool now used by companies for these purposes is the app. Mobile phones have registered the highest growth among all technological evolutions, and mobile apps are proliferating. Apps are being used across a diverse range of industry verticals, including banking, e-commerce, travel, and tourism. This article studies a set of twenty different banking apps and segments consumers based on their adoption and usage of the apps. This article emphasizes the role of mobile technologies to change established channels and banking services, and also analyzes how the Indian banking sector has benefited from the adoption of mobile apps.     

You follow fitness influencers on YouTube. But do you actually exercise? How parasocial relationships,and watching fitness influencers,relate to intentions to exercise

Digital celebrities found on social media platforms are found to be successful in endorsing brands and products, and influencing purchase intentions of their followers. However, influencers also promote values and lifestyles on their channels, such as healthy behavior and fitness. In this article, we investigate the motivations of users who follow fitness influencers on YouTube and how parasocial interaction and intentions to watch fitness are related to intentions to exercise. Watching fitness videos and social interaction seems only to motivate followers that are already physically active. Non-exercising users are attracted to YouTube by entertainment and a parasocial relationship with an influencer that has no impact on their intentions to exercise.     

Cause-related marketing 2.0: Connection,collaboration and commitment

The article aims to explore and revise cause-related marketing (CRM) in light of an emerging concept of the market and the roles assigned to companies and consumers in marketing communication processes. Based on a dialogical reflexive approach to case studies, we take our point of departure in theoretically identifying key CRM constituents and their interrelations, and we show how current theories within CRM build upon axioms of a traditional firm-centric view on value creation and fail to meet the challenges of new market structures and relations. This tension of axioms provides a point of direction for introducing the Pepsi Refresh Project as a case illustration of an alternative CRM practice that redefines CRM from company-driven to community-driven – and points towards relocating CRM from an overt to a covert brand and marketing communication strategy. CRM becomes a joint value- and identity-constructing practice transforming consumer criticism into brand involvement and community commitment. By reflexively merging theoretical and case insights, the contribution of the article lies in the revisiting of existing CRM theories in the context of connected, critical and empowered consumers and the subsequent outlining of what we suggest to be CRM 2.0.     

基于NETSTARS运用定床水理原理在河道疏浚中的应用

疏浚大多用于河道的过分淤积,拓宽则用于通水隘口的消除。而随着时空的演变河床疏浚与河槽拓宽的进行所需考虑的因子越来越多,故疏浚进行前应尽量考量整个河道的河性以及施工后可能引致的变动,使能维持预期的效果,并避免造成负面效应。本文主要以涧河为研究对象,利用NETSTARS拟似二维水理输砂模式,探讨河道疏浚后的水理与输砂演变趋势等相关课题。     

The development of integrated marketing communications at the British General Post Office, 1931–39

In the 1930s, the General Post Office (GPO) in Britain became one of the nation’s most innovative pioneers of marketing communication. Following criticism of the organisation in the 1920s for its conservative use of publicity, the GPO embarked upon a series of creative publicity campaigns that applied, amongst other methods, advertising, public relations, promotions, cinema, events and artistic posters. Through an overview of its publicity, and through a narrative of three case-studies, this article argues that one of the most important innovations of the GPO was its integration of marketing communication, both in terms of techniques used and in relation to its emphasis in promoting the organisation and the services it provided.     

Sensory expectations generated by colours of red wine labels

Since there is usually no sales assistance available in supermarkets, wine labels represent the pivotal source of information for consumers at the point of purchase. In particular, it is the colour of the label which largely influences consumers’ wine choice. The purpose of our study was to reveal customers’ sensory expectations in relation to the flavour of red wines based on their label colours. Moreover, our goal was to examine whether there are any differences in the consumers’ expectations according to their frequency of wine purchase and gender. A survey was carried out among respondents who were intercepted in the wine aisles of two stores of an Austrian supermarket chain. The results indicate that label colours have a strong influence on flavour expectations. While, for example, red and black are most likely to create tangy flavour expectations, red and orange are most associated with fruity and flowery flavours. In addition, it appears that frequent buyers have stronger expectations than infrequent buyers with respect to most of the colours analysed. Finally, the customers’ gender seems to have little influence on flavour expectations. The results may be considered by wine producers in their label design to create sensory expectations in accordance with the actual flavour of their wine and, hence, avoid any disconfirmation of consumers’ expectations when they taste the wine. This is of particular importance when wine is sold in retail stores and consumers cannot rely on their taste experience prior to their purchase.     

Assessing targeted macroprudential financial regulation: The case of the 2006 commercial real estate guidance for banks

In January 2006, federal regulators issued guidance requiring banks with specific high concentrations of commercial real estate (CRE) loans to tighten managerial controls. This paper shows that banks with concentrations in excess of the thresholds set in the guidance subsequently experienced slower growth in their CRE portfolios than can be explained by changes in bank or economic conditions. Moreover, banks above the CRE thresholds tended to have slower commercial and industrial loan growth but faster household loan growth following issuance of the guidance. The results highlight the potentially broad influence that portfolio-based macroprudential regulation might have on bank behavior.     

Investigating the Drivers of Consumer Acceptance and Response of SMS Advertising

This study tests five potential drivers underlying the acceptance of SMS advertising. After developing a scale to measure behavioral responses to SMS advertising, the relationships between the acceptance of SMS advertising, intention to receive SMS advertising and behavioral responses to SMS advertising are tested. A convenience sampling method was employed. Survey questionnaires were distributed across Western Australia. The return yielded 203 usable questionnaires from the respondents. Several factors emerge as significant drivers of acceptance of SMS advertising including utility of SMS advertisements, context of SMS advertisements and attitudes to advertising in general. Contrary to expectation, control over SMS advertisements did not emerge as a significant driver for acceptance of SMS advertising. Trust in advertisers and laws did not emerge as a significant driver of the acceptance of SMS advertising among Australian respondents. Advertisers who pursue consumer acceptance should strive to build utility and context considerations into their SMS campaigns. Future research opportunities include testing the drivers of SMS advertising to further investigate the impact of control and trust on acceptance of SMS advertising in other countries where the SMS advertising has not been explored yet.     

Marketing cereal to children: content analysis of messages on children's and adults' cereal packages

This study compares messages displayed on children's and adults' cereal boxes. In total, 127 cereal boxes were collected and content analysed. On the front panel, we found an interesting contradiction between health‐related textual and graphical messages. The nutrient claim appeared on more than half of cereals for children, which is significantly higher coverage compared with that of adult cereals. On the other hand, the representation of a bowl of cereal was far more likely to appear artificially coloured or sweetened on child‐targeted cereal boxes and contain less fruits and nuts compared with adult‐targeted cereals. Results on the back and side panels showed that messages targeting adults are mostly health related (e.g. well‐being, purity) while messaging to children focuses less on health‐related messages and more on games, toys and other entertaining topics. Nutritionally, child‐targeted cereals overall are less nutritious than adult‐targeted cereals and have higher rankings of sugar sources in the ingredients. This study calls for a critical consideration about not only on what is in the cereal box but also what is on the box.