Lisa Donnell, Karise Hutchinson and Andrea Reid
The purpose of this paper is to identify how small to medium‐sized enterprise (SME) fashion retailers can achieve a true understanding of customer trends to close the needs to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify how small to medium‐sized enterprise (SME) fashion retailers can achieve a true understanding of customer trends to close the needs to offer gap in a highly dynamic sector.
Design/methodology/approach
A single case study approach is adopted in light of the limited research in this area. Data collection involved a multi‐stage and multi‐methods approach over a six month period to increase the validity of findings and the triangulation of data.
Findings
The findings of this paper highlight, first, the need for formal CRM intervention; and, second, the issues involved in the implementation of a loyalty program.
Originality/value
In the absence of specific knowledge in this area, a framework is developed to advance both theoretical and practical understanding of how SME fashion retailers can build and manage close customer relationships in the new economy.
Details
Keywords
Karise Hutchinson, Lisa Victoria Donnell, Audrey Gilmore and Andrea Reid
The purpose of this paper is to understand how small to medium-sized enterprise (SME) retailers adopt and implement a loyalty card programme as a marketing management…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to understand how small to medium-sized enterprise (SME) retailers adopt and implement a loyalty card programme as a marketing management decision-making tool.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative and longitudinal case study research design is adopted. Data were collected from multiple sources, incorporating semi-structured interviews and analysis of company documents and observation within a retail SME.
Findings
The findings presented focus on the loyalty card adoption process to reflect both the organisational issues and impact upon marketing management decision-making.
Research limitations/implications
This research is restricted to one region within the UK, investigating loyalty card adoption within a specific industry sector.
Practical implications
SME retailers operate in an industry environment whereby there is a competitive demand for loyalty card programmes. SME retailers need to carefully consider how to match the firm’s characteristics with customer relationship management (CRM) operational requirements as highlighted in this case.
Originality/value
The evidence presented extends current knowledge of retail loyalty card programmes beyond the context of large organisations to encompass SMEs. The study also illustrates the value of a structured, formal CRM system to help SME retailers compete in a complex, competitive and omni-channel marketplace, adding new insights into the retail literature.
Details
Keywords
This paper aims to connect the history of San Francisco's urban development, particularly the use of artificial fill along the coast, with the city's seismic history in order to…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to connect the history of San Francisco's urban development, particularly the use of artificial fill along the coast, with the city's seismic history in order to explore whether San Franciscans have learned from recurrent natural disasters.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses historical analysis of primary sources, particularly scientific reports related to the 1906 and 1989 earthquakes. The theoretical approach draws on environmental history and natural disaster studies.
Findings
San Franciscans failed to learn lessons from earthquakes in 1868 and 1906. After the 1989 earthquake, experts reported that much of the damage had been predictable. Both policymakers and laypeople were surprised to discover the extent of scientific knowledge, given the poor preparation and outcomes.
Research limitations/implications
The brief treatment by no means represents a thorough review of the literature; the paper is intended to be provocative rather than comprehensive.
Practical implications
The paper suggests that coastal residents need to develop a new paradigm for viewing environmental change, including natural disasters, as an inherent element of dynamic coastal ecosystems. This mindset would help cities to better prepare for both future disasters and more gradual change to coastal landscapes, such as that likely to occur as a result of global climate change.
Originality/value
The study connects insights from the discipline of history to those of the earthquake sciences. It seeks to disseminate concepts from environmental history, such as the unnaturalness of natural disasters and the relationship of cities to nature, to an audience of policymakers and scientists.
Details
Keywords
Alejandro Acosta Carrizosa and Andreas Neef
In critical tourism studies, tourism has often been accused as a detrimental activity for local communities. The objective of this chapter is to highlight that there is another…
Abstract
In critical tourism studies, tourism has often been accused as a detrimental activity for local communities. The objective of this chapter is to highlight that there is another way of understanding tourism, one that responds to a more emancipating approach. The authors argue that from a post-structuralist perspective certain types of ‘responsible tourism’ can exhibit characteristics that promote local economic sustainability and greater gender equality as well as contribute to disaster risk reduction and recovery. Through a review of the literature and empirical fieldwork in the Fiji Islands, the authors examine the capacity of community-based tourism (CBT) to serve as a tool for locally led development and effective disaster risk reduction and recovery. The authors also explore whether CBT can open new spaces for women’s perspectives to be included in governance of local development and disaster risk management, challenging the gendered power structures within the community.
Details
Keywords
Andreas Zaunseder and Angus Bancroft
Trading illicit drugs on cryptomarkets differs in many ways from material retail markets. This paper aims to contribute to existing studies on pricing by studying the relationship…
Abstract
Purpose
Trading illicit drugs on cryptomarkets differs in many ways from material retail markets. This paper aims to contribute to existing studies on pricing by studying the relationship between price changes in relation to changes in nominal value of the cryptocurrency. To this, the authors qualitatively study product descriptions and images to expand the knowledge on price formation.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors analysed 15 samples based on visual and textual scrapes from two major drug markets – for Dream Market between January 2014 and July 2015 and for Tochka between January 2015 and July 2015. This longitudinal study relates changes in process to variations in the Bitcoin exchange rate and selling strategies. The analysis of the marketing of drugs online also addressed the development of the vendor profile and product offers.
Findings
Product prices change in relation to variations in the Bitcoin exchange rate. This points to the application of mechanisms for automatic price adaptations on the market level. Real prices of the drug offers constantly increase. The authors assert that there is a bidirectional relationship. Vendors structure price and discounts to encourage feedback. And feedback in combination with signals of commitment and authenticity inform pricing. Product descriptions are an important feature in the successful marketization of goods, whereas product images are predominantly used as an aspect of recognisability and feature of the vendor’s identity.
Research limitations/implications
Findings suggest that there is great potential for further qualitative research into the relationship between the online and offline identity of drug vendors, as well as price setting when entering the market and subsequent changes for offered products.
Practical implications
Findings also suggest that further investigation into the constitution and management of vendor’s identity on the cryptomarkets would allow a better understanding of vendors and their interactions on cryptomarkets.
Social implications
A better understanding of drug trading on cryptomarkets helps to more effectively address potentials for harm in the online drug trade. Also targetting crime would benefit from a better understanding of vendor idenities and pricing.
Originality/value
The findings represent a valuable contribution to existing knowledge on drug trading on cryptomarkets, particularly in view of pricing and vending strategies.
Details
Keywords
Andrea McIlroy and Shirley Barnett
The relationship between customer loyalty and satisfaction, profitability and customer retention is described within the framework of relationship marketing. The importance of…
Abstract
The relationship between customer loyalty and satisfaction, profitability and customer retention is described within the framework of relationship marketing. The importance of loyal customers and their impact on business profitability is undisputed, but it is more difficult to build customer retention than it may appear. Various strategies including loyalty schemes and discount cards are sometimes used in an effort to retain customers, but their success is questionable. A New Zealand hotel case study is presented which describes customer reactions to a discount card promotion. It was found that customers who purchased the card exhibited the characteristics of Morgan’s “mercenaries”. Although they had high satisfaction, their commitment to the company was low. However, in order to succeed, loyalty programmes need to develop “loyalists”, customers who have high satisfaction, high loyalty and who will stay and be supportive of the company.
Details
Keywords
Abstract
May 13, 1969 Industrial Training — Industrial training levy — Hotel and catering industry — Statutory Order including in scope of “activities” provision of meals and lodging by members' club — Club not engaged in industry or commerce — Whether activities of industry or commerce — “Those activities” — Whether club “employers in the industry” — Validity of Order — Industrial Training Act, 1964 (1964 c.16), ss. 1(1)(2), 4(1) — Industrial Training (Hotel and Catering Board) Order 1966 (S.I. 1966 No. 1347).
Arnaldo Camuffo, Andrea Furlan, Pietro Romano and Andrea Vinelli
The purpose of this paper is to investigate routes towards supplier and production network internationalisation.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate routes towards supplier and production network internationalisation.
Design/methodology/approach
Multiple case‐study analysis has been applied to a sample of 11 Italian footwear and apparel companies with headquarters located in the North‐east of Italy. Within and cross‐case analyses illustrate and compare how these firms relocated one or more segments of their supplier and production networks to Romania.
Findings
The findings support theories that view internationalisation as an incremental process of experiential knowledge accumulation. The case studies suggest that firms undertake three different routes towards supplier and production network internationalisation: traditional subcontracting; co‐ordinated subcontracting; and supply system relocation. These routes' typology is grounded on an original model, which is the theoretical contribution of the paper, which elaborates Johanson and Vahlne's framework adding two variables: the nature of the technological knowledge that needs to be transferred to run the foreign operations and the nature of the customer‐supplier (CS) interaction context of the focal firm.
Research limitations/implications
The characteristics of the model proposed set the boundaries of the research approach and suggest new avenues for further research. First, the model rests on the idea that no firm can fully control the dynamics of its international network, since these are an emergent process. Consequently, the study does not provide practitioners with a rigid set of normative indications about what factors to consider when designing international supply networks. Secondly, the model does not consider all the factors that impact on the internationalisation of the supplier and production network. Finally, the model is not evolutionary and does not assess the relationships between the internationalisation process (its timing, speed, etc.) and firms' performance.
Practical implications
The typology can support managers when framing the problem of choosing among different routes of supplier and production network internationalisation. Furthermore, the findings suggest that these decisions are influenced by the nature of the technological knowledge involved and the CS interaction context.
Originality/value
The paper extends the theory of the supply network internationalisation process, proposing a model that captures the variables actually involved in such a process and their dynamic relationships.