Dan T. Dunn and Claude A. Thomas
Relationship marketing is a powerful new business approach, but an implementation framework is required. This article discusses how six corporations collaborated in an exercise to…
Abstract
Relationship marketing is a powerful new business approach, but an implementation framework is required. This article discusses how six corporations collaborated in an exercise to develop step‐by‐step guidelines. The framework is illustrated in fields ranging from high tech to consumer products. An important trend in marketing centers on the concept of relationship marketing, a firm's effort to develop long term, mutually beneficial links with customers. It involves a partnership approach with an account to solve complex problems. General Electric and Union Carbide were early adopters of the concept, noting that relationships go far beyond price since buyers share internal company data with suppliers and expect reciprocal commitments and loyalty. Although discussed as a general marketing approach, less is known about implementation (Copulsky and Wolf, 1990; Gronroos, 1994; Morgan and Hunt, 1994). Indeed relationship marketing can backfire if customers perceive that it is only a supplier's latest buzzword. This article reports the results of an exercise conducted by six well known corporations which collaborated to articulate exactly what elements may be involved when implementing a relationship marketing program.
Dan T. Dunn and Claude A. Thomas
Partnering with customers is a powerful new business approach, butan implementation framework is required. Discusses how six corporationscollaborated in an exercise to develop…
Abstract
Partnering with customers is a powerful new business approach, but an implementation framework is required. Discusses how six corporations collaborated in an exercise to develop partnership guidelines. Illustrates the framework in fields ranging from high tech to consumer products.
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This paper aims to investigate to what extent core, technical and social components of relationship value influence customer satisfaction and loyalty in the high technology…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate to what extent core, technical and social components of relationship value influence customer satisfaction and loyalty in the high technology business to business (B2B) markets.
Design/methodology/approach
Seven attributes of a high-technology buyer-seller relationship are identified representing the core, technical and social nature of relationship value. A conceptual model is proposed in which customer satisfaction mediates between the relationship value components and the two aspects of customer loyalty – attitudinal and behavioural. The empirical study is conducted in India employing 127 high technology customers. Structural equation modelling and path analysis is used to test the hypothesized linkages and examine the impact of different components.
Findings
Technical and social components of value influence customer satisfaction to a greater extent than the core components. Whilst behavioural loyalty is more driven by core components, attitudinal loyalty is more influenced by the social component. Satisfaction mediates the links between relationship value components and the two aspects of loyalty.
Research limitations/implications
Future research could test the modelled linkages in different countries and using larger samples and investigate the supplier perspective.
Practical implications
The paper provides useful implications for high tech product suppliers to improve their relationship with their customers. Suppliers must develop collaborative product/technology development projects and explore opportunities for personal relationships/rapport building with their customers, whilst delivering a quality product at a competitive price.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the paper is the first in B2B literature to provide an insight of how the different components of relationship value vary in influencing satisfaction and loyalty in a high technology B2B buyer-seller relationship.
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In a volume of the Cornhill Magazine published in the year 1860 we have discovered an article entitled “Adulteration and its Remedy” which well deserves the attention of those…
Abstract
In a volume of the Cornhill Magazine published in the year 1860 we have discovered an article entitled “Adulteration and its Remedy” which well deserves the attention of those persons who imagine that we have made “wonderful progress” during the past half century and that the trade morality of to‐day is infinitely superior to the trade morality of the past. The unknown author of this article must have had a very clear appreciation of the nature of the gigantic evil upon which he wrote and of the character and probable effectiveness of the remedies to be applied. The adulteration of the period is described by him as a “strange, disgusting and poisonous demon” and while it is true that at the time, as shown by the revelations of the “Lancet Sanitary Commission,” there existed many forms of gross, disgusting and poisonous adulteration which are but rarely detected nowadays, our author's somewhat hyperbolic definition may still be regarded as applicable. For many of the grosser forms of adulteration prevalent fifty years ago were largely due to the ignorance of the adulterator. His prototype of the present day is no more troubled with moral scruples than he was. The dissemination and absorption of knowledge has not been accompanied, as some rabid “educationalists’ would have us believe, by any improvements in morality and virtue. The “faker ” of to‐day is merely a more skilful “faker” than his predecessor. He knows the value and makes full use of “expert” assistance, both scientific and legal, for the purpose of facilitating his escape—easy enough in any case—from what grip there is in that cranky and lumbering legislative machinery which is innocently supposed by the majority of people in this country to act as a sufficiently effective deterrent and repressant.
Filmiar Yunida Nawangsari and Iswajuni Iswajuni
The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of simultaneous and partial auditor switching toward the abnormal return of manufacturing companies listed in Indonesia Stock…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of simultaneous and partial auditor switching toward the abnormal return of manufacturing companies listed in Indonesia Stock Exchange between 2009 and 2012.
Design/methodology/approach
Auditor switching is divided into some types: lateral Big 4 to Big 4 (B4B4), lateral non Big 4 to non Big 4 (NB4NB4), cross-up (CU) and cross-down. The abnormal return is measured with a market-adjusted model. In this study, company size is used as the control variable and is measured using the natural logarithm of the total assets (LnTA) and return on equity. Multiple linear regression is used for analysis with significant value a= 5 percent. The hypotheses were tested using f-test and t-test.
Findings
The result shows that simultaneous auditor switchings affect the abnormal return. In partial auditor switching, only CU switch has effects on the abnormal return.
Originality/value
This study provides additional literature on the effect of auditor switching, especially on an abnormal return.
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Wendell E. Dunn and Scott Shane
This case describes the evolution of an entrepreneur's venture-capital fund-raising from seed-stage financing through later-round efforts. The case focuses on where the “action”…
Abstract
This case describes the evolution of an entrepreneur's venture-capital fund-raising from seed-stage financing through later-round efforts. The case focuses on where the “action” is in venture finance: the exploitation of social capital by an entrepreneur and investors. Much of the teaching materials on venture finance focus on the economics of financing; while these materials provide useful information about the mechanics of valuation and how to structure venture-capital agreements, they miss the social side of venture-capital investing. The case illustrates the theoretical concept that social capital (i.e., a person's relationship to other people in society) influences venture finance. The case can be used in a class on entrepreneurship or venture finance.
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In April of last year, Secretary of Education William J. Bennett introduced the Library Improvement Act (LIA) to Congress. (Vice‐President—then Senator—Dan Quayle proposed it to…
Abstract
In April of last year, Secretary of Education William J. Bennett introduced the Library Improvement Act (LIA) to Congress. (Vice‐President—then Senator—Dan Quayle proposed it to the Senate in June.) Designed to replace the over‐30‐year‐old Library Services and Construction Act (LSCA) and Title II of the Higher Education Act (HEA II), LIA drew an angry response from the library profession. The proposed legislation wore a price tag of $76 million, quite a mark‐down from the previous year's congressional appropriations of $127.2 million for LSCA and $10 million for HEA II.
This study employs the concept of emotional ambivalence, in an exploration of the complex emotions experienced by organizational members during organizational change.
Abstract
Purpose
This study employs the concept of emotional ambivalence, in an exploration of the complex emotions experienced by organizational members during organizational change.
Study Design
The study entailed 37 in-depth interviews conducted in two English housing associations. The interview transcripts, as well as organizational documents and research fieldnotes were subject to thematic and narrative analysis.
Findings
The emotions experienced by organizational members during organizational change are inherently ambivalent.
Originality/Value
Results show that engaging with organizational members who experience ambivalent emotions in response to change offers an important resource which can be utilized by change managers.