Philip Kotler and G. Alexander Rath
Design is a potent strategic tool that companies can use to gain a sustainable competitive advantage. Yet most companies neglect design as a strategy tool. What they don't realize…
Abstract
Design is a potent strategic tool that companies can use to gain a sustainable competitive advantage. Yet most companies neglect design as a strategy tool. What they don't realize is that good design can enhance products, environment, communications, and corporate identity.
Lingling He, Miaochan Lin, Shichang Liang, Lixiao Geng and Zongshu Chen
This research explores the impact of classical aesthetics (e.g. order and symmetry) and expressive aesthetics (e.g. creativity and distinctiveness) on consumer green consumption.
Abstract
Purpose
This research explores the impact of classical aesthetics (e.g. order and symmetry) and expressive aesthetics (e.g. creativity and distinctiveness) on consumer green consumption.
Design/methodology/approach
This research conducted three studies. Study 1 explored the main effect of appearance aesthetics (appearance: plain vs classical vs expressive) on green products purchase intention through a one-factor between-subjects design. Study 2 verified the mediating role of perceived naturalness through two types of appearance aesthetics (appearance: classical vs expressive) between-subjects design. Study 3 verified the moderating role of product identity-symbolic attributes through a 2 (product identity-symbolic attributes: non-identity-symbolic vs identity-symbolic attributes) × 2 (appearance: classical aesthetics vs expressive aesthetics) between-subjects design.
Findings
Consumers will be more likely to purchase a green product that has classical aesthetics appearance (vs expressive aesthetics). Perceived naturalness mediates the effect of aesthetic appearance on consumer green consumption. Product identity symbol attributes moderate this effect. Specifically, for non-identity-symbolic green products, classical aesthetics can effectively enhance consumer purchase intention. For identity-symbolic green products, expressive aesthetics can effectively enhance consumer purchase intention.
Originality/value
Existing research suggests that aesthetic appearance can increase consumers’ evaluation of electronic products, beauty products and food, but the difference between aesthetics has not yet been explored. This research compares two aesthetics, contributing to the literature on aesthetic appearance in green products and offering valuable insights for managers’ green products marketing.
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Arnaud Bigoin-Gagnan and Sophie Lacoste-Badie
The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of the symmetrical disposition of information items displayed on the front of product packaging on perceived complexity…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of the symmetrical disposition of information items displayed on the front of product packaging on perceived complexity, perceptual fluency, aesthetic evaluation and product purchase intention.
Design/methodology/approach
A sample of 104 participants was exposed to fast-moving consumer goods packaging. A within-subject design experiment was carried out to assess the influence of the symmetrical disposition of information items displayed on the front of the packaging. ANOVA and a PROCESS procedure to assess mediation (Hayes, 2013) examined the relationships among the factors influenced by symmetry.
Findings
This study found that the symmetrical disposition of information items around the vertical axis (mirror symmetry) decreased visual complexity and highlighted an “indirect-only mediation” of visual complexity on the aesthetic evaluation of the packaging through processing fluency. This research also highlighted the fact that packaging aesthetic evaluation had a positive influence on purchase intention.
Originality/value
This study extends knowledge on package design by showing that the elements on which the producer can act (in this case, symmetry on the front of packaging) have an influence on the consumer’s evaluation of the product and intention to purchase.
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Carmenza Gallego, G. Mauricio Mejía and Gregorio Calderón
This article proposes a conceptual basis upon which to address strategic design as business intellectual capital.
Abstract
Purpose
This article proposes a conceptual basis upon which to address strategic design as business intellectual capital.
Design/methodology/approach
A literature review was carried out on the subjects of strategic design and intellectual capital.
Findings
A conceptual basis is derived from the theoretical proposal that strategic design is an intangible, critical factor, which favors organizational competitiveness, when it impacts the betterment of organizational and intellectual capital processes.
Practical implications
On the level of business practice, this article submits a broadened view of design, which may be applied to organizational strategic processes and which transcends its emphasis in the production of goods or services.
Originality/value
In previous literature, strategic design has not been addressed as intellectual capital, which supports the resolution of strategic problems.
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Xinlu Qiu, Marcelo Cano-Kollmann and Ram Mudambi
The purpose of this paper is to explore how firms achieve competitiveness by implementing design-driven innovation.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore how firms achieve competitiveness by implementing design-driven innovation.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is a detailed longitudinal analysis of the design innovation underpinning the Norwegian furniture industry. Using a data set spanning 40 years (1976-2015) of design patents by both Norwegian firms and inventors, the authors map the coinventor connectivity of the design-innovation clusters of Norway, both within the country and with foreign locations.
Findings
Using network analysis, the authors find that most of the rise of co-inventor connectivity within Norwegian furniture industry’s design innovation is occurring within the country. More surprisingly, the leading firms and star inventors are less likely to collaborate internationally, i.e. they are characterized by greater innovative “lock-in”.
Research limitations/implications
The exploration of all the potential reasons for the “lock-in” in design innovation of the Norwegian furniture industry is beyond the scope of this paper. A particularly interesting avenue for future research would be to compare the coinventor connectivity of traditional sectors like furniture with more high technology sectors within Norway.
Originality/value
By assessing a detailed and historical context of the evolution of Norwegian furniture industry, the paper provides a fairly comprehensive study of design innovation as a source of firms’ competitiveness, which has been rarely explored. The authors suggest that innovative “lock-in” may be more likely to arise in the traditional sectors of an economy and the forces may be particularly strong for those firms and individuals that have the highest domestic connectedness and status.
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Alexander Dominik Meister and René Mauer
Recent years have seen a wave of immigration in western countries. Entrepreneurship can foster refugees’ integration in the labour market. Hence, the authors observe an emergence…
Abstract
Purpose
Recent years have seen a wave of immigration in western countries. Entrepreneurship can foster refugees’ integration in the labour market. Hence, the authors observe an emergence of incubators with social purpose, addressing the key challenges of refugee entrepreneurs. The purpose of this paper is to look at the particularities and the impact of business incubation on entrepreneurial development and embeddedness of refugee entrepreneurs in the host country by applying the theoretical lens of mixed embeddedness theory.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is based on a qualitative case study approach exploring one business incubation model for refugee entrepreneurs in Germany. For a multi-stakeholder perspective, the data were collected through a participatory focus group workshop and semi-structured interviews of refugee entrepreneurs and incubator stakeholders (e.g. incubator management, mentors and partners) contributing to the incubation. The data collection extends over the duration of five months of the incubation programme.
Findings
The empirical results emphasise the impact of the business incubator on refugee entrepreneur’s development and embeddedness. In this analysis, the authors identify key themes of a particular incubation process addressing the lack of embeddedness and barriers to refugee entrepreneurs in the host country. From the results, the authors elaborate a particular business incubation process framework of refugee entrepreneurs.
Originality/value
The findings enhance the understanding how business incubation contributes to the embeddedness of refugee entrepreneurs in their new hosting environment. Thus, this research contributes to the existing literature by extending incubation model frameworks towards refugee entrepreneurship and embeddedness perspectives. Furthermore, the study emphasises the role of the incubator in the context of the dimensions of the mixed embeddedness of the refugee entrepreneurs.
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Kamelia Chaichi, Alexander Trupp, Mageswari Ranjanthran and K. Thirumaran
Employee well-being in a casino work environment is crucial for the quality of work-life and employees' performance. This study examines the dimensions of well-being at a casino…
Abstract
Purpose
Employee well-being in a casino work environment is crucial for the quality of work-life and employees' performance. This study examines the dimensions of well-being at a casino in Malaysia to gain deeper insights into employee challenges and motivational factors to arrive at practical mitigation efforts.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopted a qualitative approach involving 14 semi-structured interviews with casino employees in Malaysia. Interviews lasted 30 min to 2 h at a time when Covid-19 was raging in 2021. Responses were analysed via a data-driven approach and coded using NVivo software to delineate the contents into analytical categories of well-being dimensions.
Findings
The findings suggest that employees at the casino face challenges in achieving work-life balance. Employee's well-being suffers from insufficient break time, irregular working hours affecting family time, managing customer temper tantrums and lack of emotional support systems and remunerations altered by the pandemic. Women employees were particularly vulnerable.
Research limitations/implications
The findings suggest a need to create better working conditions and address well-being with counselling support for stress management, a balanced approach by employers to the “customer is always right” mantra, creating promising career pathways and supervisors to have better oversight of workaholics. The research focused only on one casino and there was limited access to management departments for an organizational perspective.
Originality/value
This study adds to the body of knowledge on employee well-being in the context of a casino. It suggests hospitality and tourism organizations review their human resource practices that would ease the stresses at the workplace and create support systems to promote employee well-being. Crucially, in a pandemic crisis, well-being dimensions must be accommodating and integrative to employee sentiments, sensitivity and self-actualization.
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The author describes how he entered the marketing field and describes his contributions in four sections: articles written, books published, students nurtured, and executives…
Abstract
The author describes how he entered the marketing field and describes his contributions in four sections: articles written, books published, students nurtured, and executives consulted and trained. He describes his contributions to the marketing field in nine areas: marketing theory and orientations, improving the role and practice of marketing, analytical marketing, the social and ethical side of marketing, globalization and international marketing competition, marketing in the new economy, creating and managing the product mix, strategic marketing, and broadening the concept and application of marketing.