Fabiana Nogueira Holanda Ferreira, Bernard Cova, Robert Spencer and João F. Proença
The evolution of the business-to-business (BtoB) realm toward solution business calls for a better understanding of how relationships develop over time in such a renewed context…
Abstract
Purpose
The evolution of the business-to-business (BtoB) realm toward solution business calls for a better understanding of how relationships develop over time in such a renewed context. This paper aims to propose a phase model for solution relationship development, considering triadic relationships in complex engineering solutions.
Design/methodology/approach
To depict how relationships develop in solution business, the authors adopt a qualitative approach which allows to detail the episodes of interactions between the actors. A case study approach in an extreme sector – the aerospace industry – allows highlighting certain key traits. Extending conventional dyadic analysis, this empirical study focuses on the aerospace industry, using a case study approach to analyze relationship developments between a worldwide leading aircraft manufacturer, one of its customer and four providers of products and services. The authors adopt a triadic perspective in the selection of cases, considering a total of four manufacturer-provider-customer triads.
Findings
Four dynamic phases which track solution provision dynamics and involving dyadic and triadic relationship evolution are identified: matching; combining; mixing; and sharing. Each phase calls, from a management perspective, for specific competencies and resources of the actors in interaction.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the gap about solution relationship development in a changing BtoB landscape. Considering the lens of a triadic approach, the paper also helps to fill the as-yet unattended to gap between dyads and triads in the literature.
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Miguel Martim Leal, Beatriz Casais and João F. Proença
This study aims to explore the role of local community in tourism co-creation. Despite the importance of internal stakeholders, there is a dearth of research on the process of…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the role of local community in tourism co-creation. Despite the importance of internal stakeholders, there is a dearth of research on the process of place branding co-creation with the local community, considering their interconnections and influencing relationships.
Design/methodology/approach
An old and picturesque local market under a rebranding process was used as a case study. The research involved 10 interviews with market vendors to understand their views regarding place identity, their involvement in brand co-creation, their expectations about the process and the perceived results of such co-creation. Public information was also collected as secondary data to illustrate the rebranding process.
Findings
The vendor community had limited involvement in the market rebranding and felt they should have been more widely involved in the decisions as a group rather than individually. However, their satisfaction with the results of the rebranding led to the continuity of the sense of place and to the proud adoption of the new brand.
Practical implications
This study proposes greater integration of local communities as important internal stakeholders of place branding in addition to residents and suggests group meetings to involve the local community in the co-creation process.
Originality/value
This paper explores the context of a vendor community in a local market. This context has deserved little attention in the tourism literature. This study reflects the importance of local community to co-create place brands from a group perspective, taking into consideration. their roles, rights, responsibilities and relationships.
目的
本研究探讨了地方社区在旅游共同创造中的作用。尽管内部利益相关者很重要, 但关于地方品牌与当地社区共同创造的过程, 考虑他们之间的相互联系和影响关系的研究却很缺乏。
设计/方法
一个古老的、风景如画的地方市场在品牌重塑的过程中被作为案例研究。研究涉及对市场商贩的10次访谈, 以了解他们对地方身份的看法, 他们对品牌共同创造的参与, 他们对这一过程的期望, 以及对这种共同创造结果的感知。此外, 还收集了公共信息作为二级数据来说明品牌重塑的过程。
研究结果
供应商群体对市场品牌重塑的参与是有限的, 他们认为自己应该作为一个团体而不是个人更广泛地参与决策。然而, 他们对品牌重塑的结果感到满意, 这导致了地方感的延续和对新品牌的自豪采用。
原创性
本文探讨了一个地方市场中的供应商社区的背景。这一背景在旅游文献中几乎不值得关注。这项研究反映了当地社区从团体的角度共同创造地方品牌的重要性, 考虑到他们的角色、权利、责任和关系。
实际意义
本研究提出, 除了居民之外, 当地社区也是地方品牌建设的重要内部利益相关者, 并建议召开小组会议, 让当地社区参与到共同创造的过程中。
Objetivo
Este estudio analiza el papel de la comunidad local en la cocreación turística. A pesar de la importancia de los grupos de interés internos, existe una carencia de investigaciones sobre el proceso de cocreación de la marca del lugar con la comunidad local, teniendo en cuenta sus interconexiones y relaciones de influencia.
Diseño/enfoque
Se utilizó como caso de estudio un antiguo y pintoresco mercado local en proceso de cambio de marca. La investigación incluyó 10 entrevistas con los vendedores del mercado para conocer su opinión sobre la identidad del lugar, su participación en la cocreación de la marca, sus expectativas sobre el proceso y los resultados percibidos de dicha cocreación. También se recogió información procedente de datos secundarios para ilustrar el proceso de cambio de marca.
Resultados
La comunidad de vendedores tuvo una participación limitada en el cambio de marca del mercado y consideró que debería haber participado más ampliamente en las decisiones como grupo y no de forma individual. Sin embargo, su satisfacción con los resultados de la renovación de la marca condujo a la continuidad del sentido del lugar y a la adopción complacida de la nueva marca.
Originalidad
Este trabajo explora el contexto de una comunidad de vendedores en un mercado local. Este contexto ha recibido poca atención en la literatura turística. Este estudio refleja la importancia de la comunidad local para co-crear marcas de lugar desde una perspectiva de grupo, teniendo en cuenta sus roles, derechos, responsabilidades y relaciones.
Implicaciones prácticas
Este estudio propone una mayor integración de las comunidades locales como importantes actores internos de la marca de lugar, además de los residentes, y sugiere la celebración de reuniones de grupo para implicar a la comunidad local en el proceso de cocreación.
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Beatriz Casais and João F. Proença
The purpose of this paper is to examine health-related social advertisements to identify its use and evaluate its appropriateness to situational needs, such as epidemic dynamics…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine health-related social advertisements to identify its use and evaluate its appropriateness to situational needs, such as epidemic dynamics and the context where it is implemented. The paper also discusses the barriers that policymakers face in creating these linkages.
Design/methodology/approach
In all, 375 national HIV/AIDS prevention television advertisements from France, Germany, Portugal and Italy were viewed and analyzed over time of production, exploring the sources, the target audiences and the messages delivered. This paper compares management choices with HIV epidemics in each country and their contextual profiles.
Findings
The findings of this paper indicate that social advertising concerned with HIV/AIDS prevention is commonly framed within public policies and does not usually target the most vulnerable and affected populations. Furthermore, social ads are reactive to epidemic dynamics. The existence of trade-offs between putting forward theoretical marketing recommendations and taking account of contextual fracturing issues or increasing stigma and discrimination are also considered.
Research limitations/implications
This paper is useful for public sector management because of the importance of evaluating the investments done to improve future strategies. The discussion about restrictions and concerns for policy-makers is important to improve management decisions.
Originality/value
This paper suggests the adoption of proactive public policies and proposes strategies to overcome the restrictions or concerns faced by policy-makers.
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Sérgio Dominique-Ferreira, Helder Vasconcelos and João F. Proença
Consumer price sensitivity has become a major issue over the past few decades. This paper aims to investigate the importance that insurance customers give to premiums, insurers…
Abstract
Purpose
Consumer price sensitivity has become a major issue over the past few decades. This paper aims to investigate the importance that insurance customers give to premiums, insurers, intermediary recommendations and bundling strategies. The relationship between attributes and consumer price sensitivity is also studied.
Design/methodology/approach
To calculate the importance of attributes and part-worth utilities, a Conjoint Analysis with Full Profile was performed. To segment the market, a two-stage cluster analysis was performed. The traditional formula for estimating price elasticity of demand was also used.
Findings
Price sensitivity is affected by the level of purchase involvement, bundled discounts and brand loyalty. Also, brand loyalty has a strong influence on customer acceptance of bundled discounts. Price bundling increases a firm’s revenues and profits.
Research limitations/implications
The size of the sample of the second stage of the research could be higher.
It would also be interesting to have the collaboration of an actuary to carry out more precise analysis of premium estimation of bundling strategies and to study the ideal number of products that would compose the bundling strategy. Moreover, it could be relevant to consider life insurance products as part of the bundling strategy. It would also be interesting to study whether there is any benefit in applying the bundle discount to the anchor product instead of applying it to the accessory product.
Practical implications
Insurers and intermediaries can benefit from price bundling strategies to increase sales and profit.
Originality/value
The study contributes to the service marketing literature and marketing of the insurance sector by providing empirical evidence of the impact of price bundling on insurance customer sensitivity, with the use of a methodological and experimental approach.
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Mônica Cavalcanti Sá de Abreu, Fabiana Nogueira Holanda Ferreira, João F. Proença and Domenico Ceglia
This paper aims to investigate how sustainable solutions in the textiles and clothing industry are decided through business-to-business collaboration.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate how sustainable solutions in the textiles and clothing industry are decided through business-to-business collaboration.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative and inductive study of the Brazilian textiles and clothing industry is carried out, an industry in which sustainable denim products are increasingly being recognized as subject to competition. The paper adopts a focal net perspective to understand the collaborative arrangements through which firms combine the products they offer as a sustainable solution. Documentary data were collected and in-depth interviews conducted with the top managers of one of the world’s largest denim-manufacturing companies present in the Brazilian market, which is involved in providing sustainable solutions in cooperation with its partners.
Findings
The authors describe the factors that reflect the conditions for generating a sustainable business performance, including a corporate policy that assumes and articulates the responsibility for social interest, core-business stakeholders and regulatory requirements; a sustainable product-service system (S.PSS) based on innovative interactions between the stakeholders in the value production system; relations between stakeholders that promote business sustainability through a dependable value chain characterized by a sense of collaboration and collective actions; and a business model for sustainability that combines economic with social and ecological value creation. These factors help a business establish a more strategic position in the value network, enabling it to capture more value.
Practical implications
Sustainable solutions are developed dynamically and collaboratively within an S.PPS. Managers need to focus not only on tangible products but also on intangible services designed and combined so that they are jointly capable of fulfilling customer’s needs and creating social and ecological value. Managers within the solution provider must develop business models for sustainability that are continually evolving to satisfy the interest in resource-efficiency by actors in civil society, business and government.
Originality/value
The research contributes to the existing literature by applying approaches involving corporate social responsibility (CSR) and strategic nets to the study of the implementation of an S.PSS. Sustainable initiatives and offers developed by an S.PSS are not isolated phenomena but result from collaboration in finding solutions among different actors linked in a strategic net. In this sense, companies need to adjust their business models for sustainability to generate positive economic, social and ecological value and gain credibility for their missions.
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Raquel Reis Soares, Ting Ting (Christina) Zhang, João F. Proença and Jay Kandampully
The purpose of this paper is twofold: to examine generational differences in complaint and post-recovery behaviors after service failures and recoveries, and to investigate the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is twofold: to examine generational differences in complaint and post-recovery behaviors after service failures and recoveries, and to investigate the key factors that relate to Generation Y consumers’ responses.
Design/methodology/approach
In a two-stage approach, Study 1 investigates generational differences in the complaint and repurchase behaviors of a vast sample of more than 36,000 customers. Study 2 examines which factors influence Generation Y consumers’ decisions to complain and to repurchase.
Findings
Across four generational cohorts (the Silent Generation, Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Generation Y), consumers in Generation Y are the most likely to complain about service failures and repurchase after a satisfactory service recovery. The service recovery paradox thus is a generational feature. Generation Y’s unique characteristics – being tech savvy, heavily influenced by peers, and untrusting of brands – relate closely to their complaint and repurchase patterns. These prolific users of social media tend to stay with a service provider after experiencing satisfactory recovery but are more inclined to complain.
Originality/value
This study contributes to service management literature by revealing generational differences in customers’ complaint behavior and responses to recovery efforts, while also testing repurchase behavior rather than just behavioral intentions. This study provides valuable insights into the unique factors that influence Generation Y consumers’ complaint and post-recovery responses.
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Joao F. Proença and Luis Mota de Castro
Conceptual analyses of buyer‐seller interaction in services are rare, particularly with reference to banking and financial services in general. This paper tries to apply the…
Abstract
Conceptual analyses of buyer‐seller interaction in services are rare, particularly with reference to banking and financial services in general. This paper tries to apply the industrial network paradigm to relationships between firms and commercial banks in Portugal. It is argued that relationship banking is complex and embedded in an aggregate structure: banking networks. Three Portuguese case studies of corporate banking relationships are discussed. The paper examines the linkages between banks and factoring firms connected to the corporate banking relationships. It is argued that these linkages are forms of multi‐organizational partnering, in notion very similar to “internal” networks.
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João F. Proença and Luís M. de Castro
The paper aims to discuss the interaction processes and short‐term behaviours and motives in long‐term relationships between banks and their corporate clients.
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to discuss the interaction processes and short‐term behaviours and motives in long‐term relationships between banks and their corporate clients.
Design/methodology/approach
The discussion is based on findings from four Portuguese case studies. Interviews made to major actors on both sides of each relationship were transcribed and analysed to investigate the buyer‐seller interaction process, and the interplay between the actors involved.
Findings
The paper contributes to knowledge concerning the nature of business banking relationships, provides insights about instability and stress therein, and suggests some factors that can generate or intensify that instability. Short‐term irregularities and stress are found to arise in the context of relationships' longer‐term continuity and stability.
Research limitations/implications
The irregularities found were endogenous to the relationships and originated from one of the actors or from the transaction. No exogenous factors were analysed and further research should be done about them. Some instability was found associated with clients keeping a portfolio of banking relationships, but the management of such portfolios is largely unstudied, begging for more work. It is also suggested that the present study be replicated in other countries and contexts for comparative analyses.
Practical implications
The paper provides a framework for corporate managers and bankers alike to better understand the process of banking relationships. It highlights some factors that should be monitored as they impact on buying behaviour and on the interplay between banks and firms.
Originality/value
The paper highlights some “stress” factors that can impact on buying behaviour and on the interplay between banks and firms, providing a new insight about the instability of business relationships in the banking business, and suggests some factors that can generate or intensify that instability.
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João F. Proença and Maria Antónia Rodrigues
The purpose of this paper is to examine the behaviour of Portuguese users and non‐users of self‐service technologies (SSTs) in banking services.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the behaviour of Portuguese users and non‐users of self‐service technologies (SSTs) in banking services.
Design/methodology/approach
An empirical study is conducted by means of a survey questionnaire. Data are collected from a sample of 300 respondents chosen to represent the Portuguese adult population in terms of age, gender, and geographical place of residence.
Findings
The results show that Portuguese users of SST banking services are likely to be young to middle‐aged individuals, with medium to high levels of education. They have a greater propensity to complain and are more price‐sensitive than non‐users of such services.
Research limitations/implications
Only six dimensions of consumer behaviour were investigated: price sensitivity, satisfaction, word‐of‐mouth, repurchase intention, propensity to change banks, complaint behaviour. Only three forms of SST contact were examined (ATMs, telephone banking, and internet banking). Other behaviours and SSTs could be examined in future research.
Practical implications
Banks investing in SST can expect: more sales (consumers with higher intention to repurchase); more opportunities for service recovery (consumers with higher propensity to complain); and more price competitiveness (more price‐sensitive consumer behaviour).
Originality/value
This is the first study to examine consumer behaviour among Portuguese customers of SST banking services. The study shows that SST does not ensure consumer satisfaction and positive word‐of‐mouth; moreover, it is not a barrier to changing banks.
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João F. Proença and Manuel Castelo Branco
The purpose of the paper is to provide an illustrative picture of how large corporations in a peripheral country such as Portugal engage in corporate social responsibility (CSR…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the paper is to provide an illustrative picture of how large corporations in a peripheral country such as Portugal engage in corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices and discuss the motivations underlying these practices.
Design/methodology/approach
In this study, a case study methodology was used to explore CSR practices and the underlying motivations in two Portuguese companies.
Findings
The results obtained suggest that some specificity may be present in the way of defining corporate responsibility for society by Portuguese companies. The Portuguese companies analysed seem to display an historical preference for corporate paternalism. This suggests that moral reasons can motivate firms (and individuals within them) to engage in social responsibility activities.
Research limitations/implications
This work focuses on two specific case studies, but other cases might find diverse findings.
Originality/value
It adds to the scarce research on CSR by Portuguese companies by providing new empirical data. It contributes to the growing body of evidence which seems to suggest that cultural differences associated with different countries affect CSR dynamics.