Kuei-Feng Chang, Maxwell Hsu and Scott Swanson
This paper aims to facilitate positioning strategy formation by decoding the relationship between consumers’ desired values, service attributes and expected consequences.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to facilitate positioning strategy formation by decoding the relationship between consumers’ desired values, service attributes and expected consequences.
Design/methodology/approach
Key informant depth interviews are followed by a questionnaire of self-cause-and-effect assessments. Total interpretive structural modeling (TISM) is used to identify hierarchical structures via pair-wise preference comparisons. The analytic network process (ANP) is used to compute relative weights to evaluate the overall image of identified alternatives. The feedback feature in the ANP is enabled to obtain objective assessments.
Findings
With the help of both TISM and ANP techniques, the hierarchical and interactive relationships among consumers’ desired values, expected consequences and service attributes are revealed in the context of international airline services.
Research limitations/implications
The approach presented can help organizations to identify which attributes influence consumer evaluations of a company/brand; obtain the hierarchical and interactive relationships among service attributes, expected consequences and desired values; assess consumer preferences toward identified service attributes; and obtain an objective assessment of the competitive landscape, which can facilitate the development of effective positioning strategies and associated tactics.
Practical implications
Organizations adopting the methods presented in this study can have a better understanding of the consumer value chain and deliver better customer experiences.
Originality/value
The current study provides an innovative application of the TISM in conjunction with a feedback-enabled ANP technique to address brand positioning challenges. Future studies may consider adopting the TISM-ANP method as a foundation whenever one attempts to explore the values-consequences-attributes hierarchy.
Details
Keywords
Kuei‐Feng Chang and Hao‐Wei Yang
Faced with the aggressive and invasive behavior of a competitor, it is necessary for a firm to adopt strategies to protect its market share. This study aims to examine brand…
Abstract
Purpose
Faced with the aggressive and invasive behavior of a competitor, it is necessary for a firm to adopt strategies to protect its market share. This study aims to examine brand counter‐extension strategy as a means of fighting back against strong competitors.
Design/methodology/approach
The study applies a measure of conditions among competitors, namely market position and extension outcome, as well a firm's own technological capability, in order to develop the fight‐back strategy of brand counter‐extensions.
Findings
The results verify that utilizing a competitor's market position does not help in the firm's brand counter‐extension, although the outcome of the competitor's previous successful extension could facilitate it.
Practical implications
Two practical implications could be addressed to enable firms to utilize their competitors' conditions: first, to utilize the competitor's market position to enter a new market at the introduction stage of a product's life cycle; second, to utilize the outcome of a competitor's brand extension to build support for a new product at the growth stage of its life cycle; a two‐step appeal strategy with the aim of learning the degree of support and purchase intention of consumers.
Originality/value
This study proposes that the strength of the firm's technological capability is critical for a successful counter‐extension. Moreover, the combination of successful experience and technological capability could enhance a customer's intention to purchase.