Adrian Slywotzky and Richard Wise
A new form of business innovation, a response to the current challenges to growth initiatives, is being pioneered by a handful of farsighted companies. These companies have…
Abstract
A new form of business innovation, a response to the current challenges to growth initiatives, is being pioneered by a handful of farsighted companies. These companies have shifted their approach from product innovation to demand innovation. Such new‐growth businesses focus on growing new value by discovering new forms of demand. For example, in the mid‐1990s, engineers within several GM business units realized that technological advances might enable the creation of a new business focused on the needs of drivers. The crucial factors in GM’s success have been its ability to look at customers’ driving needs from a fresh perspective and its decision to serve these needs through a business design that leverages GM’s unique hidden asset – its unequaled installed base of vehicles.
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Ana Dutra, James Frary and Rick Wise
For most of the past decade, it has been tough to find growth in consumer sectors such as packaged goods, media, food, and electronics. The proliferation of new brands and…
Abstract
For most of the past decade, it has been tough to find growth in consumer sectors such as packaged goods, media, food, and electronics. The proliferation of new brands and products has made operations more complex and expensive, while consolidation among retailers and the rise in private‐label store brands has shifted pricing power away from suppliers in household and packaged goods. A few consumer companies, however, are prospering or starting down new avenues to growth. These firms have moved beyond product innovation to emphasize demand innovation, which entails understanding the higher‐order needs of consumers, and then creating service and product solutions that directly address those needs. Mercer’s research has documented at least a dozen patterns of demand innovation in consumer markets. Some are relatively simple steps to enhance a product or service and thereby steal market share and expand margins. Others allow companies to leverage their assets in more radical ways, opening up entirely new opportunities. The experiences of Kraft, Procter & Gamble, and Netflix show how consumer companies can improve the consumer experience and find incremental ways to grow in the process.
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Traditional business strategy wouldn't have helped this lumbering behemoth trapped in a mature, slow‐growth market. It took a whole new business design.
Looks at how to find the best marketing mix for a particular company and how to track and measure marketing activities for return on investment.
Abstract
Purpose
Looks at how to find the best marketing mix for a particular company and how to track and measure marketing activities for return on investment.
Design/methodology/approach
Opinion piece.
Findings
Six guidelines will help to identify and implement the best marketing mix: Set up the right scorecards; Track and analyze; Don't be afraid to experiment; Keep both brand and revenues in mind; Look over the fence; and Build a test and learn culture.
Practical implications
Provides managers with guidelines for determining marketing budgets and activities.
Original/value
Of particular to strategic planners, CEOs, senior executives, brand managers, marketing.
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Rick Wise and Phyllis Rothschild
Looks at why traditional growth tactics have become less effective and why it is necessary to balance short term moves with new business building. Looks at understanding customer…
Abstract
Purpose
Looks at why traditional growth tactics have become less effective and why it is necessary to balance short term moves with new business building. Looks at understanding customer priorities.
Findings
Managers can take three distinct actions to generate quick gains in revenue and profits: de‐average and re‐segment the customer base, replicate the best customer relationships, and evolve the product offer into a system or value‐added solutions offer.
Practical implications
Provides managers with guidelines for growth action plans.
Originality/value
Of particular interest to strategic planners, CEOs, senior executives.
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The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate to leaders of business‐to‐business (B2B) organizations the value of using brand management disciplines and tools to accelerate growth…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate to leaders of business‐to‐business (B2B) organizations the value of using brand management disciplines and tools to accelerate growth. The premise is that B2B organizations need robust, coherent brands if they are to operate successfully and grow as fast as they tell shareholders they will.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses empirical studies, mini profiles and research into the Fortune 500's stated rebranding initiatives to show that branding disciplines are joining the line‐up of management tools that can help drive business success and rekindle growth in industrial companies.
Findings
The paper finds that in more and more industrial sectors, companies view strong brand management as a powerful mechanism for expanding into adjacent markets, acquiring and retaining scarce talent and counterbalancing the strength of downstream customers. The paper opens with an anecdote about Johnson Controls, draws on Lippincott research showing the percentages of Fortune 500 corporations engaged in rebranding campaigns, and brings in examples to show that leading industrials are reassessing brand value with business objectives firmly in mind. The paper goes on to explain why B2B branding is more crucial today. It lays out five persistent myths that stymie action, describes seven key practices that underpin B2B branding success and includes a sidebar with “call to action” points.
Practical implications
The paper's examples and 11 “call to action” points are designed to spark discussion in boardrooms of industrial companies about how to reinforce branding initiatives.
Originality/value
This paper is targeted to “C‐suite” executives in industrial companies who are not typically exposed to branding issues and who need to understand branding's impact on business performance. Its greatest value is that it presents clear routes for action.
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Laurence M. Weinstein and Kelli Bodrato*
Sitting around the kitchen table one late-winter morning, Lisa and Rick Agee were discussing which direction to take their small, home-based business located in rural New Milford…
Abstract
Sitting around the kitchen table one late-winter morning, Lisa and Rick Agee were discussing which direction to take their small, home-based business located in rural New Milford, Connecticut, over the next three to five years. The couple was making and selling “Goatboy” brand bathroom soap using goatʼs milk as the key ingredient, and they were now trying to reconcile very different points of view on how to grow the business in early March 2006.
Rick Vogel, Fabian Homberg and Alena Gericke
The purpose of this paper is to examine abusive supervision and public service motivation (PSM) as antecedents of deviant workplace behaviours.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine abusive supervision and public service motivation (PSM) as antecedents of deviant workplace behaviours.
Design/methodology/approach
The study was conducted in a cross-sectional research design with survey data from 150 employees in the public, private, and non-profit sector in Germany and the USA.
Findings
Abusive supervision is positively associated with employee deviance, whereas PSM is negatively related to deviant behaviours. The employment sector moderates the negative relationship between PSM and employee deviance such that this relationship is stronger in the public and non-profit sector.
Research limitations/implications
Limitations arise from the convenience sampling approach and the cross-sectional nature of the data set.
Practical implications
Human resource managers should consider behavioural integrity in the attraction, selection, and training of both supervisors and subordinates. Private organisations can address the needs of strongly public service motivated employees by integrating associated goals and values into organisational missions and policies.
Originality/value
This is the first study to introduce PSM into research on employee deviance. It shows that a pro-social motivation can drive anti-social behaviours when employees with high levels of PSM are members of profit-seeking organisations.
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Julia Asseburg, Fabian Homberg and Rick Vogel
Public organisations face increasing challenges to attract young and highly qualified staff. Previous studies have shown that public service motivation (PSM) is associated with a…
Abstract
Purpose
Public organisations face increasing challenges to attract young and highly qualified staff. Previous studies have shown that public service motivation (PSM) is associated with a higher propensity to apply for public sector jobs, but the implications from these findings for the design of the recruitment process are still unclear. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how differently framed recruitment messages (i.e. inspirational and rational) affect perceptions of person-job (PJ) and person-organisation (PO) fit, how these associations are moderated by PSM and how they translate into application intentions.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted a survey experiment and tested the hypotheses in a sample of 600 students in Germany. The experimental stimuli were hypothetical job advertisements in which inspirational and rational messages on organisational missions and job tasks were varied.
Findings
Results show that recruitment messaging, as mediated by perceived PJ and PO fit, can increase application intentions depending on the framing of the messages. Inspirational framings are more effective in attracting personnel than rational framings, especially when such messages convey specific and extensive information about job tasks. The extent to which recruitment messages translate into perceptions of fit depends, in part, on the level of the applicant’s PSM.
Originality/value
By focusing on recruitment messages and their framings, this study is among the few that explore how human resource management can capitalise on previous findings of research on PSM. The findings have implications for the selection and presentation of information on organisational missions and job tasks in the recruitment process. In a more theoretical vein, results contribute to the emerging consensus on the role of perceived PJ and PO fit in the attraction to public sector jobs. The authors deepen this reasoning by introducing self-discrepancy theory to the field of public management.