Verena Sabine Thaler, Uta Herbst and Michael A. Merz
While product scandals generate many negative headlines, the extent of their impact on the scandalized brands’ equity remains unclear. Research findings are mixed. This might be…
Abstract
Purpose
While product scandals generate many negative headlines, the extent of their impact on the scandalized brands’ equity remains unclear. Research findings are mixed. This might be because of the limitations of existing measurement approaches when investigating the effects of real crises after they occurred. This study aims to propose a new approach for measuring the impact of a real scandal on a high-equity brand using only post-crisis measures.
Design/methodology/approach
To overcome the challenge of comparing a priori and ex post outcome measures, this study draws on the brand management literature to evaluate a real scandal’s impact. Volkswagen’s emission scandal serves as a failure context. Two consumer experiments are conducted to examine its impact.
Findings
The results provide (longitudinal) support for the proposed evaluative approach. They reveal new evidence that building brand equity is a means to mitigate negative effects, and indicate that negative spillover effects within a high-equity brand portfolio are unlikely. Finally, this research identifies situations in which developing a new brand might be more beneficial than leveraging an existing brand.
Practical implications
This research has significant implications for firms with high-equity brands that might be affected by a scandal. The findings support managers to navigate their brands through a crisis.
Originality/value
This research adds to the discussion concerning the role of a brand’s equity in a crisis. Existing research findings are contradictory. This research provides new empirical evidence and another view on how to measure “impact”.
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Uta Herbst, Birte Kemmerling and Margaret Ann Neale
While industrial marketers have long bundled their products and services to sell them as packages, to what extent should negotiators also rely on packaging their offers? Clearly…
Abstract
Purpose
While industrial marketers have long bundled their products and services to sell them as packages, to what extent should negotiators also rely on packaging their offers? Clearly, negotiating at a package level can tax the cognitive capacity of the involved parties at some point. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the impact of the number and type of issues that should be negotiated simultaneously to leverage the package strategy efficiently and effectively in multi-issue buyer-seller negotiations.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted and analyzed negotiation simulations with 676 students from 2 public universities.
Findings
The authors’ results suggest that negotiating three out of six issues simultaneously is the least efficient but most effective strategy in multi-issue buyer-seller negotiations. Moreover, they found that bundling distributive and integrative issues is more efficient and effective than only bundling distributive or integrative negotiation issues in a package offer.
Originality/value
Past research has examined the impact of negotiating a package as compared to each issue separately; however, little empirical attention has been directed toward understanding how to apply a package strategy in complex multi-issue negotiations.
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Uta Herbst, Hilla Dotan and Sina Stöhr
This study aims to investigate whether a team of females negotiates differently than a team of males, and whether (workplace) friendship moderates the relationship between…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate whether a team of females negotiates differently than a team of males, and whether (workplace) friendship moderates the relationship between single-gender team composition and negotiation outcomes.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used two laboratory studies and paired 216 MBA students into single-gender teams of friends and non-friends, and then engaged them in several dyadic multi-issue negotiations.
Findings
The results show that on average, male teams of non-friends reached significantly better outcomes than female teams of non-friends. However, and interestingly, female teams of friends perform equally to male teams of friends.
Research limitations/implications
The authors contribute both to the negotiations and the workplace friendship literature because very little research has examined negotiation among friends at work and in particular team negotiations. In addition, the authors also contribute to the literature on gender differences in negotiations because existing research has rarely examined the differences between all-male and all-female teams and especially the relationship between same-sex teams and their effects on negotiation outcomes.
Practical implications
This research has clear implications to managers with regard to team composition. Specifically, a winning all-female team should not be changed!
Originality/value
This is the first study to examine the relationship between workplace friendship, gender and negotiation outcomes.
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Sandra Haggenmüller, Patricia Oehlschläger, Uta Herbst and Markus Voeth
This study aims to provide probable future developments in the form of holistic scenarios for business negotiations. In recent years, negotiation research did not put a lot of…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to provide probable future developments in the form of holistic scenarios for business negotiations. In recent years, negotiation research did not put a lot of emphasis on external changes. Consequently, current challenges and trends are scarcely integrated, making it difficult to support negotiation practice perspectively.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper applies the structured, multi-method approach of scenario analysis. To examine the future space of negotiations, this combines qualitative and quantitative measures to base our analysis on negotiation experts’ assessments, estimations and visions of the negotiation future.
Findings
The results comprise an overview of five negotiation scenarios in the year 2030 and of their individual drivers. The five revealed scenarios are: digital intelligence, business as usual, powerful network – the route to collaboration, powerful network – the route to predominance and system crash.
Originality/value
The scenario analysis is a suitable approach that enables to relate various factors of the negotiation environment to negotiations themselves and allows an examination of future changes in buyer–seller negotiations and the creation of possible future scenarios. The identified scenarios provide an orientation for business decisions in the field of negotiation.
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Gemma Lewis, Stuart Crispin, Laurie Bonney, Megan Woods, Jiangang Fei, Sarah Ayala and Morgan Miles
The purpose of this paper is to explore how traditional agribusiness firms can differentiate their product through innovation and branding at the value chain level, through the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore how traditional agribusiness firms can differentiate their product through innovation and branding at the value chain level, through the application of entrepreneurial marketing (EM). Traditionally, fresh vegetable products have been marketed as unbranded commodities.
Design/methodology/approach
To address the research aim, this paper used a case study, which included semi-structured interviews with managers and personnel and unstructured observation of supply chain processes.
Findings
The findings are based on a Tasmanian fresh broccoli value chain and suggest that EM could be effectively integrated at a multi-firm level. Clear communication, knowledge sharing, and trusting relationships are necessary to create a shared vision and a sustainable value chain.
Research limitations/implications
An increasing number of firms in the agribusiness sector are looking for strategies that can enhance value for themselves and members of their chain. EM as a strategy can help an entire value chain achieve product differentiation and co-innovation, with flow on benefits to the consumer.
Originality/value
There is limited research at the entrepreneurial and marketing interface that explores the application of EM at an inter-organizational level. This paper is one of the first to investigate EM in context of a supply chain management, using a value chain innovation framework.
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Sobeida Margarita Giraldo, Luis Joyanes Aguilar, Lillyana María Giraldo and Iván Darío Toro
This paper aims to explore the requirements of organizational knowledge management initiatives using requirements engineering techniques, identifying the optimal techniques…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the requirements of organizational knowledge management initiatives using requirements engineering techniques, identifying the optimal techniques configuration and serving as a management tool for knowledge engineers.
Design/methodology/approach
The method is selection attributes. Knowledge management enablers are characterized and mapped with the coverage capabilities of requirements engineering techniques, using the attributes of the elicited object and a box-plot analysis. The information is gathered from 280 references, 32 companies and 16 experts in requirements engineering.
Findings
Requirements of organizational knowledge management initiatives are got optimally by combining interviews, use cases, scenarios, laddering and focus group techniques. The requirements of structure and processes are more complex to identify, while culture requirements are the best covered.
Research limitations/implications
Knowledge management enablers are analyzed according to the current studies and comprehension of engineering techniques.
Practical implications
Knowledge engineers need to consider the coverage capabilities of engineering techniques to design an optimal requirement identification and meet the objectives of organizational knowledge acquisition initiatives. Requirement engineers can improve the requirements identification by a staged selection process.
Social implications
The requirements of knowledge management initiatives that impact the community can be identified and traced to ensure the knowledge objectives. Requirements related to culture and people, like shared values, beliefs, and behaviors, are also considered.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study about formal requirement identification of knowledge management initiatives in the organizational context, providing the optimal configuration. A novel staged process is proposed for requirements engineering techniques selection, analyzing the enablers at component level and identifying the attributes associated with the elicited object.
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Alycia Jacob, Damhnat McCann, Penny Buykx, Brodie Thomas, Evelien Spelten, Rebecca Schultz, Leigh Kinsman and Elisabeth Jacob
This paper aims to illustrate the complexity of understanding and managing violent behaviour in health care. The authors will show how different perceptions of the reasons for…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to illustrate the complexity of understanding and managing violent behaviour in health care. The authors will show how different perceptions of the reasons for violent behaviour, and linkages between violent behaviour and illness have contributed to the creation of a wicked problem and added significant complexity to the management of violence towards staff within health-care settings. This paper will conclude with a call for strong multi-disciplinary action to address this ongoing issue.
Design/methodology/approach
A narrative review was undertaken to explore the ways that violence has been perceived in health care and the ways in which the concept of violence has moved from being seen as a criminal issue to being within the realms of disease. This paper will show the importance of understanding who is perpetrating violence in health care, why and in what settings. It will expound on the idea that considering violence as a consequence of disease necessarily adds a layer of complexity to both individual and organisational responses to violence towards health-care staff.
Findings
Understanding the complexity in preventing and managing violence against health-care staff can assist policymakers and managers to develop multi-faceted approaches to violence prevention, including better recognition and understanding of perpetrators of violence.
Originality/value
This paper provides a unique perspective on thinking about violence in health care and the implications of its complexity.