Business Commons^™

Marketing Innovation: The Unheralded Innovation Vehicle To Sustained Competitive Advantage, Janet K. Tinoco

Janet K. Tinoco

Apathy by both industry and academia continues to linger with respect to the role marketing innovation plays in corporate success, made visible by the overwhelming concentration of organizational and scholarly research on product innovation. This study introduces marketing innovation as another innovation vehicle that can lead to sustained competitive advantage, particularly when synergistically combined with product innovation. In this paper the dynamics of marketing innovation throughout the industry life cycle are examined, along with the implications of marketing innovation for firm sustained competitive advantage and performance. It is proposed that the positive synergy created by marketing innovation and product innovation …

From Endogenization To Justification: Strategic Responses To Legitimacy Challenges In Contentious Organizational Fields, Paul-Brian Mcinerney

Organization Management Journal

Fields are contested social arenas. By examining the case of a single organization, in this case a social enterprise, the author shows how organizations respond to legitimacy challenges from members of the field and how such responses shape the organization’s form and practices. At times, organizations endogenize, that is, incorporate practices from the field. Findings indicate that responses reflect strategies under constraint. Endogenizing institutionalized practices constrains managers’ ability to exercise agency. Endogenizing contested practices afford agency by allowing managers to translate those practices to accord with local exigencies. This article extends literature on impression management and institutional theory by showing …

Inflation Targeting And Its Effects On The Inflation: Albanian Case, Oltjana Zoto, Arbri Agalliu

UBT International Conference

Transformation from a centrally planned economy to a market economy was accompanied by a number of reforms such as the efforts to fully liberalize prices and the creation of a two-level banking system. To achieve this goal there was the need to include the monetary policy as one of the main macroeconomic policies. The law on “the Bank of Albania” defined the competence of BoA to draft and implement the monetary policy by keeping the price stability as principal goal. There are several monetary policies strategies or regimen to achieve the prices stability such as: targeting of the monetary mass, …

Bridge Over Troubled Strategies, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

If strategy is the future of an organisation, implementation is its bridge. And successful implementation should be straightforward. But it isn’t. A new website has the answers...

The Institutional Entrepreneur As Modern Prince: The Strategic Face Of Power In Contested Fields, David Levy, Maureen A. Scully

Maureen Scully

This paper develops a theoretical framework that situates institutional entrepreneurship by drawing from Gramsci’s concept of hegemony to understand the contingent stabilization of organizational fields, and by employing his discussion of the Modern Prince as the collective agent who organizes and strategizes counter-hegemonic challenges. Our framework makes three contributions. First, we characterize the interlaced material, discursive, and organizational dimensions of field structure. Second, we argue that strategy must be examined more rigorously as the mode of action by which institutional entrepreneurs engage with field structures. Third, we argue that institutional entrepreneurship, in challenging the position of incumbent actors and stable …

Sustainability Of Expansion In An African Airline: A Case Study, Sisay Asefa, Allen Batteau, Lisa Whittaker, Hung-Sying Jing

International Journal of African Development

Ethiopian Air Lines (Ethiopian) has committed to the purchase of 41 new aircraft, nearly doubling their fleet and introducing three new, state-of-the-art types (the A350-900 and the 787-8, and the DA40NG) into a fleet currently consisting of seven models. In a logistically complex industry, this represents a substantial increase in resource commitments and management responsibility in many areas including maintenance, pilot training, facilities, and route planning. The purpose of this paper is to examine this growth strategy, its underlying assumptions, and its sustainability given long-range industry trends in both the developed and the developing world. Using corporate and industry data, …

Vertical Market Strategy: The Case Of An Executive Education Startup In A Medium-Sized Business School, Shawna L. Rogers, Thomas N. Duening

Journal of Executive Education

This paper provides an account of a vertical market go-to-market strategy that has been used by an executive education startup in the College of Business at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. The executive education startup is titled the “Office of Professional & Executive Development” and has been in operation for approximately 18 months. The office was launched explicitly using a vertical market strategy. That is, public training programs were designed for vertical markets only, enabling instructors to design programs with deep, industry-specific examples, cases, and lessons.

Evaluate Your Business School’S Writings As If Your Strategy Matters, John Cotton, Alex Stewart

Management Faculty Research and Publications

Business school publications are widely criticized for their lack of managerial or teaching relevance. One reason for this criticism is that business school scholarship is typically evaluated purely in terms of one type of work: academic journal articles that are meant to be read by other scholars. However, academics produce multiple types of publications, and business schools serve a wider range of stakeholders. These other stakeholders are often central to the schools’ purposes and may be critical in acquiring resources. These stakeholders probably prefer to see scholarship that is relevant for students or for practitioners. They may prefer scholarship that …

Fate Work: A Conversation, Valentina Desideri, Stefano Harney

Stephen Matthias Harney

The article focuses on a conversation between dancer Valentina Desideri and professor Stefano Harney during the Spring Seminars of the Performance Art Forum (PAF) in Saint Erme, France. Harney suggests that fate work may be considered as a potential practice on the way work determines one's life. Desideri says that one can shape and construct his future through work under capitalism.

Location And Competitive Strategy In Retail: The Case Of Gamestop In Michigan, Karl P. Schrantz

Masters Theses

The State of Michigan offers a unique retail environment that offers a diverse arena for firms to interact and compete in. The state has many cities of different size and a multitude of retail chains that operate within them. Over the past two decades this competition has become even stiffer with the rapid growth of big box retailers. In spite of this general notion there are often the less known stories of small retailers that have been able to compete and survive big box retailing. This research aims to assess how a smaller retail chain, GameStop in this case, is …

China's New Energy Vehicles: Value And Innovation, Chris Kimble, Hua Wang

Chris Kimble

The overarching theme of this article is the importance of innovations that are created within the emerging economies. More specifically, the article aims to focus on the development of various alternatives to vehicles powered by the internal combustion engine, new energy vehicles (NEVs), within China. The broad strategic approach of two sectors within the NEV sector in China, the pure electric vehicle (EV) and the low-speed electric vehicle (LSEV) sectors, are compared using recent data and conclusions are drawn. The EV sector is viewed by central government as a key sector for China's future industrial growth and is heavily supported. …

The Diffusion Of Digital Dashboards: An Examination Of Dashboard Utilization And The Managerial Decision Environment, Jeffrey Reinking

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation consists of three related studies examining the diffusion of digital dashboard technology throughout today’s organizations. Dashboards, once reserved for the executive level, are now available to managers at the lower levels of the organization. For these managers, dashboards have become an integral part of their work life to support their decision environment, to provide consistency in measures, to monitor performance, and to communicate information throughout the organization. Prior research in the practice literature has shown that dashboards improve managerial performance and organizational performance as well as communicate organizational goals and objectives; however, empirical research has not been conducted …

Brand Equity And Brand Equity Scale Developments: A Literature Review, Sally Baalbaki

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2013

Brand equity is perhaps the most important marketing concept in both academia and practice (Christodoulides and de Chernatony, 2010; Keller and Lehmann, 2006). Academics want to understand how brand equity is measured and what it means for a company, while practitioners want to understand how to influence consumer decisions with respect to different brand purchases in order to increase their brand equity. The term came into use during the late 1980’s; and the importance of conceptualizing, measuring, and managing brand equity has grown rapidly in the eyes of practitioners and academics alike (e.g. Aaker, 1991, 1996; Aaker and Keller, 1990; …

Good Media Mix Strategies For Bad Times: Sequencing Optimizes, Marsha Loda, Barbara Carrick Coleman

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2013

This paper summarizes an experiment which compares three commonly used marketing elements: advertising, Internet websites, and publicity. These elements are rated on two dependent variables: message acceptance (credibility and message strength), and message response (attitude and purchase intent). Direct effects of each variable are examined. Sequencing effects are also examined to see if it matters in what order potential customers encounter the marketing message. Results indicate that a website, used alone, can make a significant difference in message strength. However, to impact purchase intent, a multimedia campaign is necessary. The current study extends the authors’ 2005 research comparing only advertising …

Sustainable Fashion At Nordstrom, Joe Lawless

MICCSR Case Studies

This CSR mini-case focuses on CSR issues related to the supply chain in the fashion industry. The case is based on the Fashion Futures 2025 report by the Forum for the Future, and focuses on anticipated supply shortages, workforce issues, technological advances, water shortages, high energy prices, re-use and remanufacturing changes. The case calls for students to develop a strategy for Nordstrom as they prepare for this changed new world

Coopetition At Work: How Firms Shaped The Airline Industry, Wojciech Czakon, Leo Paul Dana

Leo- Paul Dana

The literature on coopetition has made a substantial progress in identifying its attributes and outcomes. However, published work has much less to say about the emergence of this strategy. We develop a view on coopetition adoption at industry level, focused on exogenous factors, and seen from an evolutionary perspective. Our longitudinal study of the airline industry development reveals that coopetition is a way of operating, aimed at shaping relationships between value network members. Empirical data suggest that cooperative moves of key players are meant at a more efficient value creation. Yet, those moves involve also intra- and internetwork competition. Industry …

Strategic Planning: A Dynamic Process, Steven Slezak

Steven Slezak

A presentation outlining the steps taken to produce a thorough strategic business plan, along with the supporting analysis.

What Is Strategy?, Steven Slezak

Steven Slezak

A presentation outlining the nature of strategy, emphasizing its paradoxical nature, describing its structure, and describing competitive advantage and the value chain.

The Fruitcake Capital Of The World, Sara J. Grimes, Michael P. Mcdonald, John Leaptrott

Department of Management Faculty Publications

Two different fruitcake companies in the same small town are discussed and their widely different strategies are presented. Each of the entrepreneurs began working with a “master baker” as little boys but later followed different paths to develop a successful fruitcake business. A brief history of the fruitcake is offered as evidence that the product has been around for hundreds of years and will likely not go away anytime soon in spite of the ridicule and humor that has surrounded fruitcakes during the past twenty-five years.

Aligning Strategy And Talent In Creative Professional Service Firms, Deirdre Canavan, Pamela Sharkey Scott, Vincent Mangematin

Articles

Purpose – Reliance on individual talent and motivation renders creative professional service firms (PSFs) highly dependent on their ability to attract and mobilise the right individuals. This paper aims to build an integrated framework showing firstly how creative industry PSFs can differ in their strategy for growth, and secondly how these alternative strategies for growth can influence the firm's approach to organising and the type of talent required.

Design/methodology/approach – The findings are based on a series of interviews with managing directors, senior management and practitioners of architectural organisations in a single country, combined with an extensive literature review.

Findings …

Competition Or Collaboration? The Effect Of Non-Profit Brand Image On Volunteer Recruitment Strategy, Melanie Randle, Friedrich Leisch, Sara Dolnicar

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

With increasing numbers of non-profit organizations and higher demand for a wider range of social services, the need for volunteers has never been greater. There is general agreement that competition within the sector is increasing, and this has led to organizations placing greater emphasis on building strong brand images to differentiate themselves from competitors. However, there are also many instances where non-profits have successfully collaborated with each other to achieve efficiencies and meet objectives. The purpose of this exploratory study is to examine, which of these approaches - competition or collaboration - is more appropriate for the challenge of volunteer …

Online Learning: Best Practices And Online Technologies, Anita H. Whiting

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2013

This session seeks to provide a forum for discussing online technologies and best practices in online learning. Session seeks to provide an opportunity for faculty to discuss what strategies have worked well in their online classes and what obstacles they have encountered while teaching online. Session will also foster discussion about online technologies that faculty prefer to use and the benefits they gain from these technologies. Overall, session will help faculty learn more about how to be successful in the online classroom.

Differentiating Financial Service Brands Through The Multilayered Service Strategy (Mss): Some Insights Insights From The Resource Based View Of The Firm, Olutayo Otubanjo

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2013

This paper examines how financial service organizations operating in the Nigerian banking industry can be effectively managed to achieve brand differentiation. In order to achieve this objective, a service brand model was reviewed and critiqued and a Multilayered Service Strategy (MSS) model was put forward as an effective model for service brand differentiation. Consequently, sixteen leading-edge marketing and communication practitioners were engaged to examine the effectiveness of the model through in-depth interviews. Findings from the analysis of data indicate that an effective differentiation of a service brand cannot be achieved through the adoption of a single business or organizational factor. …

National Brands Or Private Brands? A Regulatory Focus Perspective, Trang Phuc Tran, Joan Hubbard

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2013

Drawing on existing literature, the current research is to investigate how regulatory focus moderates the influence of two aspects of message framing, i.e., attribute framing and risky choice framing, and their interactions on customer perception measured by four components: brand attitude, attitude toward the ad, purchase intention, and willingness to pay. A conceptual model was drawn to capture four hypothetical relationships: regulatory focus and attribute framing (H1), regulatory focus and brand type (H2), brand type and attribute framing (H3), and regulatory focus, brand type and attribute framing (H4). An experiment was conducted using 430 participants and a 2 (regulatory focus: …

Regional Jet Aircraft Competitiveness: Challenges And Opportunities, Tamilla Curtis, Dawna L. Rhoades, Blaise P. Waguespack Jr.

Management, Marketing and Operations - Daytona Beach

The regional jet aircraft is a unique market niche. Particularly suitable for providing capacity in the 30 to 90 seat range, these jets are often used to connect smaller airports to network carrier hubs, as well as to fill in during slow periods. The market is currently dominated by two manufacturers: Brazil's Embraer and Canada's Bombardier. Due to the nature of the global aircraft industry, Embraer and Bombardier are largely dependent on the international sale of their aircraft for steady revenue streams. Orders and deliveries of aircraft with fewer than 100 seats have grown rapidly over the past ten years. …

The Relationship Between Human Capital And Social Capital In Professional-Client Relationships, Yuliani Suseno

Research outputs 2013

Professionals in knowledge-intensive firms rely on their human capital and social capital to deliver value in their professional services to clients. In this study of corporate lawyers and clients, we examine the construct of knowledge acquisition, representing a professional’s human capital, and its relationship with social capital. Quantitative analyses on the survey data reveal significant evidence of relationships between human capital and social capital. The application of both the human and social capital theories to the study of professionals therefore has the potential to advance our knowledge and understanding of the relationships between professionals and their clients.

Eyes Wide Open: Learning As Strategy Under Conditions Of Complexity And Uncertainty, Patricia Patrizi, Elizabeth Heid Thompson, Julia Coffman, Tanya Beer

The Foundation Review

· Foundation strategy is hampered by a failure to recognize and engage with the complexity and uncertainty surrounding foundation work. This article identifies three common “traps” that hinder foundation capacity to learn and adapt: 1) linearity and certainty bias; 2) the autopilot effect; and 3) indicator blindness.

· This article urges foundations to alter their mindset, questions, and processes to foster a more committed approach to strategy and adaptation. In essence, it argues for learning as strategy.

· This article draws on literature from systems theory, business strategy, and philanthropic practice as well as data from foundation benchmarking surveys.

Fate Work: A Conversation, Valentina Desideri, Stefano Harney

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The article focuses on a conversation between dancer Valentina Desideri and professor Stefano Harney during the Spring Seminars of the Performance Art Forum (PAF) in Saint Erme, France. Harney suggests that fate work may be considered as a potential practice on the way work determines one's life. Desideri says that one can shape and construct his future through work under capitalism.

Human Resource Planning: Sector Specific Considerations, Adnan S. Al Wahshi, Maryam Omari, Rowena Barrett

Research outputs 2013

The aim of human resource planning (HRP) is to have the right people in the right place at the right time. While the public sector has moved from a civil service to a human resources paradigm, the literature indicates a lack of successful HRP implementation in this sector. This paper explores key issues around HRP in the public sector. Evidence suggests that effective HRP is critical to meeting internal and external organisational challenges, however, relevant processes and practices do not seem to be strategic or integrated in the public sector. If not addressed, the absence of HRP in the public …

Testing A Brand Personality Scale For Quick Service And Casual Dining Establishments, Michael Musante

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2013

Managers have long recognized the value of establishing and maintaining a desired identity for their brands. The Brand Personality Scale has been recognized as a valid and reliable tool to help managers assess brand perceptions. The forty-two item scale, developed by Aaker, identifies five dimensions of brand personality. While considered generalizable, it has been suggested that the scale, and delineated personality dimensions, may not represent an ideal fit for all industries. The current study sought to propose and test a modified version of the brand personality scale that may be appropriate for the restaurant industry. As part of the research …