Historically, management theory has ignored the constraints imposed by the biophysical (natural) environment. Building upon resource-based theory, this article attempts to fill this void by proposing a natural-resource-based view of the firm—a theory of competitive advantage based upon the firm's relationship to the natural environment. It is composed of three interconnected strategies: pollution prevention, product stewardship, and sustainable development. Propositions are advanced for each of these strategies regarding key resource requirements and their contributions to sustained competitive advantage.

A natural resource-based view of the firm

What is Organizational Identity

Research addressing the micro-foundational theoretical entity of customer engagement (CE) has proliferated in recent years. In parallel, the macro-foundational theory of service-dominant (S-D) logic is thriving. While the fit of CE/S-D logic has been recognized, insight into this theoretical interface remains tenuous, as explored in this paper. We develop an integrative, S-D logic–informed framework of CE comprising three CE foundational processes, which are required (for customer resource integration), or conducive (for customer knowledge sharing/learning) CE antecedents. While customer resource integration, in some form, extends to coincide with CE, customer knowledge sharing/learning can also do so. We also identify three CE benefits (customer individual/interpersonal operant resource development, cocreation) as CE consequences, which can also coincide with CE. Deploying the framework, we revise Brodie et al.’s (Journal of Service Research, 14(3), 252–271, 2011) fundamental propositions of CE and apply these to customer relationship management. We conclude with theoretical and managerial implications, followed by future research avenues.

https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6786&context=lkcsb_research

S-D logic–informed customer engagement: integrative framework, revised fundamental propositions, and application to CRM

https://research.vu.nl/ws/files/98445568/Stage_to_Engage_KLM_Tourism_Management_2015.pdf

A stage to engage: Social media use and corporate reputation

Examines the motivation for achievement as a psychological factor that shapes economic development. Refuting arguments based on race, climate, or population growth, the book instead argues for cultural customs and motivations - especially the motivation for achievement - as the major catalysts of economic growth. Considering the Protestant Reformation, the rise of capitalism, parents' influences on sons, and folklore and children's stories as shaping cultural motivations for achievement, the book hypothesizes that a high level of achievement motivation precedes economic growth. This is supported through qualitative analysis of the achievement motive, as well as of other psychological factors - including entrepreneurial behavior and characteristics, and available sources of achievement in past and present highly achieving societies. It is the achievement motive - and not merely the profit motive or the desire for material gain - that has advanced societies economically. Consequently, individuals are not merely products of their environment, as many social scientists have asserted, but also creators of the environment, as they manipulate it in various ways in the search for achievement. Finally, a plan is hypothesized to accelerate economic growth in developing countries, by encouraging and supplementing their achievement motives through mobilizing the greater achievement resources of developed countries. The conclusion is not just that motivations shape economic progress, but that current influences on future people's motivations and values will determine economic growth in the long run. Thus, it is most beneficial for a society to concentrate its resources on creating an environment conducive to entrepreneurship and a strong ideological base for achievement. (CJC)

The Achieving Society

Reputation management is no longer restricted to corporates; nations are now also concerned with managing their reputation relative to each other for its impact on attracting tourism and foreign investments, increasing exports, improving public diplomacy, attracting knowledge and talent. This paper studies the reputation of countries from the perspectives of people from some Developing-8 (D8) nations. Using a survey approach, this study generated a total sample of 817 respondents across Egypt, Pakistan, and Indonesia. The RepTrak model of measuring country reputation was adopted in the survey for its similarity with the purpose of this paper and for the comparison and questioning purposes. Results showed that peoples’ perception about a country’s reputation vary from one nationality to another; a country could be ranked the top from the perspective of some people and at the same time rank lower from the perspective of another group of people. Comparing the results of this research to that of the RepTrak model, it was found that people from G8 countries and those from D8 countries have different perceptions towards different countries and have different behavioral intentions towards each country. Some countries are highly reputable in terms of their appealing environment and/or effective government and/or advanced economy from the perception of some people, while others perceive the same countries as less reputable, and accordingly the behavioral intentions for the two groups of people towards the country vary.

/pdf/ranking-country-reputation-a-d8-perspective-3jx02ri2p6.pdf

Ranking Country Reputation A D8 Perspective

Recently companies started to use gamification in their businesses by applying techniques and concepts from games to their marketing strategies. Gamification concept can be applied to actual games, virtual trophies, points, and vouchers. The idea is that marketing strategies and activities that mirror games are better at engaging customers. Accordingly, it was important to study the relationship between gamification in marketing and consumer brand engagement in Egypt. Through reviewing the literature, there were several gamification components and mechanics such as points, badges, vouchers, progress bar, levels, leaderboards, social engagement, collecting resources, and competition between players. Different gamification frameworks have described the gamification elements. Gamification pyramid was the most common by many researchers. For consumer brand engagement, it was measured using three dimensions named cognition, emotional and behavioral dimensions. A descriptive study was conducted to examine the relationship between gamification elements and consumer brand engagement. Capitalizing on Gatautis et al. (2016) model, which studied the relationship between gamification elements and consumer brand engagement, a new modified framework, was introduced. Gamification elements were divided to four mechanisms named progress, rewards, social, and restrictions mechanisms. The research studied the relationship between each mechanism as an independent variable and consumer brand engagement as a multi-dimension’ dependent variable. Quantitative data was collected by distributing an online survey on 152 respondents through online channels. Data was analyzed using SPSS software, providing the reliability, descriptive, correlation and regression analysis. The analysis of the results showed that there is positive relationship between three of the gamification mechanisms and consumer brand engagement. While for the restrictions’ mechanism; it showed in-significant relationship. This research gives insights to managers and companies that would like to apply gamification, targeting its end users to increase their engagement towards the brand.

https://www.ijbe.ielas.org/index.php/ijbe/article/download/225/84

Examining the consequences of gamification on consumer brand engagement

ABSTRACT For many years the general relationship between the International Oil Companies (IOCs) and the Local Oil Producing Communities (OPCs) in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria (NDR) has gone frosty and, indeed, culminated in incidents of operational disruptions and violent attacks as self-help strategies adopted by the OPCs to press demands. This is against the backdrop of increasingly huge Corporate Social Performance (CSP) investments declared by the IOCs. This indicates a gap between declared investments and the perception of the OPCs. Given the increasing level of complexity and uncertainty in the global business environment, it is imperative that the IOCs objectively evaluate such perception gap as part of adaptive strategies with a view to redefining their social responsibilities, reassessing the social issues involved as well as realigning their social response philosophies. In this article three main research objectives were tackled, namely: (1) to examine the CSP policies and practices of the IOCs, and to evaluate their effectiveness; (2) to find out the OPCs' general perception of CSP of the IOCs operating in their communities; and (3) to explore the implications of CSP management and implementation strategies of the IOCs on the achievement of sustainable community development. The study is a qualitative research and, therefore, interviews were conducted to generate data. The interview questions used in were all based on the theoretical evaluation models adopted for the study. From the study, the general perception of the OPCs was found to be that the CSP policies and practices of the IOCs have not been as effective as expected compared to the huge investments declared. Thus, the study found that the OPCs' perception regarding the response attitude of the IOCs to their social responsibilities is generally reactive and defensive. Keywords Corporate social performance, corporate social responsibility, sustainable community 

Evaluating corporate social performance and sustainable community engagement: an application to nigeria

The sales rate of Electric Vehicles is growing rapidly worldwide. On the contrary, EVs are not achieving the same rate of popularity in emerging markets like Egypt. Some researchers suggest that developed countries have better infrastructure, governmental frameworks, and policies to support mass adoption, other researchers claim that consumers in developed markets have higher environmental awareness that drives them to adopt cleaner transportation means. In Egypt, research investigating EVs’ unpopularity is limited. Therefore, the researchers studied the factors that influence the purchase intention of EVs in Egypt to bridge this gap and accelerate the penetration rate of EVs in the Egyptian market. This study used the TPB model to study the effect of Attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control on the purchase intention of adopting an EV in Egypt. In addition, the literature review suggested including Environmental knowledge and Governmental Policies & Support to study their effect on the intention of EVs’ adoption besides the regular TPB independent variables. The conceptual framework of this study hypothesized several relationships and for that, data was collected through a self-administered questionnaire from a sample of 113 passenger vehicle prospective buyers in Egypt. Results show that Governmental Policies & Support alone can explain 39.1% of the purchase intention of EVs in Egypt, followed by Attitude and Perceived Behavioral Control with 8.1% and 3.2% respectively. The findings highlight the importance of Governmental Policies & Support on the EVs’ adoption intention in emerging markets generally and in Egypt specifically.

Factors Influence the Purchase Intention of Electric Vehicles in Egypt

Purpose It is explanatory and descriptive research to explain the relationship among factors influencing the orthopedic physician’s decision of purchasing medical devices and equipment. Methods Quantitative method will be used in this study as all heads of departments in MOH hospitals refused to make one-to-one interviews and suggested only questionnaires that will be high in confidentiality. Results For the first question: What is the ranking of factors that influence orthopedic physician decision in purchasing medical devices and equipment in MOH hospitals in Kuwait? According to HB analysis, the most preferred attribute is implant review in a journal and the lowest preferred factor is product training. Moreover, Brand was the second preferred attribute followed by leader influence. Surprisingly, price came after all these attributes. Physicians ranked technical support and sponsorship in the fifth and sixth places. For the second question: How can marketing and sales management predict orthopedic physicians' decisions before designing product proposals? This will assist M&S department in creating proposals that satisfy orthopedic physicians through expecting their decisions on various alternatives. Conclusion There is a good opportunity for all medical devices companies, after discussion with SMEs, either for growth or leaving stagnation phase. However, SMEs have no real understanding of what factors matter to the orthopedic physicians’ decision in purchasing medical devices and equipment. Thus, one of the goals of this research is to give M&S departments in medical devices companies with recommendations that will help them in forming attractive product offers to orthopedic physicians in MOH hospitals in Kuwait. Moreover, predicting the response from them in the future. In addition, four simulation scenarios have been conducted in this research to reach the best economic offer that maintains physicians attracted.

https://www.dovepress.com/getfile.php?fileID=78686

Hamed M. Shamma

Papers

Ranking Country Reputation A D8 Perspective

Examining the consequences of gamification on consumer brand engagement

Evaluating corporate social performance and sustainable community engagement: an application to nigeria

Factors Influence the Purchase Intention of Electric Vehicles in Egypt

Examining the Factors Influencing Orthopedic Physician’s Decision to Purchase Medical Devices: Evidence from Kuwait