Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques

Relationship marketing is the development and outbreak of the combined theory of the traditional marketing,and it is a new idea.It puts more emphasis on the long-term and satisfying relation between enterprises and customers.and its success relies on some conditions.Its application in China has its own characteristics.

On relationship marketing

Why are a select few service firms better at what they do - year in and year out - than their competitors? For most senior managers, the profusion of anecdotal "service excellence" books fails to address this key question. In this pathbreaking book, world-renowned Harvard Business School service firm experts James L. Heskett, W. Earl Sasser, Jr. and Leonard A. Schlesinger reveal that leading companies stay on top by managing the service profit chain. Based on five years of painstaking research, the authors show how managers at American Express, Southwest Airlines, Banc One, Waste Management, USAA, MBNA, Intuit, British Airways, Taco Bell, Fairfield Inns, Ritz-Carlton Hotel, and the Merry Maids subsidiary of ServiceMaster employ a quantifiable set of relationships that directly links profit and growth to not only customer loyalty and satisfaction, but to employee loyalty, satisfaction, and productivity. The strongest relationships the authors discovered are those between (1) profit and customer loyalty; (2) employee loyalty and customer loyalty; and (3) employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction. Moreover, these relationships are mutually reinforcing; that is, satisfied customers contribute to employee satisfaction and vice versa. Here, finally, is the foundation for a powerful strategic service vision, a model on which any manager can build more focused operations and marketing capabilities. For example, the authors demonstrate how, in Banc One's operating divisions, a direct relationship between customer loyalty measured by the "depth" of a relationship, the number of banking services a customer utilizes, and profitability led the bank to encourage existing customers to further extend the bank services they use. Taco Bell has found that their stores in the top quadrant of customer satisfaction ratings outperform their other stores on all measures. At American Express Travel Services, offices that ticket quickly and accurately are more profitable than those which don't. With hundreds of examples like these, the authors show how to manage the customer-employee "satisfaction mirror" and the customer value equation to achieve a "customer's eye view" of goods and services. They describe how companies in any service industry can (1) measure service profit chain relationships across operating units; (2) communicate the resulting self-appraisal; (3) develop a "balanced scorecard" of performance; (4) develop a recognitions and rewards system tied to established measures; (5) communicate results company-wide; (6) develop an internal "best practice" information exchange; and (7) improve overall service profit chain performance. What difference can service profit chain management make? A lot. Between 1986 and 1995, the common stock prices of the companies studied by the authors increased 147%, nearly twice as fast as the price of the stocks of their closest competitors. The proven success and high-yielding results from these high-achieving companies will make The Service Profit Chain required reading for senior, division, and business unit managers in all service companies, as well as for students of service management.

The Service Profit Chain: How Leading Companies Link Profit and Growth to Loyalty, Satisfaction, and Value (Цепочка создания прибыли в сфере услуг: как ведущие компании связывают прибыль и рост с лояльностью, удовлетворением и ценностью)

This research argues that the meaning embedded in consumption symbols, such as commercial brands, can serve to represent and institutionalize the values and beliefs of a culture. We conducted four studies to examine how the symbolic and expressive attributes associated with commercial brands are structured, and determine the degree to which this structure varies across three cultures. Relying on a combined emic-etic approach, we identified indigenous constructs of `brand personality' (Aaker, 1997) in two non-Anglo cultures (Japan and Spain), and compared these dimensions to those previously found in the United States. The results of Studies 1 and 2 revealed a set of brand personality dimensions common to both Japan and the United States (Sincerity, Excitement, Competence, and Sophistication), as well as culture-specific Japanese (Peacefulness) and American (Ruggedness) dimensions. Studies 3 and 4 extended this set of findings to Spain. Results from these studies also identified brand personality dimensions common to both Spain and the United States (Sincerity, Excitement, and Sophistication), plus non-shared Spanish (Passion) and American (Competence and Ruggedness) dimensions. The meaning of the culturally-common and -specific brand personality dimensions is discussed in the context of cross-cultural research on values and affect, globalization issues, and cultural frame shifting.

Consumption Symbols as Carriers of Culture: A Study of Japanese and Spanish Brand Personality Constructs

Celebrities frequently endorse products, brands, political candidates, or health campaigns. We investigated the effectiveness of such endorsements by meta-analyzing 46 studies published until April 2016 involving 10,357 participants. Applying multilevel meta-analysis, we analyzed celebrity endorsements in the context of for-profit and non-profit marketing. Findings revealed strong positive and negative effects when theoretically relevant moderators were included in the analysis. The most positive attitudinal effect appeared for male actors who match well with an implicitly endorsed object (d = .90). The most negative effect was found for female models not matching well with an explicitly endorsed object (d = −.96). Furthermore, celebrity endorsements performed worse compared to endorsements of quality seals, awards, or endorser brands. No publication bias was detected. The study has theoretical and practical implications, and provides an agenda for future research.

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The effectiveness of celebrity endorsements: a meta-analysis

The objective of the research reported in this paper was to develop and test a model of brand personality–celebrity endorser personality congruence and its impact on consumers’ attitudes and intentions. In particular, the study drew on social adaptation and attribution theories to develop hypotheses related to the impact of this congruence on consumers’ perceptions of endorser credibility and suitability, and the subsequent impact of these perceptions on consumers’ attitudes and intentions. The study was motivated by recent attention being paid to the importance of personality in choosing celebrities for product endorsements and the fact that the brand personality–celebrity endorser personality congruence has not been explored before. The model was tested based on data obtained from a sample of participants in India. Results from path analyses indicated a positive and significant impact of personality-based congruence on endorser credibility and suitability, which, in turn, positively and significantly impacted ad believability. Ad believability in turn significantly impacted attitude toward the ad, which had a significant impact on brand attitude and purchase intentions. Research and managerial implications are discussed, as are directions for future research.

Exploring Brand Personality–Celebrity Endorser Personality Congruence in Celebrity Endorsements in the Indian Context

Service quality versus service experience: An empirical examination of the consequential effects in B2B services

This study aims to investigate the relevance of customer experience quality (EXQ) across three different aspects. It compares the effect of EXQ on customer attitudes for hedonic vs utilitarian services; regular vs new customers; and new customers if they revisit or become regular customers.,The study uses a survey design with structured questionnaires and established scales. Part of the data is collected using a longitudinal survey. Factor analysis and structural equation modeling are used as analytical techniques.,Major findings indicate a stronger effect of EXQ on consumer attitudes for a hedonic service. The effect of EXQ is found to be different on attitude variables for new and existing customers. A temporal change is observed for the new customers when they become regular.,The findings emphasize on the differential effect of EXQ depending on the service type and customer type. The findings also support the temporal nature of customer experience.,The findings emphasize on the role of customer experience in retaining customers. The findings further imply that a service provider should consider the effect of experience both during and post-consumption for better service delivery and growth.,The novelty of the study lies in the comparison of the effects of experience across different service types. In addition, longitudinal exploration of changing effects of customer experience is tested for the first time as per the author’s knowledge.

Effects of customer experience across service types, customer types and time

Purpose – The aim of the present study is to investigate the comparative effect of sports vs film celebrity with the moderating effect (if any) of the celebrity credibility and consumer personality on consumer attitudes.Design/methodology/approach – The present study uses a 3×1 experimental design (celebrity being the independent variable), on a combined sample of 463 respondents to investigate their attitudes towards celebrity endorsement, moderated by their personality traits and source credibility.Findings – Major findings indicate a film celebrity to create more positive consumer attitudes than a sports celebrity. The components Agreeableness, Openness and partially, Conscientiousness were important moderators of consumers' attitudes out of the Big Five Personality dimensions. All dimensions of source credibility were found to have significant moderating effects on consumer attitudes.Research limitations/implications – The study was limited to the Indian context, but has theoretical implications in te...

The moderating role of consumer personality and source credibility in celebrity endorsements

This study raises three questions and attempts to provide tentative explanations for them. The first two questions relate to locating, in the consumer's perceptual space, the relative position of I...

Subhadip Roy

Papers

Exploring Brand Personality–Celebrity Endorser Personality Congruence in Celebrity Endorsements in the Indian Context

Service quality versus service experience: An empirical examination of the consequential effects in B2B services

Effects of customer experience across service types, customer types and time

The moderating role of consumer personality and source credibility in celebrity endorsements

An Exploratory Study in Celebrity Endorsements