A major aim of this study is to offer a relatively comprehensive picture of marketing channel behaviour and performance. Given the statistical difficulties in testing a very large, comprehensive model to achieve this aim, two separate but overlapping models are proposed. One model specifically addresses behaviour in marketing channels, while the other integrates key behavioural outcomes with objective measures of performance. Within the second model the personalities of key boundary managers are introduced to help explain the linkages between the behavioural outcomes and economic outcomes. Empirical research to test the models was undertaken in one large marketing channel Post Office Counters Ltd. (POCL). This research focuses on privately owned agencies-the sub-post office-and only those with a viable second business. The marketing channel is otherwise similar in form to many franchises and agencies. The agents are owners-managers of small businesses in which they are the key decision makers. POCL provided a sample of 2,400 post offices with a second viable business. The research followed a dyadic design. A self-completion questionnaire, which had been previously validated, was sent to the sub-postmaster in each outlet. The area manager acting on behalf of the principal for each of the outlets for which a return was received was sent a mirror image questionnaire (the same questionnaire about the relationship but rephrased to be relevant to the principal). A total of 497 cases that contained complete data for the dyad represent the sample used in this study. The questionnaire was designed to measure a number of constructs. These were: the satisfaction of the sub-postmaster-the agent-with the overall channel relationship; the balance of power in their relationship with POCL-the principal; whether POCL were using power coercively or non-coercively; trust (using two measures, honesty and benevolence); conflict, and the personality of both the agent and the area manager. Conflict is treated as a dyadic measure. The personality instrument was the NEO FiveFactor Inventory (NEO-FFI; Costa and McCrae 1992), a standard, well-validated personality test. This assesses the five broad dimensions of personality: Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness to Experience, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness. Two measures of performance-business and operational-were computed based on data supplied by Post Office Counters Limited. Structural Equation Modelling was used to test the two hypothesised models and to obtain robust information about how constructs interrelate.

The purpose of the research is to evaluate industrial upgrading by own-brand beverage firms in the Caribbean. The work analyses how and why the beverage firms have upgraded, compares this with the relevant literature on global value chain (GVC) upgrading and makes policy suggestions. The thesis uses the GVC framework as the lens for understanding process, product and functional upgrading. The work studies nineteen beverage firms located in Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. Interviews and documentation were the methods used to abstract information from the beverage firms, other firms in the chains and industry informants. The research finds that the GVC framework helps to identify specific drivers of upgrading including naturally occurring and man-made rents. Further, the work extends the empirical literature by discussing different steps within each type of upgrading rather than a trajectory between the types of upgrading, governance patterns based on type of firm ownership and, importantly, how own-brand manufacturers upgrade horizontally by moving production to Developed Countries. Finally, the work makes the contribution that without public-private intervention, upgrading can have damaging consequences on the developing economy.

This study explores the suitability and the potential of the Internet as a retail marketing communication channel for the UK-based grocery retailers. Grocery retail chains have grown in relative importance since they become commonplace in the UK. This study examines three related aspects of marketing via the Internet including: the Internet as a retail marketing tool; the Internet as a retail marketing communication medium; and the Internet as a retail marketing distribution channel. These three examined aspects in the study are significantly important in successful marketing via the Internet. The purpose of the study is to examine the nature of UK grocery retailing on the Internet. The primary aims are to develop an understanding of how the Internet is used by the UK grocery retailers to interact with consumers and to explore the extent of its adoption within the UK grocery retail sector. The main objectives are: (i) to assess the general extent of the Internet adoption by the UK grocery retailers in order to understand whether the type of grocery retail marketing activities undertaken influences this. (ii) to investigate whether the extent of the Internet adoption by the UK grocery retailers is dependent upon the size of retail operation, in terms of the number of total retail outlets. Therefore, the study developed from the previous works in this area focuses on the achievement of the main objectives. Since the examination of existing literature shows that previous works do not assess the effectiveness of the Internet as a retail marketing communication channel for grocery retail marketing; and from the perspective of consumer, this study fills these gaps by using the Internet to identify market opportunities for grocery retailers. In order to collect the data, the Corporate Intelligence on Retailing was used as the source of data, because it included all of the large retail organisations as well as those with a significant on-line presence. Those websites of the UK's leading retail organisations were identified. The UK's grocery retail organisations selected were based on the presence of a registered URL; website activity validation, and website review procedure. This method ensured that the collection of data was conducted in a rigorous and consistent manner. Both the fundamental principles that govern the Internet and the retail marketing communication dyad have been evaluated. The findings highlight the difficulty of acquiring a sustainable competitive advantage via the Internet resulting from the necessity for grocery retail-specific structures, the derived nature of consumer demand for grocery, security concerns, the presence of structural impediments in shopping via the Internet, and the transaction-versus-process-based use of the Internet in grocery retailing. The major contribution of this study therefore is the identification of structural changes to the UK grocery retail market, which consequently harmonises all the grocery retailers and those factors underpinning the adoption of the Internet by the UK's leading grocery retailers that help to strengthen their competitiveness and allow sustainability in the grocery retail market.

This study sought to contribute to the literature on key account management (KAM) relationships. In doing so, it aimed to address a number of gaps in the existing literature, particularly a noticeable lack of research into key account management in developing economies, as opposed to developed economies. More specifically, the study sought to examine the dynamics of key account management relationships in an emerging economy in the Arab World. The main research question to address was: How is KAM relationship management applied in an Arab context? The research utilised 50 cross-sectional semi-structured in-depth interviews to achieve the study’s aim. More specifically, the study was based upon a sample of recipients involved with key accounts from supplier organisations which operated in different sectors and had different ownership – local and foreign. Primary data was gathered through in-depth semi-structured interviews primarily with key account managers, and with company directors, marketing and sales managers, and selling/support teams. In general, the findings revealed that there are informal and formal aspects of KAM relationships in an Arab context that complement each other. These have some similarities and differences with the Western context. In particular, similarities appeared mainly along the formal aspects such as, roles and duties of key account managers (KAMgrs), identification and selection criteria of key accounts, special treatment and activities carried out with key customers; the actors involved including senior managers and support teams; and the resources utilised. However, differences existed in the selection and the recruitment criteria and some competencies that were Arab specific, the degree of involvement of senior managers differ significantly from what is noted in the KAM literature. As for the informal aspect, that is manifested in Wasta and family connections, trust, and personal involvement, which makes the KAM relationship management approach in an Arab context uniquely different and plays a major role in how customers are acquired and retained and the overall management of key customers. Furthermore, evidence shows that there is a tendency to transfer Western KAM practices to the Arab world, with some adaptation to take into consideration the country-specific and contextual factors. Overall, it is argued, that the study’s findings contribute to existing knowledge in a number of ways. First, they extend our knowledge into key account management in an Arab context and confirm the importance of both the formal and informal aspects in managing KAM relationships. They also add weight to the view that in Arab cultures personal and affective/emotional dimensions of the relational factors are given more importance, compared to the impersonal and calculative aspects that are more emphasised in the West. The findings contribute to existing knowledge regarding KAM segmentation and the importance of the personal profile in an Arab context vis a vis the business profile, and they validate the view that a process of crossvergence of management practices is occurring across borders. The findings, however, challenge the view that KAM can be rolled out unchanged into any international context. They also discover the competencies required for Arab KAMgrs. Finally the findings contribute to existing knowledge by discovering the benefits of Wasta for key account managers.

The primary aim of this doctoral research was to empirically investigate customer and competitive reactions to post-M&A integration through both quantitative and qualitative customer perspectives, and to identify the business impact of these reactions and its potential causal mechanisms. The topic is widely recognised among practitioners but has received relatively little attention in the academic literature (Anderson et al., 2001; Schweiger and Very, 2003), which might explain the reason why decisive factors for M&A success are still elusive (Homburg and Bucerius, 2005). The research was carried out in three stages. Project-1 engaged in a systematic review of the marketing literature in order to build a foundation of knowledge on customer-supplier relationships. The review results were integrated into a literaturebased conceptual model, indicating the link between customer relationship management activities, customer loyalty and company performance, under ‘business as usual’ conditions. Based on this conceptual model, Project-2 empirically investigated post-M&A business issues through a single case study of multi-business mergers. Interviews with key account managers and their customers suggested a potential underlying causal mechanism of integration effects on customer-supplier relationships. Finally, Project-3 tested the key variables and interrelationships identified in Project-2 through a survey method in order to begin the process of generalization. Survey responses from business-to-business (B2B) customers were analysed by applying Structural Equation Modelling, which indicated potential causal correlations between integration activities, perceived changes in customer relationship variables and changes in the level of behavioural customer loyalty during the post-M&A period. The findings suggest a possible answer to the overall research question — what are the key factors that affect post-M&A business performance, or more specifically, what are the key variables that influence customer reactions and why/how? Post-M&A integration actions were found to trigger customer relationship issues. For instance, the integration of operations and IT systems leads to perceived deterioration in service performance, while salesforce integration creates organisational issues such as employees’ internally focused attitudes, which result in perceived declines in customer orientation and account management quality. Furthermore, integration actions as a whole generate an unstable business environment that promotes intensive competitive attacks. Some contextual factors which magnify these issues were also identified, specifically the complexity of the merger/integration and the depth of the pre-merger customer relationships. The issues above negatively influence customers’ purchase intentions and, in the worst cases, drove customers to terminate contracts, which would exert a negative impact on the merging parties’ business performance during the post- M&A integration period. The research has made a step towards a better understanding of how customers and competitors respond to post-M&A integration and the mechanisms by which those responses arise, particularly within the focal industry context of this study. It contributes to the M&A-integration and performance literature by illuminating the role and drivers of competitive attacks, and customer reactions in determining market-related M&A performance. It also contributes to the M&A-integration and business network literature by suggesting the mechanisms through which the customer-supplier relationship is impacted by post-M&A integration activities. Finally, contributions to practice and methodological development, as well as limitations and implications for future research, are also presented.

The advent of the mobile technologies is transforming the relationships between the firm and its customers. The mobile phone, which has become indispensable to many people, is increasingly being used as a unique and innovative marketing channel that enables personal, interactive, anytime, anywhere communication. Although there have been some studies in mobile marketing, most of them concentrate on consumers‟ perceptions of and attitudes towards mobile marketing. There is a scarcity of research that examines consumers behaviour in relation to mobile marketing communications. This thesis develops and tests a model, based on an extended version of Fishbein and Ajzen's (1975) theory of reasoned action, to understand and predict consumers participation in mobile sales promotions. Drawing from literature in the fields of sales promotion, mobile marketing and prediction of behaviour, the model proposes four main influences on consumers participation behaviour: attitude, subjective norm, behavioural intention, and past behaviour. The results of the empirical study, a two-stage large-scale survey conducted with the participants of major mobile sales promotion campaign, show support for the effects of attitude, behavioural intention and past behaviour on consumers‟ participation in mobile sales promotions. The study reported in this thesis makes a number of contributions to marketing research; specifically to the understanding of consumer response to mobile sales promotions. From a theoretical perspective, the extensions made to the theory of reasoned action (a multidimensional attitudinal structure instead of a uni-dimensional one; a positive influence from attitudes to subjective norms instead of independency between these constructs; and the inclusion of the past behaviour construct) support earlier empirical findings that the structure underlying Fishbein and Ajzen‟s theory is richer in content and more complex than it is originally stated. From a managerial perspective the findings show that attitude, behavioural intention, and past behaviour are the three most important factors in determining consumers‟ participation in mobile sales promotions. From a methodological perspective, the use of Partial Least Squares (PLS), a robust structural equation modelling technique mainly concerned with “prediction”, is found to be useful in understanding the antecedents of behaviour under inquiry as well as predicting it; a finding that contributes to a greater understanding of the relevance of PLS in marketing based business studies.

Marketing communication focuses on employing strategies that appeal to its target audience and messages must identify the target audience and communicate in ways that appeal to its needs and expectations to be effective (Palmer 2009). However, targeting consumers with marketing messages in English regardless of cultural heritage and native language continues (Puntoni et al. 2009). Whilst language policies influence the public sector to target Welsh consumers with bilingual messages, the private sector continue to convey predominately-English messages. In contrast, faced with the same challenge, all commercial businesses try to stand out from their competitors (Bhargava 2008). Further, the number of Welsh first language speakers living in Wales is on the increase (Welsh Language Board, 2003). Therefore, contemporary marketing communication calls for marketing messages that appeal to a wider Welsh bilingual market. This thesis investigates the impact bilingual marketing stimuli has on comprehension, attitudes, and resulting behaviour of Welsh consumers. A large scale, holistic research approach was utilised in the study, mutually supported by a deductive and inductive mixed method design to produce robust data. This strengthens any weakness in the methods, as one compensated for the other (Fulcher and Scott 2007), thus cancelling out any limitations (Milliken 2001). A non-probability sampling method was adopted that would positively identify the target audience fitting the language criteria. Choosing a non-parametric route to the method of analysis is in light of non- probability sampling in addition to limitations in sample size and unknown normality of distribution. The e-Prime software application suite creates all the computerised experiment designs. The quantitative data was analysed using the statistical package for social science (SPSS), whilst using qualitative data, the content was analysed and thematic techniques used to uncover themes. Contributing data interpretation drawn from small samples acts as a platform for designing the confirmatory survey aimed at strengthening validity and reliability. The findings draw on narratives and statistical significant correlations in bilingual qualities of consumers that focus on the assumption that Welsh products are associated with quality goods that are higher in price. A strong sense of passion and pride for the Welsh language's development emerges from the analysis that has the potential to offer a lucrative business growth opportunity for local businesses. However, the additional costs of producing bilingual marketing messages are unjustified whilst consumer comprehension gaps in the Welsh language exist. From the analysis and discussions, the development of two distinctive framework models will assist businesses in directing contemporary marketing communications at specifically targeted audiences based on language proficiency and its motivational appeal. In addition, having to attend to only one academic level of Welsh, this adds to the comprehension gap problem making it difficult for creating marketing communications that challenge the comprehension gap. Commercial competitive advantages are difficult to achieve when language level variations are restricted in their use to segment the market to beat the competition. Support for a variation of language levels for businesses to use that target consumer groups within each comprehension level offer businesses more scope to adopt cost effective strategies that offer competitive advantages. Future proposed research directions include use of language proficiency as a tool to segment the bilingual market and, in doing so, test the effectiveness of marketing messages designed to identify with each target market. Also, there is opportunity to explore the impact such marketing messages may have on those not specifically targeted (non- Welsh speakers) as well as the effects of their appeal on the tourist trade.

No description available.

The purpose of cause-related marketing (CRM) is to publicise and capitalise on a firm's corporate social performance (CSP) to enhance its legitimacy. More specifically, CRM strategies focus on how firms should design their corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies how and communicate the associated CSP in ways that will enhance a firm's reputation with its key stakeholders thereby improving long-run profitability and stakeholder relationships. Under the CRM perspective, corporate managers view CSR-related expenditures as investments tools. There successes are judged in relation to other potential investments that mayor may not be on the CSR agenda. The purpose of this research is to identify the CRM strategies used by UK firms operating in the finance and retail industries. It is primarily an empirical based project that identifies the motives and returns underlying CRM activities in two important sectors of the economy. The process oriented conceptual framework for CRM is developed and subsequently tested through both quantitative and qualitative methods. The purpose of this exercise is to gain an understanding of firms' CRM behavioural patterns and managers' underlying motives when making CRM related decisions. Simple statistics tests and semi-structured interviews are used to analyse the data. More concretely, T- tests are used to compare the means of corporate activities categorised into four types of CRM behaviours (duration of the campaign timeframe, geographic coverage, causes selection, and CRM strategies selection). This is followed by 116 semi- structured interviews with corporate and non-profit executives. The London Stock Exchange database is used as a sampling frame and the findings are presented in four empirical core chapters titled according to these four types of CRM behaviours. The primary fmding of this thesis posits that corporate managers design CRM strategies in order to demonstrate firm's legitimacy value using effective communication strategy. Since companies within the same industry are subject to more or less the same social expectations, we find that there are industry-wide similarities in the design of CRM strategies. Moreover, the thesis argues that different industries are subject to different stakeholder pressures thereby creating industry-specific CRM strategies. The analyses highlight some of these differences in the retail and financial services sector. Amongst these are the finding that i) organizational structures and the extent to which decision-making is centralised influences the type of causes and CRM strategies that are selected in the retail and financial services industries; ii) the trade-off between corporate demand for 'legitimacy' enhancing schemes and flexibility affects managers' decision regarding the duration of the campaign, iii) symbols and images are at the hearth of cause selection but these will differ substantially across sectors, iv) the industry-specific characteristics such as product types, management expertise and others affects managers' choice ofCRM strategies. This thesis explores corporate rationales and motives underlying managerial strategic decisions to invest in CRM-related activities. It offers academics and both corporate and non-profit managers insights about the role of CRM within an organisation. 3 ! I 11

The phenomenon of consumer relationships in consumer markets has been investigated by· loyalty and relationship research. However, mainstream consumer loyalty research has been developed in cognitive 'attitude-behaviour' framework. Nevertheless, relationship perspective has emerged as a theoretical perspective and attracted interest in the loyalty research domain. In addition, since the 19605, relationship priciples and relationship marketing (RM) concepts h.we also been developed in the B-to-B sectors and service markets. Moreover, relational thoughts and RM concepts have also been extended to mass consumer markets. Different types of commercial consumer relationships have been explored. However, this is the first dedicated study to explore consumer/store relationship phenomena from the perspective of individual consumers. The main objectives of this study are to: (1) develop the understanding of nature of consumer/store relationships and (3) engage in the discourse on methodology and the role of researcher in interpretive research. An in-depth study has been undertaken based on interpretive modes of inquiry. This study has explored the lived experiences of UK women in the context of grocery shopping and consumption. As a result, a richly contextualised account of consumer/store relationships has been investigated in depth and a conceptual framework for consumer/store relationships has been developed. The significance of other aspects of relationships (such as the store constellations, and the association between value congruence and relationships) has also been highlighted. Indeed, the findings have shown that stores provide support for consumers in terms of: (1) consumers' shopping task fulfilment; (2) pleasure seeking needs; (3) self concept construction and maintenance; (4) self discovery, self extension and self expression. Moreover, various interactions and multiple level effects between consumers and their stores can result in the diverse and dynamic bonds between consumers and the stores they shop. The research has demonstrated the validity of the existence and investigation of consumer/store relationships at the level of consumers' lived experiences.