<p>This paper is a systematic review of scholarly studies that examines how organizations enhance their ability to generate value through social media. It explores why some organizations are able to adopt and benefit from social media while others cannot. Specifically, it examines: (i) how <i> people</i> and social networks are essential to create value at the organizational level, (ii) how <i>leadership</i> sets the vision and convinces others on the need for change, and (iii) what types of <i>strategy</i> can be implemented to enable knowledge creation through social networks. Argument is made on the vital importance of two variables in particular&mdash;leadership and strategy&mdash;and their role in moderating how the organization accepts and incorporates change to enhance overall effectiveness and efficiency. Evidence-based research is used to describe relevant theory and practice through qualitative and quantitative sources. It examines how organizations overcome the hurdles associated with change, and how individuals learn to accept new methods to connect, share knowledge, and create value through Web 2.0 technology. </p><p> Social media challenges an organization&rsquo;s ability to manage individuals and information. It requires a shift in the way people work and think; it requires a culture adjustment in how people collaborate in new, more inclusive ways other than relying on the same imbedded methods and inner core of co-workers for answers. </p><p> <i>Keywords:</i> Social Media, Social Networks, Leadership, Strategy, and Organizational Culture. </p>

<p> Each year, over 300 billion dollars of print coupons are distributed, yet the redemption rate is less than one percent. As of 2010, 93% of the U.S. population has one or more cell phones providing anytime, anywhere access. Despite the 2009 economic downturn, Americans still spend 41% of their food budget outside of the home. The specific problem to be studied is the behavioral intention of young adults, 18 to 24 years of age, attending private, non-profit universities to use mobile coupons for casual restaurant dining. The purpose of this quantitative, cross-sectional correlation study was determining the relationship between five independent variables: (a) performance expectancy, (b) effort expectancy, (c) social influence, (d) fear of spam, and (e) opting-in; and one dependent variable: participants' behavioral intention to use mobile coupons for casual restaurant dining. The results demonstrated a strong positive correlation between all of the variables except fear of spam and the dependent variable: the behavioral intention to use mobile coupons for casual dining restaurants. There was no relationship between the fear of spam and the behavioral intention to use mobile coupons. This, in itself, was an important finding. Recommendations for using mobile coupons include coupon promotion as a component of the marketing mix, mobile coupons as a unique way of encouraging new menu items, creating an easy path to opt-in, and creative ideas for coupon face-value promotions. Mobile coupons have the potential to exceed the redemption rates of printed coupons.</p>

<p> The current qualitative phenomenological study was conducted to explore small and medium enterprise (SME) business leaders&rsquo; lived experiences with e-commerce practices. The central research question for the current study was as follows: What is the lived experience of SME leaders who have used e-commerce practices within their business with regard to the effect and critical success factors (CSFs) of e-commerce in the SMEs&rsquo; success? The findings of this study offer insights into how the adoption of e-commerce practices might help SMEs in Puerto Rico to achieve competitive advantage and contribute to their success or survival. The study served to define the knowledge and skills required for leaders to manage e-commerce operations. Research findings indicated that e-commerce helps to generate revenue and profitability for a business. A key negative aspect of e-commerce that leaders must consider is distrust in terms of security risks and identity fraud, among others. The study findings indicate that SME leaders in Puerto Rico are using e-commerce practices such as media advertising and promotion based on electronic marketing media, and cutting-edge technology through more interactive websites, among others. Other key factors for e-commerce success were the knowledge and skills that the SME leaders possessed, which included knowledge of technology like Web programming, and know how to create and use different tools based on computer systems, among others. The findings of the current study can serve as a roadmap to those considering adopting e-commerce, and lead future research related to the use e-commerce practices in SMEs.</p>

Branding dates back to centuries ago when traders were trying to distinguish their products from others in order to promise a higher quality to their consumers. Today, brands are considered as intangible resources that can have a significant contribution to the firm performance. Based on the Resource-Based Theory (RBT), valuable, rare, inimitable, and non-substitutable brands are strategic resources that create superior value and play a key role in achieving a sustainable competitive advantage over rivals. In the process of developing and maintaining strong brands, brand managers constantly need to make multiple decisions. Whether to add, delete or retail brands are among the routine decisions that brand managers face in managing their brand portfolios. Brand managers need to regularly assess their brand portfolios in order to make sure they are not selling redundant brands. Through brand portfolio assessment, brand managers can recognize weak brands and delete the unprofitable brands from the portfolio in order to free up resources and reinvest them in their stronger and more successful brands to gain competitive advantage in the market. This admonition is in line with the RBT of competitive advantage. This dissertation builds upon and extends previous literature on RBT in the context of brand deletion to achieve three main objectives. The first objective is to find the answer to why companies decide to delete brands from their portfolios. Thus, the focus of the first objective is to identify the organizational (i.e., firm, managerial, and brand) factors that drive the brand deletion strategy in a company. The second goal is to find the answer to the when question through identifying the environmental (i.e., market) factors associated with brand deletion decision making in a company. Finally, the third objective is to go deeper and investigate the different types of brand deletion strategy (i.e., merge, sell, milk, and kill). In other words, the third objective seeks to find the answer to the how question. Deleting brands from the portfolio of a company, being the most sensitive issue in strategic brand portfolio management, is yet understudied in the brand portfolio management literature. This study adds to the literature of strategic brand portfolio management by a) applying the Resource-based Theory (RBT) in the context of brand deletion decision making and b) empirically testing the relationships among the drivers of brand deletion strategies. The findings of this dissertation provide a better understanding on how each of these factors are associated with the brand deletion decision making process in companies. The current dissertation provides practitioners with several managerial insights as well. First, the study identifies and empirically tests several organizational-level factors that drive brand deletion decisions in companies. This will help brand managers be familiar with factors that they need to consider when evaluating their poor-performing brands. Breaking these factors into internal (brand and firm) and external (market) drivers provides practitioners with a better understanding of the brand deletion decision making process. In addition, the findings of this study help managers realize their own role (in terms of their attitude toward deletion and their commitment to the brand) in the brand deletion process. Finally, the identification and discussion of the four types of brand deletion strategy help companies have a clearer picture of how they can remove brands from their portfolios.

Firm's advertising and marketing expenditures do not always translate to measurable financial returns. Understanding brand value appropriation and financial consequences of advertising is important for more focused investments in branding and marketing. This quantitative study sought to understand the joint effects of advertising expenditure and brand value (BV) on firms return on assets (ROA) and on stock return (SR) in the computer industry. The theoretical framework of the study was the resource-based view theory that proposes that the intangible assets of a corporation have a direct relationship to its ability to sustain its competitive advantage. The key research question involved the joint and positive effect of a firm's advertising expenditure and brand value on return on assets and on stock return. The research design was a non randomized cross sectional study. The data consisted of advertising expenditures and brand value of 17 firms listed on the Interbrand annual global brand list from 2000 to 2007, ROA and SR extracted from each firms 10K and Morningstar financial report. The study used panel data modeling and time series of cross section analysis. Results showed positive correlation between ROA and BV, and between AER and BV. The association between brand value and ROA, even after accounting for the effect of advertising expenditure and the interaction effect between brand value and advertising expenditure, was statistically significant. Further research is needed to confirm the findings. Effective marketing increases firms' profitability. Profitable firms contribute more to causes that drive social changes in the areas of education, healthcare and food sustainability.