Alberto Pastore

The firm as a viable system: managing inter-organisational relationships

The paper discusses the role played by business relationships within a view of the firm as a viable system. Attention is focused on relationships between firms and their supplying system, emphasising the way how such relationships affect firms’ innovation processes. The paper also considers the role of trust in enhancing the effectiveness of customer-supplier relationships and in promoting innovation. These aspects are discussed theoretically and further developed using the empirical example of the Ericsson subsidiary in Italy.

Antecedents of brand love in online network-based communities. A social identity perspective

Purpose – This paper aims to analyse the antecedents of brand love in online network-based communities and to develop an integrative conceptual model in which social-interactive engagement influences brand love via the mediating effects of social identity. Design/methodology/approach – A survey was conducted on the Facebook fan pages of 20 leading international brands. A total of 387 responses were collected from consumers living primarily in Europe and the USA. Structural equation modelling was performed to test the hypothesised linkages. Findings – The results confirmed that the positive influence of social-interactive engagement on brand love is mediated by the psychological effects related to how members perceive their self-concept based on belonging to the social group of the brand fan page. Research limitations/implications – This study considered Facebook, the favourite social network used by customers to connect with brands. Future research is invited to consider other social media to increase the...

Information dissemination via electronic word-of-mouth

People disseminate more negative than positive information.People disseminate negative information to more recipients and longer time.Negative online information is more elaborated and detailed.There are more negative reactions to positive information.There are less positive reactions to negative information. The purpose of this research is to investigate negativity bias in secondary electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM). Two experiments, one laboratory and one field, were conducted to study actual dissemination behavior. The results demonstrate a strong tendency toward the negative in the dissemination of secondary commercial information. In line with Dynamic Social Impact Theory, our findings show that consumers disseminate online negative content to more recipients, for a longer period of time and in more elaborated and assimilated manner than they do positive information. The research is important from both a theoretical and managerial perspective. In the former, it enriches existing literature on eWOM by providing insight into theoretical dimensions of the negativity theory not examined before (duration, role of valence, elaboration, and assimilation). Findings provide managerial insights into designing more effective WOM and publicity campaigns.

Why environmentally conscious consumers do not purchase green products

Purpose – This paper aims to address the green purchasing gap by: exploring environmentally conscious consumers’ mental representation of the barriers responsible for the green purchasing gap; assessing which barriers are perceived as the most relevant in hampering the purchase of green products for environmentally conscious consumers; and investigating the relationships among these barriers. Although consumers are increasingly concerned about environmental deterioration, the current market share of green products remains fairly low. Design/methodology/approach – An introspective qualitative study is conducted; 51 environmentally conscious consumers showing a green purchasing gap are interviewed, and the data are analysed with a cognitive mapping technique (Decision Explorer software) and Freeman’ structural indices (UCINET software). Findings – Higher price and scarce availability of green products are the main barriers to green purchasing. However, consumers’ perceptions of price and availability may va...

Consumers’ attitude and behavior towards online music piracy and subscription-based services

Purpose – This paper analyzes consumers’ attitudes and behaviors towards online piracy and their willingness to try subscription-based music services. The objective is to develop and test an attitude-intention model which includes ethical considerations in consumers’ decision making process regarding music consumption. Design/methodology/approach – The study analyzes 505 consumer questionnaires using a structural equations model. Findings – Attitude toward online piracy is positively determined by economic and hedonic benefits and negatively by moral judgment. A favorable attitude toward online piracy, in turn, negatively influences consumers’ willingness to try subscription-based music services, which is also directly determined by their interest and involvement with the services themselves. Research limitations/implications – The limitations of the paper are linked mainly to the adapted scales, to the analysis of just two subscription-based music services (Napster and Spotify) and to the fact that all r...

L'innovazione nella comunicazione integrata di marketing secondo gli attori del network. Una lettura con le mappe cognitive *

Obiettivi del paper : Il lavoro intende indagare in chiave esplorativa come vengono interpretati e affrontati i cambiamenti in atto nella comunicazione integrata di marketing (IMC) da parte dei diversi attori del communication network. Metodologia : E stata condotta un’indagine qualitativa, attraverso interviste personali in profondita (n=35) a top manager di imprese inserzioniste e a profili senior di agenzie pubblicitarie, centri media, concessionarie ed editori operanti in Italia. Le informazioni raccolte sono state elaborate attraverso il metodo delle mappe cognitive. Risultati : La definizione della mappa cognitiva “collettiva” consente di delineare una visione manageriale integrata del cambiamento nella comunicazione di marketing. Il framework concettuale proposto permette di evidenziare altresi le differenze nelle percezioni del cambiamento da parte degli intervistati, in relazione alla specifica categoria di appartenenza. Limiti della ricerca : L’approccio qualitativo esplorativo implica cautela nella generalizzazione dei risultati. Implicazioni pratiche : Il framework proposto consente ai manager di prendere consapevolezza della visione integrata e trasversale del nuovo scenario, indipendentemente dalla loro categoria di appartenenza nell’ambito della filiera. Al contempo, permette di individuare le criticita piu rilevanti per le singole tipologie di player, cosi da stimolare nuove condotte manageriali. Originalita del lavoro : Questo lavoro rappresenta una prima esplorazione del punto di vista manageriale dei driver e dei temi dell’innovazione, nonche delle connesse sfide manageriali. Si adotta per la prima volta una prospettiva olistica, non limitata all’ambiente digitale, proponendo inoltre una lettura integrata del cambiamento, attraverso l’analisi delle implicazioni manageriali per tutti gli attori del network. Parole chiave: innovazione; comunicazione integrata di marketing; communication network; mappe cognitive.

Le imprese e il social commerce: opportunità e sfide manageriali

La diffusione dei social media ha dato origine ad una nuova forma di commercio elettronico: il social commerce. Questo prevede l’utilizzo dei social media a supporto delle interazioni tra gli utenti connesse all’acquisto di beni e servizi, sia online che offline. Ancora pochi studi si sono focalizzati sulle implicazioni manageriali di questo fenomeno, soprattutto nel nostro Paese. Il lavoro si propone di indagare, in chiave esplorativa, come viene interpretato il social commerce da parte dei digital player italiani, attraverso 30 interviste in profondita elaborate con la tecnica della content analysis qualitativa. I risultati della ricerca evidenziano le opportunita e le sfide manageriali che il social commerce dischiude alle imprese attive nel marketspace.

Counterfeiting luxury goods

Counterfeiting is one of the oldest crimes in history. In ancient Rome, wine traders counterfeited wine trademarks on amphorae, selling inexpensive local wine as fine Roman wine. By the 13th century, counterfeiting had become so common that, in some European countries, copying a trademark was punished with torture and death. Today, counterfeiting hits almost every sector, from pharmaceuticals to toys, from auto-parts to content goods (movies, music, software, video games, etc.), but luxury and fashion goods are often the preferred targets of counterfeiters. These products are the most illegally reproduced worldwide for a multitude of reasons, linked to both demand and supply. On the demand side, counterfeiters exploit the heritage of meanings associated with the original goods, enticing status-seeking consumers who cannot afford the authentic goods into buying false versions in order to project the same prestige, high brand image and social status as the authentic goods. Some consumers of counterfeits may think they are “smart shoppers†, getting a great deal on a product that resembles an original. Still others may hold “anti-big-business†sentiments towards luxury brands, perceiving them as distant corporations charging unreasonably high prices for their products. On the supply side, counterfeiters are very interested in reproducing luxury goods since they are part of a very lucrative market with significant margins yet require relatively simple, mass-production technologies. Thus, counterfeiting may imply large profits with small investments and limited risks, given that the probability of being caught is rather small, and even if caught, the conviction rates are low and penalty rates often light. For these reasons, counterfeiting is especially flourishing in emerging economies, where Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) enforcement is still in its infancy and local governments are oftentimes permissive with local “entrepreneurs†, particularly when these countries may be more focused on more immediate needs, such as hunger, employment, safety, and transportation. As a result, complying with international policy and enforcing the IPRs of global, luxury companies is certainly not a priority. The consequences of these instances are dramatic for legitimate brands, as “loxury†products, meaning counterfeit luxury goods, not only reduce revenues and profits, but also tarnish the brand’s image, equity, and reputation, which are the essence of what a luxury brand really is.

The Role of Social-Interactive Engagement and Social Identity in the Development of Brand Love Through Facebook Fan Page

Social technologies allow brands to build digital platforms that stimulate consumer engagement by enabling customers to connect with one another, to freely discuss a brand, to conduct product and price comparisons, to personalise product features and ultimately to make purchases (Pagani and Mirabello 2012). Moreover, online network-based communities (Dholakia et al. 2004) – such as social networks and micro-blogs – not only enable users to express their identity and satisfy social needs through the sharing of brand-related experiences (Christodoulides 2009, p. 143) but also allow them to satisfy self-definitional needs by developing their social identity (Tajfel 1978). Within such interactive, personalised and participatory communication environments, increasing attention is being given by marketing scholars and practitioners to different types of online experiential engagement (Calder and Malthouse 2004; Calder et al. 2009) and to self-definitional issues (Sicilia et al. 2013). However, there is a lack of theoretical and empirical research efforts to develop an integrative perspective between experiential engagement and social identity theory (Brodie et al. 2013). In addition, empirical research on online network-based communities, specifically Facebook brand fan pages, and its role in the consumer-brand affective relationship building process is in its early stages (Gummerus et al. 2012). In particular, an emerging issue in this field is related to the consequences of these virtual networks in terms of brand love. Brand love is the more recent construct in the branding literature and is defined as “the degree of passionate emotional attachment a satisfied consumer has for a particular trade name” (Carroll and Ahuvia 2006, p. 81).

Fashion Firms and Counterfeiting: Causes and Actions

The counterfeiting phenomenon, i.e., all those instances when a violation of intellectual property rights (IPRs), either trademarks, copyrights or patents occurs, has reached truly remarkable dimensions. The 2011 BASCAP report (ICC, 2011)1 indicated that by 2015 the value of counterfeiting would reach