Francesca Magno

Marketing issues for business-to-business firms entering emerging markets: An investigation among Italian companies in Eastern Europe

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to comprehensively explore marketing issues for foreign industrial companies of large, small and medium size entering emerging markets (EMs), particularly transition economies in Eastern Europe. The vast majority of current studies about EMs focus only on defining suitable strategies related to large consumer goods corporations. Design/methodology/approach – The research adopted a multiple case study approach. Five Italian companies belonging to different business-to-business industries that have entered emerging countries in Eastern Europe were selected for investigation. Findings – Empirical analysis uncovered recurring issues related to: institutional factors causing market uncertainty and instability; difficulties in building a sales network; a need for product adaptation to guarantee satisfactory performance; choices related to communication, branding and trade fairs; and considerations about competition and first mover advantage. Results can be interpreted as a...

Explaining Citizen Surveys Non-Adoption in Local Government

In order to measure the outcomes of service delivery activities public administrators often relies on citizen surveys. At the same time citizen surveys have been severely criticized and labelled ad useless and unreliable. Drawing on available literature, the aim of this paper is to explore the antecedents of the decision to adopt those tools from the decision maker point of view. Data were collected through questionnaires sent to a sample of Italian town mayors. Results particularly emphasize public officials’ perception that surveys are often useless for their decision process. On the other side findings do not support the hypothesis that surveys are not conducted because they are believed to be as not reliable as objective indicators. Results are discussed and managerial implications are drawn.

The perceived effectiveness of social couponing campaigns for hotels in Italy

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effectiveness of social couponing campaigns for hotels. In particular, the perceived effectiveness related to four specific objectives is explored (acquiring and retaining new customers, building brand awareness, balancing seasonality and stimulating demand among existing customers). Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire-based survey was conducted that involved 108 hotels, each of which has run at least one social couponing campaign through Groupon in Italy. The importance-performance approach was applied to analyze the data. Findings – Overall, the perceived effectiveness of social couponing for hotels is quite low. Social couponing is useful to increase brand awareness but does not encourage customer behavioral loyalty. Larger hotels can successfully use this marketing tool to balance demand seasonality. Research limitations/implications – The sample size is limited but includes approximately one-fourth of all Italian hotels that have run soc...

“Please write a (great) online review for my hotel!” Guests’ reactions to solicited reviews

With the aim of enhancing their online reputation, several hospitality businesses have started soliciting their guests to write online reviews. Available studies have not yet evaluated the effects of this strategy. To fill this knowledge gap, this study draws on the theory of psychological reactance and investigates guests’ attitudinal and behavioral reactions to received solicitations. Evidence collected from a sample of Italian travelers indicates that soliciting reviews has both benefits and drawbacks: It increases the number of reviews for the business, but it also irritates a significant share of guests. Particularly high levels of irritation arise when a business explicitly asks its guests to write positive reviews. The implications of these findings for the reputation management strategy of hospitality businesses are discussed.

The influence of cultural blogs on their readers cultural product choices

We demonstrate that cultural blogs influence their readers choices of which cultural products to consume.The effects of cultural blogs are highly dependent on the reader engagement elicited by the blog.A blogs content quality, enjoyment and homophily increase reader engagement.We argue that cultural organizations should carefully consider establishing relationships with cultural bloggers. While some conceptual studies have highlighted the impact that Web 2.0 technology and social media have on cultural industries, empirical evidence is still missing. Specifically, no study has considered the role of cultural bloggers, who mediate the information flows from cultural organizations to consumers. To fill this gap, this paper suggests and tests a model that explains blog readers intentions to consume cultural products suggested by the blog. The findings from a sample of 215 cultural blog readers show that the impact of the blog on reader intention to consume the products suggested by the blog is strongly influenced by reader engagement with the blog. In addition, the results highlight the effects of content quality, enjoyment, and homophily. The implications of these findings for bloggers and for organizations communicating through bloggers are discussed in detail.

Impact of voluntary product recalls on utilitarian and hedonic attitudes: Is it the same for all brands?:

The number of defective and unsafe products recalled from the market has increased dramatically in the last decade. While several studies have investigated consumer reaction to product recalls, the impact of such events on utilitarian versus hedonic attitudes towards the brand involved in the recall has not yet been assessed. Similarly, it is not clear whether brands with utilitarian positioning and brands with hedonic positioning are equally affected by recalls. Through an experiment based on a real-world stimulus from the laptop product category, this study shows that hedonic brands are more resistant to the negative effects of voluntary product recalls than are utilitarian brands. Furthermore, data show that brand familiarity mitigates the effect of the recall on utilitarian attitudes for both utilitarian and hedonic brands. Brand familiarity also positively moderates the impact of the recall on hedonic attitudes, but only for hedonic brands.

Mutual value creation in component co-branding relationships

Purpose – This paper explores the process of mutual value creation in a component co-branding relationship between an unknown component supplier and a well-known Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM). In particular, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the antecedents of parties’ willingness to engage in mutual value creation, thus enriching Gronroos and Helle’s (2010, 2012) model of mutual value creation. Design/methodology/approach – An in-depth longitudinal analysis of a single case study in the cycling wear industry is presented based on data gathered from several sources, including long interviews with managers of a component supplier and an OEM, promotional materials, press releases and articles in cycling-related publications and on web portals, and online conversations among amateur cyclists. Findings – Four antecedents of the willingness to engage in mutual value creation are identified: mutual trust; the perceived easiness of alignment between the supplier’s and OEM’s processes and resour...

Local vs. Global Social Couponing Sites: A Study of Merchants’ Satisfaction

Purpose of the paper : In recent years, an increasing number of service providers have decided to run social-couponing campaigns. However, few studies have been conducted to investigate their satisfaction. More importantly, the results available are generally based on data collected from merchants that have run their social-couponing campaigns through the largest global daily-deals (Groupon, LivingSocial). Nonetheless, new local white-label-deals sites have entered the market. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether merchants’ satisfaction with social-couponing campaigns is different when using a local daily-deals site instead of a global site. Methodology : This study is based on a cross-sectional design. Data were collected through two surveys conducted in the Italian context: the first among 157 Italian merchants that had used Groupon; the second among 106 merchants that sold their coupons through Kauppa, a local daily-deals site operating in six Italian provinces. Findings : The results demonstrate similar levels of overall satisfaction for the two samples. However, significant differences between merchants using Groupon and Kauppa emerged in relation to the drivers of their satisfaction. Research limits : it should be noted that this paper is based on the comparison of merchants’ perceptions from two daily-deals sites: Kauppa and Groupon. Practical implications : merchants may decide to use either a global or the local daily-deals site depending on the specific objectives of the couponing campaign. Originality of the paper : The few studies about social couponing are based on data collected among merchants that have run their campaigns through the largest, global daily deals sites. To the authors’ knowledge this is the first research involving a local daily deal site.

Accommodation prices on Airbnb: effects of host experience and market demand

Accommodation sharing is a major trend shaping the hospitality industry, and Airbnb is the most prominent sharing platform driving this growth. While price convenience is reported as one of the main strengths of Airbnb accommodations, only a few studies have examined price determinants. In particular, it is unclear whether hosts dynamically adjust prices for shared accommodation based on their experience with price management and on the level of market demand. The purpose of this paper is to fill this gap by suggesting and testing a comprehensive hedonic pricing model.,Data from all 1,056 Airbnb listings for accommodations available in the city of Verona, Italy on four booking dates in 2016 are collected and analysed through regression analysis.,The results highlight that price is significantly related to the level of the host’s accumulated experience and the level of market demand on a specific booking date. The findings provide support for the ability of hosts to dynamically adjust prices for their accommodations.,Drawing on the innovator’s dilemma theory, this study suggests some strategies that traditional hotels may adopt to react to the disruptive nature of Airbnb.,This is one of the few studies to address hosts’ pricing strategies and specifically consider price adjustments owing to variations in host experience and market demand.

The impact of social media influencers in tourism

In the past decade, extensive research has been conducted on the effects of user-generated content (UGC) on consumers’ travel-related attitudes and decisions (Filieri, 2016; Howison, Finger, & Haus...