Michele Costabile

How relationship age moderates loyalty formation: The increasing effect of relational equity on customer loyalty.

In this article, the authors focus on the concept of relational equity, that is, the customer perception of distributive justice within a continuous customer-provider relationship. The authors investigate the influences of relational equity on attitudinal loyalty and behavioral loyalty. Moreover, they test the hypothesis that relationship age moderates the impact of relational equity on loyalty, adopting a cross-sectional design and data from a sample of Italian customers of mobile phone services (N = 461). Relational equity is recognized as a significant determinant of customer loyalty over and above satisfaction and trust effects, and its influence increases along with relationship age. From a managerial point of view, results suggest that loyalty programs should be tailored according to the age of the relationship. Moreover, particular care should be devoted to monitoring perceived relational equity, especially in longer-term relationships.

Customer Value Metrics

This paper focuses on customer value analysis and measurement, framing customer value management as one of the main antecedents of the company value-creation process. The paper builds on three main pillars. First, the paper highlights the critical role of customer value in business-to-business markets, focusing on the links between the companys ability to manage customer value-creation processes and the positive financial and economic outcomes generated by loyalty effects. Secondly, the paper develops key analytical stages for an understanding of customer value. The focus is on the customer value-chain concept, including consideration of the customer information and acquisition process and its decision rules. Third, the paper illustrates the measurement process, offering an organizational framework for selecting the most suitable method for measuring perceived customer value. The methodological alternatives range from desk measures (e.g., technical computation of the total cost of ownership (TCO)) to field analysis, like those considered under both compositional and the decomposition approaches (e.g., conjoint analysis). The paper concludes with remarks on the managerial implications of these measures, as well as offering suggestions for further research on value for the customer.

La misurazione delle performance dell’impresa che innova: aspetti definitori e verifiche empiriche

L’articolo si propone di analizzare il complesso legame intercorrente tra innovazione e performance d’impresa, considerando che sempre piu spesso le performance aziendali sono influenzate dalla capacita di innovare le proprie combinazioni risorse-prodotti, alla ricerca di nuovi e sostenibili vantaggi competitivi. L’analisi si articola attraverso la disamina dello stato dell’arte sul tema della misurazione delle performance dell’impresa che innova, evidenziando le aree sulle quali si concentrano gli sforzi di ricerca accademica e di sperimentazione dell’impresa. In particolare, viene evidenziata la necessita, anche in questa prospettiva, di integrare le tradizionali misure di performance nella prospettiva sistemica, combinando logiche, metodologie e tempi della rilevazione al fine di cogliere al meglio la complessita dei processi innovativi.

Inside Luxury: Main Features, Evolving Trends, and Marketing Paradoxes

The luxury business represents an interesting opportunity for companies that are able to market excellent products also because of its extraordinary evolution. Indeed, the luxury sector has been characterized in the last decades by changes in terms of product features offered by companies and also in terms of the way in which customers approach high-end products.

Insights from Key Topics in Sustainable Luxury Research

The sixth and last chapter of this book offers readers some knowledge about the state of the art in sustainable luxury research. Since such a research stream is quite broad to be effectively investigated in a book chapter, we had to choose those topics that might be considered as particularly “hot” and relevant in today’s academic and managerial debate. In particular, we chose to shed light on research insights into the following areas: (1) sustainability and innovation, (2) CSR, (3) communication, and (4) cultural differences.

Luxury, Sustainability, and “Made In”

The relationship between the luxury industry and the sustainability movement is quite complex. On the surface, the values associated with luxury and those promoted as sustainable are widely seen as antithetical (e.g., Beckham and Voyer 2014; Strong 1997; Torelli et al. 2012). Luxury is associated with excess, hedonism, superficiality, and ostentation, while sustainability evokes altruism, sobriety, restraint, and morality (Carrier and Luetchford 2012; Widloecher 2010). Economically, the luxury industry seeks maximum gross margins and, as a result, luxury providers do not emphasize cost reduction, but rather they focus on value creation, with the aim of making the buyer feel like a celebrity. This focus on quality over costs is maintained along the entire value chain, beginning with the selection of high-end production materials and continuing through the phases of production, selling, servicing, and branding. In contrast, sustainable development focuses on values such as parsimony, moderate consumption, and equality, which privilege economy over high quality.

Introduction: Sustainability in Luxury Branding

Luxury brands used to sell themselves. High-quality materials, skilled craftsmanship, and unsurpassed aesthetic beauty made luxury products the only option for people with the means to buy them. Professionals of a certain generation were expected to have a Burberry trench coat in their work wardrobe. Young men made their intentions known by investing in a Cartier engagement ring. Executives bought the Mercedes after earning the promotion.

Luxury Consumption and Sustainability

In Chap. 3, we outlined the general idea advanced in this book whereby in contrast with prevalent research studies suggesting that consumers mostly associate luxury with unsustainability (e.g., Bechkam and Voyer 2014; Kapferer and Michaut 2014; Torelli et al. 2012), we argued not only that luxury should be associated with sustainability, but also that luxury is inherently sustainable. This is because, for instance, the longer life that characterizes luxury products compared to conventional ones reduces the amount of waste derived from the use of natural resources (Guercini and Ranfagni 2013; Janssen et al. 2014). Moreover, luxury companies (particularly in fashion markets) may play an important role in sustainability development because of their commitment to “hand-made” quality, which allows them to market products designed to be “timeless” and based on craftsmanship and preservation of artisans’ skills (Joy et al. 2012). Luxury companies need to increase their awareness about such a potential that they have and act accordingly. This understanding becomes even more crucial in the light of the fact that luxury consumers, as well as consumers from other sectors, are increasingly calling companies to become more concerned about making a positive contribution to the environment, the society, and the world they live in. Today’s consumers have many ways to identify socially and environmentally responsible companies—and they are more motivated than ever to support companies whose values match their own. In Chap. 5, we will introduce the idea that many luxury companies have the opportunity to be role models for the entire market when it comes to embracing sustainability. In this chapter, instead, we reinforce such an idea by more closely exploring consumers’ perceptions about sustainable luxury, investigating whether and how consumers might differ in their approach to luxury purchasing.

Sustainability Across Industries

In Chap. 3 we argued that luxury and sustainability are complementary concepts, and demonstrated some of the ways that early movers in the luxury market are leveraging their natural strengths to become more sustainable. In Chap. 4 we focused, instead, on the key pillars of sustainable consumption. Taken together, the previous two chapters suggest that luxury companies have a large, often underexplored, potential to leverage their being sustainable, thus fulfilling the growing global luxury consumers’ concern for development. In response to such an increased luxury consumers’ sensitivity toward sustainability, companies are pushed to adopt ever-stricter sustainability standards. With the shift from “conspicuous consumption” to “conscientious consumption,” responsible consumers have become more informed about brands and products of all kinds—luxury and non-luxury alike.

Progetto di internazionalizzazione della rivista Sinergie: riflessioni e proposte

Un processo di internazionalizzazione, non solo passivo, caratterizza ormai da qualche anno il sistema accademico nazionale, sia sul fronte dell’offerta didattica che su quello della produzione scientifica e della pubblicazione dei risultati dell’attivita di studio e ricerca. Consapevoli dell’irreversibilita di tale processo, gli studiosi che si riconoscono nel settore disciplinare di ”Economia e Gestione delle Imprese”, e marcatamente coloro i quali animano a vario titolo il dibattito scientifico mediante le molteplici iniziative “targate” Sinergie (dalla rivista ai convegni annuali, passando per i workshop tematici, i rapporti di ricerca e i quaderni), stanno elaborando un progetto di internazionalizzazione attivo. Si tratta, cioe, di un progetto che dovrebbe consentire alla rivista Sinergie di acquistare, in tempi brevi, una elevata visibilita internazionale, anche al di la di indicatori quantitativi di impatto sul didattito scientifico. (to be continued ...)