Robert E. McDonald

INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATION (IMC) AND BRAND IDENTITY AS CRITICAL COMPONENTS OF BRAND EQUITY STRATEGY

This paper presents integrated marketing communication (IMC) and brand identity as critical components of the firms brand equity strategy. Specifically, the authors provide a brand equity strategy schematic that details (1) the role of IMC in creating and maintaining brand equity, and (2) the role of brand identity in informing, guiding, and helping to develop, nurture, and implement the firms overall IMC strategy. The authors also present a conceptual framework with testable research propositions toward IMC theory development. Finally, a discussion of implications for academics and practitioners is provided, and opportunities for future qualitative and quantitative research are suggested.

Developing a Learning Orientation: The Role of Team-Based Active Learning

Marketing educators have a responsibility to educate and develop students who are creative, knowledgeable and able to contribute to the success of their firms. One approach to preparing students is to foster a learning orientation. The purpose of this article is to further the understanding of the development of a learning orientation by using team-based active learning for marketing classes. We first discuss how a learning orientation can be beneficial in a class context. Next, we present an overview of team-based active learning rooted in the principles of cooperative learning as an approach for instilling a learning orientation. Finally, we describe an investigation into individuals perception of the influence of learning orientation on creativity, knowledge, and performance. Based on the analysis of data collected from 246 marketing students, the results suggest learning orientation, based on team-based active learning, positively influences marketing program creativity and knowledge.

Celebrity endorsement, self-brand connection and consumer-based brand equity

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of celebrity endorser credibility on consumer self-brand connection and endorsed brand equity. A conceptual model is developed, positioning consumer self-brand connections as a partial mediator of the effect of endorser credibility on endorsed brand equity. Design/methodology/approach – A cross-sectional survey of 382 consumers of sports drinks in the USA was conducted to estimate the conceptual model. Stimuli, devised on the basis of a pre-test, involved celebrity–brand pairings in the context of the US non-aseptic sports drinks industry. Structural equation modeling is used as the analytic tool. Findings – The research model is empirically supported. Celebrity endorsements impact endorsed brand equity via two pathways. First, a direct effect of endorser credibility on endorsed brand equity was observed, which is positively moderated by the degree of consumer-perceived endorser–brand congruence. Second, self-brand connection partly mediates the...

The value of competition: competitive balance as a predictor of attendance in spectator sports

This paper investigates the role of competitive balance among teams in a league in predicting attendance at spectator sporting events. It also controls for the demographic and economic characteristics of the leagues markets, and changes in the number of teams in the league. The research relies on a sample that includes 707 non-major professional team seasonal win-loss records (12,956 games) from five sports, aggregated into 75 seasons to develop a model consistent with extant literature. The authors find that competitive balance and average income in the leagues markets are significant predictors of leaguewide attendance.

Technological innovations in hospitals: what kind of competitive advantage does adoption lead to?

The authors propose an analytical framework for innovations, based on the resource-advantage theory of competition. Categorisation of innovations depends on how they contribute to a firms competitive advantage. Essentially, do innovations reduce costs to the organisation, or do they increase the value of its market offerings? They apply this framework to an important segment of the US economy: healthcare (specifically hospitals), to examine the impact of technological innovations for competitive advantage. The findings show that adoption is higher among bigger hospitals and also teaching hospitals.

Cheers! A Means‐End Chain Analysis of College Students’ Bar‐Choice Motivations

Abstract Drinking alcohol is a major activity among college students. Most of the research on this subject has focused on students’ motivations for excessive drinking and the associated public health concerns. Little research has investigated the leisure context in which students drink alcohol, specifically, why students choose to drink in particular bars. The present study uses a means‐end chain methodology to explore students’ motivation for selecting bars in which they drink. Depth interviews with 36 college students reveal the attributes of a bar that are most important to them, as well as the anticipated consequences and underlying personal values that motivate the preference for these attributes.

Celebrity endorsements, self-brand connection and relationship quality

The extant literature on celebrity endorsement effects largely focuses on the endorsement effects on consumer evaluations of the endorsed brand. The current study extends the literature by assessing the impact of endorser credibility on two consumer–brand relationship-oriented outcomes – brand relationship quality and consumer self-brand connections. Additionally, the self-brand connection is positioned as a partial mediator of the effect of endorser credibility on relationship quality. A conceptual model is developed and estimated on a sample of 535 Generation Y (youth) consumers from India. The hypotheses are supported and the model demonstrates acceptable fit to the data. Overall, the present study introduces a relationship-building perspective to the celebrity endorsement literature. The results suggest that celebrity endorsers possess the ability to provide meaningful self-definitional benefits to consumers as well as cultivate enhanced relationship quality with the endorsed brands, thus contributing novel insights into celebrity endorsement dynamics.

Active Learning to Improve Presentation Skills: The Use of Pecha Kucha in Undergraduate Sales Management Classes

Recruiters seek candidates with certain business skills that are not developed in the typical lecture-based classroom. Instead, active-learning techniques have been shown to be effective in honing these skills. One skill that is particularly important in sales careers is the ability to make a powerful and effective presentation. To help students develop strong presentation skills, two sections of an undergraduate sales management course included an exercise in which students make a presentation using a Pecha Kucha format. Active-learning exercises like this promote both thinking and doing, and improve student engagement. The expectation is that the exercise will not only improve presentation skills, but also content knowledge. The effectiveness of the format is assessed through instructor observation, pre- and postpresentation student surveys, student reflection papers, and examination.

From “virtuous” to “pragmatic” pursuit of social mission: A sustainability-based typology of nonprofit organizations and corresponding strategies

Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to offer a sustainability-based typology for non-profit organizations and corresponding strategies to sustain the mission and/or financial objectives of non-profit organizations. The balance of mission and money, known in the non-profit literature as the double bottom line, is a challenge for professional managers who run non-profits and scholars who study them. Design/methodology/approach - – Typologies are often used to classify phenomena to improve understanding and bring about clarity. In this paper, non-profit organizations are viewed from a social and fiscal viability perspective, developed from the long standing challenge of balancing mission and money. Findings - – The typology developed in this paper identifies several normative strategies that correspond to the social and fiscal viability of non-profit organizations. In fact, the strategies offered in this paper can help non-profit managers achieve organizational sustainability, thus enabling them to continue what they are meant to do – to provide greater social value to their constituents. Research limitations/implications - – The typology presented is a classification system rather than a theoretical typology. Its purpose is to help managers of non-profits to recognize threats to their organizations’ long-term survival and offer strategies that if adopted can move the organizations to less vulnerable positions. However, the recommended strategies are by no means exhaustive. Furthermore, the focus of the paper is on non-profit organizations, not profit-driven or hybrid entities. The sustainability-based typology of non-profit organizations and the corresponding strategies have implications for practitioners and academics. The typology and its contents can help managers assess their non-profits, competitive environment and their current strategies, plan their double bottom line strategies and last but not the least, develop and implement strategies for social and fiscal sustainability. In addition, our paper provides great opportunities for future research to subject our typology and its contents to conceptual and empirical scrutiny. Practical implications - – The strategies described here are developed based on scholarly research and examples from successful non-profits. The typology and the related list of strategies provide a manager with the tools to accurately diagnose organizational challenges and adopt plans to improve the organization’s viability. Social implications - – Non-profit organizations are an integral part of society that bolsters economic prosperity, environmental integrity and social justice. This paper may provide guidance for a number of non-profit managers to keep their organizations operating and serving important social missions. Originality/value - – In the context of organizations for social mission, several typologies exist that looked at firms from the perspectives of ownership versus profit objectives, entrepreneurship conceptualizations of economists and origins and development paths of social enterprises. While these typologies provided foundations for theoretical and empirical work into social enterprises, our typology offers strategies for the sustainability of mission and/or money objectives of non-profits. The value of this research lies in integrating virtuous and pragmatic objectives of non-profit sustainability that, in turn, can ensure the social mission of non-profits.

The theoretical foundations of nonprofit competition: a resource-advantage theory approach

ABSTRACT Competition in the nonprofit sector has dramatically intensified in the past two decades because of (1) the increased number of nonprofit organizations (NPOs), (2) the decline and diffusion of governmental support, and (3) the entry of for-profit companies into markets that traditionally have been the domain of nonprofits. In an attempt to enhance the understanding of nonprofit competition, the authors apply resource-advantage (R-A) theory, a dynamic theory of competition adapted from the for-profit business literature, to commercial nonprofits and explain how commercial nonprofits can leverage their various resources to successfully compete and deliver social value. Contributing to the understanding of nonprofit competition and the challenge that NPOs face in balancing mission and money, this paper provides a foundation for a theory of nonprofit competition that can guide future research in the area and help NPO managers as they maneuver in today’s increasingly competitive environment.