Sandra Rothenberger

Understanding the Role of Complaint Handling on Consumer Loyalty in Service Relationships

ABSTRACT The authors explore the role of 5 drivers of loyalty: customer usage level, service pricing, service quality, membership in the firms loyalty program, and satisfaction with complaint handling. The effects of these drivers may differ for customers who complain versus those who do not complain, as well as for satisfied complainers versus dissatisfied complainers. Testing the proposed models with customers of a large airline, the authors found that satisfaction with complaint handling was key to consumer recommendation of the service to others. The results also underscore the importance of service quality and service pricing as determinants of customer loyalty.

Impacts of Price Transparency on Consumer Price Fairness Perspections and Behavioral Intentions

The authors propose that price transparency plays an important role in customers’ judgments of whether prices offered by sellers are fair. Cognitive fairness judgments require a certain amount of information processing, so more information and transparency about prices should affect the outcome of fairness judgments. The greater the price transparency, i.e., the greater the information that consumers have on the seller’s prices, the higher will be their perceptions of price fairness. Price fairness in turn leads to more favorable evaluations of satisfaction perceptions and increases customers’ behavioral intentions to repurchase and recommend. The impact of price transparency on price fairness perceptions and the resulting effects on satisfaction and behavioral intentions are tested through a structural equation model using a sample of 1,459 passengers of a major European transport services company.

Moving Sustainable Consumption from Hype to Reality Through the Value Chain

With apparently increasing demand from consumers for environmentally sustainable products, several firms have adopted a green positioning strategy and have attempted to develop green products, along with a distinct marketing emphasis to attract “green consumers.” Researchers have long emphasized that environmentally sustainable objectives not only contribute to profits, but also strengthen the firm’s competitive position (Lovins et al. 1999; Menon and Menon 1997; Porter and van der Linde 1995; Schmidheiny 1992). Thus, received wisdom now appears to suggest that it is very much possible for firms to pursue the trifecta of environmental sustainability, profits, and competitive advantage. And, in recent times, the goals of sustainability are stated to be an imperative that organizations simply cannot ignore; as Nidumolu et al. (2009) argue, sustainability is “a mother lode of organizational and technological innovations” that would redefine the competitive landscape with new business models and new practices (p. 57). However, despite scholarly consensus and confidence on the profitability of environmentally sustainable strategies, green marketing practices are still not widely accepted or embraced in all industries. In this chapter, we develop a framework for the examination of the vital role of the supply chain, especially the retail sector, in implementing the sustainability objectives of companies. We argue that environmental sustainability in the value chain, especially through the three tenets of reduce, recycle, and reuse, is quite feasible and economical.References available upon request.

Pricing practices in Victorian America: evidence from a satirical point of view

Purpose – This paper seeks to investigate how consumers in Victorian America related prices to quality and value in deliberations about urban life, housing, and a newly‐emerging consumerism. The objectives are to understand pricing practices of firms and the behavior and perception of prices by consumers in Victorian American and to determine whether Victorian pricing practices could provide important insights for twenty‐first century theory and practice.Design/methodology/approach – The paper conducted a qualitative content analysis of pricing highlighted in a large sample of three cartoons appearing weekly in Puck and Judge. In these preeminent satirical magazines of the 1880‐1910 era, the authors found cartoons to be reflective of pricing practices and resultant consumer behavior of that era.Findings – The paper confirms even on a satirical research basis that Victorian households indeed experienced price‐related stresses in urban life, housing decisions, and in daily consumption. It also reveals that ...

Leitbilder auf dem Prüfstand

Leitbilder konnen in den unterschiedlichsten Organisationen und Institutionen vorgefunden werden. Teils werden sie bewusst definiert und eingesetzt, teils unbewusst gelebt. Ein „Leitbild“ stellt die Grundsatzplanung von Unternehmenswerten, Normen und Zielen dar (Schwarz 1996), gilt als „Spielregel“ oder wird gar als „Hausordnung“ im Unternehmen eingesetzt (Hinterhuber 2004). Fuhrungskrafte und Mitarbeiterinnen werden in entscheidendem Mase von Leitbildern gelenkt und beeinflusst. Das Leitbild soll den Idealzustand einer Organisation darstellen und fokussiert sich auf langerfristige strategische Entwicklungsrichtungen und Verhaltensnormen. Dadurch erlaubt und erleichtert das Leitbild die Orientierung im Unternehmen und die Identifikation mit den Werten und Zielen der Organisation.

Die Integration von Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) in der strategischen Planung — Eine neue Herausforderung für das Strategische Kompetenzmanagement

Produktivitatssteigerung und Innovationen sind in einer globalisierten und sich kontinuierlich verandernden Welt wesentliche Erfolgsfaktoren fur die internationale Wettbewerbsfahigkeit eines Unternehmens. Die Herausforderung hierbei an das strategische Kompetenzmanagement eines Unternehmens hinsichtlich der strategischen Planung wird immer groser. Integrierte Komplettlosungen aus betriebswirtschaftlichen Systemen, wie beispielsweise Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Losungen konnen Unternehmen hierbei unterstutzen und ihren Beitrag zur Produktivitats- und Innovationssteigerung leisten.

Die Problematik bei der Berechnung des Customer Lifetime Values

Der Kunde soll der zentrale Punkt sein, an dem alle Geschafts- und Marketingaktivitaten ausgerichtet werden. Nicht, weil es der Zeitgeist so fordert, sondern weil man erkannt hat, dass sich zukunftige Unternehmenserfolge nicht mehr ausschlieslich nur durch gute Produkte und Dienstleitungen erzielen lassen.