CERES :: Browsing by Author "Maklan, Stan"

Browsing by Author "Maklan, Stan"

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Open Access
A better way to manage customer experience: lessons from the Royal Bank of Scotland
(University of California Press, 2017-03-16) Maklan, Stan; Antonetti, Paolo; Whitty, S.
Customer experience is heralded as the competitive battleground; however, it is defined so broadly that companies often struggle to define, implement, and measure it. Based on the experiences of the Royal Bank of Scotland, this article develops an effective approach to scoping and managing customer experience, identifying typical pitfalls, and providing guidance to organizations trying to understand where to start.
Open Access
Concerned protesters: from compassion to retaliation
(Emerald, 2017-04-20) Antonetti, Paolo; Maklan, Stan
Purpose Purpose – The study outlines the unique role of compassion in reactions to cases of irresponsible corporate behavior that present information about victims of these events. Four antecedents of compassion for the victims of irresponsibility are presented and a model that explains the consequences of this emotion is tested empirically. Design/methodology/approach Design/methodology/approach – Two studies test the research hypotheses using a mix of experimental and survey research. The effects are tested both in laboratory conditions, where consumers assess a fictitious case of corporate irresponsibility, and through a test of reactions to real online campaigns. Findings Findings – Compassion is one of the drivers of consumers’ anger at the culprit, playing an indirect role in decisions to retaliate against perpetrators. Four key drivers of compassion are identified in the research: the perceived suffering of the victims, the perceived similarity of the victims to the observer, victims’ derogation and the vividness of the description of the victims. Practical implications Practical implications – The study offers insights both for campaigners wishing to instigate boycotts and organizations managing complex stakeholder relationships following a crisis. Insights on the role of compassion and its antecedents lead to more effective communications able to heighten or dampen this emotion. Originality/value Originality/value – Existing research offers contrasting views on the potential role of compassion in reactions to injustices. This study presents a novel account that clarifies previous findings and extends our knowledge of causes and consequences of compassion.
Open Access
Corporate social responsibility programmes and their impact on business decision making
(2005-12-07T00:00:00Z) Knox, Simon; Maklan, Stan
Based upon an empirical study of CSR programmes across a number of multinational companies, we explore some of the underlying reasons why CSR seems to have a low impact on business decision-making through a validated framework linking CSR programmes with business and social outcomes.
Open Access
Corporate social responsibility: exploring stakeholder relationships and programme reporting across leading FTSE companies
(Springer Science Business Media, 2005-09-01T00:00:00Z) Knox, Simon; Maklan, Stan; French, P.
Although it is now widely recognised by business leaders that their companies need to accept a broader responsibility than short-term profits, recent research suggests that as corporate social responsibility (CSR) and social reporting become more widespread, there is little empirical evidence of the range of stakeholders addressed through their CSR programmes and how such programmes are reported. Through a CSR framework which was developed in an exploratory study, we explore the nature of stakeholder relationships reported across leading FTSE companies and the importance they attach to communicating both social and business outcomes. It is evident from the hypotheses tested that the bigger FTSE companies, particularly extraction companies and telecoms, are more adept at identifying and prioritising their stakeholders, and linking CSR programmes to business and social outcomes. However, we draw the general conclusion that building stronger stakeholder relationships through CSR programmes – other than with customers – is not currently a priority for most companies. We also conclude that a limited sophistication in managing multiple stakeholders may compromise the impact of CSR upon business and social results. Finally, the managerial implications and the contribution of our study are discussed before closing with an acknowledgement of the limitations of this work and suggestions for further resea
Open Access
Corporate Social Responsibility: Why do CSR Programmes have such a low Impact on Business Decision-Making?
(2007-05-01T00:00:00Z) Knox, Simon; Maklan, Stan
Based upon an empirical study of CSR programmes across a number of multinational companies, we explore some of the underlying reasons why CSR seems to have a low impact on business decision-making through a validated framework linking CSR programmes with business and social outcomes.
Open Access
The development, deployment, and redeployment of business solutions - a systematic review
(Cranfield University, 2012-08) Windler, Katharina; Juttner, Uta; Maklan, Stan
Offering business solutions instead of selling products has been identified by many firms as a strategy to fight against price pressure through commoditisation, to strengthen relationships with customers, and to increase ‘share of wallet’. Yet, three out of four companies selling business solutions fail to see a sustainable economic impact (Johansson et al., 2003). One approach to understanding how business solution suppliers could change this situation is to develop an understanding of the life cycle of business solutions, from idea generation to redeployment. This systematic review examines how the literature conceptualises the development, deployment and redeployment of business solutions. It systematically identifies and then analyses 31 scholarly articles contributing to our knowledge on this issue. The review discusses the literature within the framework of four aspects. Firstly, the review proposes the processes and phases of the development and deployment of business solutions. Secondly, it presents the components of the redeployment of business solutions. Thirdly, it provides information on the actors involved in the development, deployment, and redeployment of business solutions, and, fourthly, it discusses the interaction forms of these actors. The discussion shows that evidence in relation to the conceptualisation of the development, deployment, and redeployment of business solutions remains at a superficial, tentative and inconclusive level. The major limitations of the extant literature relate to the studies’ context-specificity, their lack of theoretical underpinning, and their deficiency of including actors of the supplier and/or customer network in the empirical investigation even though there is evidence that they play a role in the development, deployment, and redeployment of business solutions. Based on the limitations identified, the study suggests opportunities of further research.
Open Access
Dynamic capabilities: the missing link in CRM investments
(Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2009-12-01T00:00:00Z) Maklan, Stan; Knox, Simon
The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the practical application of dynamic capabilities theory to improve investment decisions in customer relationship management (CRM). Design/methodology/approach – Action research (AR) allows managers to raise the tacit knowledge of their dynamic capabilities to a level where they can be identified and developed. A framework and a process for managing dynamic capabilities in marketing are presented. Findings – The findings relate to the nature of dynamic capabilities in marketing and how they are managed. Practical implications – Marketing managers can improve the return on investments in CRM. Originality/value – The paper presents a method for applying dynamic capabilities drawn from the resource-based view (RBV) to practical marketing p
Open Access
The effects of customised food advergames on children’s affective, cognitive, and conative responses
(Cranfield University, 2017-01) Chapman, Shelly; Maklan, Stan
The practice of promoting food to children via advergames is a highly topical issue which attracts much concern due to the low nutritional value of the promoted foods. This thesis examines the effects of customised food advergames on children’s affective, cognitive and conative responses. It also investigates the role persuasion knowledge and prior brand usage have in children’s interaction with advergames. In particular, whether children’s persuasion knowledge acts as a barrier to those responses. This research is situated within the domains of marketing communications, consumer behaviour and consumer socialisation. It adopts an affect transfer theory, the Dual Mediation Hypothesis (DMH), to explain the transfer of affect from an advergame to children’s responses. Three versions of the same advergame were designed for the purpose of this thesis with different levels of customisation (i.e. control, low and high experimental conditions). An experiment among younger (5-7 year olds) and older (11¬12 year olds) children reveals that customisation in advergames has a detrimental effect on children’s affective, cognitive and conative responses. It was the control condition, without customisation options, that rendered a positive impact on brand attitudes and preferences relative to the other two experimental conditions. Persuasion knowledge does not influence children’s affective, cognitive or conative responses. This implies that children’s understanding of the persuasive intent of an advergame does not act as a barrier against its effects. Age had a significant role on children’s attitudes towards the advergame, but not on their other responses to it. Finally, prior brand usage has a positive impact on children’s responses apart from on advergame attitudes. This thesis has implications to policy and practice. It is evident that children from two distinct age and cognitive developmental groups cannot protect themselves from advergames’ effects. Therefore, regulators should broaden the scope of concern to older and younger children alike.
Open Access
Evaluating investements in CRM with real options
(2004-01-01T00:00:00Z) Maklan, Stan; Knox, Simon; Ryals, Lynette
CRM practices are being adopted in most industry sectors to build stronger relationships with customers in order to develop superior customer value and increase shareholder value. This article questions the basis upon which the business case for CRM investments is traditionally made, highlighting the shortcomings of focusing only upon discounted cash flows, and points towards a strategic approach that accounts for such investments in asset value terms. A case study is used to illustrate how to value the returns using both cash flow and strategic investment calculations for comparative purposes. The managerial implications are discussed.
Open Access
EXQ: development and validation of a multiple-item scale for assessing customer experience quality
(Cranfield University, 2010-02) Klaus, Philipp; Maklan, Stan
Positioned in the deliberations related to service marketing, the conceptualisation of service quality, current service quality measurements, and the importance of the evolving construct of customer experience, this thesis develops and validates a measurement for customer experience quality (EXQ) in the context of repeat purchases of mortgage buyers in the United Kingdom. The thesis explores the relationship between the customer experience quality and the important marketing outcomes of customer satisfaction, repeat purchasing behaviour, loyalty and word-of- mouth intentions. The methodology follows Churchill’s (1979) scale development paradigm approach to scale development and is also informed by the more recent publication of Walsh and Beatty (2007). This involves creating the EXQ scale from the following sequence of research activities: (a) employing a review of the literature on service marketing, service quality, service quality measurements, and customer experience research; (b) generating an initial item pool from qualitative research; (c) purifying and validating the EXQ scale through exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and structural equation modelling (SEM). The EXQ scale explains 63 per cent of all variances in customer satisfaction, more than 86 per cent of loyalty, and more than 94 per cent of word-of-mouth intentions. This is evidence of the high explanatory power of the EXQ scale for important marketing outcomes. This thesis represents both the first empirically derived conceptualisation of customer experience and the first validated measure of customer experience quality. It reports the findings collected from three independent samples of repeat mortgage buyers from a United Kingdom bank.
Open Access
An extended model of moral outrage at corporate social irresponsibility
(Springer, 2014-12-02) Antonetti, Paolo; Maklan, Stan
A growing body of literature documents the important role played by moral outrage or moral anger in stakeholders’ reactions to cases of corporate social irresponsibility. Existing research focuses more on the consequences of moral outrage than a systematic analysis of how appraisals of irresponsible corporate behavior can lead to this emotional experience. In this paper, we develop and test, in two field studies, an extended model of moral outrage that identifies the cognitions that lead to, and are associated with, this emotional experience. This research contributes to the existing literature on reactions to corporate social irresponsibility by explaining how observers’ evaluation of irresponsible corporate behavior leads to reactions of moral anger. The paper also helps clarify the difference between moral outrage and other types of anger and offers useful insights for managers who have to confront public outrage following cases of irresponsible corporate behavior. Finally, the analysis of the causes of stakeholders’ anger at irresponsible corporations opens important avenues for future research that are presented in the paper.
Open Access
Extending the marketing concept
(2002-01-01T00:00:00Z) Maklan, Stan
Open Access
The Guaranty Trust Bank of Nigeria: From niche positioning to mass-market branding
(John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, 2009-07-01T00:00:00Z) Maklan, Stan; Knox, Simon; Michel, Stefan
This case describes a strategic marketing dilemma facing Tayo Aderinokun, the cofounder and managing director (CEO) of the highly successful Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) of Nigeria. In its initial 15 years, GTBank has grown dramatically to become the most respected corporate bank in Nigeria, renowned for both its professionalism and high ethical standards. However, the environment is changing dramatically, and the bank needs to grow quickly in order to survive: perhaps doubling or tripling its size in the next five years. Aderinokun has ruled out merger or acquisition in the immediate future, so organic growth is the only way forward. There is insufficient room for growth in its current commercial niche, so GTBank has decided that the emerging Nigerian retail banking sector is its growth pathway. However, there are big challenges: GTBank's brand, marketing mix, people, and operating methods are finely tuned for corporate banking, and it is not immediately obvious how it will leverage its assets to compete in the emerging retail banking market. In addition, competitors are attacking GTBank in its core corporate segment. The case explores a classic strategic marketing dilemma: when is a highly successful niche brand forced to abandon its unique selling point and go for growth in the mainstream market? How does it leverage that which makes it special so that it offers some compelling advantage for its new customers? Can the niche brand execute well on a large scale? How does it embed its values and behaviors in a new context? Does it have the money, people, culture, and ambition to take share from established competitors in the new market segments? Will its expansion plans make its core business more vulnerable to competitors? The case explores the strategic context using the established marketing planning tools of political/legal, economic, sociocultural, technological, and environmental (PESTE) and strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analyses, and features advertising themes the bank has developed for mass-market communication purposes to illustrate the far- reaching implications of the expansion of its retail business.
Open Access
Hippies, greenies, and tree huggers: how the “warmth” stereotype hinders the adoption of responsible brands
(Wiley, 2016-09-08) Antonetti, Paolo; Maklan, Stan
Past research has highlighted the difficulty faced by responsible consumers, individuals who wish to make environmentally and socially responsible consumption choices. Individual buyers, it is argued, act within a network of structural and social relationships that make responsible alternatives intrinsically hard to pursue. This paper maintains that one such barrier is the perception that users of responsible brands are not worthy of social emulation. Consumers are less likely to adopt brands positioned explicitly on their positive environmental or social credentials because of the stereotypes attached to the users of these products. Two empirical studies demonstrate that users of responsible brands are perceived as stereotypically warm. Warmth, however, is not an appealing feature in a consumption context. Warm groups are not envied and envy plays a central role in fueling a desire to emulate a consumption group. The study is the first to examine the possibility that a group-level stereotype limits the potential attractiveness of responsible brands. The significant implications of this insight for both scholarly research and marketing practice are examined in detail. The presence of a warmth stereotype, which has a negative influence on the social perception of responsible brands, suggests that the development of niches of responsible or ethical consumers is intrinsically problematic.
Open Access
How should firms develop and or change their marketing competencies when developing relationships with consumers online?
(Cranfield University, 2004-03) Maklan, Stan; Knox, Simon
An empirical study is reported which attempts both to improve marketing practice whilst developing key aspects of marketing and resource-based theory. The thesis describes how firms can develop marketing competencies to exploit emerging online marketing technology and business opportunities. In doing so, the thesis provides empirical evidence that opens up what is widely acknowledged in the literature as "the black box of resources". Specifically, it explores the way marketing competencies develop as the result of investment in complementary marketing resources and conscious management activity. A literature review is presented which identifies generic marketing competencies and how they are expressed across a continuum of three forms of marketing: transaction, relationship and network. From this insight, the researcher develops a framework and a set of tools that help managers identify their firms' current marketing competencies and develop future marketing competencies needed to implement their marketing strategies. A co-operative inquiry research design is developed that permits managers to use and develop further these frameworks and tools, improve their day-to-day practice and contribute to academic literature and theory. The experience of two sets of managers trying to develop their firms' online marketing competencies through co-operative inquiry is presented. One inquiry is with a highly successful dot. com and the other the UK division of a leading automotive manufacturer. The findings from each are compared and the researcher develops contributions to both theory and practice. The contributions confirm and illuminate much of the extant, conceptually-grounded dynamic capabilities literature. The major implication for marketing theory and practice is that online consumer relationships can only develop incrementally along a continuum of marketing competencies. Details as to how these marketing competencies develop and change are discussed. Secondary contributions involve economics and the nature of co- operative inquiry within a marketing context. The validity of co-operative inquiry, and therefore of this research, is discussed in detail. Limitations of the research and its future directions are discussed.
Open Access
Identifying the right solution customers: a managerial methodology
(Elsevier, 2016-04-24) Maklan, Stan; Macdonald, Emma K.
The purpose of this paper is to develop and apply a methodology for identifying, assessing and segmenting customers for business solutions. Firstly, criteria for evaluating solution customers are identified from the literature. These criteria are then refined and differentiated through interviews with 23 solution project managers. Secondly, a longitudinal case study with three solution suppliers and five of their customers is conducted to transfer the selection criteria into a managerial methodology which is validated by both solution suppliers and customers. The developed methodology comprises 21 criteria which are structured into two dimensions: the quality of the relationship to date and the customer's potential for future solution partnership. By combining these two dimensions into a portfolio analysis, four customer segments are identified to help suppliers determine customer attractiveness. The study's contribution lies in bridging academic knowledge and managerial practice to develop a new methodology for helping solution providers to make better informed decisions and reduce the risk of solution failure.
Open Access
Identifying the roles of university fundraisers in securing transformational gifts: Lessons from Canada
(Taylor & Francis (Routledge): SSH Titles, 2016-10-24) Nyman, J.; Pilbeam, C.; Baines, Paul R.; Maklan, Stan
As university public funding diminishes so the need for private funding increases commensurately. We investigate how a purposive sample of 16 professional university fundraisers in Canada successfully secured large (>$5m CAD) transformation donations from high-net-worth Canadian philanthropists. Using an inductive process, we articulate three key roles (the 3Ns – Networker, Negotiator and Knowledge-broker) professional fundraisers use for securing transformational gifts. Collectively, these roles indicate the relational nature of transformational giving; gifts arise from a co-created dyadic process of fundraiser–philanthropist interaction. The recommendations have major implications for how university development teams are developed, structured, trained and rewarded. We suggest further research investigates how trust develops between fundraisers and transformational gift-givers, and the motivations for transformational giving.
Open Access
Identity bias in negative word of mouth following irresponsible corporate behavior
(Springer, 2016-03-09) Antonetti, Paolo; Maklan, Stan
Current research has documented how cases of irresponsible corporate behavior generate negative reactions from consumers and other stakeholders. Existing research, however, has not examined empirically whether the characteristics of the victims of corporate malfeasance contribute to shaping individual reactions. This study examines, through four experimental surveys, the role played by the national identity of the people affected on consumers’ intentions to spread negative word of mouth (WOM). It is shown that national identity influences individual reactions indirectly; mediated by perceived similarity and sympathy. Consumers perceive foreign victims as different from the self and this reduces the sympathy experienced towards them. Sympathy is an emotion that shapes consumer reactions and regulates WOM. The study identifies two moderating processes of this effect. Individuals who score high on collective narcissism are most likely to be strongly biased against foreign victims. In-group bias is also moderated by the perceived severity of the crisis. When a case is perceived as very serious, perceived similarity plays a less important role in generating sympathy because consumers focus on the perceived suffering of the victims. Hence, in-group bias is stronger in cases perceived as having minor consequences. The paper contributes to the literature on corporate social irresponsibility and offers implications for both scholars and managers.
Open Access
Improving the direct marketing practices of FMCG retailers through better customer selection. An empirical study comparing the effectiveness of RFM (Recency, Freuency and Monetary) CHAID (Chi-squared Automatic Interaction Detection), stepwise logit (logistic regression) and ANN (Artificial Neural Networks) techniques using different data variable depths
(Cranfield University, 2014-09) Di Tullio, Ian; Maklan, Stan
The intent of this thesis is to understand Data Mining technique effectiveness in both shallow (RFM variable only) and expanded data environments. The thesis addresses two specific gaps in research: (1) the relationship between customer selection techniques and performance and (2) the effects of using different depths of data on performance. In shallow-data contexts stepwise logit and neural networks provided the greatest cumulative lift and outperformed both RFM and CHAID across all top deciles. However, RFM shows the second highest fit measure, illustrating its relative stability in predicting outcomes. In addition, the RFM technique performance was tested using both one-month and 12-month time series. The 12-month series performed better and showed a greater level of fit. The subsequent study comparing technique effectiveness under expanded variable sets demonstrated an even more significant and visible lift increase versus the RFM technique. Looking at logistic regression, CHAID and neural networks, the lifts and gains obtained at the first two deciles provide enough response lift to allow these techniques’ cumulative performance to surpass RFM well past decile five into decile six. From a cumulative perspective, the strong performance of logit and ANN allow these techniques to outperform CHAID in deciles one and two, but as of decile three, cumulative performance of all three advanced techniques becomes virtually identical. Though CHAID remains the technique with the best fit performance, RFM fit value falls to last place once an expanded variable set is introduced. Furthermore, both logistic and ANN performance increases significantly, and though they remain very close from an overall Gini and PCC score perspective, the logistic regression outperforms ANN when using expanded data. In both studies, dimensionality reduction plays a role in optimising model response. In limited data sets, logit applications reduced data to achieve better response, whereas in extended data sets, all models applied reductions. These findings contribute to the growing literature on customer selection techniques and provide a specific contribution to data mining, RM, segmentation and marketing practice by demonstrating how these techniques can be used for better consumer selection for purposes of customer development in FMCG retail.
Open Access
New trends in innovation and customer relationship management: a challenge for market researchers.
(2008-01-01T00:00:00Z) Maklan, Stan; Knox, Simon; Ryals, Lynette
For decades, one of the key roles of market research has been to help companies forecast customer acceptance of innovation and of changes to the marketing mix (the 4Ps). However, traditional market research is in danger of being left behind by new practices in sales, marketing and R&D. Reflecting an increasingly participative approach to customer relationships, these disciplines are moving towards customer involvement and co-creation of value rather than innovation mainly generated by head office and only then tested among customers. Co- creation involves working participatively with customers to enhance the value they get when buying and using goods and services. It enables firms to understand and respond to deeper and more valuable customer needs, and reduces the inherent risks of innovation. Nor is this increasing trend towards co- creation limited to new product introduction. As companies invest in customer relationship management (CRM) programmes, they need to design new forms of relationship with those directly affected: their customers. As customers use internet-related technologies to manage their relationships with suppliers, co- creation will become a more important component of innovation and growth strategies. In this context, traditional market research approaches begin to look outdated. The authors illustrate, with a case study of a dotcom company, how action research can provide tools and methods by which market researchers can assist and improve the co-creation process. The implications for market researchers and research practices are identified.