| 1. |
- Aagerup, Ulf, 1969-, et al.
(författare)
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Building a warm and competent B2B brand personality
- 2022
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Ingår i: European Journal of Marketing. - Bingley : Emerald Group Publishing Limited. - 0309-0566 .- 1758-7123. ; 56:13, s. 167-193
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose This study aims to investigate how business-to-business (B2B) companies build brand personality via the products they provide and via their interactions with customers. Design/methodology/approach A multiple case study, which spans 10 years, investigates via interviews, observations, workshops and document analysis how two fast-growing B2B companies selling industrial equipment to manufacturers build brand personality. Findings The studied companies concentrate on different brand personality dimensions depending on the activities in which they engage. By focusing on brand competence in the realm of the actual product and brand warmth in the realm of the augmented product, the companies manage to create a complete and consistent brand personality. Research limitations/implications The research approach provides in-depth knowledge on how the companies build brands for a specific type of B2B product. However, the article's perspective is limited to that of management and therefore does not take customer reactions into account. Practical implications The study describes how firms can build strong B2B brands by emphasizing competence in product design and R&D and warmth in activities related to sales and customer service. Originality/value The study introduces a conceptually consistent view of brand personality in the form of warm and competent brands to the B2B marketing literature. It builds on and contributes to the emerging research on B2B brand personality. By relating the companies' brand-building activities to the type of products they sell, this study illustrates how context affects B2B brand building, and by integrating brand personality theory with product levels and marketing philosophy, it extends previous theory on B2B branding.
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| 2. |
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| 3. |
- Amos, Gideon Jojo, 1968-, et al.
(författare)
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In search of competitiveness through innovation-driven CSR initiatives in Multinational Enterprise subsidiaries in developing countries
- 2017
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Ingår i: Journal of Developing Country Studies. - New York : International Institute for Science, Technology & Education. - 2224-607X .- 2225-0565. ; 7:2, s. 161-173
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose – The objective of the present study is to investigate opportunities for integrating innovation and CSR in the context of firms’ activities. This is explored by investigating the extent to which innovation may complement CSR activities of MNE subsidiaries in developing-countries.Method/approach – This paper employs literature study to describe how innovation complements CSR in the search for competitiveness at the level of the firm. In doing so, the competitiveness of firms, which is often driven by the demands for responsible behaviour and innovativeness, is derived from studying the extant literature. By drawing from multiple theoretical lenses (i.e., legitimacy theory, stakeholder theory, CSR literature, firms’ reputation, and innovativeness), we aim at evaluating their collective impact on firms’ competitiveness.Findings - The model suggests that firm’s contextual capabilities (e.g. legitimacy, innovation, and stakeholders) can define its CSR activities (e.g. CSR ethical, CSR social, and CSR environmental). The cumulative effects of these, define firm’s reputation, which eventually, produces firm’s own competitiveness. The study has argued that there is more to firms’ stakeholders than ordinary resources required in furtherance of firms’ economic objectives. It therefore follows that stakeholders’ potential to constitute a pool of resources and capabilities that the firm can blend with to realize its strategic objectives ought to be stressed. Consequently, markets and for that matter firms, are subject to CSR and innovation demands through, for example, more socially responsible productive behaviour. This requires that MNE subsidiaries in developing-countries connect different strategies towards improving their own competitiveness. This may be accomplished through, re-packaging CSR into bundles of interrelated activities, collaborating with stakeholders to jointly create and deliver social and economic values, and integrating CSR into productive activities that may lead to bundles of products to suit local market conditions.© www.iiste.org
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| 4. |
- Amos, Gideon Jojo, 1968-
(författare)
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(Investigating) MNCs' CSR-related behaviour and impacts in institutionally and culturally distant markets : African developing-countries in focus
- 2018
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The overall purpose of this thesis is to explore why and how institutional distance and contextual differences influence MNCs’ CSR-related behavior in African developing-countries. In order to achieve the purpose stated above, the thesis seeks to answer the overarching research question: How do institutional distance and contextual differences influence MNCs’ CSR-related behavior in African developing countries? To answer the research question this thesis employed an interpretive methodological approach in order to increase my understanding of the CSR phenomenon in a specific contextual environment characterized by different institutional distance through different theoretical and empirical perspectives (Guba and Lincoln, 1994; Lincoln and Guba, 2000). The thesis consists of two qualitative case studies, a systematic literature review, a conceptual paper focused on analyzing distance and MNC foreign subsidiaries’ CSR-related behaviour, and a longitudinal content analysis of annual CSR reports.The thesis found that the most prevalent CSR themes addressed in journal articles focused on developing-countries have been social issues, followed by environmental issues as a distant second, with ethics-related issues receiving the least attention. The findings further indicate that CSR rhetoric plays a more positive and significant role than so far explored in CSR research, as it incentivises the host-communities to push for the fulfilment of their CSR expectations or CSR initiatives proposed by the mining companies. Soft’ regulations to which members of industry associations voluntarily adhere mitigate the absence of enforcement of more stringent hard regulations by the state for companies. In doing business in distant or different institutional contexts, institutional duality of MNC subsidiaries renders business activities complex and even conflicting when it comes to seeking internal and external legitimacy. This finding and the proposed model extend Hillman and Wan’s (2005) argument of the existence of ‘institutional duality’ of MNC subsidiaries. The 60-item disclosure index is in itself a contribution to research as it provides a measure of ‘disclosure quality’ in relation to the disclosures of CSR-related performance information and CSR-related governance information.The main theoretical contribution of the thesis is that CSR expectations in developing-countries are distinct and may be more important to know how these empirical realities are taken into account when firms with their origin in developed-countries internationalize and enter markets in developing-countries. Second, an extended model is proposed which illustrates the roles of organizational fields, institutional pressures, legitimating environments, and legitimating strategies for MNC subsidiaries’ voluntary disclosure of CSR performance information. The overall contribution of the thesis is that it deepens our understanding of the CSR phenomenon, and of the role of host-communities and MNC subsidiaries’ managers from the context of developing-countries.© Gideon Jojo Amos
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| 5. |
- Andersson, Svante, 1962-, et al.
(författare)
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Building Brand Personality in a Business-to-Business Context – the Case of Born Globals
- 2018
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Branding has for a long time been in focus in strategic decision making for firms in a business-to-consumer context. Brands has been used as a tool to differentiate products and position firms’ offers towards competitors. In a business-to business context branding has not been in focus in the same way. Strategic decisions have more dealt with technology innovation and market expansions. In recent times, a greater interest for brand building in a business to business (B2B) context has emerged, both in practice and academia, especially for globally active B2B firms that strive to create a unified look of their products and firms. The hard global competition has made it difficult to compete on product quality alone, services around the product and intangible features has been important parts of B2B firms’ offers. The B2B firms’ more complex offers can be incorporated under a common brand that differentiates the firms’ offer from competitors. Although that the practical importance of B2B branding has been acknowledge lately, research dealing with B2B branding is still relatively limited. Most studies on B2B branding attempt to describe what brands are, how they affect companies, or vice versa. Research on the process of B2B brand building is however scarce. Also, when B2B brands are in focus of a study, it is usually their tangible characteristics that are examined. In B2C brand literature, intangible aspects and, the metaphor to see the brand as a person is widely discussed (Aaker, 1997). However, there is very little research on brand as a person element in the B2B context. Brand personality is normally defined as the human characteristics associated with a brand, More research into the brand personality building processes in a B2B context are therefore needed. Following the above discussion this study’s aim is to investigate how brand personality is built in B2B companies.A qualitative approach has been adopted to enable us to investigate, in-depth, an under-researched area (Ghauri and Gronhaug, 2010; and Yin, 1989) The key factor underpinning the selection of the two cases was conceptual relevance rather than representative grounds, so we used theoretical sampling (Miles and Huberman 1994). We combined secondary data research and field interviews and workshops with the CEOs in the case firms. The researchers constructed an interview-guide based on earlier literature and discussion in a workshop. Our aim and research question served as the basic structure for data analysis. The study contributes to the literature by integrating theory on brand building from the marketing fields with the research dealing with the born global phenomenon discussed in the international entrepreneurship field.
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| 6. |
- Andersson, Svante, 1962-, et al.
(författare)
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Customer Value Creation in Mature Born Globals
- 2017
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- INTRODUCTIONResearch on firms that already from their inception see the whole world as a market and/or the whole world as a source to access resources, so called born globals (Andersson & Wictor, 2003, Knight & Cavusgil, 2004; Cavusgil & Knight, 2015), has been growing during the last decades (Servantie, 2016). Born globals are an especially interesting group of firms to study, in regard of value creation, as they have been able to create competitive offers fulfilling the needs of customers on global markets. The distinguishing feature of born globals is their international behaviour at birth and soon thereafter. The firms’ behaviour is initiated by the entrepreneurs’ and management’s global mindset and the commitment of resources leading to international growth (Andersson, 2000; Knight & Causgil, 2004). Born globals is, by definition, a born global firm “forever”, as has been characterized by their early years. We argue that the early years make these firms a special type of firms that will influence their further international development. Firms with a long-term focus on the domestic market must unlearn routines rooted in the domestic context before new, internationally oriented routines can be learned. An early entrance to international markets forces born globals to adopt to new contexts and create new knowledge that leads to new routines and creates a culture in the firms to adapt to new international opportunities (Andersson & Evers, 2015; Autio et al ., 2000, Cavusgil & Knight, 2004).There has been extensive research on born globals’ internationalization dealing with which markets, and market channels firms should choose to grow internationally. There has also been extensive research dealing with antecedents and factors influencing these choices. The focus on born global research has also been on the very early stages in the internationalization process. Few studies have captured the long-term behaviour and growth of born globals (2008; Gabrielsson and Gabrielsson, 2013, Melen Hånell, Nordman and Sharma, 2014). A question that has been very little addressed is: what happens to born global firms when they grow up (Cavusgil & Knight, 2015)? In this study we define this grown up born global firms as mature born globals (c. f. Hagen & Zuchella, 2014, maturing born global firms). To succeed with a continued international expansion, the born global firms need to increase sales on international markets. The underlying reason for success on international markets and continuous growth is that the mature born global firms have an offer that gives higher value to the customer than their competitors. However customer value is not explicitly treated in internationalization theories (Axinn & Matthyssen, 2002). To our knowledge there has not been any research that has, in- depth, explored how mature born globals create value for customers to create international growth. In line with the above discussion, the aim of this study is to investigate how mature born global firms create value for customers to create international growth.METHODA qualitative approach has been adopted to enable us to investigate, in-depth, an under-researched area (Ghauri and Gronhaug, 2010; and Yin, 1989) “how born global firms create value for customers to create international growth”. In all, the study was conducted with five companies. The key factor underpinning the selection of the five cases was conceptual relevance rather than representative grounds, so we used theoretical sampling (Miles and Huberman 1994). We conducted a review of annual reports, other secondary documentation, and the websites of the case firms. We combined secondary data research and field interviews and workshops with the CEOs in the case firms. The researchers constructed an interview-guide based on earlier literature and discussion on a works-shop. Interviews were carried out with the five CEOs and transcribed. Data analysis included several steps. The information from the interviews, and other sources served as descriptive narratives, which helped us process the large volume of data (Mintzberg and McHugh 1985). This process enabled the unique patterns of each case to emerge before cross-case comparison (Eisenhardt 1989; Yin 1994) was undertaken. Our aim and research question served as the basic structure for data analysis.CONCLUSIONSWe conclude that a strong focus on customer value creation was in focus. To create customer value a combination of proactive and reactive market orientation was implemented built on a competitive offer that was hard to replicate. Depending on the characteristics of the buyer-seller relationship different tools were used to build relationship value. The revenue earned is invested in further international growth, by investing in market driving activities, and entrepreneurial alertness to act on upcoming opportunities was crucial. This study contributes to the international entrepreneurship field by explicitly including marketing literature and empirically investigating how value is created to achieve international growth in born globals. This study also contributes to the industrial marketing field by developing a model that shows how born global firms create value for international customers to generate international growth in a B2B context.
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| 7. |
- Andersson, Svante, 1962-, et al.
(författare)
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How do mature born globals create customer value to achieve international growth?
- 2020
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Ingår i: International Marketing Review. - Bingley : Emerald Group Publishing Limited. - 0265-1335 .- 1758-6763. ; 37:2, s. 185-211
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose – This study aims to investigate how mature born global firms create value for customers to achieve continued international growth.Design/methodology/approach – The study employs a case study approach to investigate the underresearched area of how mature born globals create value for customers and, by doing so, contribute to their continued international growth. This in-depth examination of how three born globals developed over time uses interviews, observation and secondary data.Findings – The findings indicate that the entrepreneurs of born global firms, that continued to grow, created a culture in the early stages that supported value creation for foreign customers. These firms have built a competitive position by developing international niche products. They have also implemented a combination of proactive and reactive market orientation to facilitate the creation and delivery of value to customers. To maintain growth, they further invest the revenues earned on additional international marketing activities and continuously enhance their focal products.Research limitations/implications – The study relies on three cases. We therefore recommend that future studies extend the scope of the research to several companies in various industries and countries, in which the theoretical arguments can be applied. In addition, further studies that test the propositions developed in this study, in different contexts, are highly recommended.Practical implications – To gain international growth, managers should create an organizational culture that facilitates satisfying international customer needs. Firms should continuously invest in sales and market development (e.g. social media marketing, personal selling) and undertake technology development of niche rather than new products. To achieve international growth, managers need to standardize part of the offer to achieve economies of scale and adapt the other part to international customers’ needs.Originality/value – Research on born globals has focused on the early stages of their internationalization processes, while largely neglecting the later stages (mature born globals) or the factors that lead to continued international growth. To address this gap, this study explores what happens when born globals ‘grow up’. This study contributes to the literature by capturing the factors and processes underlying how mature born globals create value for customers, for international growth. In particular, the study shows that the culture and strategies developed in the born globals’ early stages also lead to international growth in later stages. The mature born globals have also invested in niche products, brand building, and effective market channels and adopted a combination of proactive and reactive market orientations.
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| 8. |
- Andersson, Svante, 1962-, et al.
(författare)
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International Growth in Born Globals – Continued Growth through Networking on Institutionally Distant Markets
- 2015
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Ingår i: Handbook On International Alliance and Network Research. - Cheltenham : Edward Elgar Publishing. - 9781783475476 - 9781783475483 ; , s. 139-154
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The aim of this chapter is to shed light on how a born global can obtain continued growth internationally, in institutionally distant markets. We are seeking a deeper understanding of international growth for born global enterprises by combining theories of networks and institutional perspective. We discuss how institutional distance affects the internationalization processes in born globals. We seek to highlight why and how a born global firm does enter different markets. In this respect, born globals from developed countries and those from emerging markets are compared, leading us to derive some propositions from our discussions.Finally some suggestions for future research are presented.
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| 9. |
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| 10. |
- Awuah, Gabriel Baffour
(författare)
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A professional services firm's competence development
- 2007
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Ingår i: Industrial Marketing Management. - New York : Elsevier. - 0019-8501 .- 1873-2062. ; 36:8, s. 1068-1081
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The conceptualization of a firm's competence development has undergone some developments, as seen from the extant literature. However, studies or explanations of a firm's competence development over time seem to concentrate on firms that manufacture physical goods. The literature is devoid of studies on the competence development of professional services firms (PSFs). With two in-depth case studies, this paper seeks to shed light on factors that impinge on PSFs' competence development over time. An important finding of this study is that all the two PSFs' competence development over time has been influenced, in large measure, by their close and regular interaction with their respective immediate customers as well as with some significant third parties in their network of exchange relationships, where the actors mutually adapt to each other and also learn from each other. Evidences in all the two cases show that each of the firms has won and kept important customers that give them the most and frequent assignments per year, thanks to the factors that have affected their competence to meet customers' demand over time.
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