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MAKING its first appearance nine years ago at the Mining Exhibition at Essen, the Cobra conveyor chain lubricator has been used in many European countries for tray transporters, crucible transporters in steelworks, foundries, coke works, and on conveyors and assembly lines for numerous industries. There are two types manufactured, the Cobra 1, which is activated directly by the motion of the transporter, and the Cobra 2, operated by compressed air and controlled by the transporter by means of an actuating arm. The Cobra 1 is used when there is difficulty in employing compressed air or when it is easy to make use of the motion of the conveyor. When compressed air is readily available, however, Cobra 2 is used. It is manufactured by Helios‐Apparate Wetzel & Schlosshauer G.m.b.H., Heidelberg, Germany, and marketed in the U.K. by W. S. Forrest & Co., Almora Hall, Middleton‐St.‐George, Co. Durham.

This paper aims to investigate word of mouth as a consequence and information, entertainment, social interaction and remuneration motivations as antecedents of consuming, contribution and creating behaviours as consumers’ online brand-related activities (COBRAs).

As an empirical test of the proposed conceptual model, the quantitative research features an online survey of a sample of 359 German Facebook users.

Word of mouth benefits from consuming behaviour but not contributing or creating behaviours. Therefore, brand-related outcomes can be realised solely through the consumption of brand-related content. Consuming behaviour is positively affected by social interaction and entertainment motivations.

Further research could investigate the conceptual model in other social networks, as well as validate the findings in other cultural settings. Potential moderators also should be considered in further research.

In addition to tracking contributing and creating behaviours, brand managers should measure consuming behaviour. This paper provides new insights into how consumer motivations influence different COBRA types.

This study is the first to analyse the distinct effects of consuming, contributing and creating behaviours of SNS brand page followers on word of mouth as an offline brand-related consequence. It also represents the first study to investigate the unique effect of creating behaviour on an offline brand-related outcome. Furthermore, this study is the first to analyse the effects of all four types of motivations on any COBRA type quantitatively with an appropriate statistical analysis that allows distinguishing relevant from irrelevant motivations.

This study aims to examine the impact of social media marketing (SMM) efforts, including entertainment, customisation, interaction and trendiness via WeChat, on consumers' online brand-related activities (COBRAs) and their related outcomes, including on-going search behaviour and repurchase intention.

The theoretical framework is tested for luxury cosmetics brands. Data were collected in China from 433 WeChat users utilising a self-administered online survey. Data analysis uses partial least squares–structural equation modelling.

Entertainment and interaction drive consumers' consuming, contributing and creating behaviours, whilst trendiness drives creating behaviour only. Inconsistent with previous research findings, customisation has a non-significant impact on consumers' consuming, contributing and creating behaviours. Consuming and creating behaviours assist in driving on-going search behaviour and repurchase intention. Contributing behaviours assist in driving on-going search behaviour only.

Cross-sectional in nature, this research adds to the marketing literature by explaining how to use SMM to drive COBRAs for luxury cosmetics in China using WeChat. To enhance the generalisability of the findings, future research might consider a longitudinal design, including comparisons between countries with diverse cultures as well as other industries and product types.

COBRAs may be heightened by using entertaining and trendy content. Incorporating interactive content on social media platforms encourages consumers to consume, contribute and create content on social media brand communities, further driving their on-going search behaviour and repurchase intention.

Examination of SMM's role in the marketing literature largely overlooks the impact of SMM elements on COBRAs. This study contributes to the SMM research by empirically testing a theoretical model, confirming that specific SMM elements – including entertainment and interaction – are key factors in driving consumers' consuming, contributing and creating behaviour on social media brand communities, influencing consumers' on-going search behaviour and repurchase intention.

Brands have started investing heavily in their social media pages. Especially for banks having credence nature, the importance of engaging customers with the brand-related content on their social media pages has become a challenge. The present study explores the role of various characteristics of a brand's social media marketing efforts (SMME) and individual customer's general online social interaction propensity (GOSIP) on the customers' engagement/online brand-related activities (COBRAs). The subsequent effect of COBRAs on key banking outcomes such as satisfaction, trust and loyalty has also been evaluated. The moderating role of the customer–brand relationship length has also been evaluated.

A two-stage mixed-method approach was used for the data collection. Two focus group discussions were conducted for the preliminary stage, which resulted in identifying five Indian banking brands as stimuli for further study. For the main study, an online survey link was shared with the members of the stimuli banking brands' social media pages. A total of 552 useable responses were collected. After performing the exploratory factor analysis and common method bias tests, the collected data were analyzed using structural equation modeling and multi-group analysis.

The results of the present study have added all five characteristics (namely, entertainment, interaction, trendiness, customization and electronic word of mouth) of SMME and GOSIP as the key antecedents of the customers' engagement with brand content on social media pages or COBRAs. COBRAs have been found influencing the customers' satisfaction, but evidence of influence on the trust and loyalty has not been found. The length of the relationship between customers and the banking brand has been observed as an important moderator for the satisfaction–trust–loyalty relationship.

The present study has three unique contributions to the literature. Firstly, the study evaluates the role of customer-brand engagement on the banking brand's favorable outcomes such as satisfaction, trust and loyalty. Secondly, the exploration of the role of various social media marketing activities that can enhance customer–brand engagement. And finally, the study tests the moderating role of the customer–brand length of the relationship on the complete set of marketing activities–engagement–loyalty relationships.

As large organisations grow and evolve, they face the challenge of accommodating change in a manner that contains costs while strengthening the firm’s competitive position in the marketplace. Invariably, not only initial capital and long‐term operating costs, but the effect of the real estate decision on the firm’s ability to attract and retain staff, and their ability to work productively, must be considered. To compound an already complex decision, the factors influencing such decisions are often highly uncertain and there are limited data on the impact of such decisions on human resource factors. Yet such decisions must be and are made. This paper describes the Cornell Balanced Real Estate Assessment model (COBRA©), a prototype tool which addresses these issues.

The detailed flow behaviour around a four—hole Cobra Pitot pressure probe, developed by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, Australia, (CSIRO), to determine the pressure and the velocity components in three dimensional single‐phase/multi‐phase fluid flow, is investigated computationally. The incompressible steady state Navier—Stokes equations are solved numerically using a general purpose computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code developed at CANCES. Computational results are presented for representative probe pitch and yaw angles at a Reynolds number = 2 × 10³, emphasising the pressure distribution and flow separation patterns on the probe tip adjacent to the pressure ports. Quantitative comparison of the computational simulation to experimental results is done by comparing experimental calibration data to numerically computed pressure responses. The topological features of the near tip flow behaviour are visualised using critical point concepts and three dimensional streamlines. Additional qualitative comparison to experiment is discussed using data from a preliminary experimental investigation using surface oil film visualisation techniques, where available. Conclusions are drawn concerning the near tip flow behaviour, the good level of agreement between the numerical results and experimental data and the effectiveness of using a computational analysis to provide accurate detail useful for engineering design purposes.

Business process re‐engineering (BPR) and the learning organization are widely discussed management concepts. While both could be, and sometimes are pursued in the same organization, the first tends to be perceived as a means and the latter as an end of corporate transformation. Examines the development aspects of BPR and whether in practice its application helps or hinders the development of the learning organization. Draws on the results of COBRA, a pan‐European examination of BPR experience and practice, which has found that the reality of BPR application does not always match its rhetoric. BPR exercises tend to be concerned with working people harder rather than smarter and the development implications of implementing different approaches to BPR are rarely fully thought through. Greater priority needs to be devoted to agreeing and building roles, competences and behaviours.