Search results

The purpose of this paper is to study the effects of sports sponsorship on brand equity using two managerially related outcomes: price premium and market share.

This study uses a best–worst discrete choice experiment (BWDCE) and compares the outcome with that of the purchase intention scale, an established probabilistic measure of purchase intention. The total sample consists of 409 fans of three soccer teams sponsored by three different competing brands: Nike, Adidas and Puma.

With sports sponsorship, fans were willing to pay more for the sponsor’s product, with the sponsoring brand obtaining the highest market share. Prominent brands generally performed better than less prominent brands. The best–worst scaling method was also 35% more accurate in predicting brand choice than a purchase intention scale.

Future research could use the same method to study other types of sponsors, such as title sponsors or other product categories.

Sponsorship managers can use this methodology to assess the return on investment in sponsorship engagement.

Prior sponsorship studies on brand equity tend to ignore market share or fans’ willingness to pay a price premium for a sponsor’s goods and services. However, these two measures are crucial in assessing the effectiveness of sponsorship. This study demonstrates how to conduct such an assessment using the BWDCE method. It provides a clearer picture of sponsorship in terms of its economic value, which is more managerially useful.

This article is based on a systematic and comprehensive review of the literature on two-sided platforms, the business structure based on the concept of matchmaking groups of customers (e.g. Uber or Airbnb). The research aims to identify gaps in the existing literature while providing a structured summary of the existing knowledge in the field. Finally, we propose a conceptual framework enabling platform thinking, the ability to see hybrid multi-sided platforms as a useful resource-orchestration structure to unveil innovation opportunities.

This study adopts a bibliometric approach, combing co-citation and text mining analyses of 196 papers, also implementing a longitudinal analysis that highlights the evolution of the field since its inception till today.

The novel aspect of the paper consists in taking a purely managerial stance of a very peculiar kind of platform, merging existing knowledge in comprehensive frameworks while providing potential avenues for research.

From an academic perspective, this research highlights the double nature of two-sided platforms: as an operational choice or as a way to exploit (digital) assets and reach the economic sustainability. A research agenda is proposed, based on three pillars: a side-based standpoint, a business model perspective and an evolutionary stance to see how these businesses may evolve.

The research identifies different literature streams that may help practitioners in identifying how two-sided platforms may help them in fostering innovation.

The identification of two-sided platforms as a different way to create value (transaction platforms) or to capture value (non-transaction platform), enhancing the debate on this innovative business model. A research agenda to bring the field forward is proposed.

Existing research on customer journeys has tended to focus on the customer’s purchase decision-making and firm-controlled touchpoints, overlooking indirect touchpoints where customer resources and behaviors influence the firm and other actors, beyond financial patronage. This article develops the concept of engagement journeys and discusses their implications on journey design and management.

This conceptual article synthesizes the customer journey and engagement literature to delineate the concept of engagement journeys. Insights from engagement research are reflected in the current journey management orthodoxy to provide novel implications for the management of engagement journeys.

The engagement journey is defined as the customer’s process of diverse brand-related resource investments in interactions with the brand/firm and/or other customers, reflecting the customer’s cognitive, emotional and behavioral disposition. The analysis outlines the manifestations and nature of different types of touchpoints along the engagement journey, and the novel requirements for journey management.

The developed conceptualization opens up new avenues in both journey and engagement research.

Some commonly held assumptions regarding journey quality and management do not hold true for engagement journeys, so there is a need for new approaches.

Despite the proliferation of both journey and engagement research, only a handful of studies have considered the link between the concepts. The proposed novel conceptualization of an engagement journey breaks free from a predominant focus on purchase decisions. The analysis of engagement journeys and their management advances both customer journey and engagement research.

In the age of digital media, customers have access to vast digital information sources, within and outside a company's direct control. Yet managers lack a metric to capture customers' cross-media exposure and its ramifications for individual customer journeys. To solve this issue, this article introduces media entropy as a new metric for assessing cross-media exposure on the individual customer level and illustrates its effect on consumers' purchase decisions.

Building on information and signalling theory, this study proposes the entropy of company-controlled and peer-driven media sources as a measure of cross-media exposure. A probit model analyses individual-level customer journey data across more than 25,000 digital and traditional media touchpoints.

Cross-media exposure, measured as the entropy of information sources in a customer journey, drives purchase decisions. The positive effect is particularly pronounced for (1) digital (online) versus traditional (offline) media environments, (2) customers who currently do not own the brand and (3) brands that customers perceive as weak.

The proposed metric of cross-media exposure can help managers understand customers' information structures in pre-purchase phases. Assessing the consequences of customers' cross-media exposure is especially relevant for service companies that seek to support customers' information search efforts. Marketing agencies, consultancies and platform providers also need actionable customer journey metrics, particularly in early stages of the journey.

Service managers and marketers can integrate the media entropy metric into their marketing dashboards and use it to steer their investments in different media types. Researchers can include the metric in empirical models to explore customers' omni-channel journeys.

Information Systems (IS) research has built up a considerable understanding of digital platform ecosystems, while policymakers worldwide are aiming to introduce platform regulations that seek to erode fundamental mechanisms of digital platforms. This viewpoint article provides an introduction to how platform regulation affects our current understanding of digital platform ecosystems and suggests opportunities for future research.

A detailed analysis of the effects of the European Union (EU) Digital Markets Act (DMA) on current findings of organizational, technical and economic IS platform research.

Government regulations of digital platforms such as the DMA likely affect the central mode of operation of platforms in the scope of the regulation. The authors preconceive a major impact on platform openness, governance, steering the platform supply-side, modularity, nestedness, network effects, pricing and single-/multi-homing. In addition, the authors present opportunities for future research in each of these IS platform research streams.

Landmark regulations implemented in the past, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), caused paradigm changes that fertilized research opportunities in IS and beyond. This viewpoint article aims to nudge studies that examine the changed mode of operation of platforms following platform regulation.

Academics and practitioners have long acknowledged the potential of multiagent systems (MAS) to automate and autonomize decision-making in logistics and supply chain networks. Despite the manifold promises of MAS, industry adoption is lagging behind, and the exact benefits of these systems remain unclear. This study aims to fill this knowledge gap by analyzing 11 specific MAS use cases, highlighting their benefits, clarifying how they can help enhance logistics network resilience and identifying existing barriers.

A three-stage Delphi study was conducted with 18 industry experts. In the first round, these experts identified 11 use cases of MAS and their potential benefits, as well as any barriers that could hinder their adoption. In the second round, they assessed the identified use cases with regard to their potential to enhance logistics network resilience and improve organizational productivity. Furthermore, they estimated the complexity of MAS implementation. In the third round, the experts reassessed their evaluations in light of the evaluations of the other study participants.

This study proposes 11 specific MAS use cases and illustrates their potential for increasing logistics network resilience and enhancing organizational performance due to autonomous decision-making in informational processes. Furthermore, this study discusses important barriers for MAS, such as lack of standardization, insufficient technological maturity, soaring costs, complex change management and a lack of existing use cases. From a theoretical perspective, it is shown how MAS can contribute to resilience research in supply chain management.

The identification and assessment of diverse MAS use cases informs managers about the potential of this technology and the barriers that need to be overcome.

This study fills a gap in the literature by providing a thorough and up-to-date assessment of the potential of MAS for logistics and supply chain management. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the relevance of MAS for logistics network resilience using the Delphi method.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) New Distribution Capability (NDC) standard aims at modernising the airline distribution landscape. It has supported the spread of Direct Connects by providing a common standard for linking airlines to travel agencies. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the historical development of airline distribution and to derive implications for the future.

This paper follows the approach of Yeoman and McMahon-Beattie (2017) in providing a chronological account based on published research.

Direct Connects are discussed to be a step back in the evolution of the distribution landscape because they foster disaggregation. An analysis of the history of distribution finds that a comparison of Direct Connects to the early stages of computer reservation system technology falls short to recognise the tremendous technological and market changes connected to the internet, cloud computing and the rise of low-cost carriers. Moreover, drawing on the seminal article by Anderson and Tushman (1990) on technical discontinuities and dominant designs, the current state of the distribution landscape is characterised to be an era of ferment that is driven by design competition and that might end up in a new dominant design.

The originality of this paper lies in a critical review of the turning points of distribution. By reviewing the past developments, the paper sheds light on the contribution that IATA NDC and Direct Connect technology might deliver to the field of airline distribution.

This paper aims to determine what the brand performance consequences of corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities would be during times of recession for well-known brands.

Based on signaling theory, this paper investigates if CSR activities serve to signal higher brand value for consumers via perceptions of better quality and greater differentiation, specifically during recessions. This study incorporates a representative longitudinal sample of known US firms for the analyses, which is accomplished through generalized method of moments estimations.

The findings empirically demonstrate that CSR initiatives during recessions are actually associated with increased perceptions of brand value. More specifically, during recessions, CSR initiatives such as charitable contributions provide a signal to customers of higher brand quality.

This study did not control for the costs of doing specific CSR activities that may be less visible to consumers.

While individual firms or managers may not be able to prevent recessions from happening, they can limit the negative impact of recessions on their performance by engaging in CSR activities (or refrain from cutting back) during these times.

Because CSR initiatives during recessions result in more favorable consumer perceptions of the brand, engaging in CSR aligns both social and managerial interests, owing to the economic gains from CSR investments.

During times of recession, some critics indicate that CSR may be an unaffordable luxury. On the contrary, this research shows that managers may want to consider CSR activities as a means of increasing the value of their brands, especially during economic recessions.