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Marketing of financial products.

Graduate level. Occasionally, for undergraduate students with a strong background on branding strategies and strategic analysis. Applicable to analyze how companies can improve their branding strategies in highly regulated industries.

In 2016, Claire Solís was discussing with her team the paths to ignite growth and brand awareness of the only digital bank in Mexico. To better position the brand on the Mexican financial market, Bankaool had decided to go 100 per cent online, a branch-less institution. The case presents a condensed history of banking and the shifts in digital consumer behavior. As the case continues, Bankaool products are introduced along with some concerns to keep the business going, particularly, regarding the bank’s health and further growth. The newly appointed CMO and her team have to decide next steps to boost product growth just before the Fintech industry grows more mature and competitive – a scenario of more complex decisions. While they reckoned the potential of Bankaool in sales for the short term, they also need a strategy to position the Bankaool brand in the long term while they struggle with a need to accelerate growth and generate a return for investors.

To understand the launching of a new bank in the digital arena. To understand consumer behavior in a setting of increasingly higher digital coverage and diffusion of smart devices. To recognize that brand value goes well beyond product development and launch. To gain awareness on the perks and perils of a digital-only bank.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

CSS 8: Marketing.

Marketing.

This case is oriented to undergraduate (BA) students taking courses in marketing strategy, branding, new product development and market research.

This case deals with the events surrounding branding and positioning of a compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) by a multinational company settled in Mexico. After working in a private–public partnership (PPP) that deployed millions of CFLs in the Mexican market, the company is now striving to understand customer repurchase behaviour. The company executives are struggling with product, technology, and distribution issues. Their primary task is to develop an appealing marketing strategy and a tactical plan in the context of reduced budget and sceptic customers.

This study's task is to enhance student's ability to perform functional marketing analysis; to frame issues according to a given business model to solve the problems that organizations face in developing innovative products; and to propose alternate courses of action and formulate competitive marketing strategies.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

Marketing.

The case study is intended for undergraduate students pursuing grades in business, management, environmental, and sustainability areas. It can be used in marketing, entrepreneurship, market research and sales management courses.

This case deals with the events surrounding the sales patterns and the marketing practices at a firm that commercializes clean energy equipment, specifically, solar water boilers. Ren-Er Co was founded by Mr Vega and Mr Flores two year ago in a mid-sized city close to Mexico City. At first everything seemed to be going well but as time went by, sales were not reaching the stated objective. In a meeting called by Mr Vega to address this issue many ideas were delivered. Above all, Mr Vega had to collect all relevant information to design a feasible marketing plan that allows the firm to revamp its precarious competitive position. He needed to convince Mr Flores, his partner, to continue operations instead of getting out of the market.

These include: enhanced ability to perform marketing analysis; development of alternative approaches to selling and marketing problems; development of effective marketing campaigns.

Teaching notes are available; contact your librarian for access.

The learning outcomes are as follows: to assess the competitive position of a small business-to-business (B2B) company to remain competitive in a developing country; to identify and shape the business opportunity that represents serving small and medium enterprises that would lead to competitive positioning in the B2B environment; and to compare innovation and commercialization projects through strategic dimensions related to managing a technology company in a way that fosters business profitability and growth.

Margarita Kaplun, founder and CEO of Kapter, a small company providing country-wide technical and consultant services on thermography to industrial hubs in Mexico, had positioned the company as a reputed provider. However, the company had experienced razor-thin margins. Margarita needs to decide whether they pursue the following grant to fund a project on technology development that will source the competitive position or pursue a commercial project that help them achieve a larger customer base to reap higher income.

The case is oriented for an undergraduate audience, attending entrepreneurship, innovation and industrial organization courses. It depicts issues of technology-based entrepreneurship and is suitable for students in business, management and engineering.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 11: Strategy.

This research aims to analyse cognitive factors, innovation attributes and their influence on adoption of solar renewable energy technologies (RETs) for urban households in Mexico. It expands existing cognitive frameworks by including variables from diffusion of innovation theory.

On the basis of the data of 291 urban consumers and through the use of partial least squares (PLS), the proposed model was empirically tested. Finite mixture PLS method helped identify two market segments.

Findings suggest that beliefs about consequences of adopting RETs have significant influence in shaping consumer’s attitudes towards RETs which were found to be an accurate predictor of the behavioural intention to adopt these technologies. Regarding innovation attributes, the results show that for a solar heater to be adopted, it should be compatible with the social values of the consumer. Triability and relative advantage show little influence on attitude formation. Two market segments found differ on the basis of beliefs and attitudes.

The study was limited to analyse consumer responses to solar energy in residential urban settings.

Organizations wanting to increase their consumer base need to develop sound technological innovations with high levels of compatibility a low complexity.

The study combines diffusion of innovation theory with cognitive frameworks and finds that innovation attributes become strong predictors of intentions to adopt RETs.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the intentions and use behavior of digital learning environments in business education under the COVID-19 pandemic. Digital learning environments (DLEs) are ready to use bundles of heterogeneous educational technologies used by schools to deliver online courses that contrast to traditional packaged learning management systems. Through the merger of Technology Readiness Index and Unified Theory of Adoption and Use of Technology, a nuanced perspective on the adoption of DLEs under the COVID-19 pandemic is achieved.

A cross-sectional survey study gathered sample data from Mexico, Malaysia and Spain to assess the effect of broad perceptions on technology and specific technologies embedded in DLEs. Data were analyzed using structural equation models and multigroup analysis.

Student optimism and innovativeness play a critical role in assessing specific features of DLEs. Discomfort and insecurity as barriers to adoption play a minor role. Performance expectancy has a strong effect on behavioral intention to use DLEs, but the effect of effort expectancy is nonsignificant. Multigroup analysis shows significant differences in technology perceptions between samples from Malaysia versus Mexico and Spain.

DLEs help students complete their academic tasks in online and hybrid settings. Instructors can take advantage of students’ positive perceptions of technology to set up DLE use in classrooms. They need to focus on the facilitating conditions of specific technologies and on learning outcomes that remain more important than learning how to use specific technologies.

Technology adoption studies usually rely on only one model, and this is one of the few studies that merge Technology Readiness Index and Unified Theory of Adoption and Use of Technology models. The results of this study support a comprehensive view of individual perceptions of technology and specific attributes of DLEs and their effects on behavioral intentions in relation to DLEs.

This paper aims to analyse the adoption of fitness wearables by using the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT). The study analyses the relative weights and causal combinations of antecedent variables on use and intention to use fitness wearables.

The study design involves two stages: first, from the perspective of variable-oriented analysis, a structural equation model is tested using partial least squares (PLS) technique on a sample of 176 adopters and a second sample of 187 non-adopters. Second, from the perspective of case-oriented analysis, a fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) identifies causal combinations of variables that lead to use of wearables by adopters and intention to use by non-adopters.

PLS results show that performance expectancy and effort expectancy have high net effects on use and intention to use for adopters. FsQCA analysis shows that current users follow a streamlined path to adoption. High beliefs on performance expectancy and effort expectancy are the main influences of intention to use a fitness wearable for non-adopters. In contrast to adopters, non-adopters may follow a number of paths to intention to use through performance expectancy, effort expectancy or facilitating conditions. This insight was apparent only after analysing the data sets by using fsQCA.

For sake of parsimony, this paper tested UTAUT model instead of the more complex unified theory of acceptance and use of technology 2.

Marketers in the fitness category can enhance use and intention to use by utilising not one but a combination of causal factors such as performance expectancy, effort expectancy and facilitating conditions. Wide societal deployment of wearables depends on performance and expectations.

The widespread use of mobile devices depends on performance expectancy and effort expectancy. To transit to a real knowledge economy, co-creation should occur at early stages of product development so that these expectations are shared and better products be developed.

This paper offers a nuanced understanding of fitness wearable adoption by analysing adopters and non-adopters through variable- and case-oriented techniques. It complements the one-linear-path perspective with a number of alternative causal combinations of variables that lead to use and intention to use fitness wearables. While the causal path for adopters is unique, there are a number of causal combinations of antecedents that lead to high intention to use in potential adopters.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the factors influencing consumers’ intention to purchase solar energy products (SEPs).

The research is based on primary data that has been collected from a total of 351 non-users of SEPs from different cities of Tamil Nadu state (India). Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling have been used to examine the collected data.

Attitude, perceived behavioral control and energy concern variables are significant towards consumers’ purchase intention. However, other variables such as subjective norms and energy awareness were found insignificant.

The sample size was chosen based on convenience sampling, and the sample was collected from the different cities in Tamil Nadu. As a result, the outcome may not be representative of the whole population. Respondents’ perspectives in one section of India may differ from those in another.

The findings of this study help policymakers, business experts, marketers, social marketers and energy conservation organizations in gaining a better understanding of consumer behavior.

The outcome of this study will be effective in developing action plans to improve environmental quality through solar products.

This study has targeted the potential consumers and identified factors that are influencing consumers’ intention to purchase SEP. Therefore, the study’s findings will add value to SEP companies, government and non-government organizations, marketers, academicians and the research community.