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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the link between community of place and small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Lombard industrial districts in Italy.

A brief literature review of international authors from the stakeholder approach and Corporate Community Relations (CCRs) field is presented. This paper refers to a survey of Lombard industrial districts conducted by ALTIS. The data were collected via a telephone survey from 834 firms.

The main finding is that managing CCRs is of major importance for company success. The results of the survey show that there are some tools and actions that Italian industrial district SMEs use to interact with their particular communities of place to develop effective and coherent relationships with their stakeholder groups. Moreover, although the survey shows that though SMEs do implement different CCR activities, they are not able to communicate these effectively through systematic communication strategies. However, the narrow sample includes only a sample of some Lombard districts. Nonetheless, the findings indicate that effective CCR seems to confer competitive advantage based on stakeholder responses and rewards sought.

The framework could assist in supporting CCR developments between industrial districts as various players would know how to improve CCR activities. One further suggestion is that University and Research Centers could have a role to play in creating and communicating codified knowledge concerning community relations in industrial districts, while other public players still have to develop specific tasks in improving infrastructures.

This study is in line with the main focus of CCR, which is in striving to meet stakeholder and societal needs. However, industrial district SMEs have to learn how to communicate their CCR activities from the examples set by large Italian companies. The paper links the notion of CCR with tools and actions to develop meaningful relationships with both community of place and interest. Moreover, considering the survey results, a new framework for local player roles is proposed.

This study attempts to ascertain the essential dimensions and components of university brand image, including the cognitive attributes (service/educational quality) and affective attributes (corporate brand image) of the university.

The study develops, explores and presents a student-consumer behavioral response model based on students’ experiences at university, exploring the relationship between these attributes with satisfaction and behavioral response [word-of-mouth (WOM)].

Findings reveal that both branding aspects – brand experience and corporate brand image – follow a rational thought process first before an affective component is then taken into account, resulting in brand promise and loyalty. The study identifies several important cognitive brand image attributes and experiences that guide brand positioning for the Malaysian market, linking these to satisfaction and WOM.

It was conducted in a single case-university and future research could replicate this in other schools/institutions. Cross-validation to other private institutions lies outside the scope of this study. Furthermore, although the study has identified specific attributes of university brands, they tend to be seen or interpreted as overall for both brand experiences and corporate brand image attributes because of the reflective nature of the construct, and also they tend to be seen as higher order rather than at individual levels. Further research is needed to analyze these dimensions using a quantitative approach at individual levels and testing the conceptual model as presented in the conceptual model. The study is focused on one Asian market (Malaysian students in X University) chosen for its potential growth in the future.

The present study contributes to the identification of specific students’ needs and attributes including courses and modules, reputable schools, the environment (e.g. campus – near to lecturer, international), helpful lecturers and the university location. Addressing the right brand attributes enhance and clarify the positioning aspect of the university brand, while simultaneously addressing the needs and wants of consumers. For example, by understanding the culture – consumer buying behavior within this setting, marketers or school administrators can identify exactly, which behaviors could be changed and by which mechanism i.e. talking to sponsors, and introducing activities to increase visibility/image in Malaysia. Interacting with sponsors can influence them toward sending students to X instead of to other universities in the UK.

The study contributes to theoretical knowledge in at least two different ways: by identifying possible corporate brand image attributes and experience that guide brand positioning (for the Malaysian market), and by exploring the relationship between these attributes and satisfaction and behavioral response (WOM) as proposed in the study’s conceptual framework. The study has identified the specific attributes that influence Malaysian students’ early interest in selecting X University via, for example, a recommendation from existing students at X, their sponsors, employers, the courses or modules X offers and location – in London. The study further revealed that corporate brand image attributes of business schools (cognitively and effectively) enhance corporate brand differentiation and positioning (Rauschnabel et al., 2016).

Providing a framework for integrating aspects of externally directed corporate and marketing communication efforts, this paper makes a case for the communication of positive and credible ethical values as a potentially critical component in communications strategy and sustainable competitive advantage. Using an uncertainty‐reduction model adapted from the diffusion literature, it is suggested that appropriately communicated moral and ethical values can have a role in underpinning an organisation’s reputation and “trusted capacities”, thereby heightening confidence in likely future actions, offering a predictive mechanism for lowering uncertainty in market transactions, and facilitating a potential to trade by offering a rationale for an organisation’s secure market position. Underpinned by ethical principles, the paper proposes implications for the role of “reputation for trustworthiness” and its symbolic evocation. It is argued that a reputation can become accepted as a social “fact”, able to endure critical interrogation in its social environment.

This paper aims to study the citations made in service failure literature and assesses the knowledge construction of this region of exploration to date.

The bibliometric investigation assesses 416 service failure articles in business associated research. Multidimensional scaling is used to uncover the scope of the scholarly impacts that have helped understand the nature of the service failure literature. The establishment of knowledge in the service failure literature is revealed by analysing co-citation data to identify significant topical impacts.

The theoretical model combines five areas with significant propositions for the future improvement of service failure as an area of investigation. The most important research themes in service failure literature are service failure, service failure communication, recovery process, recovery offer and intention.

Potential research concentrating on the service failure literature could use search terms improved from the literature review, or use a comparable approach whereby a board of well-informed scholars approved the key words used.

This paper is beneficial for any reader who is interested in understanding the components of the perception of justice and recovery and how it improves repurchase intention.

The study seeks to influence resource and recovery-based concepts and utilises the five supporting knowledge groups to suggest a plan for future research that fills existing gaps and offers the possibility of expanding and enhancing the service failure literature.

Seeks to illustrate areas of overreach and commonality between public relations and marketing, more specifically the confusion and ambiguity characterizing the role of both communication functions in modern business organizations. Describes the evolution of marketing and public relations to provide a view of why a closer integration between the two may be desirable. Explores different functional perspectives on their interaction and concludes that these represent “ideal types” rather than organizational realities. Foresees developments in terms of integration between public relations and marketing but dependent on the dynamics of organizational cultures and served markets and on research output from both sides of the academic divide.

Describes changes and developments taking place in public relations in the UK. Such description is predicated on change in the external environment facing business organizations, increased expenditure on staffing and public relations activities, and teaching developments in this innovative management field. But the main causatory factors are fuzzy market boundaries, changing publics, and short‐lived competitive advantages. A hypothetical company example is used to illustrate how public relations might be used to build relations with key target audiences.

The response or non‐response of small businesses to change is an important area of study. Environmental analysis is a crucial corollary to business development and growth. However, experience of small firms has indicated that the managers of such enterprises may become myopic in relation to changes in the business environment, or may not respond to or notice slow change. This myopia or lethargy exhibited by small firms needs to be avoided if such firms are to survive and grow. Four crucial questions (where is the firm now; where is it heading if it takes no action to change things; where do we want the firm to be; and how might we take it there?) must be answered if small firms wish to survive and grow. It is recommended that environmental analysis coupled with the use of a creativity consultant may help small firms to develop strategies for adjusting to change and avoiding marketing myopia.

Despite increased emphasis on customer or market orientation over the past several decades, there is considerable evidence that many customer service practices have created a “Janus face” situation in which stated marketing philosophy often differs from practice. This paper aims to explore those issues in marketing practice.

This paper develops a typology of “new age” practices in customer service that seem to serve to annoy, alienate and even potentially harm consumers. Consumer-coping mechanisms for dealing with such practices are then discussed, arguing that the practices themselves are not in the best long-term interests of the firm. This paper concludes with suggestions for how firms can avoid a “Janus face” situation and better serve today’s educated consumers.

Too many of today’s ostensibly “marketing”-oriented companies are more concerned with selling and much less concerned with retention or real relationships. Unfortunately, even if companies are doing many things correctly, this does not sound like behavior that should exist in the so-called “marketing era” in the 21st century.

The negative implication of extolling service excellence while delivering the opposite to customers is undesirable. Research that addresses the service challenges that firms face in this fast-changing marketing environment is crucial to advancing academic knowledge.

As marketing moves into 2020 and beyond, it is critical to correct these service issues and problems. Companies cannot really afford to drive away customers in the dynamic age of relationship marketing fueled by rapidly advancing technological change.

This paper presents a typology of “new age” customer service problems.

This research paper aims to examine the theoretical and practical applicability of integrated marketing communications.

Presents the findings from a two‐country qualitative study concerning the phenomenon. The research used survey methodology to assess the views of advertising agency members of the Institute of Advertising Practitioners (UK) and the Communications Agencies Association of New Zealand (CAANZ)

The findings show that practitioners appear to be constructing and applying IMC concepts that are situation‐specific. Nonetheless, a search for a single empirically testable theory of IMC ignores evidence that practitioners are committed to IMC concepts while at the same time resisting the development of “rigid rules”. Additionally, external factors may be forcing reconsideration of marketing communications and accountability.

The research is limited to a study of ad agency perceptions in two countries. While implications of the findings for other countries are discussed, a major direction for the future is the need for research to be conducted in organisations themselves, not necessarily the agencies which service their needs.

Practical implications include variability in terms of the application of IMC principles. This leads to the idea of differential application with – as stated above – some rejection of “rigid rules” in this dynamic area.

The value of the paper lies in its use of a comparative approach using members of clearly identifiable and relevant samples in two countries in relation to IMC. The notion of differentiation in relation to IMC application, the perceived rejection of rigid rules, and the need for further research to be focused in‐company (rather than in‐agency) assist in moving this emergent paradigm forward in an academic and practitioner sense.