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The purpose of this paper is to explore the nature of customer deference to service providers in service encounters, and articulate its chief antecedents, experiences and consequences.

Data were collected in Thailand, using critical incident technique. A total of 253 subjects share their experiences of being “deferential” (i.e. “kreng-jai” in Thailand) during everyday service encounters.

The findings indicate that in cultures in which the cultural norm (i.e. kreng-jai) is to be considerate of others, customers often become deferential of the service provider during service encounters, especially when customers perceive that the service provider’s well-being is compromised. However, customer deference involves aversive feelings which lead customers to devise coping strategies and avoid future contact with a company.

Using a specific cultural norm, the findings challenge prior finding that people from collectivist culture are more likely to tolerate and be satisfied with service encounters, and document the role of previously unexamined customer-related factors in driving satisfaction in ordinary service encounters.

The findings recommend service providers to preempt customers’ deference by establishing and communicating the role and acceptable behaviors, managing physical distance with customers, and monitoring customer non-verbal behavior and facial expressions to detect the customers’ true feelings.

No prior research has comprehensively examined the phenomenon whereby consumers seek to benefit service providers at the expense of their own well-being. This study demonstrates that customer deference degrades customer satisfaction even in ordinary service encounters.

This study aims to analyse the following: first, the financial performance of General Insurance Re (GIC Re) using performance ratios (PRs); second, the uniformity of different financial performance indicators of GIC Re; third, the internal growth capacity of GIC Re; and finally, the likelihood of GIC Re going into financial distress.

As a sample, GIC Re, the lion shareholder in Indian Reinsurance Industry has been considered in the present study. All the necessary data have been extracted from the secondary sources over a time period of 16 years. The financial performance of GIC Re is assessed using five standard ratios, and the uniformity of different financial performance indicators of GIC Re has been examined using Kendall’s Coefficient of Concordance (W). To assess the internal growth capacity of GIC Re internal growth rate has been used, and the likelihood of GIC Re going into financial distress is analysed using multivariate discriminant approach, namely, modified Altman’s Z-score model and logit analysis technique, namely, Ohlson’s O-score model.

The results exhibit that financial performance of GIC Re is somewhat satisfactory over a few considerable areas. However, no notable degree of uniformity has been observed amongst the varied financial performance indicators, namely, performance ratio, expense ratio, return on assets, risk retention ratio and combined ratio of GIC Re. The results also reveal GIC Re is lacking ability of growing internally. Moreover, there remains a significant possibility of GIC Re going into financial distress in the near future and so.

This study is one of the first empirical research studies in India that examines the financial performance of GIC Re from different perspectives.

The main goal of this paper is to provide an integrative understanding of corporate social responsibility (CSR) from a corporate marketing perspective, highlighting the critical role of CSR in effective corporate marketing strategies.

The paper is conceptual and draws on the social identification, organisational identity and corporate marketing literatures from the European and US schools of thought.

The paper integrates and builds on extant thinking in corporate marketing and CSR to provide an identity‐based conceptualization of CSR. Based on this, it positions CSR as an optimal managerial tool for promoting alignment between multiple corporate identities (e.g. internal, external), which ultimately leads to key benefits for the company.

The paper is the first to highlight the unique role of CSR in being able to align multiple corporate identities. Furthermore, the paper threads together diverse perspectives on corporate identity and marketing to highlight the potential role of CSR in effective corporate marketing.

We examine two conceptualizations of consumer-brand relationships: identification, as identity-based relationships between a consumer and a brand, and the related construct of attachment as a bond based on security and personal history with the brand.

Predictions emanating from the two constructs’ disparate theoretical traditions regarding the relative antecedents and outcomes of these brand relationship constructs are tested in a survey of real consumer-brand relationships, where the two are likely to co-occur.

Identification is more socially motivated, wherein the brand is used for “identity building” and impression management, such as through public endorsement. In contrast, attachment is more personally motivated; it is more likely to be founded on an intimate history with the brand and feelings of security inspired by the brand.

This is the first work in marketing to explicitly compare identification with attachment in contexts where they co-occur. In doing so, it underscores the validity and usefulness of these two related but distinct relationship constructs.

The present study has two objectives. First, one is to clarify the terms, “co-movement” and “co-integration” in the context of stock market indices. Second, to investigate empirically, whether an emerging stock market index represented by Nifty has moved together with DJI and N225 during the study period and whether they are co-integrated or not. This chapter tries to search out an answer for co-movement and co-integration staying within the theoretical framework through an extensive review of the literature. Moreover, the present study is unique because it tries to focus mostly on the pros and cons of financial integration and trade liberalization and the contributing factors responsible for trade and financial integrations leading to co-movement and co-integration among the countries considered in this study. India is taken as a proxy for an emerging economy. Furthermore, this chapter considers America and Japan as proxies for the developed countries around the globe and a significant country among the APAC nations, respectively. The empirical results reveal that not only three indices are highly correlated but they also possess a co-integrating relationship. This establishes the fact that neither is there any scope of international diversification in the short run nor in the long run. However, the Granger causality test results point out the fact that Nifty granger causes DJI and N225 during the study period.

The words in the CRM (Customer Relationship Management) have become short‐hand buzz words for describing how firms foster a 360‐degree review of the customer lifecycle. The primary goal of this study is to provide a synopsis of innovative CRM concepts that can assist entrepreneurial small firms develop a process to effectively communicate with their customers, such as an e‐newsletter and CD‐ROM direct mail campaign. A practitioner‐oriented model is developed that depicts the CRM process of using multiple communication channels, building loyalty, establishing customer retention tactics, and changing service offers to foster the customer experience.