Show me the money

2015 ◽  
Vol 49 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 561-595 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stan Maklan ◽  
Joe Peppard ◽  
Philipp Klaus

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the conundrum between the increasingly importance of investments in new information technologies (IT) on marketing practice and marketing scholars continuing to question the profitability of IT-led marketing initiatives. Design/methodology/approach – Systematic reviews of the relevant literature on the financial and market return of customer relationship management (CRM) investments from both Marketing and Information Systems (IS) literature were conducted. Findings – Findings suggest that, while both IS and Marketing scholars try to determine what generates returns on CRM investment, the IS community has a more complete conceptualisation as to how these returns are realised. A broader epistemological framework, better suited to observing how organisations benefit from IT-led management initiatives, enables a more comprehensive assessment of CRM investment. Research limitations/implications – Supplementing the methods used by Marketing scholars with those frequently used in IS research would likely improve the assessment of IT-led Marketing investments and the resultant prescriptions for Marketing practitioners. Practical implications – Failure to assess accurately the return from IT-led Marketing investments hinders managers’ ability to manage them for maximum performance improvements, all the more important now that organisations are preparing for large-scale investments in big data and social media strategies. Originality/value – This paper is the first to illustrate how a combination of Marketing and IS scholarship can assist Marketing research and practice.

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (12) ◽  
pp. 2127-2137
Author(s):  
Christopher A. Nelson ◽  
Michael F. Walsh ◽  
Annie Peng Cui

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the impact of analytical customer relationship management (CRM) on salesperson information use behavior. Design/methodology/approach To achieve the aim of this paper, a vignette experiment was undertaken. The data used for the final analysis included 125 professional salespeople across multiple industries. Findings This paper focuses on the personal use of competitive intelligence. The authors find that to maximize the effectiveness of using competitive intelligence, the salesperson must become adept at both choosing the correct pa`rtners to trust and properly valuing information. Properly valuing information can be accomplished through the use of analytical CRM. Practical implications The managerial implications of this paper are straightforward yet important. CRM providers have improved the tools available to salespeople (e.g., heat maps) and have partnered with other large scale providers of customer and market information (e.g., global marketing research firms) to provide a analytical tool that is user friendly to salespeople. Yet, many firms still use simplified CRM platforms, which do little more for the salesperson than offer an opportunity to document notes. Sales firms should move toward this analytical CRM system because it improves the salesperson’s ability to value information and increases the salesperson’s ability to use intelligence to link products to buyer needs. Originality/value This paper contributes to theory through confirming the importance of analytical CRM on salesperson’s information use behavior by using a motivation, opportunity and ability framework. Additionally, a methodological contribution was made through the development of an information value scale.


2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rory M. Welsh ◽  
D. Joseph Sexton ◽  
Kaitlin Forsberg ◽  
Snigdha Vallabhaneni ◽  
Anastasia Litvintseva

ABSTRACT The emerging yeast Candida auris can be highly drug resistant, causing invasive infections, and large outbreaks. C. auris went from an unknown pathogen a decade ago to being reported in over thirty countries on six continents. C. auris consists of four discrete clades, based on where the first isolates of the clade were reported, South Asian (clade I), East Asian (clade II), African (clade III), and South American (clade IV). These clades have unique genetic and biochemical characteristics that are important to understand and inform the global response to C. auris. Clade II has been underrepresented in the literature despite being the first one discovered. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Microbiology, Y. J. Kwon et al. (J Clin Microbiol 57:e01624-18, 2019, https://doi.org/10.1128/JCM.01624-18) describe the largest collection of clinical isolates from Clade II, which is also the longest-running span of clinical cases, 20 years, from any single region to date. Clade II appears to have a propensity for the ear that is uncharacteristic of the other clades, which typically cause invasive infections and large-scale outbreaks. This study provides new information on an understudied lineage of C. auris and has important implications for future surveillance.


2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (6/7) ◽  
pp. 308-316 ◽  
Author(s):  
Myung-Ja K. Han

Purpose Academic and research libraries have been experiencing a lot of changes over the last two decades. The users have become technology savvy and want to discover and use library collections via web portals instead of coming to library gateways. To meet these rapidly changing users’ needs, academic and research libraries are busy identifying new service models and areas of improvement. Cataloging and metadata services units in academic and research libraries are no exception. As discovery of library collections largely depends on the quality and design of metadata, cataloging and metadata services units must identify new areas of work and establish new roles by building sustainable workflows that utilize available metadata technologies. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach This paper discusses a list of challenges that academic libraries’ cataloging and metadata services units have encountered over the years, and ways to build sustainable workflows, including collaborations between units in and outside of the institution, and in the cloud; tools, technologies, metadata standards and semantic web technologies; and most importantly, exploration and research. The paper also includes examples and uses cases of both traditional metadata workflows and experimentation with linked open data that were built upon metadata technologies and will ultimately support emerging user needs. Findings To develop sustainable and scalable workflows that meet users’ changing needs, cataloging and metadata professionals need not only to work with new information technologies, but must also be equipped with soft skills and in-depth professional knowledge. Originality/value This paper discusses how cataloging and metadata services units have been exploiting information technologies and creating new scalable workflows to adapt to these changes, and what is required to establish and maintain these workflows.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Runyue Han ◽  
Hugo K.S. Lam ◽  
Yuanzhu Zhan ◽  
Yichuan Wang ◽  
Yogesh K. Dwivedi ◽  
...  

PurposeAlthough the value of artificial intelligence (AI) has been acknowledged by companies, the literature shows challenges concerning AI-enabled business-to-business (B2B) marketing innovation, as well as the diversity of roles AI can play in this regard. Accordingly, this study investigates the approaches that AI can be used for enabling B2B marketing innovation.Design/methodology/approachApplying a bibliometric research method, this study systematically investigates the literature regarding AI-enabled B2B marketing. It synthesises state-of-the-art knowledge from 221 journal articles published between 1990 and 2021.FindingsApart from offering specific information regarding the most influential authors and most frequently cited articles, the study further categorises the use of AI for innovation in B2B marketing into five domains, identifying the main trends in the literature and suggesting directions for future research.Practical implicationsThrough the five identified domains, practitioners can assess their current use of AI and identify their future needs in the relevant domains in order to make appropriate decisions on how to invest in AI. Thus, the research enables companies to realise their digital marketing innovation strategies through AI.Originality/valueThe research represents one of the first large-scale reviews of relevant literature on AI in B2B marketing by (1) obtaining and comparing the most influential works based on a series of analyses; (2) identifying five domains of research into how AI can be used for facilitating B2B marketing innovation and (3) classifying relevant articles into five different time periods in order to identify both past trends and future directions in this specific field.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabio Corbisiero ◽  
Salvatore Monaco

Purpose Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in early 2020, the travel sector has faced an intense challenge, making tourism one of the most affected sectors at the time of writing. Based on the results of a survey administered to a sample of 700 Italian tourists, this paper aims to acquire an empirical understanding of key challenges for the travel and tourism sector in the coming months and the possible responses of tourist cities. Design/methodology/approach To study tourism after the pandemic, OUT (University of Naples Tourism Research Center) has created an online survey to answer the following questions: What will tourism be like after the pandemic? What will the main changes in travel behaviors be? What role will new information technologies play in future tourism? Are there territorial differences based on the spread of the virus? Findings The pandemic has inevitably affected everyone’s tourist choices, regardless of how much their specific area of residence has been impacted by the virus. Consequently, it will significantly influence travelers’ experiences. The Italian tourists who were survey respondents are aware that physical distancing rules will probably remain in effect for an extended time and, therefore, they cannot imagine future tourism not conditioned by these measures. This does not mean that Italians will give up tourism in the short-medium term, however. Indeed, the research data highlight the resilient character of tourism in that it is transformed but does not cease to exist. Originality/value By studying the future through a sociological approach, it is possible to identify how the COVID-19 emergency will impact tourism and how both the form and social meaning of mobility will be conditioned. On the basis of the data, the analysis will be directed from the present to the post-pandemic horizon, hypothesizing possible scenarios for the future of tourism and providing some possible policy indications.


2017 ◽  
Vol 69 (3) ◽  
pp. 294-315 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvain K. Cibangu ◽  
Mark Hepworth ◽  
Donna Champion

Purpose This paper relayed an important line of Mark Hepworth’s work, which engages with information technologies and development. The purpose of this paper is to suggest a subfield of library and information science (LIS) for development to reclaim the role of information services and systems for social change in rural areas. The paper looked at the extent of development gained with the advent of mobile phones. Design/methodology/approach Rather than undertaking traditional large-scale, quantitative, context-independent and survey-type research, the paper employed capability approach and semi-structured interviews to ascertain the experiences that mobile phone kiosk vendors in the rural Congo had of mobile phones. Findings It was found that mobile phones should be geared towards the liberation, and not utilization or commodification of humans and their needs and that mobile phones were not a catalyst of human basic capabilities. Research limitations/implications Since the method employed is an in-depth qualitative analysis of mobile phone kiosk vendors, obtained results can be used to enrich or inform mobile phone experiences in other settings and groups. Practical implications This paper provided empirical evidence as to how an important group of mobile phone users could harness development with their mobiles. Originality/value Most LIS literature has presented mobile phones along the lines of information freedom or access, mass subscription, adoption rates, technological and entrepreneurial innovation, micro-credits, etc. However, the paper placed the topic development at the heart of LIS debates.


2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karl-Jacob Mickelsson

Purpose The paper aims to introduce the idea that consumers have relationships with their own recurring activities. Instead of the usual notion of investigating the relationships between actors, or between actors and their possessions, the paper focuses on the relationship between an actor and a particular activity in which the actor regularly participates. Design/methodology/approach The paper is conceptual and exploratory in nature. It discusses different perspectives of consumer activity in marketing and then introduces a relationship view of activity. The paper proceeds to outline the conceptual foundations of this view by applying relationship characteristics found in the literature. Quotes from runners’ blogs are used to illustrate the different identified relationship themes. Findings The paper argues that consumers can be seen as having long-term relationships with their activities, and it introduces the concept of the “activity relationship”. The paper proceeds to demonstrate how this concept differs from the previous conceptualization of consumer activity and relationships. Research limitations/implications The activity-relationship perspective on consumer behavior opens up new venues for marketing research. It also facilitates new types of marketing practice, whereby producers can focus on supporting their customers’ relationships with valuable activities. Originality/value The paper presents a novel perspective on relationships. It contributes to consumer research and the customer-dominant view of marketing, whereby the customer’s perspective is put in focus and businesses serve as ingredients in the customer’s own context.


2020 ◽  
Vol 120 (7) ◽  
pp. 1383-1400
Author(s):  
Domenico Raucci ◽  
Antonella Santone ◽  
Francesco Mercaldo ◽  
Tomasz Dyczkowski

PurposeThis paper investigates the criteria for a selective integration, in the multidisciplinary business process management (BPM) areas, between information technologies tools and the company's internal control systems (ICSs) aimed at directing organizational behaviours. Adopting a process-based perspective, the authors propose a formal methodology to increase ICSs aims, related to the segregation of duties (SoDs) models, efficiently and effectively.Design/methodology/approachThe authors examine the applicability of formal verifications to validate a banking process of providing investment services, which is mapped through the workflow management system. To mitigate the state explosion problem of formal methods, the authors propose an efficient methodology that has been proved on the SoDs models in the bank ICSs, as a case study.FindingsThe authors’ investigations suggest that in the BPM domain, the banking ICSs aims can benefit from the aforesaid methodologies, originating from the formal methods area, to increase the reliability and correctness in the design, modelling and implementation of the SoDs models.Originality/valueThe proposed methodology is quite general and can be efficiently applied to large-scale systems in different business contexts or areas of the BPM. Its application to the bank's SoD prevents or detects significant weaknesses, operational risks, excessive risk appetite and other undesirable behaviours in the investment services provision processes. This guarantees that the investment ordered/offered is “suitable and appropriate” with the client's risk profile, especially non-professional, required by the MiFID II Directive.


2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 265-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Arshad ◽  
Mariam Farooq ◽  
Sadia Afzal ◽  
Omer Farooq

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to determine the factors influencing the adoption of new information systems (IS) in organizations. Based on the institutional theory, this research proposes that organizations may induce their employees to adopt new IS by creating three types of institutional pressure: coercive, normative and mimetic. It is further argued that the effects of these three institutional pressures on employees’ new IS usage depend on their cultural orientations. Design/methodology/approach Model testing relies on data collected from 370 banking sector employees during the implementation of a new “customer relationship management” system. The hypothesized model was tested by using the structural equation modeling technique in MPlus 7.0. Findings The findings of this research reveal that institutional pressures (coercive, normative and mimetic) have positive effects on employees’ attitudes to using the new IS, which, in turn, positively influences their IS usage. In addition, collectivism strengthens the positive effect of coercive and normative forces on attitudes to using the new IS. Conversely, collectivism weakens the effect of the mimetic force on employees’ attitudes to using the new IS. Originality/value This research is among pioneering studies that explain the effect of institutional pressures (coercive, normative and mimetic) on employees’ IS usage. It is the first study of its nature that demonstrates that each of the three institutional pressures has differential effects on employees with highly collectivist orientations in comparison with employees with low collectivist orientations.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Sarkis ◽  
Mahtab Kouhizadeh ◽  
Qingyun Serena Zhu

PurposeThis study provides a reflective overview on the role of traditional and emergent digitalization and information technologies for leveraging environmental supply chain sustainability – while reflecting on potential trade-offs and conflicts of digitalization and greening.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use relevant literature and literature from Industrial Management and Data Systems (IMDS) research published in this journal over the past 50 years. They also use their knowledge and over 30 years of research experience in the field to provide professional scholarly reflections and perspective.FindingsThe authors provide a focused and succinct evaluation for research directions. A pressures, practices and performance framework sets the stage for pertinent research questions and theoretical needs to investigate the nexus of digitalization and green supply chain management. The authors provide two frameworks with exemplary practices and research for traditional and emergent digitalization and information technology. Their reflection concludes with a summary and steps forward.Social implicationsThe authors show how research and practice can be used to affect supply chain greening with digitalization and information technology. They observe that care should be taken given that these technologies can paradoxically simultaneously offer solutions to environmental degradation and potentially be a source of environmental degradation across the supply chain.Originality/valueThis work provides a summary and unique perspective that links traditional and emergent digitalization technology to green and environmental sustainability work. The area has not seen a clear summary and path forward and shows how IMDS literature has contributed to the field for decades.


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