Motivating resellers of the international brand in competitive markets

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 663-677
Author(s):  
Suraksha Gupta

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore how brand managers can motivate resellers who are not directly associated with the brand and know the brand through a local or a national level distributor. Findings of this study provide insights into factors that can lead a brand manager motivate resellers through a reseller motivation pyramid. Design/methodology/approach Using qualitative data collected from brand managers, different themes of reseller motivations were evaluated. Findings An overlap between organizational goals, resource-related needs and capabilities of resellers are indicative of modification required in reseller management strategy to keep resellers motivated. Research limitations/implications This research suffers from lack of quantitative data that could enable the researcher to establish the linkages discussed. Originality/value This research extends current understanding about intrinsic motivations of resellers to promote a brand in competitive markets.

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Torbjørn H. Netland ◽  
Jason D. Schloetzer ◽  
Kasra Ferdows

PurposeWhy some assembly factories implement a lean program faster than others is an enduring puzzle. We examine the effect of a fundamental characteristic of every assembly factory—its rhythm of production.Design/methodology/approachWe designed a multi-method study and collected data from a leading global equipment manufacturer that launched a lean program across its factory network. We use quantitative data gathered from internal company documents to test our hypothesis that production rhythm affects the pace of lean implementation. We then analyze qualitative data from interviews and factory visits to derive theoretical explanations for how production rhythm affects lean implementation.FindingsConsistent with our hypothesis, we present evidence that factories with faster production rhythms implement lean faster than those with slower rhythms. This evidence is consistent with learning theories as well as the literature on organizational routines and forms of knowledge. We propose a theory of the relation between rhythm and learning in lean implementation.Research limitations/implicationsThe hitherto unexplored relation between production rhythm and lean implementation raises intriguing questions for scholars and ushers new insights into how organizations learn to implement lean.Practical implicationsOrganizations need to calibrate their expectations for lean implementation pace when their factories have widely different production rhythms and find ways to mitigate any adverse effects slower rhythms may have. Organizations can alleviate the unfavorable context of slower rhythms by inculcating practices in the factory that emulate the learning environment present in faster-paced factories.Originality/valueWe contribute novel quantitative and qualitative evidence that production rhythm affects lean implementation through learning-based mechanisms.


Kybernetes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Huifang Jiao ◽  
Wenzhi Tang ◽  
Tianzhuo Liu ◽  
Xuan Wang ◽  
Lijun Ma

PurposeSocial media technology has changed donors' decision-making process in online philanthropy compared with traditional charity. How do IT affordances support donor perceptions and motivations in charitable crowdfunding? The purpose of this study is to explore how the five sub-dimensions of charitable crowdfunding IT affordances (i.e. visibility, association, meta-voicing, trading and security) afford initiators and platforms in motivating donors to support charitable crowdfunding projects.Design/methodology/approachThis paper uses a quantitative research approach. An online survey was conducted to collect research data from WeChat users who had experienced charitable crowdfunding. A sample of 344 valid responses were received and analyzed.FindingsThe results show that four of the five IT affordances facilitate donors' perceptions (perceived emotions and trust) and motivations (intrinsic motivations and extrinsic motivations), and thereby increase behavioral intention on supporting charitable crowdfunding projects.Originality/valueThis study advances the affordances and online charity literature by examining the antecedents and outcome of perceptions and motivations that determining behavioral intention in more detail. The authors’ findings not only benefit researchers in explaining how technology helps donors perceiving projects and motivating them to donate online, but also assists practitioners in developing better charitable crowdfunding management strategy.


2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 210-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helena Webb ◽  
Menisha Patel ◽  
Michael Rovatsos ◽  
Alan Davoust ◽  
Sofia Ceppi ◽  
...  

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to report on empirical work conducted to open up algorithmic interpretability and transparency. In recent years, significant concerns have arisen regarding the increasing pervasiveness of algorithms and the impact of automated decision-making in our lives. Particularly problematic is the lack of transparency surrounding the development of these algorithmic systems and their use. It is often suggested that to make algorithms more fair, they should be made more transparent, but exactly how this can be achieved remains unclear. Design/methodology/approach An empirical study was conducted to begin unpacking issues around algorithmic interpretability and transparency. The study involved discussion-based experiments centred around a limited resource allocation scenario which required participants to select their most and least preferred algorithms in a particular context. In addition to collecting quantitative data about preferences, qualitative data captured participants’ expressed reasoning behind their selections. Findings Even when provided with the same information about the scenario, participants made different algorithm preference selections and rationalised their selections differently. The study results revealed diversity in participant responses but consistency in the emphasis they placed on normative concerns and the importance of context when accounting for their selections. The issues raised by participants as important to their selections resonate closely with values that have come to the fore in current debates over algorithm prevalence. Originality/value This work developed a novel empirical approach that demonstrates the value in pursuing algorithmic interpretability and transparency while also highlighting the complexities surrounding their accomplishment.


2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dinesh Rathi ◽  
Lisa M. Given ◽  
Eric Forcier

Purpose – This paper aims to present findings from a study of non-profit organizations (NPOs), including a model of knowledge needs that can be applied by practitioners and scholars to further develop the NPO sector. Design/methodology/approach – A survey was conducted with NPOs operating in Canada and Australia. An analysis of survey responses identified the different types of knowledge essential for each organization. Respondents identified the importance of three pre-determined themes (quantitative data) related to knowledge needs, as well as a fourth option, which was a free text box (qualitative data). The quantitative and qualitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistical analyses and a grounded theory approach, respectively. Findings – Analysis of the quantitative data indicates that NPOs ' needs are comparable in both countries. Analysis of qualitative data identified five major categories and multiple sub-categories representing the types of knowledge needs of NPOs. Major categories are knowledge about management and organizational practices, knowledge about resources, community knowledge, sectoral knowledge and situated knowledge. The paper discusses the results using semantic proximity and presents an emergent, evidence-based knowledge management (KM)-NPO model. Originality/value – The findings contribute to the growing body of literature in the KM domain, and in the understudied research domain related to the knowledge needs and experiences of NPOs. NPOs will find the identified categories and sub-categories useful to undertake KM initiatives within their individual organizations. The study is also unique, as it includes data from two countries, Canada and Australia.


2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 98-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire Smith

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to discuss how fieldwork impacted the author's own and one participant's positioning; the author's reflexivity, experiences and feelings of alterity; the participant's performances and conversations between the author and participant.Design/methodology/approachThe author uses a confessional tale to describe the time spent with the participant and confesses how it impacted on the author as the researcher. The author examines her biases, feelings, and vulnerabilities, and explores some of the methodological and positioning issues with which she struggled.FindingsThe author ponders on what she learned while being in such close quarters with a participant and discusses what she should keep in mind about herself as the researcher during subsequent data collection forays. Researchers should know themselves well before attempting such closeness because when we are researchers, we can’t change who we are as people.Originality/valueIt is believed that the extreme researcher/participant closeness was unique but was, at the same time, an extremely useful form of data collection.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Butler

PurposeThe study aims to explore the possibility of redefining success in tourism and measuring such a phenomenon by considering alternatives to economic factors, and to identify the ways such measurement could be implemented.Design/methodology/approachThe study reviews and explains current approaches to defining and measuring success in tourism in the literature, followed by identification of alternative factors which could be measured and the implications of such a change in approach.FindingsThere has been a long-standing emphasis and priority placed on measuring tourism at the national level with a focus on economic criteria, and this has been followed at regional and local levels. The result has been that success has become equated with volume, supporting the aim of continued growth in tourism. Such an approach and attitude mitigate against achieving or moving towards sustainability, and other measures are needed to avoid problems such as overtourism.Originality/valueThere has been little discussion of moving to a wider range of indicators of success in tourism, and the previous focus has been on economic criteria and competitiveness as shown by tourist numbers. This paper presents a discussion of an alternative approach, showing that tourism stakeholders from national to local levels need to redefine success as including factors such as community and environmental well-being and focus on a wider concept of success. Using existing data and organisations would enable measuring such concepts to be done without major change or greatly increased costs to agencies.


2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 192-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy D. Visone

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the effectiveness of a teacher leadership academy (TLA) organized through a school district/university partnership in a small, US Suburban School District in increasing teachers’ participation in leadership activities. Design/methodology/approach TLA participants (n=11) were surveyed using the Teacher Leadership Activities Scale, and their results were compared to a control group of teachers in the district who were not participating in the TLA (n=12). Interviews and open-ended response items provided qualitative data to examine how the TLA contributed to teachers’ growth as leaders. Findings Results indicated that teachers in the TLA did increase participation in teacher leadership activities. Qualitative data revealed themes of many espoused benefits from TLA participation, including increased interactions with administrators, improved understanding of the obstacles associated with implementing changes, and expanded leadership capacity. Research limitations/implications Conditions that both enhanced and detracted from teacher leaders’ growth were identified and outlined, including formal leaders’ participation in TLA activities, material support for projects, and a supportive atmosphere (enhancers) and administrative roadblocks and the inability to remediate capacity issues for teacher leaders (detractors). Originality/value The conditions outlined above will assist those interested in creating TLAs in doing so with purpose and increased chance for buy in and success.


2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 254-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nwamaka Okeke-Ogbuafor ◽  
Tim Gray ◽  
Selina Stead

Purpose This paper aims to understand what two apparently contrasting concepts of communality and place attachment say about the quality of community life in the Niger Delta. Design/methodology/approach The research for this paper relied on extensive qualitative and quantitative data: qualitative data were collected from five oil-rich and three oil-poor communities across Ogoniland, while quantitative data were collected from four of these communities. Thematic content analysis was used to interpret the qualitative data, while the quantitative data were analysed through Excel. Findings Most participants from both oil-rich and oil-poor communities strongly reject a social sense of communality and strongly endorse a geographical sense of place. Practical implications The wider implication of this finding is that proponents of community development (CD) have a choice between either the cynical option of noting that Ogoni’s strong sense of place means that they will tolerate limited CD, or the noble option of noting that Ogoni’s strong sense of place is a solid foundation on which to build sustainable CD by empowering citizens to create their own future. Originality/value The originality of this study is twofold. First, it shows the complexity of people’s sense of community encompassing widely different and possibly contradictory elements. Second, it reveals the strength and persistence of people’s attachment to place despite its physical shortcomings.


2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 243-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin Pentecost ◽  
Denni Arli ◽  
Sharyn Thiele

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate barriers to pro-social behaviour in the form of blood donating using self-determination theory. Design/methodology/approach Respondents were recruited through intercepts at a major international university and at points within the community in a capital city in Australia. Sampling was conducted over a three-week period resulting in a sample of 617 respondents. Findings Results show intrinsic motivations positively influence intentions towards blood donation, self-identity, and locus of control. Further, despite positively influencing other factors, external regulation positively influenced amotivation indicating the more likely people feel pressured to donate blood, the less likely they will be motivated to donate blood. Originality/value This would suggest one way to influence more people to become donors is to place greater focus on the positive emotional feelings they derive from the act of donating blood and the control they have over that donation. Using external regulation strategy which often suggests people “must” or “have-to” donate blood may be limiting blood donation numbers.


2015 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farinaz Fassa

Purpose – Discussing the Swiss case, the purpose of this paper is to examine how gender equality policies deal with the present requirements for scholars to be considered “excellent”. It aims to pinpoint the lines of tension or coherence between excellence, meritocracy and gender politics. Design/methodology/approach – In order to specify the norms of academic careers and their different renditions, the author draws on two studies (at local and national levels) to illustrate where the changes and resistances are taking place. Findings – The translations of a number of demands of feminist movements into the policies set up to favour equality between the sexes may combine to challenge the norms of academia as a gendered realm. Nevertheless, without strong pressure from feminists at local level and the conduct of research pursuing the enterprise of deconstructing norms, top-down policies may prove less “corrective” than affirmative action. This pressure is not only useful to build gender equality in science but also to broaden the spectrum of knowledge that can become a common good. Research limitations/implications – As neither the names nor the positions of the experts who select the candidates at national level are made public, we had to opt for other, less satisfactory means. Originality/value – The originality of the paper lies in the link made between the enhancements brought by Equalities policies and the changes they bring. It attempts to bring to light the extent to which gender equality policies conform to the neo-managerial order or challenge its norms to build a world that is more just.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document