US brand still strong but needs to show effectiveness

Significance Recent events have complicated the military and diplomatic elements of this task, but the wider 'Brand America' which Biden wants to restore -- one that shows democratic institutions solving the challenges of the 21st century more effectively than authoritarian regimes -- also needs attention. Impacts National brands cannot be managed as tightly as corporate brands but still need to embody and project a set of values and purposes. The shifting balance between long-standing US trends of internationalism and isolationism will be closely watched abroad. The prospect of a future president treating geopolitics as a zero-sum great power contest risks deep damage to 'Brand America'. Reduced margins of US pre-eminence will require Washington to adopt a more collaborative style of international leadership.

The Lagged Effect of Advertising Expenditures on the Financial Measures of Brand Equity in the Egyptian Context

This research intends to fill the gap in the literature by studying the impact of lagged real advertising expenditures on different perspectives of brand equity in the Egyptian context, which are: Firm-based and Market-based brand equity. The research follows the quantitative research-based approach, with the descriptive explanatory method. Secondary data was collected from firms’ financial reports of sixteen sectors for the period 2013 - 2020 to consider the effect of real advertising expenditures on firm-based and market-based brand equity models. Data was collected from 168 listed companies in the Egyptian stock exchange market, after deleting the financial institutions. The unit of analysis was the corporate brands and data collected was panel data analyzed using Eviews program – version 10, using GLS regression. Results showed that market risk significantly moderates the relationship between advertising expenditures and Firm-based and Market-based brand equity.

Public relations in the age of data: corporate perspectives on social media analytics (SMA)

PurposeThe aim of this study was to understand how public relations leaders view and use social media analytics (SMA) and the impact of SMA on the public relations function.Design/methodology/approachThe research involved in-depth interviews with chief communication officers (CCOs) from leading multinational corporate brands.FindingsThe findings revealed that although CCOs perceive social media analytics as strategically important to the advancement of public relations, the use of social media data is slowed by challenges associated with building SMA capacity.Theoretical and practical implications – The research extends public relations theory on public relations as a strategic management function and provides practical insights for building SMA capabilities.Originality/valueThe study is among the first to provide empirical evidence of how companies are using social media analytics to enhance public relations efforts.

Field Experiments for Testing Revenue Strategies in the Hospitality Industry

Field experimentation has been widely adopted as an optimization technique in product design and marketing in several industries. Companies have successfully used field experimentation to reduce costs, increase revenues, and maintain an edge in their customer experience in highly competitive environments. However, in certain quantitative applications, such as revenue management in hospitality, to the authors’ knowledge, there is little publicly documented work on experimentation, and its use remains the privilege of big corporate brands with a small market share. This article discusses the likely causes of the sparse adoption of field experimentation for revenue management in hospitality. It also outlines opportunities that field experimentation can bring to accommodation managers and describes specific types of experimental designs that can help exploit those opportunities. By explicitly addressing the complexities of revenue management, this article aims to start a conversation about experimentation in hospitality that should benefit the industry as a whole.

The competitive environment and directions of Russian universities competition

This article is devoted to the description of the competitive environment of the educational system of higher education. The directions and forms of competition of Russian universities are revealed in accordance with the constructive theory of competition. The article describes the classical theoretical directions of competition: product, industry, intersectoral, and inter-product competition. Product competition is the competition between manufacturers of interchangeable goods in the same distribution channels. It is a rivalry between competing product brands for distribution, otherwise known as trademark competition. Industry competition is the competition between producers of goods using homogeneous, interchangeable resources. In fact, this is competition for resources between producers of one sector, while there may be no product competition in distribution and sales. Inter-product competition is the competition between substitutes from different industries, that is, between representatives of different industries - manufacturers of products that satisfy the same need. Cross-industry competition is the competition of corporate brands in marketing, the general competition of all brands to attract the attention of a certain segment of consumers. The article shows that all four directions of competition appears in their forms in the activities of Russian universities. The specific forms of competition between Russian universities are revealed. Competition among universities appears in different forms: for social authority and influence; for statuses, titles, and prestige; for exclusive intellectual property, massive data sets, and computing power; for the talents of students; for the talents of teachers; for budget funding; for grant, competitive financing; for donations and endowment funds. Special attention is paid to the forms of competition within partnerships and cooperation between universities. In this form, the bargaining power is used in the distribution of value between the participants in the partnership.

An Empirical Study on Customer Satisfaction, Perception, and Brand Image in Starbucks Coffee in India, Asia

This study focuses on the brand image, experience, quality, and services offered by Starbucks that will bring customer loyalty from customer satisfaction. The study analyzes how customer loyalty and brand experience affect the quality improvements of Starbucks Coffee as corporate brands play a vital role in achieving higher company’s performance, like sales. It makes more incentives to satisfy the potential customers and develops a drawn-out relationship with them. This study concludes that companies with higher customer loyalty and satisfaction tend to have higher market share, and move further by cost reduction. Therefore, companies could substantially pay attention to all of these variables to have an everlasting profitability as this will lead to gain competitive advantage in the market.