INTERNAL MARKETING APPLICATION AND ITS EFFECTS ON CORPORATE CULTURE IN TRADE COMPANIES IN THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA

Interni marketing kao marketinška aktivnost javlja se puno kasnije od eksternog marketinga,iako bi mu prema logičnom redoslijedu zbivanja zapravo trebao prethoditi. Ovo istraživanje ima za cilj utvrditi na koji način i kojim mjerama organizacijeiz djelatnosti trgovine u Republici Hrvatskoj primjenjujuinterni marketing, koji su ciljevi i učinci tih mjera, te utječe li interni marketing na približavanje stvarne željenoj korporativnoj kulturi. Provedeno je kvalitativno istraživanje na terenu na uzorku od deset organizacija trgovinske djelatnostivođenjem dubinskih intervjua s menadžerima zaduženim za provođenje aktivnosti internog marketinga. Rezultati pokazuju da se u proučavanim subjektima uglavnom primjenjuje interni marketing pri kojem su svi djelatnici njegovi recipijenti, ali ga provodi samo jedan organizacijski odjel i to najčešće odjel ljudskih potencijala. Organizacije primjenjuju različite mjere internog marketinga među kojima prevladavaju informiranje i edukacija zaposlenika te ispitivanje zadovoljstva zaposlenika. Većinaorganizacija primjenom internog marketinga ostvaruje učinke na internom i eksternom tržištu, noprimjena internog marketinga daje najbolje rezultate u stvaranju željene korporativne kulture uključivanjem svih zaposlenika u njegovo provođenje te primjenom široke lepeze mjera.Internal marketing as a marketing activity was developed much later than external marketing although acknowledging the logical development of these two activities, the internal marketing should have preceded the external one. This research aims to define in which way and by application of which tools trade companies in the Republic of Croatia apply internal marketing, with which objectives and effects, and it proposes also to explore whether the application of internal marketing helps in making a real corporate culture as similar as possible to the desired one. Qualitative field research has been conducted on a sample of 10 companies in trade industry. In-depth interviews have been used to collect data from managers in charge of implementing internal marketing activities in these companies. The results show that the companies studied mainly apply the type of internal marketing in which all employees act as its recipients, while it is carried out by only one organisational department, mainly their human resources department. Companies implement various tools of internal marketing, among which the most common are informing and educating employees and determining the level of their satisfaction. By the implementation of internal marketing most companies achieve results at internal and external markets, although the implementation of internal marketing gives the best results in achieving the desired corporate culture by including all employees in its implementation and by the application of a wide range of its tools

ALL THAT GLITTERS IS NOT GOLD: BEYOND ONLINE HOTEL REVIEWS

Purpose - The purpose of this study was to uncover potential thematic mismatches between textual comments in online hotel reviews, on the one hand, and rating categories in those reviews, consumer experience scales, and marketing tools, on the other; and to draw attention to challenges that these mismatches pose for hotel managers and researchers. Design/Methodology/Approach - An in-depth, qualitative, contextual content analysis of online reviews was conducted. Findings - Thematic mismatches were found for all three comparisons. The textual comments are broader in topic than the rating categories of the platform studied. Conversely, textual comments are thematically narrower than the studied consumer experience scales and marketing tools. These mismatches can lead to suboptimal decision-making by hotel managers especially when they are pressured by a large and increasing number of reviews. Originality of the research - Past research has not drawn attention to the thematic mismatches between textual comments in online customer reviews and other sources of information available to hotel managers, nor has it discussed the challenges hotel managers may face when relying heavily on online customer comments. The findings also provide input for researchers to rethink how best to measure consumers’ hotel experience

PERCEIVED SAFETY OF NATURAL FOOD PRODUCTS: INFLUENCE OF DIFFERENT PACKAGING CUES

Cilj ovog istraživanja bio je razumjeti kako različiti signali na pakiranju utječu na percepciju potrošača o sigurnosti prirodnih prehrambenih proizvoda. Identificirana su četiri signala koji se koriste u sklopu marketinških napora kako bi se potrošačima sugerirala viša sigurnost prehrambenih proizvoda: poznata marka, organska oznaka kvalitete, domaće podrijetlo proizvoda i dizajn pakiranja koji sugerira prirodnost. Kroz eksperimentalni dizajn istraživanja, pet skupina ispitanika evaluiralo je pet različitih podražaja: jedan podražaj za svaki signal sigurnosti i jedan podražaj bez signala sigurnosti. Svaka skupina ispitanika evaluirala je tri kategorije prirodnih proizvoda: med, maslinovo ulje i rajčicu. Rezultati pokazuju da se proizvod bez ikakvih signala sigurnosti smatra znatno manje sigurnim od proizvoda s bilo kojim od promatranih signala sigurnosti. Istodobno, između različitih signala sigurnosti gotovo da nema razlika u percipiranoj sigurnosti. Rezultati daju doprinos u području istraživanja pakiranja kao komunikacijskog kanala i području istraživanja percepcije sigurnosti hrane. Dobivene spoznaje imaju važne implikacije za male proizvođače koji se pridržavaju standarda sigurnosti i proizvode prirodne proizvode jer ukazuju da se signaliziranjem prirodnosti može konkurirati jakim markama u smislu percepcije sigurnosti, ali i za regulatorna tijela jer ukazuju na važnost sustavne kontrole kvalitete.The objective of this study was to understand how different packaging cues influence consumer perceptions of natural food safety. Four cues that producers use within their marketing efforts to suggest higher food safety to consumers were identified: a well-known brand, an organic label, the domestic origin of the product, and a packaging design that suggests naturalness. Using an experimental research design, five groups of subjects evaluated five different stimuli: one stimulus for each safety cue and one stimulus without a safety cue. Each group of subjects rated three categories of natural products: honey, olive oil and tomatoes. The results show that products without a safety cue are considered significantly less safe than products with any of the observed safety cues. At the same time, there is almost no difference in perceived safety among different safety cues. The results contribute to research on packaging as a communication channel and to research on perceptions of food safety. The results have important implications for small producers who adhere to safety standards and produce natural products, as they indicate that signalling naturalness makes it possible to compete with strong brands when it comes to perception of safety, but also for regulatory bodies as they point out the importance of systematic quality control

Music, emotions and first impression perceptions of a healthcare institutions’ quality: An experimental investigation

One of the direct ways of influencing emotions and service quality perceptions is by music stimulation. The purpose of this research is to examine the impact of music of different musical elements (i.e. sad vs. happy music) on respondents\u27 emotions and their first impression perceptions of a healthcare institution\u27s quality. The research was designed as an experimental simulation, i.e. data were collected in an online survey from respondents randomly assigned to evaluate a presentation consisting of multiple images of a healthcare institution in one of three experimental conditions (absence of, happy, and sad music stimulation). The results, in alliance with previous research, demonstrate a relationship between emotions and first impression quality perceptions and between music and emotions, but no relationship between music and first impression quality perception. The obtained significant results yet again emphasize the importance of inducing positive customer emotions as they lead to positive first impression service quality evaluations that subsequently provide appreciated returns. They also stress the importance of carefully choosing music when inducing emotions as music with different musical elements results in different emotional states. One of the limitations of this research is the non-real life situation experimental setting, which is to be overcome in future research.Keywords: Music, healthcare institutions, servqual, fist impression, pleasure, arousal</p

Apples and oranges in disguised advertising: differentiation and terminological determination of brand usage in program content

Prikriveno oglašavanje moderan je marketinški alat koji se u praksi hrvatskih poslovnih subjekata sve češće javlja, a po hrvatskim je zakonima zabranjen. Zbog toga ovaj rad pokušava dati odgovor na pitanje koriste li poslovnih subjekti u Hrvatskoj zaista prikriveno oglašavanje, na koji način to čine u skladu ili suprotnosti s hrvatskim zakonom, te postoji li potreba za razlučivanjem više srodnih, ali različitih pojava i potom terminološkim određenjem svakog od njih. Kako bi se ostvarila svrha ovog rada, istraženo teoretsko, pravno i kolokvijalno koncipiranje pojma prikriveno oglašavanje u znanstvenoj literaturi, hrvatskim zakonima i primijenjenoj komunikaciji poslovnih subjekata. Provedena analiza pokazuje: a) da u marketinškoj literaturi postoje različiti terminološki izrazi za korištenje marki u programskim sadržajima među kojima dominira prikriveno oglašavanje, a ne spominje se plasman proizvoda; b) da zakon razlikuje prikriveno oglašavanje koje je zabranjeno i plasman proizvoda koji je pod određenim uvjetima dozvoljen, a prema definiciji istovjetan s prikrivenim oglašavanjem kako ga definira marketinška literatura; c) da poslovni subjekti u svojoj komunikaciji razlikuju prikriveno oglašavanje od plasmana proizvoda te da pokušavaju plasman proizvoda udaljiti od prikrivenog oglašavanja ističući se kao sponzori/partneri programa. Analiza pokazuje i da postoje tri različite situacije korištenja marki u programskim sadržajima, a to su: ugovoreno i ispravno označeno; ugovoreno, ali ne i označeno te neugovoreno. Samo se prva situacija može smatrati preporučenim marketinškim alatom i stoga ju je nužno razlučiti od ostalih definicijom i terminom. Preporučuje se da se ovaj marketinški alat nazove plasman marke u programski sadržaj u zakonima i marketinškoj literaturi, na što već upućuje engleska literatura. Navedeno će dugoročno dovesti i do ispravnog korištenja termina u praksi poslovnih subjekata.Disguised advertising is a modern marketing instrument that is seeing an increase in Croatian business practice but whose application is prohibited by Croatian law. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to understand whether Croatian businesses really do use disguised advertising, how they do it either in accordance or in contradiction with Croatian law, and whether there is a need to distinguish among several similar but different manifestations and to terminologically determine each one of these. For the purpose of this study, we explored the theoretical, legal and ethnographic conceptualizations of the term disguised advertising in the scientific literature, Croatian legislation and applied communication in business practice. The results of our research show that: a) marketing literature uses various terms for describing brand usage in program content, among which disguised advertising (prikriveno oglašavanje) dominates, whereas product placement (plasman proizvoda) is not mentioned once; b) the law distinguishes between disguised advertising that is prohibited and product placement, as a practise allowed under certain conditions and the one that is by definition identical with disguised advertising in the manner defined by marketing literature; c) business entities in their communication make a distinction between disguised advertising and product placement, and they are trying to move product placement away from disguised advertising by being mentioned as sponsors/partners of the program. The analysis also indicates three different situations in which brands are used in the program content: contracted and correctly indicated brand usage; contracted but not indicated; and not-contracted brand usage. Only the first situation is considered to be a recommended marketing tool; therefore, it is necessary to differentiate it from the other two by its definition and name. It is suggested that this marketing tool be named: brand placement in both marketing literature and legislation, as English literature already recommends. In the long term, this should lead to a proper use of the term in business practice as well

ALL THAT GLITTERS IS NOT GOLD: BEYOND ONLINE HOTEL REVIEWS

Purpose - The purpose of this study was to uncover potential thematic mismatches between textual comments in online hotel reviews, on the one hand, and rating categories in those reviews, consumer experience scales, and marketing tools, on the other; and to draw attention to challenges that these mismatches pose for hotel managers and researchers. Design/Methodology/Approach - An in-depth, qualitative, contextual content analysis of online reviews was conducted. Findings - Thematic mismatches were found for all three comparisons. The textual comments are broader in topic than the rating categories of the platform studied. Conversely, textual comments are thematically narrower than the studied consumer experience scales and marketing tools. These mismatches can lead to suboptimal decision-making by hotel managers especially when they are pressured by a large and increasing number of reviews. Originality of the research - Past research has not drawn attention to the thematic mismatches between textual comments in online customer reviews and other sources of information available to hotel managers, nor has it discussed the challenges hotel managers may face when relying heavily on online customer comments. The findings also provide input for researchers to rethink how best to measure consumers’ hotel experience

Naturally traditional or traditionally natural – exploring the concepts natural and traditional in marketing research

Svrha ovog istraživanja je razumjeti kako marketinška istraživanja konceptualiziraju prirodne i tradicionalne proizvode – proizvode koji snažno privlače pozornost potrošača i zauzimaju velike i rastuće tržišne udjele, a nedovoljno su jasni i slabo definirani regulatornim okvirom. Analiza je provedena na sustavno odabranim znanstvenim radovima objavljenim u relevantnim časopisima tijekom posljednja dva desetljeća. Rezultati pokazuju da se prirodni proizvodi uglavnom definiraju načinom proizvodnje i sastojcima koje ne sadrže, dok konsenzus nije postignut za tradicionalne proizvode. Nadalje, ne samo da je pojam tradicionalnog definiran neuobičajeno velikim brojem tema, nego se teme također značajno razlikuju ovisno o skupini dionika koja ih definira što ukazuje na neizbježan komunikacijski problem među tim skupinama. Rezultati također pokazuju da su unatoč pokušajima marketera da povežu značenje ovih dviju vrsta proizvoda, teme u definicijama prirodnih i tradicionalnih proizvoda različite i preklapaju se tek sporadično. Ove spoznaje su korisne kao korak naprijed u kreiranju bolje znanstvene konceptualizacije i specifičnijeg regulatornog okvira za prirodne i tradicionalne proizvode što će smanjiti vjerojatnost obmanjujućih poslovnih praksi i nedoumice među potrošačima i istraživačima.The purpose of this research is to understand how current marketing research conceptualises natural and traditional products – products that strongly attract consumer attention and capture large and growing market shares yet remain vague and weakly defined by a regulatory framework. The analysis is conducted on systematically selected research articles published in relevant journals over the past two decades. The results show that the natural products are mostly defined by the way they are produced and the ingredients they do not contain, while no consensus was reached for the traditional products. Furthermore, not only is the concept of traditional defined by an unusually large number of themes, but the themes also vary considerably depending on stakeholder group from which they originate, indicating an inevitable communication problem between these groups. The results also show that despite attempts by marketers to link the meanings of the two types of products, the themes in the definitions of natural and traditional products are different and overlap only sporadically. These findings serve as a step toward creating better academic conceptualizations and a more specific regulatory framework for natural and traditional products that will reduce the likelihood of misleading business practises and confusion among consumers and researchers

Conscious food choices – differences between perceived benefits and willingness to pay for different product types

Purpose: Consumers increasingly make conscious choices when it comes to food and choose healthy products that protect the natural environment and preserve traditional habits and communities. This study investigates the differences between perceived benefits and willingness to pay for products making different marketing claims yet all suggesting producers’ dedication to protect the health of consumers as well as natural and traditional resources. Methodology: First, focus groups were conducted to identify food marketing claims (i.e., product types) that are relevant to consumers and empirically validate the relevance of the perceived benefits identified in previous research. Second, questionnaires were distributed to consumers to analyse the differences in perceived benefits and willingness to pay between the identified product types. Results: The focus groups revealed that apart from natural and traditional products, handmade, homemade, and autochthonous products represent important marketing claims. They also proved that most benefits identified in literature resonate well with consumers of the studied cultural context. Results of the questionnaire show that emotional benefits are not perceived differently for different product types, functional benefits are perceived higher for natural and handmade products than for traditional ones, while convenience is perceived as higher only for handmade products. Willingness to pay is not different for different product types nor benefits. Conclusion: Since some product types are perceived as providing more benefits than others, small food producers should focus on marketing their products as handmade and natural, rather than traditional. Furthermore, marketing efforts should be directed towards identifying the right consumer segments as those inclined to the protection of traditional resources perceive higher benefits regardless of the product type