The Spanish E-retailing Customers Segmentation

This article analyses different factors that influence the purchasing behaviour of online supermarket customers. These factors are related to both the appearance of the website as well as the processes that take place when making the purchase. Based on these analyses, the various groups of consumers with homogenous behaviour are studied. The analysis also allows the quality of the service offered by this kind of establishment to be defined, as well as the main dimensions in which it develops. In the conclusions, factors which should influence the manager of an online supermarket to improve the quality of its service are given.Virtual supermarket; segmentation; Internet; E-commerce; marketing.

Impact of Service Recovery on Customer Loyalty: A Study of E-Banking in Spain

The purposes of this study are twofold: (i) to propose and apply a scale to measure service recovery in the electronic banking (e-banking) sector; and (ii) to examine the relationship between service recovery and customer loyalty in the setting of e-banking services. An online questionnaire is used to survey 123 Spanish customers of e-banking services using a modified version of the E-RecS-QUAL scale. The data are analysed by exploratory factor analysis to: (i) test the applicability of the scale to the setting of online bank services: and (ii) generate a model including constructs for e-recovery and e-loyalty. The study reassures online banks that a modified version of the E-RecS-QUAL scale is an appropriate instrument for measuring service recovery. The study also provides empirical evidence that responsiveness to requests and complaints has a positive influence on e-loyalty. The study is the first to provide definitive empirical evidence of the presumed link between the recovery dimensions proposed in the E-RecS-QUAL scale and the construct of e-loyalty.recovery; electronic commerce; electronic service quality; E-RecS-QUAL.

La situación de la consultoría de calidad especializada en ISO 9000 en España

El artículo se basa en un estudio empírico del sector de consultoría especializada en ISO 9000 en Cataluña. En primer lugar, se realiza una segmentación de las empresas que acuden a un consultor para obtener asesoramiento en el proceso de implantación de la norma. De esta forma se observa el comportamiento diferenciado de tres tipologías de empresas. Cada tipología persigue distintos intereses en el proyecto de consultoría que les llevará a la certificación. Se analiza también el trabajo del consultor: en primer lugar se mide el grado de satisfacción del servicio prestado. Más adelante, se buscan las dimensiones que definen la calidad en este tipo de servicio. Finalmente, se concluye con listado de puntos en los que las consultorías deben mejorar para aumentar el grado de satisfacción de sus clientes

The evolution of intensity certification in ISO 9001 and ISO14001: a comparative analysis by countries

STRUCTURED ABSTRACT Purpose -This paper has two main objectives: the first one is to provide a literature review of the most widespread management standard certificates, ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 and the second one is to pursue and intensify the previous researches about certification intensity level in both ISO standards. Design/methodology/approach - We will trace the evolution of ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 in terms of diffusion, improvements, and analogies from their inceptions until nowadays. For each standard, we will look at its internalization and its decertification. For this purpose, 16 countries have been selected along the period from 1999, the first year covered by ISO Survey in relation to both ISO 9001 and ISO 14001, until 2014. An analysis on the evolution pattern of certification intensity levels for each country will be provided by plotting the intensity certification rates of both standards. A particular attention will be paid to China, Italy, Japan and Spain. Findings – Through both quantitative and qualitative analysis, the patterns for the selected countries have been traced. Every country shows a specific trend because of its idiosyncratic history and of its increasing participation in the international economic context. Nevertheless, some categorizations are provided, focusing more on similarities than on dissimilarities countries’ patterns can show. For this purpose, the classification into expansive, mature, retrocessive behavior is used. Originality/value - Particular attention is paid to the studies conducted by Marimon, Casadesùs, and Heras resulting in two articles published in 2008 and 2010. Based on these, our analysis will focus on the concept of certification intensity level aiming at discovering how much a country is certified against its wealth and how its certification level evolves over time

¿Barreras o Motivación? Progreso de la Carrera en la Empresa Familiar: La Perspectiva de las Hijas

Women are under-represented in high-level management and administrative positions in family businesses. To date, the research on career motivation remains in the shadow of research on gender barriers. By acknowledging the relation between the two, it is proposed to look holistically at the problem and to empirically examine the relation between motivation, barriers, and position of daughters in family business. By conducting SEM analysis, it was found that motivation to act ethically is positively associated with high positions and that barriers “specific to family business” are negatively related to high positions. This article validates two scales and makes methodological contributions to the stream of research on daughters in family business that to date relies mainly on qualitative studies.Las mujeres están subrepresentadas en los puestos directivos y de gestión de alto nivel en las empresas familiares. Hasta la fecha, la investigación sobre la motivación para la carrera permanece en las sombras de la investigación sobre barreras de género. Al reconocer la relación entre los dos, se propone mirar holísticamente al problema y examinar empíricamente la relación entre la motivación, las barreras, y la posición de las hijas en la empresa familiar. Al realizar el análisis SEM, se encontró que la motivación para actuar éticamente está asociada positivamente con posiciones altas y que las barreras “específicas para las empresas familiares” están relacionadas negativamente con las altas posiciones. Este artículo valida dos escalas y realiza contribuciones metodológicas a la corriente de investigación sobre hijas en empresas familiares que hasta la fecha se basan principalmente en estudios cualitativos

Supplier-customer negotiation model: The vendor receives a bonus for holding the inventory

This article proposes a model based on economic order quantity (EOQ) for the negotiation between supplier and customer when a benefit is derived to the supplier from taking responsibility for the inventory holding costs. In turn, the customer can afford a smaller batch size since the holding savings enable it to place a greater number of orders. Taking the original situation in which the customer supports both holding and ordering cost as an initial point, the paper analyses the benefits for the supplier and customer in a new situation in which the supplier supports the holding of the inventory. The customer would agree to change to the new scenario due to the savings in the holding cost. The provider would also agree if a bonus is achieved as compensation for the investment in holding costs. The model provides clues for a win-win negotiation between a supplier and a buyer.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Configurational Path to NPD Project Performance- Involving Source of Innovation in Supply Chain Strategy

Abstract— During past twenty years, knowledge integration and product development process, have been considered as two critical strategies for new product development process. The two mentioned strategies were the main focus of industry and also academicians as well as many practitioners). The most significant similarity among the investigations on this integration strategy is the focus on organizations as unit of analysis and in some cases, the investigations was in project level in order to have more accurate and detail results. But in this study we considered project phase and the unit of analysis to be able to take into account the project and different phase’s characteristics. In this way we will be able to find more relevant and practical results for integration different source of knowledge, in different phases of new product development. We analysed 125 new product development projects from total 85 manufacturing firms, which have implemented at least one form of external collaboration among their NPD projects, within 8 different industries in Spain. To make these analysis we used fsQCA method and our finding show that by involving different types of knowledge sources in different phase of NPD projects, the companies may achieved to different level of Cost, Market, Speed and product Novelty performance and these configurations are very between different projects

Supply Chain Management Strategies in Project and Absorptive Capacity to Implementation Partnership Strategy in New Product Development

To develop new and successful products, supply chain management can be efficient way as a multidisciplinary process. It appears logical to consider that some elements, such as fast changes in technology, a flexible process of production, and international rivalry, have a direct relationship across various knowledge sources and are more necessary for introducing timely and profitable new products. Our main emphasis is to make a comparative assessment forthe role of decomposed attributes of complexity level in new project development (NPD) and internal abilities to choose partnership as dominant mode for external collaboration in different phases of NPD, by using supply chain management design across 125 NPD projects in low technology-intensive SMEs in Spain. The results provide support for the role of absorptive capacity and different dimensions of project complexity in developing a co-development strategy (Partnership) in different phases of NPD projects

Viveros de empresas en Cataluña: tradicionales y especializados

A través del presente estudio empírico se detecta que existen dos tipos de viveros de empresas. Los viveros tradicionales se centran en la promoción de nuevas empresas que desde un buen inicio tengan unas ciertas garantías de éxito. En estos viveros conviven empresas que representan a una amplia gama de sectores empresariales. Los principales requisitos de entrada (obligatorios) son un plan de viabilidad económica y técnica, además de que la empresa sea de reciente creación. Los viveros especializados son aquellos que priman iniciativas empresariales relacionadas con un sector concreto: frecuentemente las empresas relacionadas con las nuevas tecnologías de la información y comunicación (TIC)